Cinderella Dressed in Ashes

32 A Secret Revealed

“Did you know that fairy tale folks call us Minikins?” Axel said, reading from Loki’s phone again. He’d been researching for the last hour, reading from the diary and surfing the internet. “I heard Loki say it, but wasn’t sure he meant us. It’s a little insulting if you ask me.”

Fable wasn’t responding. She was still circling the purple light, and Axel didn’t know what she was really thinking.

“And listen to this,” Axel thought a lot of interesting information would cheer her up, “in J.G.’s diary he mentions a special cake called Sanguinaccio.”

“What about it, Axel?” Fable only replied to keep him talking.

“It’s a real Italian cake. I mean real as in you can go to Italy and order it some place,” Axel said. “That’s weird.”

“What’s so weird about an Italian cake?”

“It’s topped with kidney or pig’s fresh blood and is served as a dessert,” Axel said. “That’s a real cake Italians eat, although it’s mentioned that most restaurants won’t serve it and claim it’s a myth. They call it Bloodylicious.”

“And we thought Shew was an outcast, being a blood sucker,” Fable said, still circling the light with weary eyes. “Why is it mentioned in J.G.’s diary?”

“I have no idea,” Axel closed the book. “This man’s quest for the Lost Seven led him to some weird stuff. And listen to this. He thinks the Phoenix, which we assumed is Cinderella, was mentioned in other fairy tales, too.”

“Do we know of these fairy tales?” Fable said absently.

“One is called The Little Match Girl, a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson,” Axel flipped through the pages.

“I know that one,” Fable said, her hand on her stomach. She looked as if she was in pain. “I love it actually. It’s about a poor girl who tries to sell matches, and no one buys them from her, so she burns them up on by one in hopes to get warm in the freezing cold.”

“Do you know that she dies in the end?” Axel said, reading from the diary. “What kind of fairy tale is this?”

“One that Charmwill Glimmer would tell,” Fable said. “How is it connected to Cinderella?’

“I have no idea,” Axel said. “The girl died for God’s sake. She can’t be Cinderella. And here is another one. He also thinks Cinderella is The Girl Without Hands, another creepy fairy tale.”

“I never heard that one,” Fable said. “I assume it really has a girl with no hands, right?”

“It does,” Axel said. “And then at the end of he notes, he thinks Cinderella, which is also Ember, Cerené, The Little Match Girl, The Girl Without Hands, and the Phoenix was born in Murano Island.”

“Where is that?”

“A Venice-like island, which is actually near Venice where glassblowers had been imprisoned and banned centuries ago,” Axel said.

“That’s interesting,” Fable considered. “Cinderella, being famous for her glass slipper, to come from an island of glassblowers.”

“What’s more interesting is that the glassblowers once lived in Venice, and then were banned because of the amounts of fire and cinders they produced and threatening the destruction of Venice,” Axel said. “What really drives me crazy is how Cinderella is all those people J.G. mentioned. It just doesn’t make sense,” Axel closed the book, noticing his sister still wasn’t well. “What’s going on Fable?” Axel wondered. “Have you sensed anything else about the Dreamworld?”

“Not at all,” Fable said. “But it’s driving me crazy.”

“I am afraid if I tell you why, you’d snap at me,” he remembered the Dreamhunter’s Diary mentioning that whoever walked through the purple light could end up insane.

“I know what you’re thinking, Axel,” Fable said. “You think it’s just something that happened because I am exhausted. You don’t believe that I have actually peeked into the dream.”

“That’s exactly what I am thinking,” Axel said. “It’s all psychology, believe me. I read about it.”

“Yeah, how so?”

“You’ve been thinking about the spell to get into Loki’s body since we woke up,” Axel folded his arms. “It’s been on your mind all day. But you wouldn’t do it because it is dangerous. Therefore, your mind played tricks on you, making you think you saw into the Dreamworld. How else can you explain how you only saw Loki and not Shew?”

“I really have nothing to say to your stupid theories,” Fable rubbed her arms as if it were cold all of a sudden. “You just think you know it all.”

“Trust me, I know what I am talking about,” Axel said. “You wanted to do anything to go save Loki, but like you said, you had to know his real name to use the spell. And when you didn’t, you went into some kind of denial and your mind created an alternative reality for you. I told you I read a lot about the subject.”

“What are you talking about?” Fable still rubbed her arms, slightly shivering. “I know what Loki’s real name is now. Loki Van Helsing. Actually, it’s Loki Abraham Van Helsing. You told me that.”

“Oh,” Axel’s eyes widened. “I did. Just forgot. There is too much information in my head today.”

“And I had even more reasons to use the spell and enter Loki’s body when you told me that the only way to break the locked dream was for one to kill the other,” Fable said.

“So my psychoanalysis didn’t work?” Axel rubbed his chin then pulled his phone out to surf the internet. He needed to look up where his analysis went wrong.

“But the thing is,” Fable said as Axel was scrolling. “I didn’t need to wait until you told me about how the dream can be broken.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be with you in a minute,” Axel scrolled through the phone.

“Please pay attention, Axel,” Fable’s jaw started to shiver. “Can’t you understand what I am telling you? Look at me.”

Slowly, Axel raised his head. He watched his sister who looked even worse than before, and his mind began replaying the day’s events again. He thought about everything that had happened since they had followed Loki to the Schloss.

Everything came together now. He knew why Fable was shivering, and what she was trying to tell him. For the first time, he believed she had crossed to the Dreamworld. She did really meet Loki as a Huntsman.

But how could she? He gazed at her, disappointed and worried.

“How could you, Fable?” he said softly. “And when did you do it?”

“While you were consumed by reading J.G.’s diary,” Fable said. “I recited the spell to myself. It wasn’t that hard, and it worked.”

“You are connected to Loki in the Dreamworld now?” Axel had no intention of yelling at her. He pitied her. She was suffering already, looking ill from using the spell.

“Yes,” Fable nodded. “But it’s like an ‘on and off’ thing. I can only see him when he shows up in Shew’s dream. When he doesn’t, my vision is blank, and I can’t see anything.”

“I’m so disappointed with you. What have you done?” Axel said. “Look at you. You look like you’re going insane.”

“It’s messing with my mind, Axel,” Fable spit uncontrollably. “The problem is that I’m not even in Loki’s body. I can only see him.”

“Forget about Loki, now,” Axel said. “Tell me what I can do. Is there a spell that could save you?”

“I don’t know,” Fable said. “I need to cross the purple light into the Dream Temple.”

“No, you won’t,” Axel blocked her, his back to the light. “What you have done to yourself is enough. I’m going to take you to a hospital now.”

“Hospitals have no cure for magic spells, Axel,” Fable said, trying to peek over his shoulder at the purple light. “If I went that far, let me into the Dream Temple. I will posses Loki’s body and break his connection with Carmilla. Maybe then, one won’t have to kill the other.”

“I said no,” Axel pulled her away from the light. Fable was weak enough. She didn’t resist him. “Look what’s happened to you from using the spell, and you haven’t entered Loki’s body yet. Who knows what happens then? I have no interest in Loki and Shew coming back if you’re dead.”

Fable insisted one more time. Axel slapped her hard enough she fell back in his arms, helpless and unable to move.

“I’m sorry, sis,” Axel said, holding her tight. “I can’t let you inside the Dream Temple.”