Running In Glass Slippers (Storybook Keepers #1)-First Draft

 The bright light of the sun is jarring coming from the dimmer Storybook House, and Luna has to squint as she steps once again into the landscape of Cinderella.

Conrad comes blinking behind her and shuts the door. They are back where they left from, but the Prince's guard doesn't seem to be there anymore. Whether they just left knowing that Conrad wasn't with them, or they thought he had gone ahead is impossible to distinguish.

"They probably took the horse," Conrad says, shielding his eyes to look around, "Which is unfortunate for us because it's a long walk back to my Uncle's."

Luna points out a wagon, which seems to be loaded with a variety of handmade items to be delivered somewhere, "What are the chances that they may be heading the same direction as us?"

Conrad goes to ask, and the quiet gives Luna's mind the chance to wander. Is Lyle still here? Is it possible that he knows that Luna heard him in the camp and he's out looking for her? Would he even need that reason to? Thinking back, she realizes that he said he was tasked with keeping an eye on her. That didn't necessarily mean that she had to be aware of anything for him to be looking for her. Suddenly, she feels very alone waiting for Conrad to come back.

When he does return, the triumphant look on his face is contagious, and she can't help smiling.

"The woodsmith says that he is heading to the village just past where we need to go, and he would be happy to give us a ride. As long as we don't mind riding in the back. He only has room for himself in the front."

"That sounds perfect."

And it did. So why is her chest suddenly beating at one hundred miles per hour while her instincts tell her to check her surroundings?

The ride is more than bumpy. Every rock or small divot in the road seems to rock the wagon near toppling. All of the furniture slides and bounces along, as do Conrad and Luna. It seems as though every other minute the two of them collide into each other on one side of the cart or the other. The apologies stop after the first couple of times, but the bruises keep forming.

"This is the longest that I have ever been away from home," Conrad shouts from the other side of the wagon, but then ends up screaming into Luna's ear as the buggy careens the other way, "It's also the farthest I have ever been." He thinks for a moment, "Well, I guess your home is the farthest that I have ever been, but I'm not sure if that will count since no one will believe me after you leave."

Luna isn't prepared to talk about leaving without him yet, so she simply nods, and they carry on in the silence of the creaking wheels and tumbling furniture. For the duration of the ride, Conrad seems to have conversation on the tip of his tongue, but he holds off based on the tone that Luna has set.

After being sufficiently tossed around for about an hour and a half in story time, the cart comes to a stop, and the driver announces that they have reached their destination.

They have reached the palace. Conrad leads her through the courtyard and to the other side of the great castle before they begin their trek on foot across uneven and unattended paths to the quieter side of the village. Beyond that, Luna can see vast fields for farming and remembers that Conrad's family lives somewhere among them.

The feeling of uneasiness leaves Luna the closer they get to the baker's shop. She begins to smell the sweet scent of pastries, and imagines the light, flaky layers of each one as her stomach begins to growl.

Conrad puts a hand to his own stomach, and gestures to the doorway, "I'm sure that he will allow us something to eat once we are inside and settled."

The bakery is not as busy as Luna expected. As well as his creations sell in the courtyard, it seems that not many people make the trip to the bakery itself. It's comfortably warm inside and she and Conrad enter the building. The sound of rolling pins fills the air, mingling with the scent of the rising and baking dough. All of her senses are calmed by what they consume, and Luna allows her shoulders to relax. She hadn't realized that she was tensing them.

So far, so good. She allows herself to think.

The baker smiles when they enter, "My favorite nephew!"

"I'm your only nephew," Conrad clarifies.

"Does that make a difference?" His attention turns to Luna, "I thought that I may be seeing you again soon."

"Did you always know who I was?" Luna asks in response to the seeming depth of the baker's knowledge.

He shakes his head, "I did not. Although, I will say that I always knew you weren't just a girl from the village." He laughs, "When my friend finally returned, after all of this time, he told me to keep my eyes open for his little girl. He was so sure that I would see her one day. Then I met you, and I knew that you had to be the girl."

Luna wonders if her heart might burst from excitement, "My dad came to see you? Did he leave something behind?"

"From the first time I met that man, I knew that there was something different about him. Then he took me somewhere magical, and I knew it was true. If he is your father, you are special too," the baker looks back at his nephew, "I am amazed how things connect in the world. The chance that a relative of mine would meet a relative of his... I can see in your eyes that you have seen what I have seen, Conrad."

Something clangs to the floor farther back in the kitchen, but the baker hardly seems to notice anything except for Luna and Conrad, "There is a connection now that can never be broken. I have been keeping secrets for most of my life, but now I have someone to share them with."

Before he can begin to divulge just what secrets he knows, the baker frowns. Luna follows his eyes past her to the open door. Just down the road, a small group of men is heading toward the bakery. Her uneasiness returns as she makes eye contact with one of them, even from this distance, she knows he sees her. It's Lyle. He quickens his pace, and the rest of the group follows his lead.

"Those men..." Luna struggles to get the words out, "They want to get to my father. I think they've been looking for me."

"The King's Men," the baker replies, his eyes narrowing.

Conrad seems confused, "No, the Prince's guard isn't with me anymore. I believe they came back, but none of those men were with us."

Luna, however, hears what Conrad would not understand, "All the King's horses and all the King's men," she says, just above a whisper, "You know that they are the ones my father has been hiding from."

"I do, and I know that it's best that they don't get to the two of you either."

Luna's eyes scan the room. As far as she can tell, there is only one exit, but they would easily be seen leaving that way too, "We need my father's book. Is there another door in the back that we can leave through, so they won't see us?" she anxiously implores.

The baker shakes his head, "They'll be onto us, if I send you that way. Plus, you won't have time to get the book and leave without them noticing. The book is upstairs where I live. Follow me."

The three of them quickly make their way up the stairs, glancing out every window along the way. The King's men grow ever closer.

"Here it is," the baker throws open a door to a room that looks similar to the living room in the Storybook House, but there's only one book on a pedestal at the head of the room.

"Go ahead," Conrad tells her, "Finish out the plan. Take the book. We will close the door, and then you can make it back home. Your dad will be one step closer to home."

His face betrays the intention of his words. He desperately wants to go with her, but he's making good on his promise to Peter. "Go," he says again, more quietly this time.

Luna runs to the window. The King's Men are nearly at the bakery door. She could make it, but then Conrad and his uncle will be left with these men who want her father, potentially to hurt him. She can't leave them behind not knowing what might happen to them. But, even if she could make the decision to leave with the book before, what she sees now assures her that no one, including her, would be safe even if she did leave.

Rounding out the group of men on a mission to get to her is Loren.