The Fairest Kind of Love by Crystal Cestari

Author:Crystal Cestari
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2019-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

IT’S PAST MIDNIGHT WHEN we finally roll up to my apartment building. “Exhausted” doesn’t even begin to reach the depths of our collective fatigue. I feel like a three-ton sack of potatoes getting out of the car. With dead legs, I’m dragging myself to my door when Charlie calls out, “Hey!” from the passenger-side window.

“What?” I laugh deliriously.

“Can I see you later?”

“It’s like one a.m.; it is later.”

“I mean for dinner.”

With everything that just happened, I can barely think past taking off this dumb dress and snuggling into my sweatpants, but I appreciate where his head’s at. “I kind of need to decompress for a bit? But after that, sure.”

He blows me a kiss. “Okay, love you.”

Once I survive the three-story stair trek, I open my apartment door just a crack, reaching to disengage the witchy alarm system my mom devised: a bell that detects magical DNA. I rub the brass fixture, located to the left of the doorframe, letting it sense me. Ever since Mom’s evil witch-nemesis, Victoria, tried to storm the castle, Mom figures we can’t be too careful.

It’s so dark, I wish I could snap my fingers to make candles flicker like all the cool witch kids can, but instead I stumble over a stray shoe and go crashing into the hardwood. Seconds later, Mom flies out of her bedroom, sleep-mangled braid trailing behind, broomstick wielded like a baseball bat. She’s wearing her “Resting Witch Face” pajamas I bought her last Christmas.

“Amber?” she cries, shaking away dream remnants. “What in the world?”

I pick myself up off the floor. “A broomstick? Really, Mom? Can you be more of a cliché?”

She looks at her weapon as if she’s seeing it for the first time, then sets it aside, drowsy eyes examining me. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

I strategically place a hand over my right dress pocket, hoping to hide the bulge of stolen fairy dust. “Well, I’m on the no-fly list in fairyland now, so I needed to make a quick exit,” I explain.

Mom’s expression hardens. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’ll give you the scoop, but can I get some jammies on first? This is the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever worn.”

“Yes. I’ll go start some sleepytime tea.”

“Blech!” I scowl as Mom’s slippers scurry off to the kitchen. Quietly locking my bedroom door behind me, I pull out my contraband, a slight golden halo emanating from the cardboard packaging. Now, where can I put this without Mom accidentally discovering how I completely went against her rule? Under the bed seems too obvious. . . . My closet is pure chaos. My desk has gone virtually unused since school let out, so I pull open the bottom drawer, burying the world’s most powerful magic under unused notebooks and knickknacks. The perfect crime! I slip on some sweatpants and a hoodie (good-bye forever, strapless peasant dresses!) and get ready to raid the fridge.

Mom’s messing with the teakettle as I pull out my secret stash of dark chocolate peanut butter cups from the back of the pantry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.