Marina Waverly's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Marina climbed out from the willow roots into a world of stone and noise. The well stood a few steps away, exactly as she had seen it. But the man was gone. She turned in circles. People filled the square, carts rolled past, and none of them was him. She had crossed worlds and lost him in a single breath. She hid behind the well and shrank herself small, no bigger than a sparrow. Her wings buzzed. She flew up over the rooftops to search. Below her spread a town so wide it had no end. Hundreds of doors. Hundreds of windows. He could be behind any one of them, and she had no name to ask for. Then a horn sounded. The crowd pushed toward one high wall, and Marina followed the sound. Over the rooftops rose a castle with blue towers and bright flags snapping in the wind. Guards opened a great gate. A line of riders came out, and at their center rode the man from the well. Marina's heart jumped. She darted after him, keeping high and out of sight. He rode beside a king with a short beard and a golden crown, and a queen with auburn hair and a purple gown. Two small children rode a pony between them, a boy in a red vest and a girl with a blue ribbon. Servants bowed as they passed. People called out as the riders went by. "Long live the prince!" a woman shouted, waving a cloth. Marina stopped in the air. The prince. Her man was a prince. The king lifted a hand to the crowd, and the queen smiled down at the children. They were a royal family, and he belonged to them. She flew close enough to hear. The king's voice was warm and easy. "Smile for them, Adrian," he said. "They came to see their future king." Adrian. She had his name at last. She pressed both hands to her mouth to keep from crying out. The riders turned back toward the castle gate. Marina followed them through the air, past the blue towers, into a courtyard full of guards. The gate groaned shut behind her. She landed on a high stone ledge, tiny and hidden, and watched the prince dismount below. She had found him. She knew where he lived and she knew his name. But she looked down at the guards with their spears, the thick walls, the locked gate. She was a fairy the size of a bird, alone in a castle full of humans who would scream if they saw her. Getting to this place had been the easy part. Now she had to reach a prince guarded by an army, and make him love her, without letting a single soul know what she was.