Whatever After #4: Dream On by Sarah Mlynowski Read Free Book Online Page A

should talk to a fairy.”
    “I don’t know any fairies,” Bri says. “Except Lottie. But she disappeared.”
    “Sometimes knocking on stuff works,” Jonah says. He knocks on the wall. “Hello? Lottie? Are you there? Are any other fairies there?”
    No one answers.
    “We can’t knock on everything in the royal court, ” I say. “The king and queen have a lot of stuff.”
    “Can’t we ask the king and queen to call a fairy?” Jonah asks. “They invited twelve over when you were born,” he reminds Bri. “They probably know where to find one.”
    Bri shakes her head. “No way. My parents will never let me invite a fairy over. They’ve hated fairies ever since that day.”
    “I hate fairies, too!” Felix yells for no reason. Then he starts running in a circle around the attic. Again and again.
    “Should I stop him?” I ask Bri.
    Bri shakes her head. “He’ll tire himself out eventually. Just leave him.”
    She’s so patient! I wouldn’t be that patient. Suddenly, I feel lucky to have Jonah. As far as younger brothers go, he’s not so bad.
    “So which fairy would we want to talk to?” I ask. “The twelfth one? She’s the one who tried to help you in the first place. And it’s her spell that made Robin fall asleep.”
    “Her name is Shaznay,” Bri says. Then she bites her lip. “You know, I bet my friend Tom would know how to find her. His dad is the mailman. Tom used to help him with the deliveries.”
    “Let’s call him!” I say.
    “You mean yell his name out the window?” Bri asks, looking confused. “He lives outside the palace. He won’t hear us.”
    “No, I meant using a phone. Which you don’t have.”
    “Not yet,” she says. “Though I bet I will in a hundred years.”
    “So how do we ask him?” I wonder. “No e-mail, no phones. What do we do?” I begin to panic. How will we talk to Tom?
    Bri motions for us to follow her down the stairs. “We go to his house.”

W e’re about to walk over to Tom’s — it turns out he lives just down the street from the royal court. But then a boy appears at the palace gate.
    “Tom! Hi!” Bri says, smiling. “Just the person I wanted to see!”
    Tom is about her age, fifteen, and very cute. He has wavy light-brown hair and freckles on his nose.
    “You’re just the person I wanted to see, too,” he says with a laugh. “Which is why I came to visit.”
    “Hi, Tom!” Felix calls out, bounding over to him. “I have a new friend named Jonah! His horseybacks are better than yours!”
    “Better than mine? No way!” Tom exclaims, pretending to be shocked. “He’ll have to give me a horseyback lesson.”
    Jonah puffs up with pride.
    “Tom, meet my friends Abby and Jonah,” Bri says. “They’re commoners, too!”
    Tom grins. “Nice to meet you, fellow commoners. We should get matching commoner shirts made.”
    Jonah and I laugh. I like Tom. He is funny.
    “I have great news,” Bri announces, her eyes sparkling. “I found the spindle!”
    Tom’s face falls. “Where?”
    “In the west tower! Can you believe it?”
    “But … what happened? How come you’re not asleep? Wait, I know! Did you have too many cups of tea this morning?”
    She laughs. “Of course not. The whole thing is complicated, but basically another girl touched it first and now she’s asleep instead of me.”
    “That is great news,” Tom exclaims. “So you’re not going to sleep?” he says hopefully.
    “No, I am,” Bri says. “Or I will be. We just have to get a fairy to fix the spell.”
    His face falls again. “So you still want to sleep for a hundred years?”
    “Of course I do,” she says with a wave of her hand. “I’m not giving up that easily! It’s my destiny. If I don’t sleep for a hundred years, I’ll never meet my prince.”
    Tom kicks a stone with the toe of his shoe. “Of course, of course, you’ve got to meet your prince. The hero who saves you from the curse. The best prince ever,” he grumbles.
    “Exactly,” Bri