Free Wonder Never (The Fairytale Diaries #2) by Amanda Gatton Page A

you taking me?"
    "Home!" Alice said cheerily with a pearly grin.
    Julienne frowned. "You… You live in these woods?" she asked in a quiet, uncertain voice. Something forgotten in her mind nagged to be remembered.
    "Sort of," Alice said mysteriously.
    It seemed like half the night passed away as they hiked. Julienne grew exhausted trudging through muck and mire. She considered turning back a dozen times but wanted to stick with her friend. Finally, they reached a clearing.
    The storm clouds had completely disappeared, revealing a perfectly round, iridescent moon. Its light glittered down on a shimmering weeping willow tree. Lightning bugs twinkled and danced all around the eerie boughs. Julienne gasped, and couldn't help but smile.
    "What is this place?" she asked breathily, enchanted by the alluring beauty of the tree.
    Alice grinned. "We're almost there!"
    She led Julienne under the willow's limbs and showed her the secret treats hidden inside the trunk. Julienne's good sense had vacated her once more and it wasn't hard to get her to partake of the candy and drink.
    ***
    Julienne gasped and sputtered as Alice helped her onto the bank of Wondernever River. Once on her feet, she found herself bone dry and pristinely clean, but that didn't stop her from bursting into tears.
    "What just happened? Where am I?" Julienne demanded.
    "Shh… Shh… Don't cry!" Alice cooed as Julienne grew progressively more hysterical. Alice grabbed the weeping girl's shoulders and gave her a gently shake. "Julienne! Please, just come with me!"
    After a few more minutes of coaxing, and Julienne looking frantically around, she was finally convinced to follow Alice.
    ***
    By the time they traversed the forest, the colorful streets of the village, and made the steep climb up the hill to the Heart Manor, Julienne had calmed significantly. Things certainly hadn't begun to make any more sense. Quite the opposite, really. But utter enthrallment coincided with the fear.
    It seemed like the set of a movie with the perfectly still air, the wildly colored paths, haphazardly constructed cottages, rainbow of flowers everywhere, and bizarrely clothed people. Julienne marveled at the patchwork sky and grinning moon as Alice led her to the door of a gleaming white mansion complete with towers, turrets, and a moat. Uniformed toothpicks of men stood guard on either side of the door. Their eyes were closed and they didn't move even slightly as Alice and Julienne approached. Just as Alice reached for the golden door handles, the massive red thing swung open. Julienne startled and drew back at the sight of a sickeningly thin woman wearing a ridiculously frilly gown with a pattern of hearts like one could find on a playing card. The wide toothy smile that split her skeletal face struck Julienne as alarming.
    "Ah, Alice!" the woman exclaimed, reaching forward to usher them inside. "You've brought a friend!"
    Despite the woman's unhealthy appearance, she bustled like a bundle of raw energy. She frenetically half led, half dragged the girls through a grand entryway, under a massive arched doorway, and into a huge library where a fire crackled in a fireplace so big that the mantle stood ten feet above their heads.
    The woman stood back with bony hands clasped over her heart as though she was experiencing great joy. She appraised Julienne thoroughly with disturbingly black eyes. Then she clapped happily. "She's the one, isn't she Alice? A real princess!"
    Alice gave an uncomfortable smile and a sideways glance at Julienne. "Mmmmhmmm," she agreed noncommittally.
    "She looks a bit bedraggled to be true. But, I can feel it! She's the one!"
    The woman offered them a seat (demanded they sit) on a vivid purple fainting chaise. "Sit sit sit! I'll return directly after the test has been prepared!" she explained just before dashing from the room.
    Julienne peered wide eyed at Alice.
    "Uh, I apologize. My Aunt Melanie, she's a bit… Hyper."
    "Hyper? Try nuts! Why did she call me a