Rules of a Fairytale
Rule Four: Gingerbread Isn’t As Good As it Sounds

“Tasha, do you smell that?” my brother asked after a few more endless hours of walking- god I missed cars. “It smells like the kitchen on Christmas when Mom makes all those deserts. Oh man, I’m getting hungry. Let’s go.”

“Wait, Tate, we have food right here. Let’s not go running off; it could be dangerous.

His green eyes burned with stubbornness. “Or it could be Mom and Dad, Tasha. We could be close. Do you really want to risk losing them?”

I bit my bottom lip nervously. “Tate,” I sighed. His eyes lit up; he knew he’d won from my defeated tone. “Fine, Tate, we’ll go. But you have to promise not to be an idiot if things go wrong.”

“Whatever,” he said quickly, not really agreeing to my conditions. My brother really was a pig, totally insatiable, even for a wolf. “Now let’s go already.”

We walked down a path for what seemed like forever but was really only a few minutes. The Three Little Pigs’ cottage was far gone, but there was still plenty of time to find a safe place to rest before the sun went down. My rational mind knew that we should find shelter, but my stomach rumbled fiercely. The smell of a bakery was slowly getting closer until even Brooke and Ryder could smell it.

“How much farther?” the blonde Barbie whined. “I’m starving.”

“We’re all hungry, Brooke,” I said as patiently as I could. I sat on a boulder in the shade of one of the giant oaks and slipped my pack from my shoulders. “We might as well sit and eat because there’s no telling how much longer before we reach the source of the smell. I can’t get a good enough reading on how far we have to go. We can start again in half an hour.”

I spent most of the half hour lunch break staring at the stupid mirror while the other three talked, both boys trying for Brooke’s attention. There had to be a way to make it cooperate to tap into the magic. Maybe there was a trick to it that I just had to find. The time passed quickly and I still couldn’t find anything useful in the mirror no matter how I worded the riddle.

“Any luck?” my brother asked after I packed it away.”

“No. I just see myself in the glass. It’s useless.”

I let out a huff and slowly climbed to my feet. It seemed like everything was just going wrong and I hoped our luck would change soon. We fallowed the path for anot her hour without passing anyone or anything. I guess that was good because we didn’t find anything that could kill us, but it also meant there was no one we could ask for directions. “I know where we are,” Ryder snapped when I pointed out the need for help.

I shrugged. It didn’t matter what realm you were in, men never asked for help. “I’m just stating the obvious.”

He was about to fight back when Tate stopped suddenly. He turned his head to the side so he looked like a bloodhound. His nostrils flared out and I heard his stomach rumble. “That good smell is coming from inside the forest, not along the path. It’s so close.”

Tate stepped off the road without warning and bolted beyond the trees. I sighed and followed with the others trailing behind me. Only a few dozen yards in there was a perfectly square clearing probably twenty yards on each side. Trees that looked like twisted Aspens with weird red stripes surrounded it. There was no grass here, only sharp looking rocks that sparkled like quartz. In the center of the clearing sat the most delicious looking gingerbread house I’d ever seen and it was even bigger than the pigs’ cottage. I stopped dead as Tate walked right up to the full-sized door. He raised his hand and tore the chocolate pretzel door knocker off and started eating it.

“Tate, what the heck are you doing?” I hissed. First of all, it was rude to eat someone’s gingerbread house. Secondly, who knew what it was really made of or what had touched it. The white stuff on the roof could just as likely be bird as it could be icing. Gross. I didn’t want to test my luck.

“Chill, Tasha. This whole thing is edible and really good. Come try it.”

“No. And you shouldn’t be eating it either.”

I couldn’t deny that the scent wafting from the baked cottage made my mouth water, but I couldn’t give in if I wanted to find my parents. I knew it would be nearly impossible to drag my twin and his sweet tooth from the gingerbread house but I didn’t realize I’d be the only one to have to do it- until I noticed Brooke and Ryder had joined him in eating the huge place.

“Fairy farts,” I cursed under my breath. I scooped up their discarded bags and made my way down the graham cracker path. It became harder to resist with every step I took but I tried to focus on getting everyone else to stop eating. I tugged on Tate’s arm but he wouldn’t budge. “Tate, come on. We have to go!”

Just then the door creaked open. “Go?” a voice that made my heart pound said from the darkness inside. “There’s no need for you to go anywhere. I have plenty of food for weary travelers. Please, you must come in. Eat. Rest.”

I was pushed through the door as Tate, Ryder, and Brooke fought to gain entrance. I landed squarely on my tailbone with a thump from the unceremonious jostling. When I looked up to shoot a glare at my companions, I saw the front door was sealed shut and the woman that had invited us in was grinning widely as the others ate. Her salt-and-pepper hair was pulled back in a tight bun, her colorless eyes shining greedily, and a snaggle tooth peeked from her lips. She was plump and short with long nails extending from her pudgy, ring-covered fingers. The gown she wore was simple, earth toned with a full skirt and an apron covering the front.

I stoop up, dusting of my now bruised butt. “Who are you? What do you want?”

She turned toward me and her eyes raked up and down my body, sending chills down my spine. “Why, my dear, I’m Mother Gretchen. I only want you children to be well fed. And my, my, aren’t you a skinny one.”

I glanced down at myself. I had an athletic figure that came naturally from being a werewolf and all the running I did. But I wouldn’t exactly call myself skinny. My eyes narrowed up at the stranger. “Thank you for the offer, but we really should be going.”

“You’ll never be able to find Cale and Lisette on an empty stomach. One bite won’t hurt.” She held up a plate of steaming hot peanut butter cookies- my favorite. I slowly extended my hand and selected the largest one. It was so tempting and my Mom would have insisted I’d need to keep my strength up.

“Wait. How do you know who we were looking for?” I demanded. My hands instantly curled into fists at my sides and the cookie crumbled forgotten on the floor.

She reached her hand out for her sausage fingers to stroke my hair, making me shiver. “Why, Tasha, everyone knows about your family. The ones that saved the Enchanted Kingdoms all those years ago from Malinda and her trolls. That story is legendary. They are famous and so are you for being their daughter.”

Well, that made sense. When my grandmother had tried to overthrow Steven, Mom and Dad had been there to help stop her. My mouth opened to take a bite out of the pastry I hadn’t even noticed was in my hand. “How do you know they were missing?” I pressed instead. No, don’t eat it, I ordered myself as I waited for an answer.

Her eyes suddenly blazed like the moon. “You just won’t give up, will you? Fine, puppy, have it your way,” she snarled.

She pushed me so suddenly and with a surprising amount of strength that I lost my balance and once again landed on my butt. Bars sprouted up around me so I was locked in a cage. The worst part? The other three were so busy pigging out they didn’t even notice my predicament.

I tried breaking the bars, but apparently they were the only things in the house that weren’t made of food. I sat with my back resting against the cool poles and my knees tucked up to my chest. Wolves are hunters and hunters know how to be patient so I could wait for my chance. I would find a way out of this mess.

“You’re the witch that tried to eat Hansel and Gretel, aren’t you?” I asked calmly when I got bored of the silence. Ryder was busy munching on a gumdrop footstool while the other two dug into a chocolate cake.

The old lady stiffened at my question. “I’ve learned my lesson about how to deal with nosy children like yourself. You ask too many questions. That’s not an attractive quality. The Empress wanted you alive, but I don’t think she’d mind if you were a little baked.”

“The Empress? Who’s that?”

“She knew you would come for your parents, just as she knew they would come to help find Red Riding Hood’s missing cloak.”

That was the first time I’d heard of the cloak outside of the Grimm stories. The prince had neglected to tell me why he’d needed help. That was the reason my parents were here to begin with? “This is about a stupid cloak?” I scoffed.

“No, girl. Weren’t you listening? It’s about you. The Empress doesn’t like competition so she wants you out of the way.”

“What are you talking about?” Okay, now I was officially confused. Ryder needing my Mom and Dad to help find something that belonged to his kingdom annoyed me, but I could understand it. That I was part of something bigger than getting my family back was unreal.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Tasha Wolfe. Say goodbye, puppy.”

The floor creaked under me and started shifting. Everything moved so much I couldn’t even stand, like that one time when I was seven on a trampoline and Dad and Tate wouldn’t stop jumping after playing popcorn. One portion of the bars sank back beneath the marble-cake floors while the rest kept me trapped in. The chocolate frosting that acted as carpeting began to melt and I started sliding toward the giant oven’s awaiting mouth. My eyes were wide and my breath was caught in my throat so I couldn’t even scream.

Death by cake wasn’t what I was expecting.

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