Annie and Liam took the road out of town and soon reached the main road heading north. They stopped when they found a patch of forest so Annie could open the birdcage to release the finch. The little bird seemed too frightened to move at first, so Annie set the cage on the ground and backed away. After a few minutes, the finch hopped out, fluttered its wings, and flew to a nearby tree. Instead of disappearing into the forest, however, it turned to watch Liam help Annie onto Otis’s back. It was still there when they rode away.
They traveled for the rest of the day, calling each other Seth and Ruben when anyone else happened to be around. Most of the time, they were alone with no other travelers in sight, and they were able to talk about the things that really mattered to them, like how Annie’s family and all the wedding guests were faring back in the castle, and how anxious Liam was to go see his father. They started seeing more people on the road when they drew near to Loralet, but it was evening by then and they knew it was already too late to visit the fairy Moonbeam. When they finally entered the capital of Floradale, they headed straight for the area where the butcher’s shop was located, and found an inn with rooms available.
Otis was happy to let a stable boy lead him into a clean stall in the stable behind the inn. When they were sure that the horse was well cared for, Annie and Liam got themselves a room. After a quick supper of venison stew and coarse bread, they climbed the stairs, yawning.
“Why did we get one room?” Annie asked when the door to their room was closed. “If you need more coins, I brought some, too.”
“Shh!” said Liam. “Not so loud. These places have thin walls and we don’t want anyone to hear us. I got one room because that’s what two farm boys would get. I’ll sleep on the floor and you can have the bed.”
“Don’t you think we can stop pretending now? We’re far enough from Treecrest and King Dormander that I think we should be safe.”
Liam shook his head. “We can’t travel as ourselves yet. People always talk when they see royalty, and we don’t want word to get back to Treecrest. You saw how many people we passed outside the gates. If any one of them knew who we really are, King Dormander would learn about it very quickly. I don’t want anyone to know we’re outside the castle until we bring help back with us.“
“Fair enough,” said Annie. “I really would have liked a hot bath, but I guess that’s going to have to wait, too.” She yawned again, covering her mouth with her hand. “It’s just as well. I probably couldn’t stay awake long enough for them to bring up the water.”
“I’m too worried about my father to sleep,” Liam said as he spread his blanket on the floor, but a few minutes later neither one was awake.
For the first time on their trip, they both slept through the night without waking. Sunlight pouring through the window woke them the next morning and they were up and out the door minutes later. Although it was still early, the public dining room on the first floor was already crowded. When they appeared at the door, however, the innkeeper’s wife was able to find them a table. Neither of them usually ate much in the morning, but a serving girl brought them both cold mugs of cider and plates heaped with coddled eggs, rashers of bacon, and crusty bread still hot from the oven. Annie hadn’t thought she was hungry until she smelled the food, and she dug in as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Liam didn’t notice because he was too intent on his own breakfast, and had already started on a second plate before Annie finished her first.
They were sitting back, pleasantly full, when a young woman came into the dining room to look around. The innkeeper’s wife went to talk to her, and the young woman left, looking disappointed. A few minutes later another young woman came in and the same thing happened. This happened three more times. When the innkeeper’s wife walked past their table, Liam said, “What did those young women want?”
The woman glanced at the door, saying, “They come by every day, along with half a dozen others. They all want to talk to the fairy Moonbeam. Gertrude isn’t working here today, so it’s up to me to tell them that Moonbeam isn’t back yet, and I have no idea when she’ll return. They’ll all be back tomorrow, mark my word. Ever since everyone learned that the fairy had helped Eleanor and the prince fall in love, all the less fortunate girls have been hoping that Moonbeam would help them find wealthy husbands as well.”
“So Moonbeam isn’t in town? Do you have any idea where she went?” asked Annie.
The innkeeper’s wife laughed. “What would a boy like you want with Moonbeam? Hoping for a rich wife, are you?”
“Actually, we did need her help with something,” said Liam.
The woman sighed. “Sorry, I can’t help you any more than I can those girls. I only know what Gertrude tells me. If anyone would know, it would be Gertrude.”
“Who is Gertrude?” Annie asked.
“The butcher’s daughter, of course,” said the innkeeper’s wife. “When Moonbeam married the butcher, he declared that his three children had to move out or start supporting themselves. The son got married and moved away and the two girls got jobs. Gertrude works at the inn six days a week, but today is her day off. It’s a pity about the butcher shop. It’s been closed since Moonbeam and Selbert left. Selbert’s son, Jamesey, helped in the shop, and now that he’s gone and his father is away, there’s no one to run it. These days I have to go halfway across town to get good cuts of meat, and they aren’t nearly as good as Selbert’s. Ah, if you’ll excuse me, someone is waving at me like I’m a runaway coach. Some people don’t know the meaning of patience.”
As the innkeeper’s wife hurried off to help someone else, Liam leaned toward Annie. “Looks like another dead end.”
Annie shook her head. “I don’t think so, at least not yet. The butcher probably lives above his shop. Let’s go pay his daughter a visit. Maybe she knows more than she’s told this woman.”
The butcher shop was only a few buildings away on the other side of the street. Liam and Annie were on their way there when they saw a woman and her two daughters walking in the opposite direction. Annie recognized them right away, having met them at the ball where Eleanor met the prince. They were Eleanor’s stepsisters, Wilhemina and Zelda, following behind their mother, Lenore. Once again they were arguing.
“It’s your turn to make supper tonight, Willie! I did it yesterday,” Zelda told her sister.
“You did not! I cooked while you read your silly book. Tell her that it’s her turn, Mother! I shouldn’t have to do it two days in a row.”
“Quiet, both of you!” snapped Lenore as she stopped to face her daughters. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if you two had been nicer to your stepsister, Eleanor.”
“It wasn’t us!” sputtered Willie. “You’re the one who made her work like a servant.”
“Only because you girls are lazy,” Lenore replied.
“I’ve never seen you do any housework, either!” Willie cried. “I don’t think you’ve ever cooked or washed dishes or swept or cleaned out the fireplace or any of the things you make us do.”
“Watch your manners, Willie darling, or you’ll be out on your ear!” her mother said. “I’m your mother and I deserve better than this! Even Eleanor will understand when I explain it to her.”
“So now you call her Eleanor. You were the one who started calling her Cinderella, Mother. You only like her because she’s a princess,” grumbled Zelda. “You want her to like us so she’ll invite us to the castle.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” Lenore said. “We deserve to be there more than she does. I blame it on those two princesses who showed up unannounced. If it hadn’t been for them, one of you would have married the prince and we’d be living in the castle right now!”
Annie glanced at the little group as Lenore and her daughters walked past. She tried not to react when Lenore stopped to stare at her as if she looked familiar, but couldn’t quite place her. When the woman finally shook her head and moved on, Annie let out a shaky breath, not having realized until then that she’d been holding it in.
When they reached the butcher shop, Liam tried the door just in case. “It’s locked,” he said. “Do you see another entrance for the house?”
“Not in the front,” said Annie. “Maybe we have to go through the alley.”
She led the way through the narrow space between the shop and the building next door. There was a door near the back, but it too was locked. “This must be it,” Annie said, and knocked.
When no one replied, Liam started thumping the wooden door. “I’m going to keep this up until someone answers or my hand gets tired. We didn’t come all this way for nothing.”
“Maybe no one is home,” said Annie.
“Or maybe the butcher’s daughter doesn’t want to answer the door,” he said, knocking louder.
“Go away!” a voice yelled from inside the house.
“We’re not going away until you talk to us,” Liam yelled back. When no one came to the door, he began pounding on it and shouting, “Open up!”
Suddenly the door flew open, revealing an angry girl a few years older than Liam. She was wielding a wicked-looking knife like a butcher might use and stood blocking the doorway. “What do you want?”
“To talk to Gertrude,” said Annie. “You can put the knife away. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
“What do you want to talk to Gertrude about?” the girl asked.
“We want to ask her about the fairy Moonbeam,” Liam told her.
“I knew it!” the girl said, lowering the knife. “When I first heard the knocking, I said to myself, ‘Gertrude, it’s another one of those girls wanting to know when Moonbeam will be back. You’re not answering the door again today.’ But then I heard a man’s voice and I thought it was someone with bad intentions. A girl can’t be too safe these days. I’m here now, though, so I’ll tell you what I tell everybody. I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
She started to close the door, but Liam had put his foot in the way. “Can you tell us where we might be able to find her?” he asked.
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Gertrude said, trying to close the door on Liam’s foot. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“You sound like you don’t like her,” said Annie.
The girl opened the door all the way and laughed. It was an ugly sound with no trace of humor. “Would you like someone who marries your father without warning and makes him tell you what to do? He’d been grumbling about our living here for years, but it wasn’t until she came along that he did anything about it. Jamesey had to marry the girl he’d been courting and move out to start his own shop. He moved all the way to Harper’s Village, so we’ll hardly ever get to see him. Papa drove him away because of that woman! And do you know what Papa did to Franny and me? We had to get jobs! Taking care of him and the house wasn’t enough. Now we both have to earn our own money.”
“Really!” said Annie.
Gertrude nodded. “It’s so unfair! The four of us were happy here before that fairy came along. Jamesey helped Papa in the shop when he got really busy, and Franny and I took care of things here at home. Papa gave us money when we needed it and no one had to work like this! And then he married that fairy and everything changed.”
“I can only imagine!” Annie told her, trying to look sympathetic.
“And to top it off,” said Gertrude, ”just a few weeks after Jamesey moved out, Papa took that woman to visit our brother and left us here without any money or food in the house. If anyone should have gone on a trip, it was Franny and me. Papa was always working and never took us anywhere, and now look! And the way Moonbeam makes him laugh, why, Franny and I think it’s disgraceful. Sure, she’s fixed up the house with her magic and given us nice clothes and things, but we still wish Father had never met her. If I ever see that princess who made Moonbeam fall in love with my father, I’ll give her a piece of my mind!”
“So you’re sure you won’t tell us where they went?” said Liam, removing his foot from the doorway.
“No, I won’t! So don’t ask again,” Gertrude said, and slammed the door in their faces.
Annie couldn’t help but laugh as they walked away. “She doesn’t realize it, but she just gave me that talking-to!”
“And told us where to find her father and Moonbeam!” said Liam.
“Now all we have to do is get directions for Harper’s Village.”
Liam shook his head. “I know where it is. It’s in the Dark Forest near where we met Gloria.”
“You mean Little Red Riding Hood? It will take us at least a day to get there.”
“Less if Otis can keep up the pace. You know, I really do like that horse.”