Free My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending by Anna Staniszewski

fairy.
    Finally, we rounded a sharp corner and crash-landed onto a mattress that was tucked behind what looked like an oversized air-conditioner.
    I staggered to my feet and smoothed down my gown, feeling like I’d just been sucked through a tornado. “How come you have to take the tunnels at all?” I asked. “Can’t you just use your magic to transport yourself around the kingdom?”
    â€œNo,” he said flatly. “I cannot.”
    I wondered if I’d stumbled on yet another touchy subject. Apparently, everyone in Fairy Land had tons of them.
    Luken quietly shut a panel in the wall. “The panels that lead to the tunnels are the same throughout the palace,” he whispered. “They blend in easily with their surroundings, but once you know their size and shape, they are simple to find.”
    â€œThanks,” I said, hoping I’d never have to locate one of the panels on my own. Luken could claim they were easy to find, but I could barely see the door even though I knew exactly where it was. “Where are we?” The air in the tunnel was so damp that it smelled like seaweed.
    â€œDeep under the palace,” said Luken, “in a system of passageways left over from the days when this land was a theme park. They have all since been sealed off, but the fairies once used them to go between attractions without being seen by the public.”
    â€œOh, like at Disney World,” I said. “I heard that’s how they keep people from seeing Mickey wandering around without his head on.” I smiled, thinking of how terrified Anthony had been of the troll in the headless troll costume.
    Luken stopped and, not surprisingly, pulled out his sketchbook. I was willing to bet whatever ride he was drawing, it had to do with headless creatures.
    Sure enough, when he shyly showed me the drawing after he was done, it looked a lot like the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney. Except that in Luken’s version, all the little kids were headless. It was totally creepy.
    â€œThis is, um, interesting and all, but didn’t you say we have a meeting to get to?” I asked.
    â€œRight.” He put away his sketch pad and waved me down a corridor that felt especially damp. I held up my dress to keep from getting slimy water all over the hem. Why, look at that. I was turning into a real lady.
    â€œSo,” I said, finally asking the question that had been hanging in the air between us ever since he’d appeared in my room, “why didn’t you tell me Mahlia was your mother?”
    He sighed. “I knew you would not trust me if I told you her identity.”
    â€œIt’s not that. But it does kind of change things, you know? I mean, how can I be sure you won’t take her side?”
    â€œBecause she is wrong!” he cried. “My mother has turned her back on everything my father believed in. He used our ability to see into people’s dreams to help make Fairy Land the most amazing theme park in the magical worlds. And now all that is gone.”
    â€œWait. Fairies can see into people’s dreams?” Honestly, the idea didn’t really surprise me. After all, the dreams I’d been having the past couple of days had clued me in that something strange was going on.
    Luken sighed. “I should not have told you that.” Then he hurried his steps so that I had to run to keep up with his long legs.

Chapter Sixteen
    We wove our way through the tunnels, passing pieces of old rides and sections of faded theater sets until finally we came to a ladder that ran along the mossy wall. Luken went first and then helped pull me through a manhole. We emerged into the night air behind a bakery that could have been right out of a storybook. This had to be the Magical Village.
    We tiptoed down one shadowy alley after another, until Luken stopped behind a small cobbler’s shop and knocked on the door. Instantly, the door flew open,