Read Online Sleeping Beauty, the One Who Took the Really Long Nap by Wendy Mass - Free Book Online Page B

learned. Moving castles? Forests that bloomed overnight? When the last person finally left, I knew what I should have known instantly: King Bertram and Queen Melinda’s castle had not moved. An exact duplicate had been created on their fields, and the original was covered by such dense brush and vines as to be virtually invisible. But why? And who had such magic at their disposal as to keep it impenetrable nearly a century later?
    I was about to head up to my chambers to ponder further when one of the men came hobbling back inside. “Did you forget something, sir?” I asked.
    He shook his head and whispered, “I did not want to say this in front of the others, but I was a friend of your grandfather’s, Lord rest his kind soul. When he was a bit older than you, he told me of a vision he had of a beautiful young woman asleep in the woods. He packed a bag and went to find her.”
    Wide-eyed, I asked, “And did he?”
    The old man shrugged. “He wouldn’t say. I used to kid him about it, but he would simply smile sadly and say, ‘I was not the right one at the right time.’”
    â€œNot the right one at the right time?” I repeated. “What does that mean?”
    â€œI am sure I do not know, Your Highness. I simply thought you’d like to know the story, since you never knew your grandfather.”
    â€œThank you,” I said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand. “My grandfather was lucky to have a friend such as you.”
    â€œYou are a fine young man, Your Highness. He would be proud of you.” The man bowed, put his hat back on, and hobbled out.
    I could not think of anything I’d done to make anyone especially proud, but I would certainly try to in the future.
    That night I dreamt about a girl, except she wasn’t a regular girl. For one thing, she had pink wings. For another, she was only about two feet high. In my dream she was handing me a book. I could barely make out the title. Flora and Fauna of the Northeast Region. I joked about it sounding very exciting. She did not laugh. I did not remember the dream until I was washing my face in the basin. I stopped in mid-splash and ran it back through my mind. What had the girl-creature been trying to tell me?
    I hurriedly finished dressing. Normally Jonathan would be helping me — not that I needed it, of course. I was headed downstairs for breakfast … but then I found myself passing the kitchen and heading toward the library. I stood in front of the painting of the girl reading on the lawn. Themaids had dusted the painting when they’d been through the castle the day before, and I noticed for the first time how beautiful the girl was, even though the painting was still much more faded and cracked than the one I had glimpsed in the old castle. I tried to make out the artist’s name, but some tiny cracks in the paint ran through it. The two initials were either B’s or P’s or R’s, or some combination of them. It didn’t truly matter, since I would never have heard of the painter anyway.
    But I had not come into the library for the painting. Starting in the far back, I began to carefully search the shelves. I found many books on politics and battles and even a cookbook on how to make the perfect loaf of bread. All the books were covered in a thick sheet of dust, like they hadn’t been taken off the shelf in decades. Father was not much into books, and due to my tutors’ lackluster performances, I had never been motivated to read much. But now all I wanted to do was find the book from the dream. Three shelves down, I found it. The title ran down the spine, faded, but definitely the same book. I knew it should feel very strange that I dreamt about something and it came true, but at this point I was surprised by little. I pulled it off the shelf, blew off the dust, sneezed, and sat down with the book on my lap. I turned to the first page and held my