A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(14)

“Come in, dear,” Alex heard her grandmother say, and she stepped inside. It didn’t matter how many times she had been there, her grandmother’s rooms always dazzled her.

To call the Fairy Godmother’s chambers anything but spectacular would be an understatement. The furniture was made of rosy-dusk clouds and floated around the room. Her bed was under the branches of a white willow tree with crystal leaves. Instead of a fire burning in the giant fireplace to one side of the room, bubbles emitted from it and filled the air. A chandelier made of a hundred perched doves floated above the center of the room, although there was no ceiling for it to hang from.

Every surface in the room was covered with the Fairy Godmother’s collectibles. Jewels given to her by monarchs from both worlds over time covered the mantel. A large table near the fireplace was covered with colorful bottles of potions and elixirs. A glass display case mounted to the wall contained the Fairy Godmother’s wand collection. A mini-library of books of spells, fantasy, and history covered the wall across from the fireplace.

But in front of all these valuables were countless family photos of Alex and Conner and their dad, crayon drawings they had done for her as kids, math and spelling tests they had received A’s on, and horrific macaroni creations the twins had made her for Grandparents’ Day. She hadn’t thrown out anything the twins had ever given her.

In the back of the room, elevated on a platform, was the Fairy Godmother’s desk, made entirely of glass—although Alex never saw her sitting behind it. She always found her standing by one of the four tall windows behind it that looked out to a breathtaking view of the Fairy Kingdom.

“Hello, Alex,” Grandma said by one of the windows. She was in her trademark blue robes that sparkled like a starry sky.

“Sorry I’m late, Grandma,” Alex said. “Things got a little carried away today when I was granting wishes.”

“Oh?” Grandma asked. “Why is that?”

Alex sighed. “Sometimes I don’t know if I should be a fairy,” she confessed. “Don’t get me wrong: I love magic and I love helping people. There are days I’ll get up and feel so good about what I’m doing for people, and then others when I feel like I’m just screwing everything up. Some days I don’t think I’m helping enough people, and then other days I don’t think people even want my help. And when I don’t feel confident, my magic suffers—it becomes so unpredictable. And when that happens I feel like I have no business being on the Fairy Council.”

Alex sat on the steps of the platform and rubbed her tired eyes. Her grandmother walked over to her and gently stroked the top of her head.

“You’re overexerting yourself, Alex,” the Fairy Godmother told her granddaughter. “You’re only one person. No matter how hard you try, you can’t help everyone. And you’re beginning to learn that some people can’t be helped, not because they’re helpless, but because they don’t want to be helped.”

Alex looked at the floor—this was a hard lesson to learn.

“I’m glad you brought this up,” Grandma said. “There is something I wanted to show you. Follow me.”

The Fairy Godmother helped her granddaughter to her feet and escorted her out of the room and down a very long hallway. They stopped at a large pair of doors in an impressive arched entryway. Alex had never seen these doors before.

“Where are we, Grandma?”

“This,” Grandma began with a smile, “is the Hall of Dreams.”

The Fairy Godmother pushed open the doors. Alex gasped and her eyes grew to twice their size. The room inside was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It was a dark and endless space that seemed to stretch for miles in every direction. Bright orbs of all sizes floated around them. It was like the whole galaxy had been squeezed into the room in front of them.

They stepped inside and shut the doors behind them. Alex wasn’t sure how they were standing since there was technically no floor.

“This room has been here since the beginning of fairies,” Grandma said.

“What are they?” Alex asked as the orbs flew around her.

“They’re dreams, each and every one of them,” her grandma told her. “No matter how big or small the dream, a record of every wish or want can be found in this room.”

“There are thousands—no, millions of them!” Alex said.

“Oh, yes, possibly more!” the Fairy Godmother said. “As you can see, even with all the fairies in the world, it would be impossible to make every dream come true. When you look inside them you can see what they are and who they belong to.”

A medium-size orb floated directly into Alex’s hand. She peered into it closely and could see a small girl wearing a paper crown inside.

“That little girl dreams of becoming a princess,” Grandma said. “You’ll find a lot of those in here. We tend to pay special attention to the ones more like this.”

One of the largest orbs floated into her hand and they both looked into it. Inside the orb a sad little boy watched over his younger sister, who sat in a wooden wheelchair.

“This little boy would give anything just to see his sister walk again,” Grandma said. “It’s one of the larger orbs because it’s one of the larger dreams—and it’s easier to hold because it’s selfless. I’m going to save it and see if there’s anything I can do for them later.” Grandma promptly placed the orb in a pocket of her robes.