I tried. I forced a frown on my lips and blinked my eyes. Nothing happened. Now that I had an agreement with Clover, I was happier than I’d been since I’d been dragged from my home.

Hudson watched me. “I don’t think pouting will work. You need some actual tears.”

I tried to blink tears into my eyes, and felt so foolish I giggled instead.

Hudson kept watching me. “You know this is serious, right? Your life is on the line.”

“I know it; I just can’t feel it.” I should have taken acting lessons from Kendall. She cried onstage all the time.

Hudson regarded me quietly for another moment. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but maybe I should.” And then he didn’t say anything.

I sat up straighter, nervous at the silence. “What?”

“I used some of the gold to pay a messenger to go to the miller’s house. I figured your parents would want to know that you’re okay and we could start making plans to meet somewhere after I got the Gilead.”

More silence. I stood up to better see Hudson’s face. “And …?” 165/356

His eyes left mine. He looked at the straw mounds for a moment before forcing his gaze back to me. “The messenger returned this evening. Your family isn’t there anymore. The house has been ransacked.” I felt like I’d taken a blow to my stomach, like Hudson had hit me with the words instead of whispering them. My family was gone? Our things were ransacked? I tried to extract unsaid things from the shadows of his eyes, the tilt of his head. “Does anyone know what happened? Did the messenger ask the villagers what they’d seen?” Hudson’s voice was low, apologetic. “Maybe they left before your home was robbed, but it doesn’t look good. Some said they saw bandits in the village. Your big modern house, the glass windows and curtains … It must have drawn them there. I’m sorry.” The word “sorry” at the end hurt the most. It seemed so final.

Panic erupted inside me. It was hard to breathe. “You’re just saying this to make me cry,” I said. “It isn’t true.” He didn’t flinch at my accusation. His voice dropped even lower.

“Nick is my friend. I’ve known him since elementary school.” I could see the pain in his eyes, raw and weighted with sympathy. “I’m sorry, Tansy.” He held my gaze for a moment more, then turned and walked toward the door.

I tried to follow but was held fast by the chain. It rattled tight, pulling my arm back. “It isn’t true!” I called out. “Hudson, come back here!”

He didn’t turn around. He didn’t even slow down. I saw him clench one hand tight, then he was out the door, and it shut behind him with a bang.

“It isn’t true,” I whispered to myself, but I knew it was. Hudson had lost his mother; that’s why the pain and sympathy had shined in his eyes. He had been through this kind of loss himself.

166/356

I sank weakly to the ground. Bandits had ransacked the house.

My family had no weapons, no practice defending themselves. My only hope was that they’d gotten away, that they were still alive somewhere.

I thought of the contract, how the consequences of magic were permanent and binding. I let out a low wail, put my head in my hands, and cried.

Chapter 12

I had been sitting on the ground for some time, sobbing into my hands, before I looked up and saw Rumpelstiltskin. He wore the same clothes he had worn last night and sat on the stool, resting his foot on one bony knee. His pointed boots made his feet look abnormally thin.

Or maybe they were abnormally thin, like the rest of him. He regarded me with a smile. “You find yourself in trouble again tonight, Mistress Miller?”

I wiped the tears off my cheeks and tried to compose myself. “My family has disappeared. I don’t know if they’re all right. Can you help them?”

He gave me a consolatory shrug. “How can I when I have no knowledge of their whereabouts?”

“But can’t fairies do that sort of thing? Chrissy could.” She had, after all, waved her wand and made Robin Hood and the Merry Men appear in my backyard.

“Even fairies have their limits.” Rumpelstiltskin’s lips twisted into a bitter sneer. “Some have more limits than others, thanks to the Alliance. And Chrysanthemum Everstar, well, I can scarce believe the Alliance ever gave her a wand. She’s more dandelion fluff than fairy.

When did you have the misfortune of dealing with her?” So he did know her. He hadn’t admitted to that last night, but this bit of deceit didn’t surprise me. I had always known I couldn’t trust him. I wasn’t about to answer his question. I lowered my head sadly.

“It doesn’t matter.”

168/356

He stood up and walked slowly toward me, noting the chain on my arm. “The king has tethered you in a barn and surrounded you with straw. I suppose this is his subtle way of requesting more gold?” I nodded. “And this time he wants it lighter.” Rumpelstiltskin took my hand from where it had lain across my knee and stroked it between his cold, smooth fingers. I resisted the urge to yank my hand away from his touch.

“I’ll spin the straw into gold for you.” The stroking of his fingers paused on top of my opal ring. “All I require in payment for my ser-vices is your ring. Do we have a bargain?” He caressed the ring, circling the band of gold. I took it off quickly and gave it to him so he’d stop touching me.

Rumpelstiltskin smiled, showing a flash of his gray teeth, then tucked the ring into his breast pocket. Humming, he snapped his fingers, and the large spinning wheel appeared in front of the stool. He sat down, motioned to the straw with one hand, and a stream of it rose from the ground as though it had been picked up by a great wind. It twirled around him for a moment, then dived toward the wheel, wrapping itself where the yarn should go. I watched the wheel spin, watched the blur of pale yellow transform to shining golden string. I had seen it last night, yet it still mesmerized me.

Rumpelstiltskin sang for a little bit, then looked up and saw me watching him. “You’re weary. You should sleep.” I laid my head down on the ground, exhausted, and heard the whir of the wheel as I drifted off.

I didn’t wake up until King John and Haverton came into the barn. It would have been hard to sleep through King John’s laughter.

It was high-pitched and gasping. If I hadn’t seen the glee on his face as he strolled around counting spools, I might have thought he was chok-ing on air molecules.

169/356

He wore a purple tunic and matching purple robe today. I remembered that purple was the color of royalty in the Middle Ages, but modern life had ruined the color for me—he reminded me of Barney the dinosaur. Or maybe the similarity was the way he kept clapping his hands together happily. I sat up and yawned.

Hudson must have come in again during the night and redrawn the anti-fairy ring—although it wasn’t the same red sand that had been there before. It looked more like crushed kidney beans.

Dozens of spools were spread across the room—smaller spools, with thinner thread. I supposed because King John had asked for lighter gold. He stopped at several of the spools, admiring them like they were works of art.

“Resplendent! Prodigious!” He knelt down in front of one and stroked it. “We shall name this one Theobald, and he shall sit at the foot of our bed.”

Haverton made note of it on a scroll he carried. “I’ll have the guards take it there at once, sire.” King John moved onto another spool, patting it lightly. “And this one we shall name Helewise because she is beauteous. Splendiferous.” I was pretty sure he was making up words now, but I nodded in case he was talking to me. Then I motioned to Haverton, pointing to my shackle in hopes he would come unlock it.

He ignored me and followed King John around the room, murmuring in agreement about each spool the king named. Poor Haverton. It must be hard to work for someone who was both crazy and dangerous.