Chapter 4

The owl suddenly flew to the ground and became a swirl of thin white clouds and feathers. A tall, graceful humanoid figure grew in the midst of the swirl, and the latter dissolved.

Sarah stood awestruck. The man resembled the figurine on her desk: he was dressed in dark scarlet clothes and had very messy blond hair. But his face was different. More handsome and yet more fierce, with sharp lines and piercing blue eyes with mismatched pupils.

The girl trembled with fear. The man in front her smiled. The smile was half tender, half amused. He spoke in a deep, somehow melodic voice:

"Your wish is granted, Sarah. Right now… the only way for you to always understand my voice is to see me here in my true form."

"Who are you?" Sarah exclaimed. "Are you a Fae?"

"Gorias and Rose did a good job," the stranger said. "They told you many useful things about our world."

Sarah was struck with an idea:

"You're their King."

"Not only their King," he corrected. "The Goblin King, Ruler of the Labyrinth, Lord Protector of the Kiltwien Elves etc."

The statement did nothing to decrease Sarah's fear. She guessed he was used to more polite treatment, so she hurriedly curtsied and said:

"It's an honor, Your Majesty."

"Sarah, oh please," he said in a bored voice. "You've been talking to me like to Merlin, feeding me with bread and meat, and stroking my feathers every day for half a year. I thought we were past the ceremonies. I hope I'm not mistaken."

He looked at the sun which was gradually reddening and going down.

"I need to go," he said. "I'm a very busy man. But it is my tradition to bring gifts to whoever summons me. Never should it be said that I'm not generous."

He outstretched his gloved hand, and a crystal orb appeared on it.

"What is it?" Sarah whispered.

"It's a crystal. Nothing more. But if you turn it this way," the Goblin King span the orb, "and look into it – it will show you your dreams. Do you want it?"

"Oh, yes, thank you, sir!" Sarah cried, and the King handed her the crystal with a satisfied smirk.

"I must go," he repeated, smiling. "I will visit you on your birthday. But should you ever need me – you can call. But… I shall say once more what Rose said: be careful what you wish for. I'll advise you to just go on with life for now and play dolls with Lucianne."

And then he was gone, leaving a cloud of glitter in the air. Sarah blinked. Why did he visit her every day in his owl form and now decide not to come until the next November – which was ten months away?

Unsure of what to think, Sarah span the crystal and looked into it. At first, the vision was blurry – just glitter and color. But then, it became clearer, and the girl saw a magical kingdom with every fairytale creature she ever thought of. The view changed, allowing her to see it fully. Knights in shining armor rode white horses and unicorns and battled several-headed dragons, rescuing beautiful ladies. Mermaids swam in picturesque azure lakes. Tiny pixies played hide-and-seek in tulips and roses. The Snow Queen sat on an ice throne in the mountains, and snowflakes danced for her.

Then the crystal showed Sarah a small beautiful house, with several sweet kids playing in the lovely garden. A heavily pregnant woman, in whom Sarah recognized an older version of herself, was looking at them.

"Viola! Estella! Jerome! Angus! Julius!" the older Sarah called. "Dinner's ready, my dears!"

The real Sarah was astonished that the crystal even knew the romantic names she imagined for her future children.

The crystal showed the inside of the house. The kids were seated at the dinner table, and Sarah's parents, happy and loving again, were sitting in the armchairs nearby.

"I'm so happy I came back," Linda Williams smiled at her husband.

Then a blurry figure of a man entered. Sarah-older walked to the man and kissed his cheek:

"You're just in time, darling."

Sarah-real waited for the vision of the man to clear, but it didn't. Then it dawned on her that she really hadn't yet formed an exact picture of the man she would love! She had many crushes, none of them serious, and when she dreamed of her future family, she never went into details of the husband. Parents, children, herself – everything was fine. She could describe Viola or Angus better than she could describe her current schoolteacher. But her husband?

Then the house changed a bit. It was evening. Gorias and Rose entered the room, with a blurry figure of a lady by their side.

"Gorias, Rose, Lucianne, welcome to our humble abode!" Sarah-older grinned. She began to chatter with Lucianne, but the chatter was inaudible. Sarah-real guessed that it was because she vaguely knew what she would talk about when she would be forty.

Then the vision changed once more. The house was different in many details now. A fifty-something-year-old Sarah was wiping happy tears at the sight of a grown-up Estella in a white dress, standing hand in hand with a golden-haired handsome man.

"Sarah!" her father's voice called. The time had passed so quickly with the crystal! "Sarah, are you in the garden?"

"Yes, Dad, coming!" she shouted and rushed through the house to the front door, putting the crystal into her pocket on the way.

There she stopped in her tracks. Her father wasn't alone. He was standing by the side of a red-haired nice-looking lady in her late thirties.

"Ahem!" Mr. Williams, blushing, cleared his throat. "Irene, that's Sarah. Sarah, this is Miss Irene Trent, the sister of Mr. Harry Trent – my assistant, you remember him."

"Very pleased to meet you, Sarah," the lady, embarrassed as well, smiled, and outstretched her hand. Sarah reluctantly shook it.

"Your father has told me lots about you," Irene continued. "Last thing I heard was that you were a future fairytale writer!"

Sarah smiled, as she usually did when her fairytale world was mentioned:

"Who knows."

"I hope you'll become good friends!" her father hurried to say. "Er. Sarah, you see, Irene has been very sympathetic towards me after the!.. well… I think she is very kind and caring…"

"Now, Robert," Irene chuckled. The little dialogue was enough for Sarah to come up with the conclusion.

"You're engaged," she whispered, shocked.

"Yes, actually, have been for a week," Robert smiled happily. "We've mustered the courage to tell you only now, but I know you'll like Irene."

"Of course I will…" Sarah said with a strained smile. "I'm happy for you, Dad, and for… for…"

"Call me just Irene," her future stepmother came to help.

"And for you, Irene," Sarah finished.

"It's amazing!" Irene exclaimed and hugged Sarah. "You're a wonderful girl. I hope we'll get on."

After a long, torturous supper in the company of her father and Irene, Sarah feigned a headache, rushed to her room, locked it and burst into tears. She put the crystal on her desk and looked at it with despair. Just a few moments ago she thought of Mom's return… and now, everything ruined… everything… because of this evil red-haired woman…

"I hate her," Sarah whispered, clenching her bed sheets. "I hate her. Oh, someone help me, please! I hate Irene Trent!"

"Why?" the deep voice of the Goblin King asked her. Sarah turned around. He was leaning against the windowsill.

"Y-you came?" she stammered.

"You called for someone. I decided not to disturb Gorias and Rose. So, why do you hate Miss Trent?"

"She ruined my family!" Sarah cried.

"No, she's trying to restore it," he said. "Try to look from her point of view. She has always been very friendly with your father, and soothed him after his quarrels with your mother. Now he's lonely. He needs a special someone. She is happy to be this someone, and she's anxious to be accepted into the family by you."

"You say as though you know her!" Sarah spat angrily.

"I know her just briefly – I watched her when she became engaged to your father. But I don't need the knowledge. I have a stepmother too," the Goblin King said quietly. "My mother was killed by fairies when I was about your age. It was a great tragedy. Our whole kingdom – literally – wept. She was a good person. But she and my father – well, had they been able to divorce, they would have done so. They didn't match each other. They never truly loved each other – a youths' crush plus a good convenience made their marriage. And then, three years after her death, my father married a court lady, his childhood friend Maiaguel.

"I fiercely hated her, I assure you I did. I didn't even attend the wedding and the coronation. For five years, I lived in a separate villa and barely communicated with them. Until my father, too, was killed in battle. And then, when I returned, I saw how broken, how desperate Maiaguel was (they had no children of their own). How she adored my father – worshipped the ground he walked upon… I realized she now needed someone like a son. Someone to live for. I also learned that the only cloud darkening her short but happy wedlock was my hatred towards it. I've never forgiven myself for not accepting my father's new marriage earlier," he sighed. "My father died, thinking I was forever withdrawn from them."

Sarah gaped at him. He nodded sadly:

"Maiaguel and I never developed a mother-son relationship, of course – my mother was the only mother I could ever have. But she still is like a dear aunt to me, and I always say: not all stepmothers are wicked. Sometimes there are wicked stepchildren."

Sarah was dumbfounded. Now she didn't see the sarcastic, graceful, majestic Goblin King. It was just a man with a wound in his soul from his boyhood.

"Try to soften towards Irene," he said gently and laid his hand on her shoulder for a moment. "Goodbye."

He faded, leaving a shocked Sarah. They were really acquainted for barely a day, and he already showed he'd never cease to amaze her.