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Chapter 23
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Monday morning turns out to be just as crazy as I'd dreaded.
The day gets off to a bad start and goes downhill from there. I get a ride to school with Zee and Alix like usual, but Alix is quiet all the way there. Zee must have told him what happened with Fable, and if not, he would have seen the crowds mobbing my house on the news or online.But he doesn't say a thing about it.I expected him to at least tease me. It's not like him to miss a chance to mock Fable.He's silent the whole way to school, while Zee chatters away nervously about the weather, soccer tryouts, the traffic – anything but Fable.Maybe Alix is just upset that I missed our band practice. I hope that's all.When Zee and I arrive at our lockers a few minutes before first bell, I find the words "GROUPIE SLUT" scrawled over the front of my locker in black sharpie. Jamie's scrubbing furiously at it with what looks like eye makeup remover and a Kleenex.Her face drops when she sRelated chapters
FABLE Chapter 24
Friday night finally arrives, and with it, summer vacation. I skip my usual set at the Night Owl, because we were planning on going to the movies to celebrate – Zee, Jamie, Grace and me – but Jamie has other plans at the last minute.For reasons I can't even begin to fathom, all four of us got invited to a keg party at Aaron Young's house. He's undeniably cool, and a senior, but both Alix and Micah think he's a jerk (and he goes through girlfriends faster than a hot knife through butter).Still, the lure of popularity points and cute seniors is too much for Jamie. She and Grace end up going to the party, while Zee and I skip it to watch a Frozen rerun at the cinema near my house (for about the fifth time since it came out).It works out pretty well – Zee will spend the night at my place, then tomorrow we'll go together to band practice at her house in the afternoon.It's as
FABLE Chapter 25
"Before I tell you what we're doing here, take this," Felix says.He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans, and takes out a small piece of paper folded in two. Alastaire rolls his eyes as Felix passes the note to me over the table, closing my hand over it.I'm still in such a state of shock at finding them in my house that it takes a second to register that Felix Lockhart's hand just touched my hand."Read it after we've left," Felix says. "And don't show your friend. It's for your eyes only. Understand?"I nod, tucking the paper away into my hoodie pocket."Basically, you're going to help us with a... project," Felix says.He's ordering me. There's no 'please', no 'if you want to.'"You want me to help you?" I ask, searching his face for some sign he's joking. His expression is as indecipherable and distant
FABLE Chapter 26
The dappled afternoon sunlight is warm against my back as I cycle through Forest Park.Everything is threaded with green, and the slow buzz of summer. Every now and again I stop riding to look at the sword ferns and bracken lining the dirt trail, and the thick canopy of firs and lushly leaved maples overhead.It feels so good to be back in the forest. We've lived on the edge of the park my whole life, and I used to know it like the back of my hand.Since the accident, I haven't visited even once.After I've been riding for almost half an hour, I hop off my rusty old BMX and pull Felix's note out of my pocket.Unfolding it, I study it for the hundredth time.I still can't believe he drew me a map.Two lines intersect at a 45-degree angle. One is labeled 'Wildwood', the other, 'Chestnut'. There's a big X where they meet.And at the
FABLE Chapter 27
Okay. Now or never.I knock once on the front door's wood paneling, peeking into the cabin through the stained glass panes.Everything's a jewel-colored blur through the glass, but I can just make out the shapes of furniture in the hallway and a light at the end of the hall – probably a window or another door.I wait a few seconds before knocking again, louder this time.There's a sound like someone falling over something, followed by muttered cursing.My heart skips a beat as the front door suddenly swings open.Lyall is standing in front of me wearing nothing but his boxers and a pair of fluffy pink bunny slippers.His reddish-brown hair is flat on one side and sticking out on the other, a cinnamon-colored bed head disaster that he still somehow manages to make look adorable. His eyes are half closed, and he flops sideways against the doorf
FABLE Chapter 28
A kiss lands on my cheek as the hand is pulled away from in front of my eyes.Alastair unwraps himself from around my shoulders and flops onto a kitchen stool next to me. He's dressed even more scantily than Lyall, in a thin white robe like people wear at health spas.I wonder if he's wearing anything underneath.OMG don't think about that! It's as if I'm a dirty old man perving on schoolgirls. Breathe. He just kissed me on my cheek. Ignore that. Didn't happen. Breathe.I sneak a glance at his beautifully defined chest peeking out from the robe and my face reacts by turning a fierce, burning red.Everything about him just looks amazing. Especially his hair. Messy dark blonde, slightly damp – probably from the shower.My cheek is warm and tingling where he kissed the skin.Get a grip Ashling. Don't freak out over
FABLE Chapter 29
Thump. Thump. Thump.My heart is beating so hard against my ribs I feel like it's about to jump out of my chest on to the kitchen counter.I've managed to keep fairly calm up to this point, but the thought of Lyall making pancakes for me... I want to do a crazy fangirl dance.Lyall hums quietly to himself while he stirs the batter, and Felix is sitting next to me with his head down on the counter. He hasn't even touched his tea yet.Alastaire flicks through something on his phone.There's no reception out here, so I'm tempted to ask what he's doing, but I don't want him to think I'm being nosy.The guys don't seem to notice how nervous I am, and realizing this helps me to calm down. I clutch my mug a little less tightly.Everyone's lost in their own thoughts.Apart from Lyall's softly murmured tune and the clinking of the spoon ag
FABLE Chapter 30
“Your guess is as good as mine,” says Alastaire as he pokes at a pancake with his fork.“He went out for a bit,” Lyall says in between mouthfuls. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Don’t stress ‘bout it Kit.”“He went out?” says Kitty, her eyebrows knitting together in worry.“Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Alastaire says. “He’s just out doing loner junk in the forest. Typical.”Kitty shakes her head, looking gloomily at the counter.“You worry too much,” says Ben as he pats her on the back. “It’s not like he’s gonna get run down by a rabid pack of bloodthirsty fangirls this deep in the woods. Unless you told your buddies about us, Ashling.”He winks at me, and I almost choke on the bite of pancake I was busy swallowing.
FABLE Chapter 31
"I'm not buying it," Kitty says as she drags me between moss-drenched oak trees and ferns, over the faint path snaking through the forest. "Why are you really here?"She's holding my hand so hard that I can feel her nails biting into the flesh of my palm. Even though she doesn't turn around as she asks the question, I can imagine her expression. There's a growl in her voice, something almost feral.She pulls me along behind her at a steady march, further and further away from the cabin, deeper and deeper into the forest.My skin prickles with goose bumps as the space between the trees lessens, and the woods get subtly darker. The overgrowth is thicker, the path more difficult to see than I remember it.Is this the way I came earlier?Then I see it. Just a few feet away, an impossibly dark shape streaks through the trees to my left, skittering away into the gloom. To
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FABLE Epilogue
She sits high up in the branches of an ancient blackthorn tree, draped in a darkness blacker than midnight.They’re still searching for her.She can hear the faraway shouting, the breaking of twigs underfoot, even the beating of their hearts.Now she watches those five blazing hearts dancing through the dark far below, glowing like red embers in the dying fire.Her eyes travel further afield, to the heart of the forest, where a nimbus of brilliant silver blooms in the shadows.She smiles as the cold wind tugs on her hair, and she sends a tune out along the breeze, towards the silvery light.The oldest song she can remember.A lullaby.Soon, she’ll be free.She’ll destroy it. Music made magic, the chain unbroken for a thousand years.
FABLE Chapter 51
This can't be happening.The massive ball of silver light hanging in the air unfurls, opening up like the petals of an incandescent metallic rose.In the circle of luminosity, a wavy ribbon of radiance seems to move in a slow pattern, weaving in and out of itself like a twisting knot of smoke.As my eyes adjust, I make out its real shape.Impossible.A long, coiling body covered in glinting scales like a thousand tiny mirrors, reflecting the light of the full moon. A coffin-shaped head bobbing slowly on an invisible current. Two wide, glittering green eyes shining like emeralds.Even though it must be at least twenty feet above us, I can clearly see a series of markings on the underbelly of the serpent, darker scales or scarring, running down its length like Hieroglyphics or some ancient script.A figure-eight on its side. A cross looped o
FABLE Chapter 50
The forest is bathed in bright silvery moonlight as we make our way along the trail from the car park.Despite Felix and Alastaire's spat, the evening served its purpose.Satisfied now that they'd met – or rather, interrogated – the band, my parents were totally happy to send me off with them at the end of the night with my overnight bag, a flashlight and the remaining strawberry cupcakes in a tupperware.We agreed I'll stay with the guys as long as it takes to get the album recorded – maybe up to a week or longer – and I'll phone my mom to check in every day.It'll be so much better not having to do this long walk twice a day. And staying over at the cabin's gonna be fun. Like a summer camp. Even if I'm feeling sort of nervous about being around Felix after the… thing… that happened in my bedroom.Now, as I pick my way along th
FABLE Chapter 49
I'm putting the finishing touches on a strawberry cupcake when I hear the doorbell ringing, followed by frantic knocking.I run to the front door, and swing it open.Kitty's standing on the front porch, looking like she just stepped out of The Great Gatsby. She's wearing a chic forest green silk dress, and her bob of dark hair is tied back with a filmy white scarf, which trails down her back. Fluttering in the breeze, the scarf makes it look almost like she has a set of translucent wings. A pair of huge dark glasses – the sort celebs wear when evading the paparazzi – in combination with the scarf wings makes me think of a bug.In fact, Kitty looks a lot like a dragonfly right now – a dragonfly crossed with a gorgeous glamazon heiress.As soon as I open the door, she's visibly relieved.She turns towards the road and gestures behind her, at a black Jeep parked just a
FABLE Chapter 48
The rest of the week slips by, and Thursday night arrives way before I'm ready for it.After practicing with the boys for hours on end from sunrise to sunset, plus the long walk to the cabin and back every day, I'm exhausted.The last thing I feel like is having to sit through a long dinner while my mom tries to convince the boys that she's "hip" and "knows how to use the Facebook" – while my dad cross-examines them like a detective in an 80s cop show.Plus, knowing them, they'll have prepared a ridiculous feast of epic proportions for the boys. The last thing I want is to give off the impression that we're trying too hard.To make matters worse, I've barely seen my friends this week, and I know I should ask them if they want to come over tonight. They could show up after dinner, and hang out with the guys a bit.But the memory of Felix blatantly ignoring Zee and Jamie the othe
FABLE Chapter 47
By the time we wrap up and leave the recording studio, I’m feeling on top of the world.Elliot was totally right. As soon as we started jamming, everything just fell into place.The boys had already written most of the music and lyrics for the new album. They’d been practicing the songs for weeks, and the only thing missing was the acoustic guitar.At first they just played through what they had, and I slipped in, adding the sound of my guitar to the music they’d already created.It was clear to see why Felix was so determined to include acoustic guitar on the new album. Without it, the songs had the same old familiar indie rock sound of their previous singles. But with the addition of the extra sound, everything seemed to take on a mystical, romantic, almost eerie quality.After hours of revisions and experimentation, we have the first song ready to record.
FABLE Chapter 46
By the time I reach the boys’ hideout, it’s already past 9am.Someone’s gonna be sooo pissed.A mental image of Felix impatiently sitting on the steps outside the front door with a scowl plastered on his face pops into my mind, and I find it oddly satisfying.Let him wait. I’m not his slave.But as I leave the forest and walk across the clearing towards the cabin, I can see that the steps are empty. He’s not waiting.Maybe he forgot.I’m glad to finally be finished the long walk – I bought my guitar along in its case today, and it gets surprisingly heavy after almost an hour of carrying it.I pause at the foot of the steps, looking up at the carpet of brilliant red roses clinging to the front of the cabin.As the princess lay slumbering, around the castle the
FABLE Chapter 45
I wake up crying.The image of Mia with a bloody rose blooming from her lips makes my stomach turn, and I realize I'm about to hurl.I make it to the bathroom in the nick of time, and I throw-up up until I taste bile.Afterwards, I take a hot shower, scrubbing away the night's memories and terrors.If only I could forget it all.Forget the nightmare. Forget the accident. Forget Evan and Mia.Once I'm done in the shower, I change into skinny jeans, a white cami, and my red hoodie.The same hoodie that the Alastaire's Angels tore to shreds the night of the concert. I never did ask Felix how he mended it so quickly. Although it's not like he would have mended it personally. Maybe someone at the hotel did it.I run my fingers over the seams, looking for some stitch out of place, a clue, but it's as perfect a
FABLE Chapter 44
I'm standing beneath a starry sky on the edge of a jagged cliff.Ocean waves crash against a rocky shore far below, churning up swirling sea foam bathed in silvery moonlight.My hair whips around me; the wind stings my eyes.I stand for a long time, looking down at the raging seas.Somewhere in that dark ocean, the bus is sinking, a metal coffin falling forever.I can feel the cold interior slick with blood; I can hear my classmates calling me.There's a tug in my chest, like an invisible string pulling me forward.Somehow I know that if I look too long, I'll float out to sea, and I'll never be able to swim back.So I focus my attention on the pale white ribbon of sand that stretches like a snake out along the base of the cliffs far below, glowing faintly with trapped moonlight.A procession of figures in silver
