Read Online Believe by Allyson Giles - Free Book Online

at him for far too long. As always, his gaze slowly drifted back to Ballencia. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders like silk. Her laugh haunted him as did the flirtatious glimmer in her icy blue eyes. She caught him staring and waved him over, never one to shy away from a moment’s admiration. Suddenly released from his sullen state, Ostephen set his mug down in the grass and was about to hop to when he swooped in, took her by the hand, and twirled her around the dance floor.
    Slumping back down onto his rock, Ostephen rolled his big blue eyes, sighed wearily, and muttered an infuriated, “Nad!”
    He hated to admit it, but he was jealous of Nad. Nad had no problems getting attention from the lady fairies; they all swooned. His orange glow was hard to compete with, and he was always working out—or showing off, as Ostephen chose tosee it—but there was no denying that Nad was definitely one fit fairy. Ostephen once thought of joining Nad for a workout or asking him for some advice, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Ostephen wished he had it in him to get up and steal Ballencia away from Nad. Ostephen could take Nad on if it came to that— at least Ostephen hoped he could. It didn’t matter. Ostephen shrugged because he knew he never would.
    He looked up as a group of fairies challenged Nad to break his jumping record. A bunch of fairies were all piled atop one another’s shoulders, creating a line that reached six feet high.
    They were all cheering loudly, “Nad, Nad, Nad, Nad…!”
    Oh, come on! Ostephen thought.
    â€œHe’ll never make it!” someone at the bottom of the pile shouted.
    â€œRemember, no wings!” Ballencia yelled.
    Nad was ready; knees bent, crouched, and focused.
    He’ll make it, Ostephen said to himself. He always does.
    Sure enough, with no wings, Nad managed to jump up and over, making it look effortless. The fairies all fell over one another, laughing and cheering hysterically. This was one of their favorite games at every fairy party.
    Ostephen sighed. “Yeah, great job!” he muttered sarcastically. “Real impressive orange glow.”
    Then he froze as he spotted a swoosh of long blonde hair and saw his beautiful fairy lean in and kiss Nad adoringly on the cheek. Ostephen’s light dimmed to almost nothing. He was loved and adored by the rest of the realm, commonly referred to as “the good one.” No one had ever met a gentler, generous soul. He was fairly happy, had a great family and good friends, but none of that mattered because the love he so yearned for still escaped him. Hiding his tenderhearted face, he dragged himself through the forest, ignorant of its simple pleasures: the sweet smell of the pine trees and the crunching of their needles beneath his pointy-toed feet. Ostephen needed to rest; a new day would soon dawn.
    It was sunrise when Deliah awoke to find Ostephen missing. As she was looking about in a panic, a little bluebird chirped her a good morning and filled her in on his whereabouts.
    â€œI saw him this morning as I was gathering worms for the youngins. He’s okay. He came back late, and he’s sleeping right bythat cherry tree over there.”
    Deliah followed the bluebird and found Ostephen sleeping slumped against the cherry tree, murmuring of Ballencia and then Kristoff. She assumed that he must have been dreaming and felt it best to leave him for awhile longer and allow him some extra slumber. She decided to go for a walk and pick some fruit from a nearby cove to bring along for the next part of their journey. As she stretched on her tiptoes trying to knock down a pear from an orchard, she noticed a thin red puff of smoke float by her. She suddenly fell to the ground limp and unconscious.
    Sidney, the squirrel who had been gathering nuts nearby, witnessed the whole event and scurried off to get help.
    â€œPoison! Poison! The little girl’s been