One Kiss (12 page)
Vandalism?
The prosecutor continued: “The minimum sentencing requirement for all four crimes is two thousand seven hundred and twenty-three years in maximum security prison without the possibility of parole.”
“You want me to die in prison?”
He took off his glasses and began cleaning the lenses with a white handkerchief. “My dear Miss Lightfoot. The decision to die is entirely up to you. We merely imprison.”
“I don’t know about you Fairy Tale people, but I can’t stay here for God only knows how long. We should do something instead of just waiting for Beauty to return.”
The prosecutor looked amused. She turned to the judge, but he shook his head. It was the Beast who finally said, “She’s right.”
“Your Highness!” both of the men exclaimed.
“I cannot wait. No one knows how long it will take Beauty to find her way back to her story. What if she’s forever lost?”
The men were beginning to look a bit green. “The possibility of that happening is—”
“Quite high!”
Everyone turned at the commanding soprano voice coming from the door, and the three at the table jumped to their feet. “Fairy Godmother!”
Melinda had never seen the legendary Fairy Godmother in all the years she’d flitted in and out of fairy tales, and she’d imagined the elusive sprite to be a personable matronly woman. She’d never think that after tonight.
A tall regal woman in a diamond-studded white dress strode inside. A dainty tiara rested on her head, and her unbound platinum hair curled around the small of her back. She stopped when she reached Melinda and faced the three men at the table. “We have found Beauty.”
Melinda slumped with relief. She wasn’t a Fairy Tale Killer.
“She’s in Miss Lightfoot’s world.”
All four said, “She is?”
“And the Evil Witch is missing as well.”
Two gasps and a growl came from the table.
“With your permission, Your Honor, I should like to present some facts for the court’s official consideration.”
The judge bowed gravely and made a flowing motion with his hand.
“Thank you. Now then… All the evidence the police gathered points to some rather disturbing conclusions. Firstly, in order for Miss Lightfoot here to have come into this world, we may assume that she has the ability to create a sort of bridge between our world and hers. Secondly, we may further assume that the Evil Witch became aware of this bridge, or melding, at some point during Miss Lightfoot’s travels, and that she observed the phenomenon for some time. Thirdly, that she kidnapped Beauty and left our world either when Miss Lightfoot entered
Beauty and the Beast,
or at some point during her presence here. Finally—and this is not a conclusion based on supposition, but something that I myself have sensed in the past little while—she has established a magical beacon so that when the time is right she can control the path between the worlds.
“So I believe that our course is clear,” Fairy Godmother continued. “We must task Miss Lightfoot with locating and bringing back both Beauty and the Evil Witch.”
“Which Evil Witch is this?” Melinda asked. Her stomach felt queasy. She was okay with the finding Beauty part, but not too sure about the Evil Witch.
“The one who cursed the Beast. The one who taught the forest hag how to trick Hansel and Gretel. The one who longs to destroy all happy endings.”
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I owe an enormous thanks to the following people who helped me birth this story:
My mother for instilling the love of a story well-told and buying me over fifty volumes of fairy tales from all over the world.
My husband for manning the fort with our baby boy and encouraging me.
May for keeping me sane.
The IRI gang and Romance Divas for their invaluable advice and support.
The Magic & Mayhem Writers—Amanda Bonilla, Amanda Carlson, Shawntelle Madison, and Sandy Williams—for being awesome.
Last but not least, my fabulous readers. Thank you.
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Bilingual former management consultant Nadia Lee has lived in four different countries and enjoyed many adventures and excellent food around the globe. In the last eight years, she has kissed stingrays, got bitten by a shark, ridden an elephant and petted tigers.
She shares an apartment overlooking a river and palm trees in Japan with her husband, winter white hamsters and an ever-widening pile of books. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found digging through old Asian historical texts or planning another trip.
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One Kiss
Copyright
© 2012 by Hyun J. Kyung
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.