Disclaimer: That '70s Show copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. The 10th Kingdom copyright Babelsberg International Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Beitriebs KG and Hallmark Entertainment Distribution, LLC.
CHAPTER 9
DESTINY AT STAKE
Most of the guests were dancing, but Fez had crept back under the arch of purple-frosted cupcakes to the banquet area—specifically, to the table piled high with wedding presents. He put aside large boxes with sparkly wrapping paper, shook a few small boxes because maybe candy was inside, and then he found what he was looking for: a small red envelope. It didn't seem to be attached to any gift, and "From Cousin Penny" was written on the front.
His finger traced over her decorative handwriting. What kind of present could fit inside such a small envelope? He glanced over his shoulder at Kelso, who was sitting nearby with Betsy on his lap. They were sharing a piece of Eric and Donna's magnificent wedding cake. Like Kelso, Eric had risked everything for Fez to become human again, to be crowned King. All his friends had, and Fez owed them the same kind of allegiance.
He opened the envelope. A card was inside, and he read it.
"Ai... this is no good," he said and slid the card back into the envelope. Yes, Eric would very much need his allegiance. Penny was a sly one, all right, and Fez stuffed the envelope into the pocket of his slacks.
"Fez, you gotta have another piece of cake!" Kelso said, approaching him. He was holding Betsy's hand, and their faces were smeared with frosting. "Maybe bring one to Big Rhonda, if you know what I mean."
The three of them made their way to the table with slices of wedding cake. Fez grabbed himself a plate, dug into the vanilla sponge. It was sweet on his tongue, but he felt anything but sweet. "Rhonda and I had our time, my friend."
He ate his cake in silence while Kelso tossed a giggling Betsy into the air and caught her. The separation from his daughter would be particularly hard this time. Fez could see it in Kelso's eyes. Perhaps his and Kelso's time was drawing to a close, too.
A gust of wind swept over the plate in Fez's hands, blowing cake crumbs onto the ivory travertine floor. At the same time, Eric sprinted through the archway of white-frosted cupcakes. "Fez!" he said and stopped inches short of colliding into Fez's body. "Fez, I need..." He grasped Fez's shoulders and spoke with labored breaths. "I need you..."
Kelso began to laugh. "Dude, you sound like you're in a porn—" Betsy giggled at his side, and he covered himself by shouting, "A POOR STATE OF MIND!" He'd forgotten to remain child-appropriate.
"No," Eric said. "Fez, I've gotta—Donna and I—our honeymoon. We want to go to Cinderella's castle."
A thin smile spread on Fez's lips, and his hand went to his slacks pocket. "I thought you might have a change of heart. Everything is already arranged. Attendants on both sides of the mirror are standing by to assist."
"Oh, man..." Eric finally seemed to relax. He kept a loose grip on one of Fez's shoulders, and his body bent toward the ground. He was trying to catch his breath. "Man, that's great," he said after a moment. "That's really great. You're great. Thank you."
Fez nodded, but his gaze followed the path Eric had taken from the archway. Rose petals were scattered on the ivory travertine. Looked like someone had been visited by a certain sexy spirit.
Hyde sat by the cupcake arch as the ice sculpture melted. For the last twenty minutes, wispy clouds had drifted in the sky while Jackie did everything but come near him. She bunny-hopped with Bob and Mrs. Forman, having found her will to dance. She yakked it up with Donna and Brooke about her hair or some superficial crap, played "Miss Mary Mack" with Betsy. His muscles tensed as the minutes ticked by. He could've used a joint—or a talk with Forman. But Forman was busy slow-dancing with his wife, and Hyde wouldn't bring down their wedding with his shit.
But he needed to talk to someone. His muscles were stiffening to concrete, and he had to move before losing the ability to act. Zen—distancing himself from unpleasant situations—protected him only so much. At some point, it became a weakness. He got off the chair and stretched his back. Then he trudged over to the trampoline. Kelso was jumping on it while Fez counted, "Thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine..."
"Hey," Hyde said, and Fez turned around.
"Why so glum, chum?" Fez said. "You look like Kelso slept with your mother... a-burn!"
Hyde scratched his cheek and stared at the trampoline. "I'm having a little trouble with Jackie."
"Sex trouble?" Kelso said gleefully. He continued to jump, and his chin-length hair flopped as he moved up and down.
"Kinda... Well, no..." Hyde's arms fell limply to his sides. Talking about this crap was harder than he thought. "I found these 'Study Abroad' brochures in her suitcase."
Fez's face lit up. "So it is a sex problem. She's thinking about switching teams?"
"Not 'study a broad,' man. Like going to school in another country. But then the other night, she offered to do that—"
"No..." Fez covered his mouth as his voice grew hushed. "Not the forbidden back door."
Hyde nodded, and a loud, "Oh!" escaped Fez and Kelso's lips. Kelso leapt off the trampoline, Fez put his arm around him, and they both lowered to their knees in a bow of worship.
"I am the king of a nation," Fez said from the ground, "but you, Hyde, are the king of girlfriends."
Kelso stood up first and dusted himself off. "Yeah, not even Laurie would do that. The only chick who did was the skankiest skank I could find."
"Hyde's mother?" Fez stood up, too, and Hyde slammed a fist into his shoulder. "Ai... Kelso, he just assaulted your king."
"You mom-burned him, man. That deserves a punch, sorry. And, Hyde—it was your mom."
Hyde's fist slammed into Kelso's shoulder, too. "Would you morons focus? I didn't take Jackie up on her offer—"
"Wimp! Pussy!" Fez and Kelso shouted.
Hyde double-frogged them, and they finally shut up. "Look, she's been running hot and cold with me for months. One second, she hates my guts. The next, she wants me to take her up the ass 'cause she thinks it'll 'make me happy'." He glanced behind him. Jackie was across the dance floor, waltzing with some relative of Donna's. "The whole thing's gotta be an act, right? Behaving like a nutjob to get rid of me."
"Get rid of you?" Kelso said. "Why would she wanna do that?"
"Maybe she's done," Hyde said. "Now that the chase is over, and she's got me wrapped up, she wants out."
Fez shook his head as if he knew something Hyde didn't. "If Jackie offered to do that,she is completely smitten with you, you lucky sonuvabitch"
"Fez is right, man," Kelso said. "She never even did doggy-style with me, and she kissed Pink Floyd only once."
"Huh..." Hyde looked over at Jackie again. The waltz was finished, and she was chatting with Mrs. Forman. "So what the hell is going on with her?"
"Yes... that is a good question," Fez said.
"I've been asking myself that for a while," Kelso said and gestured to himself. "I mean, she chose you over all this! You ask me, that chick hasn't been right for years."
For a long few seconds, the three of them stared at one another in silence. Then Fez tugged on Kelso's arm. "Kelso, may I speak to you in private?"
Kelso nodded, and wordlessly, he and Fez ducked beneath the cupcake archway—probably to get the last piece of wedding cake—and disappeared into the banquet area. Some freakin' help they were. Hyde grabbed a cupcake from the arch but decided against chucking it their heads What did he expect, man? He was talking to everyone but the one person he needed to.
Jackie had vanished again. He began to search for her, but the music stopped playing through the outdoor speakers. The DJ's voice took over. "All right, ladies, get ready for the bouquet toss!"
Donna stood in the middle of the dance floor with the bouquet of tiger lilies in her hands. Women assembled behind her, and a bunch of them scrambled to get to the front of the pack. Jackie should've been right there with them and throwing elbows, but she lingered in the back. No fight in her body or light in her eyes.
The men, including Forman, counted to three. Donna threw the bouquet, and Big Rhonda shoved Bob's hefty, look-a-like cousin out of the way. Rhonda caught the bouquet easily, considering she stood a foot taller than the rest of them, but Bob's cousin tackled her to the ground.
Jackie left the crowd with her head low. Hyde grasped her arm on her way past him, "What the hell is wrong with you?" and pulled her to a quiet corner by the hedge wall.
"I think you're right," she said softly. "I think there is something wrong."
"What? What is it?"
"I don't know."
He didn't loosen his grip. Breaking their physical connection seemed like a bad idea, and her head was still bent toward the floor. He'd never seen her like this, so defeated.
"Is it me?" he said. "You pissed at me for not setting a wedding date? 'Cause we can do that right now. Hell, we can get married soon as we get outta here. Justice of the Peace, whatever."
"No, it's not that." She finally looked at him, and her terrified eyes cleaved his ribcage in half, exposing his hot, beating heart. Her fear blasted against him like an icy wind. "I've just had this horrible feeling lately, and I can't shake it."
"About me?"
Her eyes flicked away, which meant no.
"About us," he said flatly.
Again, she didn't answer with words. But her cheeks grew red, and she began to tremble.
He let go of her arm and slid his hands to her back. He locked them there. "Okay, well, what do we do?"
"I don't know."
"Jackie, you gotta give me more than that."
"Baby, I can't." Her left hand was planted on his chest. She was staring at her engagement ring, and he wanted to tear it off her finger. She kept looking at the damn thing like it had answers, like she had to check with it before she spoke. "Since you first took me to your junior prom," she said, "I always felt this diamond strand connecting us—even when I went back to Michael. It wasn't something I thought about. I just felt it, you know? And after you found me in Chicago—"
"That's history. I don't care abou—"
"Let me finish, Steven. Even during those six months you spent ignoring me, it was still there, that strand. It's kept my heart tied to yours even when I thought we were hopeless. But now we're together," her palms slipped up his arms, and her fingers closed around his biceps, "really together, and I don't have to worry anymore if you love me, and I—"
"I knew it." He pulled away from her. The truth was stabbing his mind like a thousand needles, and no amount of Zen could defend against it. "Man, I knew that's what all this crap was about. Well, at least it happened before we got hitched."
Jackie's eyes widened as if he'd pumped more fear into blood. She touched the back of his hand, but the contact sharpened the needles in his head, and he turned his back on her. "At least 'what' happened?" she said.
"You figuring out you just like the chase."
"That's not true. God, you are so paranoid."
"No, I'm cautious. Maybe even a little guarded. Except with you..." his back was still to her, and all he saw was the scuffed peach stone of the dance floor, "I called in all my archers and lowered the drawbridge. Should've left at least one of 'em on duty."
"Oh, you have plenty of other ways of keeping me out, Steven." Her fingertips grazed the nape of his neck, gentle unlike her voice. "That drawbridge isn't as lowered as you think it is."
He ran a hand over his heated face. "Jackie, what do you want?"
"Just you," she said and pressed herself against his back. Her arms snaked around his waist, hugging him to her. He opened his mouth to speak, but she answered before the words left his throat. "It's not about the ring, Puddin'. I want all of you. What's inside you."
She hugged him closer, nestling her head between his shoulder blades. Her presence—all that she was and felt for him—passed into his body like warmth, and he began to relax. "I've heard some guys like that freaky stuff," he said, "but that shit's just not gonna happen."
"Eww, Steven! Not that! We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. I don't want only half of you."
His eyes shut, and his fists curled, and he tried to raise the drawbridge. It was a useless effort. She was already inside the castle, inside him—even if she didn't realize it. He turned around in her arms. "You've got everything I have, doll. There is nothing else."
"Before," she glided a hand back over his chest, "I could just feel what was in there. You didn't say it much, but I knew what you felt. But now I don't—or can't—and I don't know why."
The sinking sun had washed the dance floor in orange-gold. To others, maybe it seemed symbolic of marital bliss, but to him it was numbing fire. Everyone around him seemed so damn happy, dancing and smiling and kissing. Months ago, he thought he'd be one of those people.
"So you wanna take that ring off?" he said. "I can give it back to Fez, and you can go looking for someone who'll give you want you want."
"No!" She shoved herself more deeply into his arms. "The ring's never coming off, and you're... There is no one I will ever love as much as I love you."
"Likewise." He concealed his face in her hair, hiding in this moment, hiding from what was sure to come after it.
"Then fix it, baby." She withdrew from him. Then she grasped his fist and pushed it into her chest. "Make it so I can feel you here again. Please."
"Jackie..." He laid his palm flat against her racing heart. She deserved better than hard knuckles digging into her. "Jackie, I'm here, okay? I'm right here."
But she didn't seem to hear him. Her eyes had grown wet and pleading.
His words hadn't done shit. Pushing through his discomfort, touching her heartbeat—he might as well have drawn a math equation on her arm. So he leaned in close to kiss her, to communicate the best way he knew how. And as his lips made contact, she turned her back on him—just as he'd done to her. Only she didn't stick around.
She walked along the hedge wall. Wrinkles in her dress caught the sun, and the green material sparkled as she moved farther away from him. His voice, his touch, they were powerless against whatever had taken hold of her. How many times had that been the case? Before they'd learned magic was real—too damn many. After their engagement, not so much. But now, as she slipped beneath the purple-cupcake arch, he felt more helpless than he had his whole fucking life.
The wedding guests had gathered outside the ceremony area, in front of the dogwood trees. They were throwing rice into the darkening sky as Donna and Eric ran, hand-in-hand, toward their ride—not the Vista Cruiser but a horse and carriage. The sight settled a giddy haze over Donna's mind. Eric was supposed to take her to a hotel for their wedding night. They were supposed to drive cross-country for their honeymoon. But as he helped her into the carriage, she noticed their luggage had been loaded onto one of the plush velvet seats.
"You changed your mind?" she said, but he only smiled and sat next to her.
The driver flicked the reins, and the carriage pulled steadily away from Mt. Hump's Wedding Garden. Family and friends shouted good tidings while she and Eric waved back. The day couldn't have been more perfect, despite the bumps. Wrong flowers, a crazy friend's inappropriate outbursts—they took nothing away because she and Eric hadn't let them.
Her hand cupped Eric's knee, and his arm slid around her shoulders. They were together now. Their lives were together, and she'd fight with everything she had to keep it that way.
The carriage crested a small hill, and soon it followed a curved path down the mountain. She and Eric were kissing passionately now, stopping only to exclaim, "I can't believe we're married!"
They eventually reached Mt. Hump Park at the foot of the mountain. The trees were thick here but familiar. She knew where they were headed, had known from the moment she saw the carriage. She pulled away from Eric's kiss and tenderly stroked his cheeks. His face was very much a man's now, but the little boy she first met still resided there, strangely smitten by the girl who'd shoved him off the hippity-hop.
"We're going through the mirror," she said, "to Cinderella's castle?"
Eric glanced down, the way he did when he was uncomfortable. But his hands caressed her waist, and he said, "I just want you to have the honeymoon you want."
"It's gonna be good for us, Eric. And for you."
"Yeah."
The carriage passed into a denser part of the woods then came to a stop. Two men approached them, dressed in the same black suit as their driver. The gold brocade lining the front flaps gave them away as Fez's attendants.
"Sir?" one of the attendants said. He helped Eric from the carriage, and Eric helped Donna. The other attendant, meanwhile, grabbed the two suitcases.
The four of them moved toward an oval blur wavering among the trees, the Traveling mirror. It would bring them back to the Nine Kingdoms, to a world where magic was very real. Donna grasped Eric's hand. Her heart was beating thunderously, both from excitement and nerves. They'd almost lost their lives through that mirror, but Eric was still partially over there. Her only hope of reclaiming him was to go back.
"Ready?" he said, and she nodded.
They stepped forward into the blur. Her grip on Eric remained tight as the mirror enveloped them in a viscous darkness. She heard nothing, saw nothing until the mirror spat them out into a chamber of Fez's castle.
Several more attendants were waiting for them, along with more than a few guards in white uniforms. The vaulted chamber was brightly lit with torches and looked nothing like the dank room where Laurie had kept the mirror.
"On behalf of King Fez, welcome to the Fourth Kingdom!" one of the attendants said. A silver snowflake was pinned to his lapel, and he bounced on his heels, as if he were excited to see them. "We have a coach waiting to bring you to Cinderella's castle."
"Thank you," Eric and Donna said together.
"My name is Aubrey," the attendant continued. Torchlight flickered over his closely-shorn red hair. He was almost too pretty to be a man. He had high cheekbones and smooth skin, and his voice was somewhat feminine, but Donna had no problem with any of that. "If you need any assistance once you're in the First Kingdom, just send a letter by messenger—though I'm sure you won't have any problems over there."
"Thank you," Eric and Donna both said again. Eric's voice caught as he spoke, and she pulled him closer to her. He seemed as anxious as she'd begun to feel.
She peeked back at the mirror. The attendants carrying their luggage had arrived through it, but maybe coming here hadn't been such a good idea. According to Fez, the Troll King's children now ruled the Third Kingdom. Who knew what grudges they held? Eric and Donna could be on their Most Wanted list.
"Eric," she whispered, "I think we should—"
"All right," Aubrey clapped his hands together, and the sound echoed loudly against the stone walls, "shall we get you on your way?"
"Absolutely," Eric said. All traces of anxiety were gone from him. His voice was solid, and his hand wasn't sweaty. He seemed okay with being here, and that thought calmed Donna greatly.
She pecked him on the lips, which made several attendants cover their hearts. One of the guards even shouted, "Let's hear it for two of our kingdom's greatest heroes!" and the chamber erupted in applause.
Donna's face flushed, and Eric stared down at the flagstone floor. Fez's people clearly hadn't forgotten their deeds, and as Aubrey led them from the chamber, attendant and guard alike cheered, "Happily ever after! Happily ever after!"
Betsy cried as Kelso finished strapping her into the car seat. Her little cheeks were red from the effort, and he gave her as much of a hug as he could in the car. Man, goodbyes were always the worst. Especially when saying, "Hello," again would take a while.
He withdrew from the hug, and her small fingers grasped at his arms. He could have crawled into the backseat beside her, let Brooke drive them both to the Formans', and spent another night in Point Place. But he had his duty. Not only did his best friend count on him, but a whole freaking kingdom.
"Daddy!" Betsy said between sobs.
The magic teddy bear was beside the car seat. "I'm sorry, munchkin," he said and grabbed the bear. He placed it on her lap. "I'll get back as soon as I can."
She squeezed the bear tightly, burying her face in its fur. Glittering red and pink hearts floated to the car's ceiling.
"Michael..." A soft hand glided over his shoulder. He turned around to see Brooke standing there. "It's better if we do this quickly," she said.
The parking lot was packed with wedding guests, but they might as well have not been there. Those damn butterflies had returned, battering Kelso's skull with their stupid wings.
"Oh. Right." He turned back to Betsy and left a kiss on her wet cheek. "I love you."
"I..." sniffle, "love you..." sniffle, "Daddy."
He stepped away as Brooke closed the car door. He expected her to give him a polite touch on the arm before driving off, but she enclosed him in a hug. Her face settled in beside his, and her breasts pushed against his chest—which should've been hot 'cause she had some great knockers, but it only made him sadder.
"Be careful over there, Sir Kelso," she whispered. "We'll miss you."
He took a few seconds before answering. The butterflies were in his throat. "Me, too."
Her eyes were wet when she released him, and he didn't understand why. But she didn't mention it, just got into the driver's seat of her car. She drove Betsy out of the parking lot, and the butterflies sank to his stomach. They butted up against his belly and toward the car, like they wanted to follow his daughter and his—well, Brooke wasn't his anything,really. Except the mother of his kid. So why did it feel like she'd carved out a piece of him this week and run off with it?
The Forman and Pinciotti relatives were mingling in the parking lot, taking their sweet time to get inside their cars. Kelso's gaze lingered on some of the skankier ones, like Eric's cousin Penny, and then he spotted Fez. Kelso gestured at him, and Fez gave a thumbs-up, and they met on the pathway between the parking lot and ceremony area.
"We've got our work cut out for us, my friend," Fez said. "I'm only sorry we didn't bring greaves with us. Our shins need protection."
Kelso chuckled even though it really wasn't funny. He and Fez were already up to their necks in responsibility, what with Queen Gretel's death and all. But now they had their friends to worry about, too. "Yeah, we're about to get a lot of grief, aren't we?"
"A whole beautiful buttload."
"Then we should've brought ass-guards, though Jackie's never kicked me in the ass."
Fez bent down and picked up a pebble. He tossed it into the air. "But strange things are afoot," he said, catching the pebble then tossing it again, "so her foot might just land there."
"That's true." Kelso snatched the pebble before Fez caught it. One side was relatively plain and gray. The other was mottled brown. "Gray, you have to tell her. Brown, I do."
He threw the pebble toward the sky, but Fez grabbed it. "No," Fez said. "I will tell her, but you will be my ass guard."
"Oh." Kelso batted the pebble out of Fez's hand. "Sounds fair."
The sky was growing darker, but night was still far off. Birds warbled in the surrounding trees. Some pecked at the rice left behind in Eric and Donna's wake, and Jackie hoped their stomachs exploded. She was sitting on an outcrop about thirty feet from ceremony area. Stone paths wound around her, one leading to the parking lot and the other into the woods. Silent sobs wracked her body. She didn't want anyone to hear her, but her dress had grown so tight she could barely breathe.
Storm clouds were crowding her brain, too. They pressed her thoughts against her skull. Fainting was a definite possibility if she didn't stop crying, but Steven's pained voice had crushed her worse than the dress. She hadn't seen him since their talk. Her behavior toward him baffled her, horrified her, especially since he'd responded with tenderness.
Tears fell onto the cold rock of the outcrop, made dark spots in the gray. She swept a hand over her chest. The warmth Steven had left there remained. She could finally feel it inside her, feel him.
"Oh, God," she whispered. Instead of sharp, jabbing knuckles, his soft palm had covered her heart—lovingly, protectively. That was who she knew him to be, who she carried with her. Relief cut through her tears as the clouds in her mind thinned. Yes, she carried him with her. He'd never left.
She pushed herself off the outcrop. She had to find him, to apologize before she fainted. Standing, though, made breathing easier. So did not crying. She headed for one of the stone paths, air filling her lungs and sweeping the haze from her head. Her mind was finally clear, but now she found walking more difficult—as if she were hefting a heavy backpack. She kept her attention forward, refusing to look down at herself. If her bloat had grown worse, knowing would only break her down again.
"Jackie!" someone shouted to her left. Fez and Kelso were dashing toward her from the parking lot. They looked like characters from a botard version of The Three Musketeers. Men in tuxedos shouldn't have rapiers slung at their sides. Worse, they each made a strange face once they reached her.
Michael spoke to Fez from the side of his mouth. "Dude, you were totally ri—"
Fez elbowed him in the stomach, and Michael coughed. She tried to move past them, but they blocked her way.
"Jackie," Fez grasped her hand, "you must come with us."
"Where?"
"Through the mirror."
"What?" She yanked her hand from him. "No. I promised Steven I'd never go back."
"You have to. Your destiny with Hyde may be at stake."
She froze, but her heart was pumping furiously. "My destiny? We have a destiny? We're destined?" A bout of dizziness took her over, and she cupped her forehead. Her breath must have sped up, too. "Oh, thank God. I've been so, so worried about that because I've been feeling weird lately and—"
Fez took her arm this time. "Enough talk, woman! It's at stake. Do you know what that means?"
She paused a moment, and her heart slammed against her ribs. "No..."
"It means it's in trouble," Michael said.
"I know that."
Michael narrowed his eyes. "Well, if you know, then why are you acting like you don't know?"
"Jackie," Fez said, subtly guiding her down the stone path, "we must tell you something, but we cannot do it here. Please, come to my kingdom."
She shut her eyes against her growing dizziness. Breathing had definitely become harder again. "Fez—"
"We'll have you back before nightfall—but you and Hyde both might want to return after what I have to tell you."
Her eyes popped open, and she clutched Fez's shoulders. "What is it? Tell me right now."
"Not here. It's not safe."
"Ugh. Fine. But I'm only giving you five minutes. If you can't explain it within that time frame, I'm going back home."
"Deal," Fez said.
In silence, they made their way out of Mt. Hump's Wedding Garden. A man was waiting for them in a stretch of grass by the road. He wore a black suit with gold brocade accents, and the reins of three horses were in his hands. He had to be one of Fez's attendants, and the horses were probably "borrowed" from Mt. Hump Stables.
"M'lady," the attendant said, "shall I assist you in mounting your steed?"
Jackie arched an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Fastest way to get down the mountain without a car," Kelso said and laughed. "Remember that summer you got back from horseback riding camp, and you tried out some new moves on m—"
"Michael!" she shouted, but the effort almost made her collapse. Her legs were shaking. "This dress..." she tugged on the bodice, "I can't ride in it."
Fez clapped his hands once. "Ancel, your pants and shirt, please."
"Yes, Your Highness." The attendant stripped down to his undergarments and handed his shirt and pants to Fez. Then he put his suit jacket back on.
"Kelso, Ancel, close your eyes while the lady dresses," Fez said, keeping his own eyes open.
"You, too, Fez!" Jackie said. She snatched the attendant's clothes from him and walked to the front of the horses. With their wide, brown bodies blocking her, she pushed her dress to her knees. Her own eyes were shut—she didn't want to see herself—and she stepped free of the dress. It truly was freedom. That puke-green material had squeezed her far too long.
Once the attendant's clothes were on her body, she returned to Fez and Michael's side The horses whinnied and whickered, stamped their hooves on the ground. High-heeled shoes weren't ideal for stirrups, and she didn't trust herself right now to control the reins properly.
"Fez, I'll have to ride with you," she said and thrust a finger into his face. "Do not grind into my back because king or no king, I'll make sure Steven kills you."
Fez tugged at his collar and swallowed. "Ai..."
Less than ten minutes later, they were down the mountain and in a familiar patch of woods. An oblong shadow obscured the branches of a large maple, and Jackie gripped Michael's arm. It was the Traveling mirror.
"My destiny with Steven is really at stake?" she said.
"Big time," Michael said.
Her throat tightened, and she glanced at her engagement ring. All the adventures she'd had in the Nine Kingdoms—as frightening as they were—brought Steven back to her. If protecting their love meant returning through the mirror, it was worth the risk.
"Thank you, Ancel," Fez said behind her. The attendant had ridden with them in his underwear, and now he rode off with the other two horses in tow.
"Fez, you go first," Michael said, gesturing to the wavering shadow. "You never know who could be skulking in these woods."
Fez nodded. Then he ran toward the mirror and jumped. The shadow swallowed him up, but Jackie was more fascinated by Michael's demeanor. His body was tense, as if ready for a fight. His eyes weren't darting around. Instead they were focused, as if his senses were on high alert. And his words to Fez had been serious. Michael was serious, so unlike the wild teenager she'd dated—and then his hand slid to her butt and grabbed it.
"Hey, you've finally got an ass now," he said. "Hyde's gonna love that."
"What?" she shrieked, but her question went unanswered. Michael had yanked her forward, and she clung to him as they passed into the mirror.
