Page 17 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

“What is this about?” she asked, crossing her arms. “If there’s something you want from me—”

“There is,” he interrupted, giving her a slight bow that did not feel at all deferential. “And I think you know precisely what it is. You have until the stroke of midnight to complete the task.”

“Task? What task? Wait, where are you—hey! Come back!”

It was no use. The Alder King had slipped back out into the corridor and slammed it shut. A second later, Cinder heard the click of a lock.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered. “If I had a univ for every time someone tried to lock me up somewhere…”

Pacing to the door, she inspected the latch. With the tools in her hand, she thought she might be able to pick the lock—

“Need some help?”

She yelped and spun around. A boy was sitting cross-legged on top of the pile of straw, a tangled mop of copper hair falling in front of an impish smile.

“Stars above,” Cinder muttered, “what is with people in this castle sneaking around?”

“Apologies,” said the boy, picking at a strand of straw and twisting it around his finger. “You were looking a bit like a damsel in distress.”

Cinder snorted. “Yeah, no, sorry. You’ve got the wrong girl.”

She started to turn back to the door, but then paused and slowly shifted her attention back to the boy.

His grin widened.

“How did you get in here?” she asked, searching the other walls, but there was no sign of another entryway. No windows, no doors, no conveniently removable panels on the ceiling…

“Magic,” said the boy.

She smiled, to humor him. “But really. How?”

“I’m a ghost,” he said. “Popping in and out of places is sort of a thing we can do.”

Her smile fell. Whether magic or a ghost, his answers weren’t going to help her.

Seemingly reading her thoughts, the boy stretched his arms up over his head, as if working the tension from his shoulders. “I can help, you know.”

Cinder’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “How?”

“The Erlking wants this straw spun into gold, doesn’t he?”

Cinder blinked at the hay. Isthatwhat the uncomfortably handsome king had been suggesting?

“He did say something about gold,” she admitted.

“Splendid.” The boy bounced to his feet. “I will spin this straw into gold for you, and all it will cost you is”—he pointed to the engagement ring on Cinder’s finger—“that.”

If Cinder exchanges the ring for the boy’s help, go to Chapter 12.

If Cinder tries to escape on her own, go to Chapter 14.

Chapter 19

Cinder pushed through the gate and found herself in a graveyard, hedged in on all sides by skyscrapers. She didn’t recognize the skyline of the city, but the buildings that stretched toward the sky in every direction cast long shadows across the headstones.

Otherwise, the cemetery would have been peaceful. It was a patch of lush green grass amid the steel and concrete, with old elm trees scattered amid the graves. But the serenity was marred by the sounds of the city—car horns and sirens and shouting. Not to mention the rumble of bulldozers at a construction site, digging up the far corner of the graveyard.

Still, even with all that, the place had an aura of rest, of calm. It was almost entirely empty of visitors…

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