Hello, Invisible Friends.  I’m Pumble the Bee from the Land of the Flowered Bed.

And I have a confession.

A scandalous secret.

A buzzworthy tidbit.

A shameful admission.

But you’ll have to wait until Saturday to find out.

Until then, I suggest you read The Gift.

I think you’ll like it.

For those who don’t know, the Gift is the story of Samantha, a grad student who discovered a strange gift while staying with her friends at her parent’s vacation cabin over winter break.  After traveling to her old friend’s bar to try to determine the origin of the strange necklace she received, she suddenly found herself in the enchanted forests of Ireland being pursued by a secret admirer.

Now, an Elf Prince has decided to make her his bride–whether she wants to or not.  As she struggles to escape, her childhood love Rouge and friends must fight to rescue her…as soon as they get out of the dungeon.  And the wedding is at sunset…

Can her friends and loser boyfriend Jeremy save her before she gets trapped in a real-life fairy tale?  Read on…

To read previous issues of The Gift, look under the Never Ending Stories Tab…
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“What just happened?”  Jeremy asked, blinking up at the troll.  Raising his head gingerly, he inspected himself slowly.  When his eyes got to the center of his chest, he gasped.  Jeremy’s head darted from side to side until he saw the blood stained sword lying next to him.  Raising it in the air, he stared at the splattered blade, then looked down at his own healed torso.  Thumping his hand against his ribs, his mouth dropped open.  “I’m healed!  I’m alive!  You brought me back to life!”

“I did,” the troll replied haughtily, his wide frog-like lips drawing back into a smile.  “You’re to be my new apprentice.”

“Huh?”  Jeremy’s astonished face crumpled into a scowl.  “Apprentice?  That means assistant.  I’m not doing that.  I never agreed to that.”

The troll blinked.  He hadn’t anticipated this.  “But I brought you back to life.”

“And I appreciate it,” Jeremy replied, slowly getting to his feet.  “Really. But there’s no way I’d be your apprentice.”

“But you’d get to hang out in the dungeon all day and poke prisoners with a stick!” the troll cried, his large nose quivering.  “And you’d get the best bits from the kitchen.  Plus, no one would ever mess with you.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to respond, then closed it.  His eyes narrowing, he glanced back at the castle.  “Did you hear that?”

“No,” the troll lied.

Jeremy chewed on his lip, his mind crawling with disjointed thoughts.  “They’re still in there, aren’t they?”

“Maybe,” the troll allowed.  He crossed his arms and glared at Jeremy.  “Why do you care?”

“Can you use your troll sense or whatever to figure out where they are?” Jeremy asked.

“Why should I?” the troll sniffed, raising his green chin.  “After all, I brought you back to life and you’ve done nothing for me.  You’re a terribly rude human.”

“You knew that before you brought me back to life,” Jeremy snapped.  “I’ll make a deal with you.  Take me to where they are, and I’ll be your apprentice for sixty days.”

“One hundred and sixty,” the troll countered.

“Seventy five,” Jeremy argued.

“One hundred,” the troll suggested.

“One hundred,” Jeremy agreed.  They shook hands.  In a single swoop, the troll scooped up Jeremy and threw him over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy squawked, kicking his feet and thumping his fists against the troll’s back.  The troll snorted and took off running as fast as his stubby legs would move, which was actually rather quick.

“You’re supposed to be dead, remember?” the troll hissed as he flew up the stone stairs.  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you about the element of suprrise?”

“Oh.”  Jeremy stopped kicking and pounding the troll, letting his arms and legs dangle limply.  He stared at the troll’s rear end and muttered, “Please, please, don’t do anything.”

“Why do you want to help?” the troll asked as he shoved a hidden wooden door at the base of the castle open.  “All you’ve done is whine, and then you bucked up and died for Rouge and Samantha.  Now you still want to help.   Why?”

“I suppose a temporary insanity took over for me the first time,” Jeremy murmured, trying to decide on the perfect “dead” expression as he spoke.  “But this time, it’s personal.  I’ve got a feeling the Prince is alive, and I want to finish what I started.  The jerk ran me through with a sword.  After he wanted to marry my girlfriend.  Really, how much of a jerk can you be?”

Grunting, the troll rolled his eyes and raced up a set of stone stairs.  Jeremy’s lolling head flopped against his backside and his new apprentice’s shoes pounded his stomach.  “What did I get myself into?” he muttered.

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“What are you screaming for?” Ashley demanded, staring at the hysterical  Prince.  “You sound like a girl.”

“I don’t get it,” Cleo murmured, shrugging.  “He’s been going on for 10 minutes now.”

“She’s alive now!” the Prince shrieked, raising a trembling hand.  “Do you know what that means?”

Ashley and Cleo shook their heads.

“You’re going to scream like a girl for no reason?” Aine suggested.  “Really, weren’t you more charming before?”

“Wait a minute,” Brogan said suddenly, peering out from his silver hood.  “How can she be alive?  She already is alive, somewhere else in their world.”  He pointed to Ashley and Cleo.  “She can’t be alive in two places at once, can she?”

“Sure I can.” Elisa smiled.  “For this part of my soul had been ripped away along time ago.”

“This is so confusing,” Cleo muttered.

“I still don’t get it,” Ashley replied.  “Why are you so upset?”  She looked at the Prince.

“Because he knows,” Elisa replied.  She simpered at the Prince and he scowled.

“Because she’s walked in both worlds, she can bring the brides to life,” Aine translated, whispering in Ashley’s ear.  Ashley nodded, grinning.

The silver halo around him brightened as he began to shake in anger.  Glaring at Ashley, sparks of white energy began to dance around his hand.

“You!” he snarled.  “This is your fault.  This is all your fault!  You’ve taken all the love I ever had away!  Do you know how long it took me to seek out the right girls, the most beautiful girls?  Do you know how many dreams I walked through?  Now I’m nothing!”

“You’re dead,” Ashley supplied, smirking.  “Dead and lonely.”

With a roar, the Prince threw his hands out toward Ashley.  Black lightening streaked through the air towards her.  Brogan dashed in front of her, waving his sword in front of him.  The black lightening sizzled straight through him.  He cried out in pain and crumpled to the floor.  Frozen, Ashley could do nothing as the black magic rushed closer.

“Cleo, get in front of her!” Aine screamed, throwing up her hands to shield her face.  Immediately, Cleo pulled Ashley behind her.  The black lightening slammed against an invisible wall in front of Cleo’s face, shattering into pure white dust that fell on her feet.

“I hate those charms!” the Prince shrieked, slamming his hands into his sides.  Black dust poured out between his fingertips.  “If I can’t use magic, I’ll kill you another way!  You’re not waking up my brides!”

“Elisa, sing the song!” Aine cried, peeking out of the bag Ashley wore around her.  “Use the ring and sing the song!”  She dove back into the bag, zipping it shut.  “Cleo, stay in front of us!” her muffled voice ordered from the bag.  “And whatever you do, don’t get near Elisa.”

Struggling to his feet, Brogan extended his sword toward the Prince’s bare throat as Elisa’s voice filled the air.  She raised her arms, Rouge’s ring glowing on her right hand.  Walking toward where the brides sat, she spun around and sang:

“Under a moonlit night,

When the stars are gone,

The dead lovers will rise

And sing their song.

For one final dance,

For one final touch.

In the shadows and cobwebs,

They dream the dreams of the heartbroken.

Black night, dark light,

Bring these ghoulish brides to life.

One last kiss,

One last word,

until death do them part,

and eternity do them not.”

“No!” the Prince screamed, drawing his sword and rushing towards Elisa.  “No!  Take it back!  Take it back!  Shut her up!  Someone shut her up!”  Brogan circled in front of him, guarding Elisa against his advances.

“Your majesty, may I suggest you return to your room?” Brogan murmured, his eyes focused on the Prince.

“Not until all of them are dead,” the Prince snarled, sweeping his sword from Elisa to Cleo and Ashley.  “And you, as well.”

“Death.” A whisper shuddered through the room.  “Dead. Death. Dead.”

The Prince froze, his pale face nearly transparent.  “Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”  Elisa crossed her arms and smiled.  “Ladies, rise.”

One by one, each forgotten bride rose to her feet.  Clouds of dust billowed throughout the air, joints cracked from bones not used in years and pale lifeless eyes blinked at the prince.  Ashley watched in amazement as the pale ghost brides swept out their skirts and curtsied in a singular motion.  Each one’s engagement ring was glowing on their porcelain hands.

“They’re really alive,” she whispered.

“Oh, they’re alive,” Elisa whispered back, a grin stretched from ear to ear.  “And they’re mad.”

Stepping toward the prince, hundreds of ghost brides gathered around him.  The prince glanced back and forth.  His hands shook and his sword dropped to his feet.  Stepping back, he shook his head as his lips screamed, but nothing came out.

The forgotten brides smiled, each face focused on the Prince.  “Hello, husband,” they all murmured in unison.  “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  Tomorrow we’ve got a fun ode to a tasty treat and Wednesday, a new Coconut Queen!  Then we’ve got a new recipe, new Twirl and new Critter Confession!  Stay tuned!