Ever After (Unfinished Fairy Tales #3)(11)

Slightly dazed, it takes a while before I find my voice. “Does Father know?”

Mother shakes her head. “When we married, the curse was triggered and Mr. Bartlett returned to his own world. There seemed no point telling your father such an incredible story, and I had expected to take it to the grave with me. Now, what is this disease that caused her to leave? She did not appear particularly sickly when I saw her.”

I tell her about the goblin’s magic, and since Kat is from another world, she could not breathe the same air as us. She relied on something called oxygen in her own world to keep her alive. And since the goblins could no longer supply the oxygen for her, she had to go home. I would rather have her alive than dying here in Athelia.

Mother lays a hand on my shoulder, as she usually did when she comforted me as a child. “Oh Edward,” she says, her eyes full of sympathy. “Isn’t there a way that she could return? Find the goblins and make them produce another spell. If they could have her survive in those eight months, surely there must be a way to let her live.”

“Of course I wish there was a way.” I clench my fists. “The goblins are not unsympathetic towards us.” I remember there was one time that the goblin queen, Morag, visited me and offered to put a memory charm on me. If there was a way to avoid separating Kat and I, they would have done it. “But Kat only had three days left, so there was nothing for us to do but to send her back. Have you ever seen the goblins?”

Mother shakes her head. “Mr. Bartlett never mentioned them.”

My heart sinks. “Then you have no idea how Kat might come back.”

“Edward…”

“No.” I hold up a hand. “Do not pity me. If I could turn back the time, I would have done the same thing. I do not regret the two years I’ve met and lived with Kat. Never.”

“There may be hope,” Mom says softly. “If the goblins can do it once, they can do it again.”

“Perhaps.” I want to be optimistic, but what if the goblins never find a way? Better be prepared for the possibility I’ll never see Kat again, because at least the shock will have less impact. Vividly I can remember the black pit of devastation that consumed me when Bianca Bradshaw accused Kat, and subsequently, Krev’s appearance. I do not want to experience the same awful despair again.





7





Kat





We sit in silence. For a moment, none of us speak.

Mom is the first to break the silence. “Professor Bartlett,” she says, gesturing towards the book on the table. “Do you mean that twenty years ago, you disappeared into this other world called Athelia?”

“Twenty-five years ago, to be exact. I was forty years old, about the same age as the queen’s father. Though my son was only three at the time, while the queen was already in her teens. I never had a daughter, not to mention one who grew up in corsets and laces, so it was quite an experience.” Professor Bartlett smiles. “Now it’s your turn, my dear. I see that there are flashes of recognition when you heard me describing Athelia. What was your experience in that old-fashioned country? For twenty-five years I have carried this secret and never could share it. Not even to my wife.”

I swallow hard. Mom sits on my right side, and Paige to my left. I had told them the entire story before, but I’m not sure that I want to relive it again. However, Professor Bartlett has told me his story, and it’s only fair that I should tell him mine.

So I start. I start from the year I was seventeen, how I ripped up that old Cinderella picture book, and came to Athelia. I tell him everything that happened to me, up to the second time I was transported back at twenty-four, and how I came to meet Edward for a second time, but had to leave again. Mr. Bartlett stays silent throughout the entire story, but occasionally he sits up straighter and his eyes gleam. My story has intrigued him.

“So instead of being the matchmaker, you ended up as the prince’s bride.” He strokes his beard. “What an extraordinary turn of events. Remarkable, really, that we who went to Athelia had influenced the monarch’s choice in his bride.”

“Do you know if there’s a chance I could get back? I belong with him.” A tear slips down my face, and I wipe it away as quick as I can. Paige holds my hand and Mom pats my back.

Professor Bartlett looks thoughtful. “I teach history, and Athelia was perfect for my research. It was similar to taking a time-traveling machine, and so much of Athelia’s culture coincide with what I know about nineteenth century England. For the twenty-five years since I came back, I have been researching if there was a way to travel back to that country.”

“Did you find anything?”

Professor Bartlett rubs his chin. He rises and goes into another room for a few minutes. When he returns to the living room, he hands me a folder. “Here is some evidence I have gathered in my years of research. I have tried to track down the people who might have experienced getting to Athelia, but most of them have passed away by now. This is what I have so far.”

I glance at the information he gleaned. “The nearest place we can connect to Athelia is through the goblin realm?”

“The woman I interviewed had an unfortunate error happen to her while being transported to Athelia. She was trapped in the goblin’s realm for a few days before the spell took effect and she ended up in an Athelian woman’s body.”