Mihi Ever After by Tae Keller

Author:Tae Keller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Chapter 15

Mihi and her friends sprinted through the castle. Ladies-in-waiting, servants, and cooks all watched in confusion as the girls scrambled past.

“Disposed of!” Mihi gasped as they ran. “That’s the most evil phrase I’ve ever heard.”

“You said you wanted adventure,” Reese gasped back.

“Not in a murder-y way!”

“How do you think she’ll dispose of us?” Savannah asked as they ran through the grand ballroom. The intricate castle mural looked menacing now, with its bright colors and happy scene. Everything felt wrong.

“Probably best not to think about that,” Reese replied.

The girls threw the front doors open and tumbled out, clutching at their sides as they ran toward the stables.

They were halfway there when Savannah shrieked. Stumbling, Reese and Mihi turned to see her sprawled on the ground. A thorny, black vine was wrapped around her ankle.

“The weeds!” Reese cried.

Savannah tugged herself free, losing one of her shoes in the process. “What was that?” she gasped.

As she got to her feet, another weed broke the surface, just in front of Reese. Reese dodged, and the girls ran even faster as the vines burst up around them.

Mihi yelped. “You were right about the weeds, Reese!”

“Normally, I love to hear those words,” Reese panted. “But right now, I really, really wish I’d been wrong.”

They sprinted, weaving between the weeds, and they’d nearly reached the stables when one of those vines sprang up and wrapped around Mihi’s calf.

She tugged, but it only wrapped tighter. Another vine coiled around her waist.

Pain and panic clouded Mihi’s vision. She squirmed helplessly against the vine, but as it squeezed her chest, she began to feel light-headed. Distantly, she wondered if these were the consequences Bertha had mentioned—if by changing the dinner menu and visiting Sleeping Beauty, Mihi really had disrupted too much.

Reese and Savannah screamed, and Mihi knew they were trapped too. Mihi squirmed, punching the vine, but it was useless. The vine barely reacted to her blows.

“We need something sharp to cut these away,” she gasped.

But of course, they didn’t have anything. The only thing Mihi had in her pockets was the map. She had nothing at all, except …

“The pin!” she shouted, as she ripped the princess pin off her dress. The pin’s needle was a tiny weapon.

She plunged it into the vine.

Black sludge burst out, oozing over Mihi, and the vine recoiled, releasing her. She scrambled to her feet.

Her friends followed suit, and before the vines could grab them again, they sprinted.

Savannah threw the stable doors open and led Reese and Mihi to a white mare with a black star on her forehead.

“Hi, Starr, I know you’re not my biggest fan, but this is life or death,” Savannah panted desperately. “So will you please help us flee, and not bite or stomp or throw us off?”

The horse snorted as a vine exploded up through the stable floor, and Savannah yelped, “I’m gonna take that as a yes!”

Grabbing Starr’s mane, she pulled herself up, then offered a hand to help her friends. Once they’d all scrambled on, Savannah kicked the horse’s sides, and Starr reared.

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