Ticket to Faerie Read Online Free Page A

better when Grandma's
presents didn't work . She wondered how Max knew not only
which road to take, but whether or not they would find a place to
stay along the way.
    The sun hovered at the horizon and Alyssa couldn't see well
in the gathering gloom. But she glimpsed a dark spot in the hill above
the road and hoped it was the entrance to a cave. She couldn't pull
the cart up the rough incline, so she tugged it off the road and behind
a shrub, hoping it would stay put overnight. She put on her pack,
used the leash to shoulder the jug, and struggled up the hill. The
indentation in the hillside hardly qualified as a cave, but it would
give them protection from the wind and the overhang would keep off
any snow or rain.
    Max ran off. Alyssa tucked the pack and the jug into a corner
and gathered as many sticks, bits of dried bark, and the largest
pieces of wood she could drag back to the shelter. Remembering
Dad's instructions when he took her camping earlier in the summer,
she piled the smaller sticks close to the outer edge of the shelter and
stuffed some dried leaves underneath and in between. With the
dragon pen/lighter, she lit the leaves, and when the sticks caught
fire, she pulled one of the larger pieces of wood up against the
flames. At least they could stay warm if she didn't let the fire go
out.
    Lilse crawled out of Alyssa's pocket and curled up in front of
the fire. "Just lovely."
    Alyssa ate two of the energy bars, and let the mouse have
the crumbs in the wrappings. She worried about what she could feed
Max. She didn't need to hear him whining that he was starving.
    When he finally returned, Max had blood on his muzzle.
Alyssa didn't want to think about what he had eaten. She poured
small amounts of the bottled water into her hand and let him and
Lilse lap it up. "One of us needs to stay awake and keep watch."
That's what they did in every adventure story she had ever read and,
if this wasn't an adventure, Alyssa didn't know what was.
    Max sat down next to the fire. "I'll watch out while you get
some sleep. I can roust Lilse when I need a nap."
    Alyssa pulled two more big logs into the flames, curled up in
front of the fire and, despite the hard ground, fell asleep in an
instant.
    Lilse woke her by pulling on her ear in the dark of night. "I
need to sleep a bit more, love. Can you stand watch 'til dawn?"
    Alyssa stretched her arms and sat up with her legs crossed
in front of her. The fire had died down to embers. She rolled another
log over the hot coals and watched until it caught. When she felt her
eyelids grow heavy, she stood up and stepped out of the shelter far
enough so she could look up at the black night sky, sprinkled with
stars like powdered sugar on the French toast Dad burned when
Mom let him make breakfast. She sniveled.
    Max lay curled up with his tail over his nose and Lilse had
settled into the crevasse between his haunch and his side.
    Yesterday Alyssa had set off with no expectation that magic
could work. She had forgone whatever pleasant adventures Faerie
offered to bring home a huge, heavy jug because someone who
allegedly ate people claimed it contained enough magic to save
Grandma's life. Although she'd traveled a few hours to request the
magic, so far her return trip had taken the better part of an afternoon
and evening. Animals talked to her and kept watch and some even
wore clothing. But other than that and some bizarre colors, Faerie
didn't feel that much different from the rest of the world. And,
where are the damn fairies anyway ? She crept over to her pack
and found her cell phone. She turned it on, and shut it off again when
it failed to find a signal. Figures .
    A screech sounded in the distance. When the sound got
closer, she crawled back into the shelter. Okay, I'm standing
watch. What the bleep am I supposed do if someone or something
actually tries to attack me? Something howled in answer to the
screeching. Next she heard a distant noise that sounded like a herd of
elephants tromping