Read Online Cinderella Dressed in Ashes ( Book #2 in the Grimm Diaries ) by Cameron Jace - Free Book Online Page A

forehead. “This stuff can protect you from it. That’s amazing. So tell me, Cerené. We have brought ashes, lime, and now we need sand, right?”
    “Sand,” Cerené sighed. “That’s the hardest part.”
    Shew felt uncomfortable. If Cerené considers it hard, then it might be too hard.
    “But we’ll get it, right? As long we’re together, we can do anything?” Shew said, afraid Cerené would turn gloomy.
    “Yes,” she said with starry eyes. “Friends!” she stared at Shew in such an appreciative way it made Shew feel guilty. If she managed to wake up from this dream, she would end up leaving Cerené all alone in the world, and she’d be alone again without a friend.
    But there must be another incarnation of you living in the Dreamworld when you wake up, Shew. Remember this IS a memory, only your reactions are different because you’re the only one in this world who knows it’s a memory.
    Shew shrugged. She knew she wasn’t the only one who knew this was a memory. Loki, dressed in the evil Huntsman’s soul, knew it too.
    Shew washed the thought away immediately. At the moment, Cerené was much more interesting than Loki.
    Life isn’t just about love; friends are just as important.
    Shew didn’t have friends, neither in the Dreamworld nor the Waking World. She suddenly realized that she needed Cerené as much as Cerené needed her.
    You don’t always need people to take care of you. Sometimes you need people so you can take care of them.
    “So where do we need to go to get the third ingredient of your Art?” Shew asked, more interested than ever.
    “The Field of Dreams,” Cerené said. “Myth has it that it’s owned by the Sandman.”
     

7
    A Field of Dreams
     
    “To get to the Sandman’s Field of Dreams, we have to cross the Juniper Trees and the Wall of Thorns first,” Cerené said after a long walk.
    Shew knew about the Juniper Trees. Each tree had a single eye at the end of its branches and used it to spy on intruders in forbidden regions. It was rumored that each tree had a soul of a child trapped in it, children who’d been killed in ancient wars. In comparison to everything else in Sorrow, the Juniper Trees were not to be feared.
    What worried Shew was the mention of the Wall of Thorns, which was one of the barriers Carmilla had created with witchcraft to protect them from Night Sorrow’s army—this part always confused Shew. Wasn’t Carmilla already on Night Sorrow’s side after turning into a vampire? She believed that time was going to reveal something about it.
    As for the Wall of Thorns, it was a magical thorn bush that cut through the trespassers trying to leave or enter Sorrow. The thorn cut a person to taste their blood and determine whether they were Night Sorrow’s intruders or locals. The tree thought of them as enemies and friends. If friends, it let them pass, whether in or out of Sorrow. If enemies, it tortured them by playing an irresistible musical tune that made one dance uncontrollably and eventually dance themselves to death in the thorn bush.
    No intruder had ever passed through the Wall of Thorns—at least, none heard of—and few locals dared their way out.
    Cerené’s suggestion was madness itself.
    “Wait,” Shew grabbed her hand. “We’re not going to pass through. We’ll die and you know that.”
    “You have to trust me, Joy,” Cerené said, and kept walking.
    “Stop calling me Joy,” Shew stopped walking.
    “Why? I love the name. You are my Joy in this Kingdom of Sorrow.”
    “Cerené,” Shew called out. “Please stop.”
    “Alright, princess,” Cerené stomped her feet. She wanted to walk farther. She wanted to play, and Shew was spoiling the fun. “I am all ears.”
    “You know we’ll die if we cross the Wall of Thorns, right?”
    “No, we won’t,” Cerené set her urn on the ground and folded her arms. “One can die easier by living in the Kingdom of Sorrow.”
    Shew said nothing. Cerené hit the jackpot with that last sentence,