When MK got back to her hotel room, she tried to slow down her racing heart and stop the tears from trickling down her cheeks, Heather seemed to know exactly what to say. After she had calmed down enough, she took out everything she had written down and added what she had just learned. Everything she had, the pictures from Jason's house, the boxes of info at town hall, the not-so-straight stories, and now the newspapers, the first one being around the time of her birth. It was all pointing to something, MK had a feeling of what that thing was, but she didn't feel like she was ready to accept it. But no matter where the clues led, she would have to, sooner or later. accept the truth. She just didn't want to, not yet, she wanted one more piece of evidence, just one, and then she would truly believe everything Jamie had told her, even though she was starting to accept that the evidence all pointed to that. She heaved a sigh, she would have to ask for the book now, so she could read the whole thing. She shook her head, Jamie would be thrilled, that's for sure, and Mavis probably wouldn't be. She sighed as she looked over the four fairy tales she had printed out. She put three of them down, and just slowly absorbed Fairer-than-a-Fairy. Was this her fairy tale?
"After many childless years, a king had a daughter so beautiful that he named her 'Fairer-than-a-Fairy'. This enraged the fairies, who resolved to kidnap her. They entrusted this to the oldest fairy, Lagrée, who had only one eye and one tooth left and could preserve those only by soaking them in a magical liquid at night. She kidnapped the seven-year-old princess, whose cat and dog followed her, and brought her to a castle, where she had a pretty room but was charged to never let a fire go out and to take care of two glass bottles.
One day, while she wandered in the garden, sunlight struck a fountain, and she heard a voice telling her that he was a prince held prisoner here, and he had fallen in love with her; he could speak only in the form of a rainbow, when sunlight shone on that fountain. They talked when they could, which one day led to her allowing the fire to go out. Lagrée, delighted, ordered Fairer-than-a-Fairy to get a new fire from Locrinos, a cruel monster that ate whoever it found, especially young girls. On the way, a bird told her to pick up a shining pebble, and she did. She reached Locrinos's house; only his wife was home, and she was impressed by her manners and beauty, and still more by the stone, and so she gave her the fire and another stone.
The princess was able to meet her lover again, and they devised a way, by putting a crystal bowl on her windowsill, that they could meet more readily. One day, the prince appeared, woeful; he had just learned that his prison was to be changed. The next day, it was cloudy all day until the very end. In her haste to reach him, Fairer-than-a-Fairy upset the bowl. Rather than lose the chance to speak with him, she filled it with the water from the two bottles. Then she set out with her dog and cat, a sprig of myrtle, and the stone Locrinos's wife had given her. Lagrée followed her. When Fairer-than-a-Fairy slept in the shelter that the stone made, Lagrée caught up, but the dog bit her, making her fall and break her last tooth. While she raged, Fairer-than-a-Fairy escaped and went on. She slept under a myrtle that sprang up from the sprig, and when Lagrée reached her, the cat scratched her eye out, making the fairy helpless against her.
Fairer-than-a-Fairy went on. Each night, for three nights, she found a green and white house, where a woman in green and white gave her a nut, a golden pomegranate, and a crystal smelling-bottle, to open at her greatest need. After that, she came to a silver castle, without doors or windows, suspended by silver chains from trees. She wanted to get into it and cracked the nut. She found in it a tiny hall porter, with a key. She climbed one of the chains and the porter let her in a secret door. She found the Rainbow Prince there, asleep. She told her story, twenty times, loudly, without waking him. She opened the pomegranate, where violins flew out of the seeds and began to play, waking him, but not entirely. Fairer-than-a-Fairy opened the bottle, where a syren flew out and told him his lady's story, rousing him. The castle walls opened up, and a court assembled about them, with the prince's mother, who informed him that his father was dead and he was now king. The three green and white ladies appeared and revealed Fairer-than-a-Fairy's royal birth, the wedding followed not long after."
MK read and reread the story over and and over again, the fairy tale becoming more and more dear to her after each reading. Maybe Jamie's father needed to be woken up. She gave a bitter laugh, but paused, what if her fairy tale was only similar to Fairer-than-a-Fairy, but not completely like it? The fairy tales she had read in A Faraway Land were certainly nothing like the fairy tales she had known, or what could be found on Wikipedia. Could it be? She shook her head, she still needed one final clue, one final piece that would leave no doubt in her mind that Jamie was telling the truth, and everything in A Faraway Land was real. She took a quick glance over the other three fairy tales before leaving to pick up Jamie.
"So, did you find anything interesting?" Jamie asked the instant he got into the car.
"Yeah, I've found several fairy tales, and not just from Europe, but all over the world! Did you know that, in Japan, there was this boy who was born from a peach?"
"Whoa, that's cool! We should check out more fairy tales from all over the world!"
"You should, there's even an African deity called Ananse who's a spider, and he spins stories. He likes playing pranks too, but the people love him since he brings wisdom and stories to us humans from the land of the gods."
"Hey! A spider who's not a bad guy! And no, Spider-man doesn't count."
MK laughed, "Oh, alright, but there is a lot out there, and there's probably more than haven't been discovered yet, even in Europe. They found a vault full of fairy tales in Germany not too long ago, in fact."
"Oh wow, I'll have to look into that!"
"You might want to wait a while though, kid, they haven't released the stories yet, which makes me wonder if that story is actually true. I only saw a headline while I was looking up fairy tales, I didn't actually read the article."
"Well, we can do that later, I want to see what you've decided on."
"Actually, I think I've narrowed it down to one."
"That fast?"
"Yeah, it's, well, you'll see when you read it." Jamie glanced at his mother questioningly, but patiently held his tongue and his curiosity in check until they had reached the hotel. MK showed him all four fairy tales, suggesting that he read Fairer-than-a-Fairy first.
After he had finished reading it, he glanced at his mother, "Why this one?"
MK let out a soft sigh, "Because I kept going back to that one. It's hard to explain, it was, it was almost like I had this connection to it. Call me crazy, but that's the best way I can explain it."
"You're not crazy, a bit different, but definitely not crazy," Jamie reassured her.
"Thanks kid," she stated, ruffling his hair. His eyes turned back to the fairy tale, glowing with hope. "So, do you want to dress up as the dog, the cat, or Prince Rainbow."
"Um, definitely not Prince Rainbow, dad should have that. And I'm not sure if I want to be an animal. What about these other ones?"
"Well, I thought of a couple of friends of mine for two of them, the third one was rather interesting." Jamie read through them quickly.
"Huh, those are interesting, and pretty unique. None of the other fairy tales I know have any similarities to these."
"And those aren't the only ones, I took notes about the other ones that were prety unique as well." She showed him her notes, his eyes widened at one, and a grin formed on his face.
"Wow, these are all great, mom! I think I have an idea of what to do."
"Oh? What?" asked MK, glancing at the list over his shoulder.
"Can I keep it a surprise? Please?"
MK sighed, "Oh, alright, fine. Let's get some more of your homework done before we meet the others at the Goodie Tree, alright?"
"Alright." Jamie turned to his homework, MK helping wherever needed to get it done faster. When they got to the Goodie Tree, Sarah May, Jack, and Richard were already there, chatting away. MK noticed with a hint of concern and a twinge of hope how close Richard and Sarah May were as Jamie bounced into the seat next to Jack, MK squeezing in next to him.
"What?" asked MK when she noticed the big grin on Jack's face.
"Oh, just thinking. If our little pow-wow here gets turned into a real group, we're going to have to do the most horrible thing ever and sit at a real table."
Jamie snickered, "That's fine, I'd like to have a seat all to myself without fear of being squashed by you or mom."
"What? Like we'd ever squash this little insect."
"Hey! I am growing, I'm about ready to lose another tooth! Just wait and see, I'll probably end up taller than you."
"Ha! Don't bet on it, you'll probably remain a little insect for the rest of your life."
"Who knows, he could end up as big as me," grinned Richard.
Jack shot him a glare, "Yeah, nice try, Master Chief." MK blinked with surprise as she glanced between the two men, why did that seem so familiar? Jamie was just grinning from ear to ear. Before either one could say another word, Ellen stepped in to take orders. The group gave her their orders before returning to their conversation after she had left.
"So, I hear the Halloween party at the hospital is just a blast," began Richard.
Sarah May chuckled, "Yup, you woke up just in time for that. The whole staff dresses up as monsters, vampires, witches, werewolves, and whatnot. The ball is held there after the trick-or-treating, so, basically, you start at the shops on Bear Valley Drive and work your way to the hospital."
"And it's one of the few nights where we kids can stay up all night long, and can sleep in the next day!"
"Oh? No school the day after Halloween?" Sarah May and Jamie shook their heads.
"Nope, not even for November 2nd, either."
"And when Halloween is on a Wednesday or a Sunday, it's like we get a five day weekend!" cheered Jamie.
"Yup, and my shop gets filled with kids wanting to look at everything."
"Huh, why?"
"Because that's when Mr. Overland pulls out all the weapons and the other old stuff."
"Weapons?" Richard cast Jack a sideways glance, his eyebrow raised.
Jack nodded, "Yup, maybe you should come over and take a look at them, I think I have just the piece to complete your costume." He grinned and gave Richard a wink.
"OK, I think I shall. How does Monday sound?"
"Monday sounds great." Ellen arrived with a cart of plates, and served the group. After a chorus of "Thanks Ellen!", the group dove in. MK noticed Jamie whispering something in Jack's ear as Sarah May explained the etiquette of the ball.
"Dude, that is so awesome!"
"What is?" asked MK.
"His idea for a costume."
"What is it?"
"Hey, he wants it to be a surprise, and I'm not one to spoil the fun, alright?"
"Oh fine," sighed Sarah May, rolling her eyes. The topic went back to Halloween preparations, and they went from there until it was time to leave, Jack taking Richard back to the hospital and MK taking Jamie back home. When MK returned to her hotel room, she noticed she had received an email while at dinner. It was from the police department of Burgess, Maine. "Miss Bomba," it read, "we cannot continue with the investigation of the fire based on your inability to accept the facts in front of you. We are marking this case as solved and are closing it for good. We regret that your boyfriend was killed in the fire, but there is nothing more we can do about it. Please accept this and move on, there is no other way. I wish you the best of luck and the best of wishes, With regards, Thomas Nettles, Police Chief of Burgess, Maine." MK laid down on her bed, tears streaming down her face, how could she find him now?
Richard walked into Overland's Antiques and Oddities first thing Monday morning. Jack took him into the back, and gave him his sword. Richard picked up the sword and ignited it, swinging it around for old times' sake before putting out the fire and returning it to the sheath.
"Good thing I decided to come today, Doc says I'm fine enough to finish recovery at home."
"What, does that mean you can't get out more?"
"More like get back to work, you lazy bones."
Jack snickered, "Oh."
Richard rolled his eyes, "Do you know where the dragons are?"
"Haven't been able to look, but I have an idea of where they could be. Probably the only place they could be hidden effectively, under the town."
"Under the town?"
Jack nodded, "All sedated, until the spell breaks, probably."
"Great, so now we have to figure out a way for the dragons to get top-side without destroying the whole town. Maivs really isn't making this easy."
"Did you expect her to really think this through?"
"That's the thing about my mother, she doesn't think anything through," stated a female voice. A brunette walked into the back.
"Heather! Didn't hear you come in," said Jack as he waved her forward.
"You remember?"
Heather nodded, "So glad that the both of you do as well. Ready for another one?" she pulled out a vial that glittered a gold green.
Jack gasped, "They did it. How?"
"They needed something from Tooth, Sandman had a few of her feathers on hand, and it seems to work. We just need a volunteer."
"Um, are they sure this will work?"
Heather shrugged, "We don't know yet, that's why we need a volunteer."
"Um, what about side effects?"
Heather sighed, "Hiccup, either it works or it doesn't, there are no side effects. But . . ." she paused, a grin spreading on her face as she glanced at Hiccup, "I think I know who to test this on."