How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come Tr - By Sarah Strohmeyer Page 0,54

shine her flashlight in my direction, but then, recognizing me as the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, gave me a begrudging nod and trudged onward. The trolls had been treating me with a certain deference lately. I could only conclude this meant my boss must have told them to give me carte blanche to do as I pleased so I could perform the necessary preparations for our Special VIP. Believe you me, the trolls weren’t happy about this new agreement. They lived to bust us interns.

I’d just passed Snow White’s Cottage when I heard voices up ahead that sounded like Dash and Valerie. Since they were the last people I wanted to see, I hid behind one of the fake trees used by the witches to terrorize children and made myself small. They strolled by, arms around each other, murmuring and kissing. I could have probably been lying dead on the ground and they would have stepped over my body and kept kissing, that’s how absorbed they were in each other.

I waited for them to disappear over the hill to the Pied Piper’s Glen before hopping back on the path. The park became darker and darker the farther I got into the Haunted Forest. As a cost-saving measure, the gaslights had been turned lower to a dull yellow.

Snap. A branch behind me broke as if it had been stepped on. I froze to get a read on the situation.

Another snap. Then the soft tread of footsteps.

I was being followed. Yes!

My heart kick-started into a fast beat along with a bracing shot of adrenaline. This wasn’t a troll. Trolls tromped. It could have been another cast member out for a late-night walk—though, seeing as how I’d passed the fence to the Forbidden Zone, few would dare. The tiny rotating camera perched on top blinked its menacing red light. I stuck out my tongue at it when it swiveled in the opposite direction.

What I needed now was a lookout.

Latching on to an overhanging branch, I swung around silently and perched like a panther waiting to pounce. Meanwhile the footsteps got closer and closer, and my pulse pounded against my eardrums as I assessed the situation. From the stealthy way my follower also avoided the camera, by ducking down out of its range, I knew I’d found my prince.

He stopped a few feet away, sensing something. A stiff gust of wind blew, and I held on to my tree branch for dear life, praying my attacker wouldn’t become curious and . . .

“Zoe? Is that you?”

There was another gust of wind, and I jumped. Or maybe I fell. Anyway, I landed on him with a heavy grunt.

“Oof!”

He buckled under my weight, his body crashing into the soft forest ground. I rolled him over, pinning his arms and straddling his back. Then I turned on Ian’s penlight for a clear view of my would-be assailant.

“Hey!” he shouted. “I’ve been looking for that!”

No freaking way! I brushed aside his black hair. “Ian?”

With one swift move, his leg twisted around mine, and suddenly I was the one on the ground, and he was the one straddling me. “Never mess with a Texan. Haven’t you seen the bumper stickers?”

“I thought it was ‘Don’t Mess with Texas.’”

“Literary license.” He clucked his tongue in disappointment. “Man, I was so hoping the rumors Marcus spread before he left weren’t true.”

I spit out some pine needles. “What rumors?”

“That you’re the Queen’s snitch. You told on him and Jess, and now you’re hiding out in the forest waiting to catch people for violating curfew to rack up more points.” He rolled off and sat beside me, shrugging off his backpack. “And to think I’ve been sticking up for you.”

“Don’t even start. If anyone’s a snitch around here, it’s you,” I said, wiping dirt off my chin.

“Yeah, right.” He pulled a water bottle from the pocket of his backpack and unscrewed the top. “Because I’m the one hanging in trees like the monkey hall patrol.” He offered me a sip.

I was too angry and insulted to accept. “Let’s review the facts. You were the one lurking around the woods the other night when you saw me talking to the so-called traitor, and you scurried back to the Queen to tell her, so she could make you a Prince Charming. Now, you waited until I went into the woods so you could follow me for more incriminating evidence. It’s so obvious.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” He took another, bigger swig. “I had no idea you