Page 19 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

“To tellmystory.” Magpie smirked, then glanced down at Cinder’s hand. “Pretty ring.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Cinder glanced down at the glinting jewels—though it hadn’t really sounded like a compliment.

“I’d be careful,” said Magpie.

Andthatdefinitely sounded like a threat.

Cinder tensed. “Careful?”

“There are a lot of thieves in Gatlon City,” said Magpie. Turning her back to Cinder, she started to walk away, calling over her shoulder, “You wouldn’t want to lose somethingprecious.”

Cinder frowned, watching as the girl made her way through the rows of headstones.

She was still pondering Magpie’s words when she heard people yelling. She glanced toward the dig site, as Magpie had called it. People were scurrying around, and even from this distance, Cinder could tell that they were excited about something.

Her curiosity piqued, she took a step toward the site—when she glanced down, and realized that her ring was gone.

She gasped and spun back toward the girl, who had nearly reached the edge of the cemetery, mere feet from a busy city street. If she crossed and Cinder didn’t follow her, she could easily disappear—taking Cinder’s ring with her.

If Cinder goes to investigate the dig site, go to Chapter 21.

If Cinder chases after Magpie, go to Chapter 22.

Chapter 20

Cinder passed beneath the arched gate made of mossy twigs and found herself in a forest glen. Gnarled oaks with leaves in shades of crimson and gold stretched out in every direction.

In the center of the clearing, three people were gathered around a wide, flat stone.

Well—no, not people.

One appeared human enough—a man with ridiculous muscles and a scruffy black beard.

Whereas one of the two females appeared to beelfin? She had long pointed ears, mischievous eyes, and a belt strung with all manners of flowers and herbs at her hips.

The other had deep reddish skin and ram horns curving out from her brow.

All three were dressed in cloaks and impractical-looking leather armor, like they were heading to one of those fairs that idealized the dark ages from the second era.

“Hello,” chirped the elf. “Do you need help?”

“Uh, maybe?” said Cinder. “I think I’m lost. If you could point me to—”

“Ari!” hissed the horned girl. “What are you doing?”

“What?” asked the elf—Ari.

“Some cyborg NPC shows up and you’re all,Hi, we’re noobs, please steal all our gold.”

The elf crossed her arms. “I’m chaotic good, Pru. I’m supposed to help lost travelers.”

A voice suddenly boomed over the glen, making Cinder jump. “Hey, guys, if you’re speaking in character, try to remember to use your character names, okay? It adds to the realism.”

Cinder scanned the treetops. Who had said that?

Pru snorted. “What would really add to the realism is if people didn’t pick names like ‘Quintonian Q. Quicksilver.’”

“Hey, I offered to change it to Quintonian the Queasy, but you vetoed that.”

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