No matter how low I felt, Pipaluk’s kids could always make me smile. And I had them all night tonight while he and Emma were out for a date night and a belated Valentine’s Day celebration.
“I wanna watch Snow White! I wanna watch Snow White!”
Sue was the most loveable six-year-old brat ever. Even now, with her jumping on the bed and repeating her chant far past the level of annoyance, I still adored her. Shining pink eyes, long brown curls bouncing with each illicit jump—so cute.
“No jumping on the bed, Sue,” I reminded her, trying to hide my smile. “And you know you’re not allowed to watch TV this late. How about a bedtime story instead?”
“Then read Snow White!” she exclaimed, landing on her hands and knees on the bed.
“I have the Grimm brothers’ stories,” her brother volunteered. As usual, he was the calm to his younger sister’s storm, sitting quietly on his bed with his head bent over his sketchpad. He looked up briefly and pointed his pencil at the bookshelf, and then he was back at it, his blue hair falling across his face as he drew.
“No! That one isn’t right,” Sue declared. She was sitting cross-legged now, and she crossed her arms over her chest, sticking her chin out stubbornly. “There’s no true love’s kiss at all.”
“Well, that’s the original story,” I told her as I went to the bookshelf. “Disney changed it for the movie. They changed all of those old fairy tales for the movies, but the original stories are—what’s this book?”
There was no title on the plain brown leather spine, and when I pulled the unfamiliar book free from its neighbors, there was no title or author on the cover, either. A thud on the floor followed by heavy breathing over my shoulder told me Sue had jumped off of the bed to look at it.
“I haven’t seen that one before.” She took it from me and opened it, flipping through the pages with lips twisted and brows furrowed in concentration. “It won’t be any good. There are no pictures,” she finally declared, slamming the book shut and handing it back to me.
“I can draw while Lily reads,” Bobby interjected.
“Did your mother buy you a new book?” I asked, opening the book and repeating Sue’s examination with an adult eye.
“Maybe.”
Bobby’s non-committal answer didn’t help. At first glance, the book looked like a typical children’s fairy tale, except it lacked a title, author, publisher, or any other identifying information. There was something else about it that bothered me, though. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
But maybe I was just suspicious because of the bizarre events of the day.
Emma bought new books for the kids all the time, and we lived at the North Pole. There were plenty of aspiring children’s book authors among Santa’s elves. One of her friends probably wrote it.
“Let’s read this one,” I decided, scooting around to face the room. “Sue, you can sit on my lap, and Bobby can draw the pictures.”
That pacified Sue. She happily leaped into my lap, landing with an impact that made me wince. I didn’t have to look at Bobby to know he was fine with the arrangement.
“‘Once upon a time—’”
“At least it starts right,” Sue interrupted.
“Shh!”
“Don’t tell me to shh!” she fired back at Bobby.
“You both know the rules. No interruptions while I read, or it’s straight to bed with no story.”
Immediate silence.
“Thank you. Ready? Okay, now…”
Once upon a time, there lived a fairy godmother who had no godchild. Now, this is not unusual, because as you all know, fairies live much longer than people. But it had been a very long time since this fairy godmother had a new godchild, and that could only mean one thing. The next child would be special.
Sure enough, one day, a special baby was born, one who came with a blessing and a curse. The fairy godmother knew the blessing, of course. She had to carry it from the angel who spoke it to the baby’s cradle. Her new goddaughter would have great power that could change the world for the better. But she did not know the curse, and the imp who brought it from the demon who unspoke it would not tell her. It was an unspeakable curse, after all.
This was very distressing for the fairy godmother. She did not know how to protect her precious goddaughter from the curse, and so she could only watch over her as she grew, helping her when she needed help, granting her an occasional wish now and then, as fairy godmothers do.
But as the years passed, she realized something strange was happening. The imp from below, an imp she had never seen before and never expected to see again, appeared whenever she descended to our world to take care of her goddaughter. He did not try to harm her goddaughter, nor did he try to hinder her work. He simply came and watched.
For an odd thing had happened the day the child was born. The fairy godmother could not have known, but the imp had fallen in love with her.
“Wait a minute.”
I stopped and raised an eyebrow at Sue.
“Sorry, but why aren’t there any names? I don’t like that. There should be names.”
She had a point.
“Well, maybe we can make up names,” I suggested. “The fairy godmother seems to be the main character, so let’s start with her. What would you like to call her?”
Bobby mumbled something, and I glanced over at him, still immersed in his sketching. From this angle, I could see he’d already covered most of the page, and I was more than a little curious to see what he’d come up with from the story so far.
“What was that, Bobby?” I prompted him.
“Wendy,” he repeated without lifting his head. “Her name is Wendy.”
I tilted my head to the side, considering. It didn’t sound like he was making a suggestion. It sounded like he was stating a fact.
“Wendy,” Sue echoed him. “I like that. Keep reading, Lily!”
“Okay, Wendy.” I shook my head and tore my gaze from Bobby to look at Sue. “I’ll try to remember to use that name whenever I see ‘the fairy godmother,’ but no promises.”
“I’ll remind you,” Sue said authoritatively.
She was such a little brat. It was really a good thing she was so cute. I smiled and shook my head, and then I set my focus on the story.
One cold winter’s night, after Wendy had finished—
I stared at the page. There it was. ‘Wendy.’ Printed right on the page, as if it had always been there. And it was on the previous page, too, going all the way back to the beginning. ‘Once upon a time, there lived a fairy godmother who had no godchild. Her name was Wendy.’
“Lily,” Sue urged me.
I shook my head again. We lived at the North Pole, and my entire job was collaborating with an author to enchant his books. This was just like that. Normal, everyday magic.
Magic I couldn’t feel.
“Sorry,” I said, interrupting my own thoughts before they could spiral further. “Now, where was I?”
One cold winter’s night, after Wendy had finished helping her goddaughter’s latest mistake, she could stand it no longer. She turned to face the imp and asked him, “What are you doing here? You have already conveyed the demon’s curse. What more do you want?”
Now, this imp was rather frightening to see. Imps are shapeshifters, of course, and this one’s chosen form was of an old, weathered skull filled with purple and pink fire. I am quite sure seeing him would give almost anyone nightmares. Wendy was not afraid of him, though. She stood tall in front of him, waiting for him to answer, and he finally spoke for the first time.
“I cannot see you unless you are with her.”
“Why would you want to see me?” Wendy asked, surprised.
“Because I love you.”
Sue squealed.
“Shh!” Bobby warned her.
“They’re gonna kiss. I know it!”
“Maybe, but we’ll never know if you keep interrupting,” I chided her gently.
“Sorry. I won’t interrupt again. I promise.”
Yeah, right.
“You love me? How can you love me? We never met until the day we delivered the blessing and the curse.”
“Have you not heard of love at first sight?”
Sue squealed again. This time, Bobby’s hiss silenced her, although she was still squirming delightedly in my lap. I couldn’t blame her. This was an odd fairy tale, but no little girl could resist love at first sight. I pretended not to notice the interruption and kept going.
“Of course, I have heard of it. I will have you know, that is one of my specialties. But fairy godmothers do not fall in love, and neither do imps. And we certainly do not fall in love with each other.”
“I know it makes no sense, but I fell in love with you that day. Every time you come to help Lily, I feel it, and I have to come see you.”
Wendy did not know what to say or do. The imp’s words sounded sincere, but she had never felt love for anyone except her godchildren. Something stirred within her heart, though, and she realized she felt something for this imp. It was not love, but it could grow to become love.
“What is your name?”
“George.”
I looked over at Bobby again. He’d switched to colored pencils, filling in the gray lines he’d drawn across the page, and just as with Wendy’s name, he’d spoken as if he’d known the answer all along.
“How do you know that, Bobby?”
He shrugged.
This was getting weird.
“Lily!” Sue interrupted, stretching out the syllables as she shook my arm urgently. “Read!”
“George. What is your name?”
“You love me, but you do not know my name?”
“You have never told me your name.”
“Oh. Well, my name is Wendy. Nice to meet you.”
She held out her hand to shake his, and then she realized he did not have hands. But he backed away from her.
“We cannot touch.”
“What? Why not?”
“I cannot say.”
“Is it part of the curse?”
He did not reply, and since it was an unspeakable curse, Wendy knew she was right. They could never touch as long as the curse remained unbroken.
“No!” Sue wailed, drawing the syllable out even longer and adding even more undulations than she had with my name. “How are they gonna kiss if they can’t touch?”
“Sue, one more interruption, and I will stop reading,” I warned her. I was actually hoping she would interrupt one more time. That would give me an excuse to stop reading this story. I wasn’t sure why, but I was getting more and more uncomfortable the longer I read.
She pressed her lips together and mimicked zipping them shut.
Darn it.
And so the years passed. Wendy’s goddaughter grew and became more powerful, as the blessing had said she would, and with her power came more trouble. George continued to appear when Wendy went to her goddaughter’s aid, and although they could not touch, the strange feeling in Wendy’s heart grew and blossomed into love. She began to search high and low for a way to break the curse, but she knew there was no hope, because she did not know the curse, and he could not tell her.
One fateful night, however, Wendy’s goddaughter herself provided the solution.
‘Twas the night before Valentine’s Day…
I paused, but Sue kept quiet. Of course she did. Why would she point out the obvious problem with Valentine’s Day appearing in this kind of fairy tale? And in wording that echoed A Visit From Saint Nicholas?
I resigned myself to continue reading.
‘Twas the night before Valentine’s Day, and Wendy’s goddaughter was very ill. Wendy and George met outside her home, but they could not go inside yet, because a strange man was tending to the girl. So, they listened at the window while they waited.
The man said many things that made no sense, but it was easy to see he cared about the girl, and so Wendy did not interfere. He spoke of things she knew and things she did not, of her goddaughter’s power and frequent bouts of sickness, of stories and legends from near and far. When he spoke of blessings and curses, Wendy listened even more closely than before, and she knew George was listening, too.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgImRP0vBSa
However, when he finally stopped speaking and left, they still did not have the answer they sought.
They went inside the house together, as was their custom for several years now. Wendy saw her goddaughter was asleep and the strange man’s care had helped her a little, and she was grateful to him. She began to use her magic on her goddaughter, as she always did, and then the girl said something very strange.
“The unspoken breaks forth when it is spoken.”
Now, it is important to note that Wendy’s goddaughter did not know about her fairy godmother, George, or the unspeakable curse. Because of the blessing and the curse, Wendy thought it was best that way, so she always used her magic to make the girl forget her visits. The girl could not have known that which she spoke. But she said it, and she did not speak again.
Wendy finished taking care of her and left with George, and as they always did, they stayed together and talked until he had to leave.
“Do you know what that means?” Wendy asked him. “Is it a way to break the curse?”
“Perhaps,” he replied. “Or perhaps it means speaking the curse will release it and allow it to happen.”
“It is already happening. Do you not see? The trouble that follows her is from the curse. The sickness she gets after using her power is from the curse. If she uses too much power, she could die, and my power will not save her. Could speaking the curse make anything worse?”
“The curse is not at its fullest. There is always a cost with a curse, whether making or breaking it, and the cost may be worse than the curse itself.”
His ominous words struck Wendy’s heart. She loved her goddaughter and did not want to see her harmed, but she also loved George, and she longed to touch him. It was not an easy decision to make.
“Speak the curse,” she finally said.
George’s time was nearly up. He felt the pull from below, but he summoned the demon’s words, and he spoke them.
12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZWpYZAxob
Speak the words best left unsaid,
And though she lives, her heart is dead.
There is no love, nor is there hate;
The curse now speaks about her fate.
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A touch would kill, both hers and yours;
The power would heal through rage and storm;
But now, the love that broke the law
Will free the hateful tooth and claw.
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Death will follow in her wake,
The tears she sheds shall never slake
The hunger waiting in the dark
To tear apart the lives she marks.
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All will be well for many days.
The two may touch and while away
The months of silence as it grows;
But time will tell what both now know.
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Her touch still kills, her power, still strong,
Belies the seed, though dormant long,
This night planted deep inside
Her heart of ice, the time to tide.
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The blessing and the curse are one.
The angel and the demon come
By blizzard from the seed within
Matured into virtue and sin.
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Her hope, and yours, remains the same:
The truth which she will never name
Can spread the seed and thus the tree
That brings the life to set her free.
“Why did you stop, Lily?”
“Lily?”
“Lily? What’s wrong?”
I stared at the words on the page, reading them over and over again, each syllable a knife to my chest. It was me. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know why, but it was me. I was the curse who brought death to others. My touch killed. I kept everyone at arm’s length, afraid to love, indifferent to hate.
And I was sitting in a room with two precious children who needed to stay far away from me.
“Well, it’s past your bedtime,” I said, injecting as much fake cheer into my voice as possible. “The rest of this will have to wait. Come on, get in bed.”
“But you didn’t finish!” Sue wailed.
“It’s late, Sue. You need to—”
She yanked the book from my hands. “Fine, I’ll read it. ‘And then they kissed, and everything was better, and everybody lived happily ever after. The end.’”
“You made that up,” Bobby interjected.
“Well, it’s what should have happened.” Sue snapped the book shut and stood. “I said it wouldn’t be any good. There weren’t any pictures!”
“I drew a picture.”
“Lemme see it!”
I wanted to bolt from the room, but I sat there, frozen, as they behaved the same way they did every other night when I read them a bedtime story. Sue ran across the room to Bobby, studying his drawing as he put his pencils away. She was so focused, she could have been an art critic.
“I like it,” she finally pronounced. “Show Lily.”
A tall, slender fairy in shades of gray. Long hair, long gown, black-veined wings. No face.
I’d seen her before.
“You can keep it,” Bobby said quietly. His brown eyes met mine, and I wondered again how he knew.
It didn’t matter.
I tucked them in and kissed their foreheads, and then I left the room. When their parents returned, I’d leave for good.
Date of creation: 03/05/2025
Word count: 2,999
Author’s note: I had to choose from multiple prompts and write a short story containing part of any myth or legend between 1,000 and 3,000 words. I selected prompt #1: "The Cursed Kiss" - A powerful curse prevents two lovers from ever touching. On the eve of Valentine's Day, they discover a forgotten piece of magic that might break the spell-but at a terrible cost.
ns 15.158.61.4da2
