“I should go sit down now, too,” May said as Wanita ran out of the tent. “You girls both look lovely!”
And then she was gone, leaving the girls to pick up their bouquets. “What do you think the ogresses are going to do when they end up with our dresses?” Cory asked Quince as they left the tent.
“I can only imagine!” Quince said, and started to giggle. She was still grinning when the music started and Cory preceded her into the bigger tent.
A single fiddler was playing just inside the opening. Cory glanced at him as she passed by and nearly tripped over her own feet. It was one of the twins from the Battle of the Bands, and the sour look he gave her was enough to curdle milk. The music faltered for a second, picking up again a moment later. Cory kept walking, focusing on the people on either side of the aisle.
Her smile grew broader when she spotted Blue sitting between Lionel and Macks, right behind her mother’s parents. Micah was only a few paces beyond, but the only one he was looking at was Quince. Cory recognized the man standing beside him. It was Mr. Chirith, a teacher from the Junior Fey School. The man standing in front of him was Judge Terwilliger, one of Micah’s old students.
As Quince approached Micah, Cory stepped to the side. Cory glanced over her shoulder when the judge started talking. There weren’t that many people there, so it was easy to see that her mother hadn’t shown up. Cory was still looking behind her when six tiny fairies dressed in pink and yellow flew into the tent and down the aisle. They were carrying baskets full of flower petals to sprinkle on the heads of the guests. When their baskets were empty, they left and came back with more petals, dumping them on Quince and Micah. Quince started to sneeze, and Micah looked alarmed. Judge Terwilliger didn’t seem to notice and kept talking, even though Micah kept shooting the fairies annoyed looks.
Cory wondered if the fairies were there to cause trouble because of her. If this was her fault, shouldn’t she do something to stop them? Unable to think of anything she could do without wrecking the wedding, she stood there, watching helplessly as the fairies came back again.
“You may kiss the bride,” Judge Terwilliger announced, and Cory realized that she had missed most of what he’d said.
Micah turned to kiss Quince, and Cory could see how happy they were. It made her feel pleased with herself to know that she was the one who had brought them together.
The music started again, and the newlyweds had just begun to walk down the aisle when the tiny fairies returned, their baskets filled with petals mixed with glitter. They scattered the sparkling petals on the bride, the groom, and everyone near the aisle. Quince sneezed again, and this time she couldn’t seem to stop. Hiking up her skirts with one hand, she hurried out of the tent with Micah running to keep up and the fiddler playing faster to match her pace.
“Well, that was different,” said the judge, loud enough so only the people near him could hear.
Cory and Mr. Chirith walked down the aisle side by side. Everyone was going into the next tent, where the tables and chairs were set up, but Cory stepped aside to wait for Blue.
“You look beautiful!” he said when he saw her.
“Thank you,” Cory told him. “You wouldn’t believe what we had to go through for our dresses.”
“Was there a problem? I heard that you came for Wanita.”
“There was, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle. I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“Hey, Cory! You’ve gotta come try the food!” Macks called to her. “Creampuff outdid herself this time!”
“Shall we join him?” Cory asked Blue. He chuckled and nodded, so she took his hand and they started for the buffet table. They were almost there when Cory got sidetracked by Quince’s angry voice. She spotted the bride standing in the corner, talking to a fairy dressed all in yellow.
“I don’t know why you didn’t ask me first!” Quince was saying to the fairy. Although the fairy was full-size, Cory recognized her as one of the tiny fairies that had scattered flower petals during the ceremony.
“It was our surprise wedding gift to you! It wouldn’t have been a surprise if we’d told you. Some people are so unappreciative!” the fairy cried before flouncing off.
“Why don’t you join Macks?” Cory said to Blue. “I’ll be back in just a minute.”
“Is everything all right?” she asked Quince, who was wiping her nose with a handkerchief.
Quince glanced at her, then steered her away from the other guests. “The fairies who dropped the flower petals during the ceremony are my cousins. They know I’m allergic to flowers, but they did it anyway. I suppose it’s possible they forgot about my allergy, but even so, they should have asked. It was my wedding, after all.”
“I didn’t know that you’re allergic to flowers,” said Cory.
Quince nodded. “It’s a shameful secret to have when you come from a family of flower fairies. It’s why I didn’t go into the family business.”
“And it’s why you wanted artificial flowers for the bouquets!” said Cory. “I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of, but I won’t tell anyone.”
“I knew I could count on you!” Quince replied. “Micah told me that you never tell anyone’s secrets. Excuse me, there he is. I need to talk to him.”
Cory was on her way back to the buffet table when she saw Deidre talking to the genie Salazar. “That’s so interesting!” Cory’s grandmother exclaimed. “Tell me, what was the strangest thing that any of your clients has ever wished for?”
“Usually it’s power or riches. Love is a big one, too, but we can’t make people fall in love. I’d have to say that the strangest requests are when someone makes a wish without really thinking about it. I had one person ask for a gumball machine. And another wished the day was over so she could put her children to bed.”
“What a waste of a good wish!” Deidre cried. “What would you have wished for if you could have wished for anything?”
“More vacations!” said Salazar.
Cory laughed and kept walking until Wanita called out to her. “Cory, you never told me that your grandfather is the Clayton Fleuren, who creates those wonderful fish-scale models! I love your work, Mr. Fleuren. I saw a model you did of a pig at the Porcine Palace, where I take Theo for grooming. It was in a glass case, but it looked so real I thought it might be alive.”
“I’m glad you like my models,” said Cory’s grandfather. “I made that pig model years ago. I remember it very well because I had such a hard time finding fish with the exact shade of pink scales that I needed.”
“You should have seen the model Grandfather made of Prince Rupert’s castle,” Cory told Wanita.
“I would have loved to have seen that!” Wanita cried as Cory turned toward the food table again. “What are you working on now?”
When Cory finally got in line, she was behind the twins, Selene and Felice, who were talking to one of their old teachers, Mr. Chirith.
“We remember you better than any of our other teachers,” Selene was telling him.
Felice nodded. “You had a major impact on our lives.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, smiling politely. “I was afraid you might be angry after I flunked you in Shape-shifting 1. I’m glad you recognized that you both needed another year of practice before you moved on.”
“We were slow at developing our abilities,” Felice admitted. “There was one thing you did that we had a terrible time mastering. Would you mind showing us again how you do the blink and change?”
“Right now?” he said. “I wouldn’t mind showing you, but I don’t think this is either the time or the place.”
“I told you he’s getting too old to do it,” Selene told her sister. “We’ll have to ask someone younger to show us.”
“I suppose I could show you now,” said Mr. Chirith. “Watch closely.”
Felice and Selene weren’t the only ones watching when the teacher’s face became impassive. He blinked and an instant later, a ra
ccoon was standing next to the table.
“That was fast,” said Selene. “But we’re even faster.”
In a flash, the twins were leopards: one black and one spotted. With a snarl that made everyone turn and look, they sprang at the raccoon, who shot between them and ran out the opening of the tent into the forest beyond. The two leopards ran after him and were soon out of sight.
“I guess they never really did forgive him,” said Deidre, who had come up behind Cory. “Oh, dear, I think one of the twins must have spilled her drink on you when she changed. If you can go take that dress off, you can probably clean it before the stain sets.”
Cory glanced down. It looked as if an entire cup of berry juice had splashed on her dress. If she was going to keep it from staining, she’d have to clean it soon.
“Please tell Blue that I’ll be right back,” she told her grandmother, and hurried out of the tent. The little tent where she’d left her other clothes was only a few yards away. She’d change into the clothes she’d worn to the park, then …
Shadowy figures stepped out from behind a tree. One shoved a cloth soaked in something stinky under Cory’s nose, while another held her as she struggled. She was losing consciousness when one of them slipped a bag over her head and she collapsed into the other’s arms.
CHAPTER
9
Cory’s head hurt when she woke. Even before she opened her eyes, she knew she was someplace unfamiliar. There was a damp, musty smell to the air, and she could hear water dripping somewhere close by. It felt as if she was lying on some kind of fur with another fur on top of her, which might have been the reason for the smell. Her thoughts faded in and out. When she was more lucid, she wondered which guild had sent people to kidnap her.
Cory finally opened her eyes, but the space was so dark that she couldn’t see a thing. She tried to sit up, and groaned. Movement made her headache worse.
“She’s awake!” shouted a voice.
Although she couldn’t see them, she could hear people moving around her. She moaned again when someone rolled her on her side, and kept rolling her until she was wrapped so tightly that she couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to. Strong arms picked her up. She bounced with every step as they carried her through the dark. Apparently, her captors didn’t need light to see. After what seemed like a long time but might have been only a few minutes, they stopped walking to bang on what sounded like a wooden door three times, then three more times. When the door opened, they carried Cory into a space just as dark as the one she’d left.
“Here you go,” said a gruff voice. “Have fun!”
For some reason, that prompted laughter among her captors as they dumped her on the floor and walked out, closing the door behind them. Cory lay there, still muzzy-headed, while someone came over and poked her in the side. When Cory groaned, the person came closer. “Are you all right?” said a decidedly female voice.
“I think so,” said Cory. “Unless it’s not really dark in here and I’ve suddenly gone blind.”
“Just a minute,” said the voice.
Cory listened to the slap of bare feet on stone, then a door opened, flooding the space with light. She squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden glare. When she opened them again, a figure was coming toward her through the light.
“Come on, get up. The men have gone, so you don’t have to stay in the dark any longer. Here, let me help you.”
Cory was just starting to make out a female face when the woman pushed her hard enough that she rolled over and over, unwrapping herself. As her headache suddenly grew worse, Cory caught her breath.
“There you go,” said the voice. Cory looked up and saw a female goblin gazing down at her. The goblin had silver hair, a long narrow nose, ears that hung down past her jaw, and very pretty cornflower-blue eyes. “They’re waiting for me to take you to them. Come along. We have lots to do.”
“Who are you? Why did you kidnap me? Where are you taking me?” Cory asked as the goblin woman helped her to her feet. She didn’t realize how short the goblin was until they were standing side by side. Although Cory wasn’t very tall herself, the goblin was at least a foot shorter.
“She’ll answer all your questions when you see her,” the woman said.
“Who is ‘she’?” asked Cory, but her escort only smiled.
Cory walked on wobbly legs into the light and found that she was in a corridor with doors on both sides. When she glanced down, she noticed the red stain on the bridesmaid’s dress, and for a moment thought that it was blood. She was relieved to remember that it was berry juice, and sorry that the stain was probably permanent, unless, of course, she asked a witch for help. But considering where she was, a stain on a dress was the least of her worries.
When Cory looked up again, the goblin woman was opening a door and ushering her inside. The room they entered was bright and cheery with low tables and long, low couches. Brightly colored pillows were strewn across the couches and heaped on the floor. Pierced lanterns in jewel tones of red, yellow, blue, and green hung from the ceiling, casting light on the gathered goblin women who looked up at Cory and smiled. Cory was so busy looking at everything and everyone in the room that she almost didn’t notice her mother. She was seated on a couch with goblin women all around her, and they were all dressed in simple, brightly colored dresses.
“Mother? What are you doing here? Where are we?” asked Cory.
“Hurry up and tell her, Delphinium, or I will,” said a quarrelsome-sounding voice. Cory turned and saw Deidre sitting on another couch.
“I was just about to, Mother,” said Delphinium. “Cory, I told you that I was having a traditional goblin wedding ceremony. It’s your own fault if you were taken by surprise. If you’d done a little research, you’d know that part of a goblin wedding ceremony is the kidnapping of the female blood relatives of the bride. You’ll stay here until the ceremony itself, which is the day after tomorrow. You’ll need to participate in certain pre-ceremony rituals, as will you, Mother.”
“Huh,” said Deidre. “At least you didn’t knock me out and drag me here with a bag on my head.”
“Did you know about this before Micah’s wedding?” Cory asked her grandmother, aghast.
“I didn’t have a clue until I was on my way home and some goblins made me get in a very nice solar car,” said Deidre. “The windows were dark and I thought it was your grandfather Lionel’s, until I got in.”
“This is awful!” Cory cried. “Who would think of doing such a thing?”
“Actually, we would,” said the older goblin woman seated beside Delphinium. Her dark hair, streaked with gray, was pulled back in a tight bun and she had a single eyebrow that stretched from one side of her face to the other. “Kidnapping the members of the wedding party is a time-honored tradition among goblin-kind. Your mother is marrying into one of the most respected goblin families—mine. We expect her to follow all of our traditions. We expect you to as well.”
“Cory, this is my future mother-in-law, Prugilla,” Delphinium announced. “And these ladies are her sisters, and nieces, and cousins and aunts.”
The only goblin woman Cory had ever seen before was Natinia Blunk, the attorney who had prosecuted the guilds. These women were mostly older than Natinia, and they all seemed far less fearsome than male goblins, including Officer Deeds, her future stepfather.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” said Cory. “But I still don’t understand how you can kidnap me and think there won’t be consequences. What about Blue and Micah and Quince? Don’t you think they’re going to be worried and go looking for me?”
“We already took care of that,” Delphinium told her. “I sent word that you’re all right and that you were coming to help me.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that will make Blue worry any less,” Cory said, shaking her head. After all, he knew exactly how Cory felt about her mother.
“Aside from being a member of my wedding party, I do have one other thing I want you to do,?
?? Delphinium told her. “I heard that you wrote a song that moved everyone. I want you to write a love song for me. It can be your wedding gift to me and Wilburton.”
“Who?” asked Cory. “Oh, right. Officer Deeds. And you want this song for the day after tomorrow? I don’t know if I can write one that fast.”
“You’ll have to,” said her mother. “We just hired Zephyr to play it at my wedding reception.”
“It’s getting late, Delphinium,” Prugilla said. “We need to start soon. Why don’t you show your daughter to the room she’ll be using and give her something to wear? That dress is disgraceful. I don’t know why she’d walk around in a badly stained dress.”
Cory looked at Prugilla in amazement. The goblin woman had to know that they had kidnapped her from a wedding reception. No wonder Delphinium and Officer Deeds were so right for each other. Cory’s mother was going to fit in the goblin family perfectly!
“I can take her there,” said the goblin who had brought Cory to the room. When Cory looked at her again, she realized that the goblin was closer to her own age than she’d realized. Her silver hair had made her seem older, but her skin was smooth and unlined, and the tops of her ears stuck straight up, unlike the older goblin women, whose ear tips were limp.
“My name is Scoota,” the girl told her as they left the room. “I’m one of Wilburton’s cousins.”
“Thanks for helping me today,” Cory said. “I was certain that a guild had kidnapped me.”
“Why would a guild do that?” Scoota asked.
“I won a court case against them and they aren’t happy about it,” said Cory.
As they walked down the corridor, Cory looked everywhere. As rare as it was to see female goblins, it was even more unusual to be invited into a goblin home. She was furious at her mother for putting her in this position, but Cory wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to see how goblins lived.
“Is this Prugilla’s home?” asked Cory.