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Zusatztext "Mightily entertaining . . . whether Kontis tells the tales of other Woodcutter children or not! readers will await her next with joyful anticipation." — Kirkus Reviews "Fans of the television show Once Upon a Time will definitely enjoy this fractured fairy tale that references many well-known stories." — School Library Journal Informationen zum Autor ALETHEA KONTIS is the author of the Woodcutter Sisters series, which includes Enchanted, Hero, and Dearest. She is also the New York Times best-selling co-author of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s The Dark-Hunter Companion . Alethea was a student of science fiction greats Andre Norton and Orson Scott Card. She lives and writes on Florida's Space Coast. Visit her website at www.aletheakontis.com . Klappentext Rough-and-tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic?until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance. Prologue Thief “Oh, hooray! It’s you!” The airy voice burbled like the brook, but there were no women in Peregrine’s traveling party save the one he currently pursued, the bright-eyed temptress who haunted his every thought. Peregrine scanned the streambed and the tree line, squinting into the twilight. “Hello?” Was it a naiad? a sylph? A fairy collecting milkweed and thistledown? It might have been the wind rustling the colorful autumn leaves, or his own mind tricking him, as his dearly departed father’s had for so long. “Hello?” “Please tell me it’s you,” she said. “The Earl of Starburn? Son of George and Marcella?” Peregrine’s fresh grief turned his confusion to wariness. No one could be so specific as to his identity unless she’d been following him since the funeral. Like a thief. Slowly, the newly orphaned Earl of Starburn backed against a tree and unsheathed the dagger at his waist. It was an ornamental piece, but Peregrine figured it had at least one good jab in it before he’d need to find a sturdier weapon, like the sizeable fallen branch on his left. “I am Peregrine of Starburn,” he announced loudly to the creek, in case any of his servants stood within earshot. “Show yourself.” She manifested out of fog wisps, falling leaves, and leftover fireflies. Her hair was long, longer than his, and dark as the night but for a streak that bisected her ebon locks with a flash of silver-blue. Her eyes were black as well, sprinkled with starlight, and the sparse leaves of the grove brought out an olive hue in her slightly dusky complexion.The air around them suddenly filled with the stench of burned cinnamon. Like every other child raised in Arilland, Peregrine knew what happened when one encountered a fairy. In the next few minutes, his life would change for the better or worse, and drastically so. Strangely enough, he was not afraid. He thought this new development rather wonderful. Whatever challenge she saw fit to give him, he was up to it. “I am Leila,” she said. “I am late. And I am so, so sorry.” Peregrine recalled no fairy story that started this way. “I . . . accept your apology?” “You are too kind. I will now grant you one wish.” She raised her hands in the air and flapped them about like drunken butterflies. Peregrine clumsily caught them and stopped...
