The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 52
“You shouldn’t leave,” Red said. We were sitting on the stairs of the catacombs.
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.
“You shouldn’t leave,” Red said. We were sitting on the stairs of the catacombs. Chelle was out procuring a boat for us to use to cross the lake and forbade me from leaving the crypt until she returned. She had never forbidden me from doing anything before. I wasn’t somebody who liked being forbade from doing things, even if it was out of love.
“I don’t want to leave. I actually like it here.”
Red looked up at me. “Then why are you going to leave? You can stay here, help us defeat Nimue, and bring Ozma back to the throne.”
As I considered my response, Chelle called down the stairs, “Come on. We can go now.”
I stood up and faced her. “What if I don’t want to go?”
“We already talked about that.”
“No, we didn’t. You talked about it for me. You never asked what I wanted. I like it here, Chelle. I’ve never liked it anywhere before. Nobody ever wanted me somewhere like these people do.”
Chelle took a step down onto the stairs. “Yeah, and what happens when they use you in some stupid experiment, or they find out you aren’t the chosen one? You’ll go back to being a nothing burger to them. And then you’ll be stuck here. In this place, with nothing.”
“No, she won’t,” Red said. “She’s not a nothing burger, whatever that is. She’s the chosen one.”
“I know you say that, but I grew up hearing stories about chosen ones. The ones who came to steal from my people, enslave my people, kill my people, so I’m not so fond of chosen ones, truth be told.”
“Is that why you want us to leave?” I asked softly.
Chelle shook her head. “No, sweetie. It’s because this place is a fantasy. It’s not the real world.”
“It’s real for these people.”
Chelle took my hands in hers. “These people are living in the past. Look at them. It’s been thousands of years and they haven’t figured out cars, or planes, or even running water. Romans had running water, Rose, and this place is older than that. You ever think about why they don’t have any of that stuff?”
“They have computers, at least some sort of computers.”
“Yeah, and how did they use it? To hurt you. To kill people.”
Red piped up, “And it’s different on Earth? They use their technology to kill people there, too, from what I remember.”
“Stay out of this,” Chelle said. She looked at me again, touched my face. “This isn’t real, Rose. None of this is real. Don’t you get that?”
I felt a little ashamed. I hadn’t thought about any of that stuff, honestly. “What if I don’t want real? What if real sucks?”
She shrugged. “At least it is real.”
“This is all nonsense.” Red stepped between us. “If Rose wants to stay, then you should allow her to stay.”
“No,” I said. I actually stomped my feet. “Nobody allows me to do anything. Chelle, I love you, but you’re being a real bitch.”
Chelle sighed. “I’m sorry.” She took my hands. “I’m just trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting. I need a partner.” I slipped my hands out of hers. “Somebody to walk with, not behind.”
Chelle bit her lip. “I can’t stay here, Rose. It’s not my place. I need you to come with me back to Earth. I know you think I’m brave, but I’m not. You make me strong. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”
“You may have already lost me. What if we get to the Spindle and find out I’m dead? What if the Fates won’t let us in?”
“Then we’ll figure it out, but that hasn’t happened yet. We can still go home right now. Home, Rose. Where we belong.”
I dropped my head. “I’m not sure it’s where I belong.”
“I thought you belonged with me?” Chelle said, her voice wavering. She sniffed.
“And I thought you belonged with me.” I loved her more than anything, but she hated it here. I couldn’t force her to stay here, even if it was what I wanted. “But I’ll go with you. I love you, and one of us has to sacrifice. I’ll do it, because I love you.”
“Gross.” Red was staring at us with her arms folded across her chest, tapping her foot.
“Shut up,” Chelle said to her, without taking her eyes off me. “We’re going to make it work. It’s going to be great.”
I wasn’t sure she was right, but maybe being in love wasn’t about getting whatever you want. Maybe it was about making you both happy, even if that meant going against every bone in your body telling you to do something different.
“Thank you,” Chelle said, curling her fingers around mine, and for the first time since we met, I had to force myself not to pull back from her when she leaned in to kiss me.
It will be okay, I thought. As long as we’re together, everything will be fine.
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.