How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come Tr - By Sarah Strohmeyer Page 0,75

yourself a member of our family, and you know what we say in Fairyland?”

“The slipper always fits?”

“Exactly.” She held out her hand. “Now where is that progress report?”

I was reaching into my bag to get it when a noisy scuffle erupted in the hall. The door slid open, and Michelle—Sage’s mother/manager—burst in, her red corkscrew curls flying in every direction. “You lost my son! He didn’t come home last night, and he’s still missing!”

I slapped my cheek, alarmed. Sage hadn’t returned, and that would be the end to all this bon vivant, bonhomie, bon-whatever stuff. The one thing I wasn’t supposed to do—take Sage to Storytown—and I’d bombed that, big-time.

“Forget it, Mickey,” the Queen said with a wave. “Zoe knows.”

Michelle blinked. “Oh, shoot. I’m too late.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Boy, that was fun. I hope you’ll let me do it again.”

The Queen handed her a cup of coffee. “You have to be the bitchiest stage mother ever.”

“Coming from you, that is high praise.” Michelle or Mickey or whoever gave me a wink.

“Even you and Sage were part of the exam?” I asked. “How did that happen?”

Michelle placed her cup in its saucer. “When we were negotiating the spokesperson deal this spring, Helen told us about the Game and the Final Exam, and Sage insisted on playing a part. We had to rearrange his schedule to squeeze this in, but he was adamant.”

I thought about this. “He was adamant about being part of my Final Exam?”

The Queen bit into a cheese Danish, wiped her mouth, and said, “Not your Final Exam, my dear. Ian’s.”

I watched the monitor on which the Queen, back in character, and Andy and Michelle stood on the stage outside the Princess Palace waiting for the trolls to haul Sage and Ian from Storytown.

Enough of the initial shock had worn off, so that I had calmed down and was beginning to enjoy myself, though you might say I was waiting for the other glass slipper to drop. I was sure the Queen would say I’d really been fired and that the Game and the Final Exam had all been pranks.

What bothered me were the princesses. They’d been weighed nearly every day to make sure they had stayed the same sizes. When I’d mentioned the sexism of that to the Queen, she’d brushed it off with some statement about corporate policy being set in stone. Personally that didn’t seem very “family-friendly” to me. Then again it was my understanding that the Mouse did the same with its princesses, so perhaps this was standard for fairy-tale theme parks. Didn’t make it right, though.

“How do you think Ian’s going to react when he finds out Sage intentionally kissed you just to get him mad?” RJ asked. “Should I have my fists up in case he takes a swing at the nearest male?”

I gave him a look. “Ian’s not like that. And you people did provoke him, admit it.”

RJ went back to the monitor. “Yeah, well, he was supposed to lash out at Sage, not Dash. That turned out to be an added bonus.”

I now knew that RJ really didn’t like the guy, and I couldn’t blame him. Apparently Dash had been filing regular mini reports in the Box of Whine ratting on each of us, including RJ for hooking up with Jess (a violation of Fairyland Rule #103). But Dash hadn’t acted alone.

Much to my shock, Valerie had been scheming with him, too.

That’s how Dash learned I’d been in the Forbidden Zone and that I knew Marcus wasn’t the real spy. It had been Valerie who’d been in the bathroom eavesdropping on my discussion with Jess. And she ran right back to tell her boyfriend, so they could trash our reputations with the Queen.

I watched monitor #22. “So Ian and I will be the only ones who know?”

“Yup. Otherwise, even with all the confidentiality agreements you interns sign, it would get out, and the Game would be ruined.” RJ swiveled to inspect monitor #19, the one in the Haunted Forest, where a group of figures were gradually coming from the shadows. “You and Ian will keep it a secret, because you’ll have an incentive.”

Incentive?

Was that Adele? I moved closer to the screen. “What’s she doing with Ian and Sage?”

The trolls were bringing the three scofflaws to the Queen, who greeted them with her royal disapproval. Michelle looked like she was throwing a hysterical fit, ranting and raving about the outrage of it all. Andy pretended to act