The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 48
I knew Chelle was worried about me. She had come so far to save me. The thing was, and I would never admit it to her, I was having the time of my life.
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
I knew Chelle was worried about me. She had come so far to save me. The thing was, and I would never admit it to her, I was having the time of my life. I never got to go on adventures. My whole life was the droll monotony of work, school, and worrying if I was going to die. So, being out in the country with my girlfriend, not having to care about whether I was about to go into a diabetic coma because I was already in one, was simply lovely.
“We could stay here, you know?” I said as I rested my head against Chelle’s shoulder. We were snuggled up on a log in front of the alchemist’s general store.
“Everybody here is miserable.”
“Everybody at home is miserable.”
“That’s true, but at least they have bodies back home, and don’t disappear into dust when they die.”
It was a lovely, picturesque view over Oz. The sun rolled across the horizon and felt like I was looking at a Monet painting. Perhaps this what was the image people thought of when they painted perfection. Birds chirped and the wind blew through my hair. Albie slithered down onto my cheek and I reached up to pet him. When I did, Chelle cooed along with the snake. It was the best.
“How are you feeling, Albie?” I asked, scratching the snake’s chin.
“He feels fine,” Chelle said. “He’ll feel better when we’re home.”
“When—we’re home,” I sighed. The more I thought about home, the more I dreaded it.
“Come on,” Red said, stomping out of the store we’d been waiting outside of for hours. “Here.” She tossed a necklace over to Chelle, who grabbed it, knocking me off her shoulder in the process.
“What is it?”
“It’s another concealment necklace. Just like the one she used to wear.”
A concealment necklace. As if Chelle wasn’t good enough as she was? No way. I wasn’t about to stand for her disguising herself.
“She doesn’t have to wear that,” I said. “She’s not a freak to be hidden away.”
Chelle clenched the necklace in her hand. “Rose, enough. It’s not worth it.”
“Yes,” I said, stomping forward. “It is worth it. You are no better than everybody who freaked out at Chelle when she was growing up. Do you know how hard it is to be a monster on Earth?”
“No,” Red said. “But I know how hard it is to be one here.”
“Me too, girl,” Balor added. “We can’t get within five miles of Oz with her looking like that. Guards will dust her for even trying. It’s not fair, but it’s the truth.”
“The truth sucks,” I snapped.
“It does,” Chelle said.
When I turned around, Chelle already had the necklace around her neck. She was no longer her gorgon self, but fully human, with dark skin and green eyes. She was as beautiful as ever, but I wished she didn’t have to hide herself.
“You don’t—”
“Stop,” Chelle said, standing up. “Your privilege is showing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you don’t know what it’s like to be a monster in the world. You don’t get to make decisions for me. I don’t like being different. I just want to blend in, and if this is helping me blend in, fine. It’s not perfect, but it’s something.” She turned to Red. “How do I look?”
Red nodded. “Completely human.”
I hated it.
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.