Read Online Whatever After #4: Dream On by Sarah Mlynowski - Free Book Online Page B

say.
    “Let’s go up,” Bri says. “Instead of an attic, this tower has a roof deck. Maybe we’ll be able to see her in the garden.”
    I guess that meant another fifteen flights of stairs. Hurrah. Not. But when we eventually make it to the deck, the view takes my breath away. The rose gardens look like a multicolored quilt spread out around us. In the distance are snowcapped mountains.
    “Do you ever come up here just to take it in?” I ask Bri.
    “No,” she says with a shrug. “But maybe I should. It’s nice.”
    “Nice? This isn’t just nice. This is gorgeous.” Bri is so strange. It’s like she’s immune to happy-making things. I wish they sold postcards of the mountain view so I could show Mom and Dad. Although then I’d probably have to explain where I was.
    “I guess you’re right,” she says. “I should come up here more often.” She doesn’t sound like she totally believes it, though.
    “We should keep looking,” I say.
    Next, we search the palace. Even though we were just in the kitchen and the pantries getting supplies we check them again since Robin could be on the move. Then we check in the library among the stacks of books, and in the ballroom, which is also home to a harp and a drum set and other musical instruments. No Robin.
    “Your palace is really cool,” I say. I’m pretty well-traveled in magical lands. At this point, I’ve seen a lot of palaces. The kingdoms of Zamel, Floom, and Mustard all had palaces, but I like this one the best. Sure, there are books and vases and candles and pictures everywhere, but the clutter and mishmash make Rose Abbey feel unique and homey. Like the stuff is supposed to be there. Also, even though it’s cluttered, the floors are still sparkling and the windows shine because they’re so clean. And it smells SO good.
    Bri shrugs again. “It’s okay.”
    “It’s not just okay!” I tell her. “You should appreciate what you have now . Who knows what it will look like after no one takes care of it for a hundred years? I’m guessing it won’t be so nice then.”
    She looks confused. “Why would no one take care of it?”
    “Didn’t I tell you? As soon as you fall asleep everyone else in the palace falls asleep, too. Your parents. The cooks. The maids. Everyone who works at court. The palace is pretty much deserted after that. It’s in shambles by the time the prince gets here.”
    “Oh, right.” She bites her lip. “I hope we can clean it up.”
    “Maybe. I don’t remember what the story says happens to it.”
    “We should check the bedrooms,” she says, and leads me up the stairs. She hesitates on a step. “Does Tom fall asleep, too?”
    “The story doesn’t mention him specifically. It just says your family and the people who work in the palace. It doesn’t say anything about friends.”
    She frowns. “That’s too bad.”
    “But maybe there’s no reason to worry about the palace,” I say. “The spell was activated when Robin pricked her elbow, right? And none of us fell asleep. So maybe it’ll be just you.”
    Bri pales. “Then what happens to my family?”
    Isn’t it obvious? “They stay awake.”
    “They never see me again?”
    “They see you. You’ll be asleep. But you never see them again, I guess.”
    She sniffs. Her brow crinkles. “That’s so sad.”
    It is so sad. My heart hurts at the thought of it. I can’t imagine never seeing my family again. It’s too awful.
    Suddenly, I wonder if maybe going to sleep for a hundred years isn’t the best plan for Bri.
    Maybe it’s a good thing that we messed up her story.
    “You don’t have to do it, Bri,” I say. “You don’t have to go to sleep. You can just stay awake. And live now.”
    She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
    There’s the sound of a clock striking the hour from somewhere downstairs, and she opens her eyes. “No. I’ll miss my family and my friends, but the prince is my destiny. He’s going to make me the happiest girl in the world.