The Sleeping Beauty's Prince

Chapter Eleven

"Wake up! Fast!" Owen almost rolled out of the tree as he awoke to the jarring words. It took him a moment to remember that he was in a tree and that he had talked to Cassidy, the woman in the tree, the night before. After his mind was clearer, he thought back to her urgent message. "Why? Why did I have to wake up?" he asked quickly.

"You can't sleep in the daytime here," Cassidy answered. "You're fine at night, but once morning comes and you're still sleeping, she can get you."

"Who can get me?" Owen asked, alarmed. The sunlight was only just appearing through the forest canopy. What would have happened if he had slept just a minute longer?

"You don't know?" Cassidy sounded surprised. "You came here on a quest without being warned about her?"

"Maybe I was, but I won't know until you tell me who 'her' is."

"Lumbia!" she said in a scared whisper. "The evil queen of Etherea."

"Oh, yes. I was warned about her." He hadn't paid much thought to evil Lumbia before, but now that he had heard her name from another person, the danger suddenly felt more real. "What would she have done?"

Cassidy's shudder sent the whole tree trembling slightly. "Dreams are her domain. If she catches you in them, she can keep you as her prisoner, tortured by nightmares, forever."

"That doesn't sound good," Owen said quietly.

"It's not."

For a moment there was silence, and Owen listened to the wind whistling through the leaves of the trees. Then he remembered he had a question that had gone unanswered. "Cassidy, you were going to tell me how you know all this--about your curse, Etherea...everything. Someone must have told you."

"Right, yes. I was told by a fairy who lives here in Etherea. She's not like Lumbia. She's a little ditsy, but good-natured."

"What's her name? Could I talk to her?" Owen asked. He was excited at the prospect of actually figuring out what he was supposed to do.

"She calls herself Honeyflower, but I'm pretty certain that name was made up by her. I think her real name is something like...Ara, or Era. Hmm. Or maybe it was..."

"Ira?" Owen interrupted, slightly horrified.

"That's it! Her real name is Ira. She's very nice. I'm sure you could talk to her. She lives in these woods."

Owen blinked in confusion. "Nice?" He shook his head. "She's the one that cursed Claire. Claire's the girl I'm on this quest for," he added for Cassidy's knowledge.

"It is funny how things work between the real world and Etherea. Things and people exist in both of them at once, but they are cursed forms, shadows, or opposites. Ira is probably awful in the real world, but she's good here."

"I still don't know if I want to talk to her anymore," Owen muttered.

Cassidy sighed, sending the whole tree swaying. "She's fine," she argued.

"She gave a deadly curse to a baby!"

"That's what real-world her did. The Etherean Ira is a daffy, happy fairy who calls herself Honeyflower and has nothing to do with who her alter ego curses!"