Free My Epic Fairy Tale Fail by Anna Staniszewski

here?” said Trish. “If Sir Knight completed the task, shouldn’t he have taken it with him?”
    â€œIlda returns the object here if the person fails to complete the three tasks.” Irwin’s shoulders sagged, and suddenly he looked like a lost little kid instead of a flesh-eating troll. “So I guess you’ll be leaving me, then?”
    I nodded. “We have to go do the second task.”
    He let out a long sigh. “I understand. It’s just…it gets a bit lonely here. Back when there was still magic, I could transport myself to different parts of the land to see my friends. But now the magic is almost gone, and they’re all such a long way off.”
    â€œIf you hate that the magic is disappearing, then why are you helping Ilda?” said Trish.
    Irwin shook his head. “I’m a troll. Guarding is in my nature. When someone gives me an object, I have no choice.”
    He looked so genuinely sad that I couldn’t help reaching out and giving his giant blue leg a squeeze. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll get rid of Ilda and bring the magic back. I promise.” It occurred to me how many times I’d made that same promise since I’d arrived in the Land of Tales. Apparently, I liked putting even more pressure on myself.
    Irwin picked up his club and hugged it to his chest. “I wish I could believe that, but I’m afraid my land is doomed. Still, I hope you succeed.”
    â€œWhere there’s a will, there’s a way,” I said. I barely cringed anymore when cheesy sayings came out of my mouth, but I could practically hear Trish and Melissa rolling their eyes.
    â€œVery true,” Irwin replied like I’d said something unbelievably wise. At least he looked a little less deflated than he had before.
    I tucked the spray bottle in my bag—careful not to squish Leonard, who was still sleeping soundly—and we waved good-bye to Irwin before heading back the way we’d come.
    â€œThat was great,” said Melissa. “I could do it all over again!”
    It took me a second to realize that she was being serious. “Are you crazy? We almost got turned into troll food!”
    â€œI know,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “It was so exciting. Way better than sitting in school all day.” She started singing softly to herself, putting the troll’s riddle to music.
    â€œHow do you deal with being back in our boring old world, Jenny?” said Trish. “This place is amazing. I thought it would be like living in a fairy tale, but it’s even better than that.”
    Now Melissa was humming a different tune under her breath and composing a song about our adventure. I swore I heard her trying to rhyme the words “troll” and “boulder” with each other.
    I couldn’t believe it. Did my friends not realize we’d almost been goners? Maybe there was a reason normal people weren’t allowed to go on these kinds of adventures.
    As we climbed over a fallen tree, I stopped in my tracks. The feeling was back, that prickle along my spine that made me think we were being watched.
    â€œJenny, are you okay?” said Trish, turning to look at me.
    For a second, I considered telling my friends the truth, but then I had a way-too-vivid image of Melissa running through the woods, excited to greet our potential stalker with a tune. Keeping my mouth shut was probably safer, at least for now.
    â€œI’m fine. Let’s go.” I tried to make my voice light, but inside I felt anything but. There was no question now; we were definitely being followed.

Chapter Fourteen
    The farther we were from Irwin’s cave, the less freaked out I got. Whoever was following us clearly didn’t want to hurt us, at least not right now. Otherwise, they would have already tried. Most likely, Ilda or one of her spies was keeping tabs on us. The only thing I was sure of was that