Free Reawakened: A Once Upon a Time Tale by Odette Beane Page A

conscious, he’s disoriented and panicked. So no. He’s not okay. He needs to be back here immediately. I don’t want to speculate on what could happen to him.”
    “Then find him,” Regina said, taking Henry’s hand. “This is not a place for you,” she said to him. “Let’s go. I don’t want you hanging out with that woman.”
    Protesting with his eyes, Henry looked at Emma knowingly before being dragged away. She knew what was in his head. Go find him, he was saying to her.
    • • •
    An hour more into their walk, Snow slowed her pace, then stopped the Prince with a hand on his arm. “Okay,” she said, peering toward the bridge. “We’re here. We gotta be careful.”
    “Careful of trolls?” he said. “Are you joking?”
    “Have you ever met a troll?”
    The Prince looked back at her.
    “So we gotta be careful,” she repeated, and then led him out to the old stone bridge.
    She hated trolls, but they weren’t the worst business partners. They always had gold and always seemed willing to buy her stolen goods. Her heart beating a little faster than before, Snow steadied herself, took a breath, and together she and Charming walked out to the middle of the bridge.
    Seeing her looking at him, he smiled at her.
    She found herself a bit disarmed by it, actually.
    “What?” she said.
    “What now?” he said, going to the edge, looking down. “Do we make troll noises?”
    “No,” she said, reaching for her purse. “We knock on their door.”
    She stepped across the mossy stone and set a half-dozen gold coins on the ledge of the bridge. “Step back,” she said, and the Prince obeyed.
    They heard the scrabbling first. She had seen the trolls climbing the great support structure of the bridge, and she didn’t care to see it again. They were like spiders, only uglier. They lived down below, in what she imagined was squalor. She shivered, imagining it. God forbid she ever found herself down in such a place.
    Charming, a querulous look on his face as they listened, said, “So are they—”
    The leader of the trolls was the first to burst up over the side. Lean, shambling, coated in moss and dirt, he pulled himself over the edge and straightened up, all eight feet of him. Snow touched Charming’s hand, which he’d moved to the hilt of his sword, and shook her head. He looked at her, and let it drop.
    “Not very charismatic, are they?” Charming muttered.
    “Who in God’s name is this?” boomed the head troll, pointing at Charming. He slowly craned his neck and looked at her. “And why are you back? Our business is done.”
    “I’m here to make a new trade,” she said evenly. “I want to buy back one item. The ring.”
    The lead troll frowned, grunted, looked toward one of his compatriots, who produced a small burlap sack, dug around, and pulled out a ring. He held it up, then dropped it back in the bag.
    The head troll looked back at Snow White. “I won’t do business with him here,” he said again. “I asked you once, I’ll ask again. WHO IS HE?” These last words exploded out of him, out of some pit of anger and torment. Snow didn’t let anything show on her face, but she was scared. Very scared.
    “He’s no one,” she said. “Let’s do the deal. How about I give you all your money back and you just give me the ring. You can keep everything else.”
    He cocked his head, thought it through. Finally, after a long and skeptical look at Charming, he turned to one of his companions and nodded. The other troll again pulled out the sack full of jewels.
    “Thank you,” said Charming, and Snow thought: No, do not thank him. But Charming didn’t catch her look of warning, and continued with his ridiculous manners: “We appreciate your help.”
    The head troll held up a hand, looking at Charming, telling the other troll to wait.
    “Look at those hands,” sneered the head troll, pointing at Charming’s clean fingernails. He grinned devilishly. “Look at that well-fed posterior. This