Ticket to Faerie

Read Ticket to Faerie for Free Online

Book: Read Ticket to Faerie for Free Online
Authors: F. I. Goldhaber
Tags: Fantasy fiction, Magic, Fantasy & Magic, Faerie
and a t-shirt. After some thought, she added her MP3 player,
cell phone, red Converse sneakers, black hoodie, energy bars, Swiss
army knife, compass, flashlight, and the dragon pen.
    She looked at herself in the mirror on the back of her closet
door, considering her short denim skirt with a tight red tank top and
yellow and green flip flops. What does one wear to Faerie ? She
blew upwards, ruffling her bangs. Wouldn't matter what she wore. I don't look good in any of my clothes . After slinging a strap of
the backpack over her shoulder, she grabbed the black and white
trucker hat that hung from a bedpost, and stuck the ticket into her
skirt pocket. In the kitchen, she added several liters of bottled water
to her backpack.
    She found Mom sitting on the back porch. "Okay, I'm gonna
try."
    Her German Shepard, Max, came bounding up, excited at the
prospect of going for a walk.
    "You should take Max with you for protection. And, be
careful, sweetie. Don't stay too long." Mom stood and wrapped her
arms around Alyssa.
    She hugged Mom back, found Max's leash and clipped it to
his collar. "What will you tell Dad?"
    "Don't worry about your father, dear." Her eyes twinkled.
"I'll take care of him. Have fun."
    With Max tugging at the leash, Alyssa let herself out the gate
and walked down the gravel road through the surrounding woods
toward the deserted school bus stop. Like this is going to work.
Not. She adjusted her hat with the brim to the side. Oh, well.
I'll go through the motions. Maybe I'll pretend to go to Faerie. I can
hide out at Tory's for a couple of days, make up some story to entertain
Grandma and get Mom off my back.
    She pulled out the ticket and read the instructions again--no
mention of dogs. Just before she reached the tiny wooden shelter
that kept her and the neighbor kids dry in the drizzly Oregon
winters, she tied Max's leash to a tree branch. "Stay, boy."
    With the ticket in her left hand she walked around the
empty shelter, snickering. She circled it five times widdershins,
always keeping her left foot in front of her right. Then she faced the
open side of the shelter and said in her best imitation of an English
accent, "I say, madame, when does the next coach for Faerie leave, if
you please? I was hoping to use this ticket today." She rolled her
eyes, but jumped up and down on her left foot five times, careful to
avoid touching the ground with her right. With her eyes closed, she
turned around once. She put the ticket in her teeth, leaned down,
grabbed her ankles with her hands, and stayed there until she had
counted from one hundred backwards to thirty-two. Good thing it
doesn't say anything about doing this with a straight face. At least no
one can see me.
    When she stood up and opened her eyes, she saw a ticket
booth with a chalkboard above and a little, green-skinned woman
inside. Whoa . She looked around the sides of the
shelter/ticket booth trying to figure out how someone had rigged the
illusion. This can't be real.
    "Cancha read, girlie?" The woman pointed upward. Her
black eyes looked like legless beetles and a snake wrapped around
her head restrained her long green hair.
    Alyssa shook her head and read the green letters. Next
coach: quarter 'til. "Quarter 'til what?"
    "Are you daft, dearie?" The woman looked at a salamander
that had wrapped itself around her wrist with its tail in its mouth.
"Look, it's quarter past now. Coach'll be here in another half."
    Alyssa showed her the ticket. "Can I use this?"
    "Nope." The woman snatched the ticket from Alyssa and
handed it to the snake. It bit the ticket and punched two holes in one
end. "This's just a voucher. Where ya wanna go?"
    Alyssa blinked several times, and shrugged her
shoulders.
    "Faerie's a big place, dearie. Ya gotta have some idea where
ya wanna go, or who ya wanna meet, or what ya wanna bring
back."
    "Bring back." Alyssa thought of all the unkind things she'd
said about Grandma, under her breath and to her friends, and the
visits to the hospital

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