Princess Dare was rarely seen in public at all.
But she would sneak off to these woods.
On the day Dream last saw Princess Dare, Dream herself had been in these woods. Dream was up in her own favorite tree, daydreaming about what it would be like for the sky to be the ground. Dream’s reverie was halted by the snap of twigs on the forest floor just beneath her perch.
Dream looked down just as Princess Dare stopped to spread her arms and inhale, and in that moment, with Dream’s cheeks heating at the sight of Princess Dare’s shiny curls, Dream knew she would follow the other girl wherever she went.
(At a safe distance, of course.)
Off Princess Dare went, deeper into the woods, and when Princess Dare had gotten far enough away, Dream shinnied down her tree, gathered the lace hem of her dress—which was already ripped in four places—and followed the trail Princess Dare had left in the underbrush with her heavy boots.
When Dream reached the edge of the small clearing where Princess Dare had stopped, Dream dropped down behind a thicket and just…watched.
She watched as Princess Dare scaled the gnarled shaft of a large oak tree and took a seat on a bough some thirty feet up. And there the princess stayed, gazing into the glowing canopy of leaves, her back against the heavy trunk, with one leg bent at the knee, and the other swinging free as the breeze.
Dream gawped, mouth open and everything. She felt like Princess Dare had shrugged off the cloak of contempt the townspeople daily draped over her shoulders, and left the wretched thing crumpled at the base of the tree. Seeing Princess Dare so open, so light, Dream had wanted to destroy that cloak somehow. To raze the kingdom, rid the whole world of anything that would return the stoop to the princess’s beautiful, unbowed shoulders.
Dream wanted to step out of hiding in that moment. To climb that tree and perch beside the princess. Dream wanted to extend her own calloused hand in greeting—the rough palm Mother couldn’t bear to look at because it reminded her of her daughter’s “unpleasant” hobbies—as well as her heart.
But Dream hadn’t had the courage.
Soon thereafter, a group of numbskull boys discovered Princess Dare’s woodland sanctuary. Her tree. Dream hadn’t been there, but she’d heard about the venom-slicked jeers and throwing of stones. The attempts to lure and then to knock Princess Dare down from her happy place.
That night, Dream dreamt that one of the boys had seized a filthy cloak from the muddy ground and climbed the tree to toss it over Dare’s bent head and shuddering shoulders before shoving her down to where his cohorts waited with sticks, poised to strike the minute she hit the ground.
Two mornings later, Princess Dare hadn’t been at breakfast. The servant sent to investigate found the princess’s chambers empty.
When news of Princess Dare’s disappearance reached Dream, Dream had run to the woods to check the tree.
Princess Dare hadn’t been there.
And Princess Dare isn’t there now as Dream steps into the small clearing and looks up at Princess Dare’s favorite bough.
But there is a treehouse built from what look like fallen branches.
Dream takes a steadying breath and squares her shoulders.
Then she climbs.
* * *
The monster hears and smells the person up in its treehouse before it sees them. But even without the sound or scent, the gathering of fireflies—a rare occurrence—makes it clear that there’s an intruder. The last time the luminescent creatures appeared en masse, the monster discovered a small girl—she was no more than six—attempting to take a beautifully carved mahogany bow from the monster’s collection of boneheaded-boy weapons.
The little girl had been lost. She smelled of honeysuckle and spun sugar. Of unbridled optimism and wanton naivete. So sweet, the monster lost its appetite. Instead of eating her, it led the girl back to the trail she’d wandered from so she could find her way home.
She’d even said Thank you.
This girl—for the monster is now sure there is a girl up in its treehouse, though an older girl than the one before—smells like fullness. Like dense, crusty bread and whipped, salted butter. Glazed, fatty meats. Like depth and breadth and wholeness.
It’s been a long day. The monster failed to find Princess Dare herself, but it did find remnants of her in the bushes all around the tree. A bootlace here. A headband there. A strip of tattered fabric.
As the monster makes its way toward the tree, pulled as if by string to this new girl’s delectable essence, a blast like the breath of a dragon (but less acrid) shoots down from the branches. The monster feels more of its armor-like skin crack and fall away.
But it doesn’t care.
The monster is exceedingly hungry.
And this is a meal it will not miss.
* * *
Dream can hear and feel the monster approaching from behind.
It’s starving. She can tell by the change in the air and the wet rattle of the monster’s breath.
And Dream is afraid. Afraid she’s wrong about the monster. Afraid the monster actually doesn’t need her. Afraid Princess Dare truly is gone, and Dream herself is about to be devoured.
Dream wonders how much it will hurt.
She feels the monster stop. Feels that ravenous breath shudder through the air around her. Feels its hunger…for her.
Dream turns. Takes in the monster’s face and looks into its fathomless eyes.
And Dream exhales.
Which appears to give the monster pause.
Dream wants to close her eyes but forces herself not to. This is the moment she’s awaited for years.
“Princess?” Dream says.
* * *
Dare blinks. She’s cold.
She’s naked.
She’s standing in what appears to be a treehouse built from fallen branches.
And there before her is a beautiful girl lifting the tattered hem of a dress—one that certainly has no place in these woods—to reveal a pair of leather trousers that the girl swiftly removes.
The girl kneels at Dare’s feet and holds the pants out so that Dare can step into them. Then the girl stands and removes a rumpled tunic and a pair of thin, flat shoes from a satchel tucked and cloaked between the layers of her skirts.
“Sorry they’re not your boots,” the girl—a beautiful girl, indeed—is saying as she helps Dare slide the simple slippers onto her feet. “I had a hunch I’d find you here. One of the two boys who made it back has said literally nothing since his return but ‘Those eyes…her eyes…’ in a deeply disturbing voice, and it took me longer than it should’ve to figure it out, but once I realized—”