Page 25 of A Dead End Wedding

She didn’t use her friendly voice, either.

“But I give my oath.”

I tried not to think about all the other things that could happen. She could leave Shelley alive and unharmed and smite the rest of us. The crowd of Dead Enders tonight was even larger than the one at Mrs. Frost’s event.

“Then we agree.”

“Thank you, your queenliness!” Shelley said, bouncing up and down.

For an instant, the queen’s face softened. But then she drew herself up and announced the competition’s rules. The champion who “most affected the world around her” would win.

Their champion appeared to be a Fae child of Shelley’s age, but who knew with the Fae? It could have been glamour hiding a five-thousand-year-old crone.

This supernatural little girl, wearing a pink dress and shoes with a pink ribbon in her long, blonde hair, smiled at Shelley, her purple eyes flashing. Then she dramatically threw her arms in the air in a sweeping gesture.

We all ducked when every treetop around the square began waving madly, like a Florida hurricane was smashing through town. Then she made another theatrical gesture, and hundreds of rocks rose from the ground and danced through the air above us.

I thought even Queen Viviette looked a bit concerned when a rock flew too close to her girlfriend Iona’s head.

Everyone—Fae and human—oohed and aahed.

The little girl smiled and curtseyed to all of us, and then she sent the rocks arcing in a pretty circle back to the ground.

Then she grinned at Shelley. “Good luck!”

So, maybe even Fae little girls spoke in exclamation points.

Shelley grinned back. “That wasawesome!When this is over, I’d love to get together and talk about magic sometime.

The little girl’s eyes widened, and she glanced at the queen. “I will try.”

Shelley, her freshly washed light brown hair shining, turned her bright blue eyes to the queen. She wasn’t wearing pink or ribbons, but she’d insisted on wearing her nicest church dress with the blue and white polka dots to meet the queen. She was adorable, and my chest ached with how much I loved her. If they hurt her …

Shelley bounced up and down in her cleanest pair of sneakers. “My turn?”

The queen nodded. “You may proceed. It does not shame you if you cannot match our magic, little one. We have?—”

But then Viviette quit speaking mid-sentence.

Because my little sister made a subtle little flicking motion with her fingers.

And she made it snow.

In Florida, in June, my sister made itsnow.

“Boo yah!” somebody shouted from the crowd, with a voice like crushed rock.

When I turned around to look, I saw the troll. He grinned at me, and I had to grin back at the sight of his shining, blocky teeth.

Meanwhile, it was still snowing.

Shelley caught me gaping, and she grinned. “The lady from Atlantis taught me how.”

Dead Enders were dancing in the street, their faces turned up, and their tongues out to catch snowflakes.

Even theFaeunbent enough to hold their hands out, palms up, to catch the snow.

The Fae champion laughed and danced, her pink dress floating around her. “You are awesome, too, Shelley of the Callahans!”

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