Chapter 41

This is the tale of a young witch who ends up in the care of a king.

Her mother’s hands, shaking with fear, cradle her small face. She’s only ten, but she understands that her mother is terrified.

Just like she is when she wakes up from nightmares about her father. In the darkness, her mother’s red hair is the only thing she can see.

Our hair is so beautiful. I’m glad I have red in my hair too, all the boys seem to like it.

“Listen to me carefully, sweetheart.” I nod at my mom, knowing this is serious.

“You know about the secret passage under our house, right? I need you to crawl in there and keep going until you see light, okay?” I can feel my own body start to shake.

“Aren’t you coming, mom?” She kisses my head in response.

“I can’t, sweetheart. Promise me, Laura. Promise me you’ll run. You’re strong and you’ll stay strong, okay? We’ll see each other again someday. But I need you to be brave, sweetheart.”

Tears start to fall, but I nod. I don’t want to leave mom behind, but I made a promise.

Mom always says a promise is a promise and anyone who breaks their promise is a bad person.

She places a piece of paper in my hand. I look at it, but it’s too dark to read the words.

“When you get to the light, run to the forest and climb a tree. This is a spell to change your hair color. You can choose any color—pink, blue, blonde—but not red. Do you understand, sweetheart? Not red.”

The door to our shop bursts open with a loud bang. Mom kisses my head again and pushes me towards the secret passage in the floor.

“I love you, sweetheart. Always and forever. Run, Laura! Run as fast as you can and never look back.” Before I can tell her I love her too, she’s gone.

I lower myself into the crawl space and start moving as fast as I can.

I can hear mom scream, but I keep going. I crawl as fast as I can until all the sounds fade away.

It’s dark and cold in here. My head sometimes hits the low parts of the tunnel. It hurts.

I clutch the paper with the spell tightly in my hand. I’m getting more and more tired, but I keep going.

Finally, after what feels like forever, I see light. It stings my eyes, but I don’t close them.

Sweat drips from my forehead when I finally reach the end and crawl out.

When I stand up, I look around. I recognize this place!

It’s the other side of the village, near the forest. I start running towards the trees when I hear a horse approaching from behind.

I try to run faster, but the horse catches up to me. I look up at the man on the horse.

Tears stream down my face in fear. The man on the horse is wearing a beautiful crown.

What did mom say about kings and queens? They wear beautiful crowns everywhere they go, and if we ever see one we need to bow.

I quickly bow before looking up at the king again.

“Where are you going, little one?” I glance at the trees behind him, then back at him.

Mom said never to look back. Was that a secret? Can I tell the king? I don’t think mom would like that.

“I’m... playing in the forest... sir.” He looks at me the way mom does when I’m not telling the truth. I can feel my face turn red and quickly look down at my feet.

“What’s your name, little girl?” I keep my head down as I answer him.

“Laura, sir... king...” This man makes me nervous. Mom never really told me how to talk to a king. I never thought I’d have to talk to a king. Maybe one day I’ll be a princess.

“Where’s your mother, dear?” I can feel a wave of sadness welling up in my throat. I take a few deep breaths to keep from crying.

I don’t know how to talk to a king, but I know mom wouldn’t want me to cry in front of him like a baby.

“She’s at home.” I hate how my voice comes out as a whisper. I straighten my back a little and lift my head again.

“Can you show me where you live?” I nod at the king.

He extends a hand, which confuses me. I reach out to shake it, but he lifts me up and sets me in front of him on the horse.

It’s really high up, but the horse is so soft. I’ll have to tell mom I want a horse too!

The horse slowly carries us back to our house.

I hope mom won’t be mad, she told me to run. I look up at the sky.

I don’t see any storms, so why was I running? The king dismounts once we reach the house.

He helps me down and I step in front of him to lead the way into the shop.

From the shop, you can get into the house, unless you use the secret passage, of course.

The door to the shop is broken, which makes my heart race.

I loved that door, mom let me paint it any color I wanted.

Now the red door is broken on the floor, along with a lot of the other stuff in the shop.

I rush through the door that leads to our house. The entire floor is red and mom is lying in the middle of it.

She doesn’t look like mom. She looks pale and covered in blood.

I fall next to her body, screaming and crying. I can feel two strong arms wrap around me.

I kick and scream.

“Mom! Mom, wake up! Mom, it’s me. Wake up! Mom, I’m sorry I didn’t run! Wake up!”

I’m dragged outside. When the arms let go of me, I try to run back in, but a large hand grabs my arm and turns me around. The king looks at me with sad eyes.

“Your mom can’t hear you. Someone hurt her. She’s in heaven now.” I cry, not wanting to believe it. But a king wouldn’t lie, would he?

“Laura, someone will want to hurt you too. But I can protect you. You can do magic, right?” I nod, still crying.

Mom’s gone. She’s not coming back. Ever. What am I supposed to do now? Is the king really going to keep me safe from the bad guy?

“I have a magic spell,” he says. “It’ll tie you to me. Kings are tough to kill, and once you’re tied to me, you’ll be tough to kill too. You’ll get to live in a castle with me. Forever. How does that sound?”

I nod my head fast. If I live in a castle, that means I’ll be a princess!

“I need to make a small cut on your hand and on mine. Our blood has to mix. Can you be brave for me?” I hold out my hand to the king.

If a little blood means I get to live in a castle, he can have it. The cut stings a bit. The king places his bleeding hand in mine.

“Now, repeat after me, little one. Let your magic loose and say ‘Promittam tibi sanguine.’” I echo the king’s words.

Magic buzzes all over my body. The king stands up with a smile.

“Let’s head to the castle.” I follow the king right away, even though part of me wants to see mom one last time.