Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

Previously...

"I was being sarcastic. Really, do you live under a rock of something? The Dwarfs' live on the other side of the forest!" Now it was my turn to stare at him incredulously.

"Um, right..." I muttered. I glanced down at my backpack, and the Book within it. What have you done? I thought.

"Well, what are you standing there for?" Ezu asked me. "Come in." He walked up to the little house and opened the front door, waiting for me politely.

At this point I paused. Was it really a good idea to follow this boy into his home? Could I really trust him? I pursed my lips, and took a good look at him. He looked okay, but then so do a lot of psychos...

Well, during that whole walk he had an axe with him, so if he wanted to kill me or anything, he could have done it at anytime. I glanced at the sun, which was now barely visible above the tops of the trees. It was getting dark, and there was no way I could get to town on my own.

Just then I heard that chilling howl of a wolf again, and it may have just been my imagination, but it seemed louder this time. That was the deciding factor.

I hurried to Ezu's side, and stepped into his home.
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The inside of Ezu’s house was about as far from what I had expected as it was possible to be. For starters, though the outside the house looked barley big enough for one, maybe two rooms, the one we had just entered was nearly twice as large as the entire house itself.

On top of that, it was positively bursting such a mess of junk that I was surprised we weren’t buried in an avalanche of random stuff the moment Ezu opened the door.

There was a huge table on the far left side of the room, that was crammed with crumpled papers and bent quill pens; little bottles of ink; half eaten food; and numerous dishes, all of which were cracked, chipped, or broken in one way or another. Articles of clothing were also strewn about, as if a volcano erupted in here and spewed clothes instead of lava. A massive black iron stove was right across from me at the far end of the room, a fire burning cheerily in it as if it had already been going for hours, even though there had been no trace of smoke coming from the chimney. Next to it was a large, well worn sage green armchair, and on the floor was a bearskin rug that looked more alive than dead. There were three or four wooden chairs placed at random intervals around the room, none of them matching, and all of them piled high with stacks of paper or dirty dishes. On the walls were countless animals pelts, ranging from huge bear skins to tiny rabbit ones. Hanging from the ceiling was what I'm sure was once a beautiful chandelier, but now was dusty and hanging crooked, and missing several of it pieces. I took a tentative step forward, and immediately heard something crack underfoot.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Ezu shouted, grabbing me by my waist and spinning me out of the way. He bent to the ground and carefully, with his index finger and thumb, picked up something that glinted in the firelight, and cupped it in his hands.

"What is that?" I asked, edging closer to him.

"This," he said, holding his hands closer to my face, "Is Jinx." And he opened his hands.

I heard a sudden whirring noise, and with a flash of gold whatever Ezu had been holding took off into the air, then launched itself in my face.

I shrieked and stumbled backwards, flapping wildly at the air. I heard Ezu laugh over my shrieks and the angry buzzing from the flying thing. It kept darting at my face, flying through my hair and trying to land on me, moving too fast for me to get a good look at it.

"Hey, calm down, he won't hurt you!" Ezu snorted. He grabbed my arms and pulled me to him, so my back was pressed up against his chest and I was unable to move.

"Watch," he said. The flying thing hovered in place for a moment, as if unsure of what to do. I felt Ezu nod behind me, and the thing immediately darted in close to me.

I stood stock still, and watched tentatively as it landed on my shoulder. I stared blankly for a moment, not quite sure what I was seeing. Then I realized, it was an insect. But it wasn't real... I didn't think. It looked like it was a machine, made to look like a bug.

It was golden in color, with little silver joints connecting the tiny parts. It was perfect, down to the last detail. Right down to the little antenna that twitched occasionally; six little legs, three on either side; a pair of bulbous silver eyes; and two glossy, shimmering translucent wings still fluttering slightly. It crawled around on my shoulder, its legs moving in a perfectly synchronized pattern, and it hummed quietly at me.

"J-jinx?" I repeated. "What is it?" I asked.

"A gift from a good friend of mine. He works with clockwork, and whipped this little guy up for me after I helped him out with a favor. Jinx here is completely artificial, his insides are filled with cogs and springs and who-knows-what else. We're buddies." Ezu explained, offering an outstretched finger to Jinx, which the insect promptly crawled onto.

"You're buddies...with a machine bug?" I asked skeptically. With an angry whir, Jinx took off from his perch and buzzed viciously at my head, pulling my hair.

"Ow! Hey, stop that!" I shouted, shaking my head violently, trying to shake the thing off. Ezu laughed again, and grabbed my wrist.

"Hold on. Jinx, stop that. She didn't really mean it. She just doesn't understand you are much more than a simple machine. She can't help being so dense."

"Hey!" I objected, but the little bug did start to slow down, and let go of my hair. He flew over to Ezu and landed on his head, skittering around and making angry sounding chirps in my direction.
I pulled my wrist out of Ezu's grip and began making my way deeper into this mystery room, carefully watching where I stepped.

"Jeeze, I can't find a clear place anywhere here!" I said exasperatedly, desperately trying not to crush anything under foot. It was true too, the floor was as littered with various objects as any other surface in here. Ezu grunted.

"I don't have time to clean," he said, stepping past me and walking straight to the long table, not caring what he stepped on now that his friend, Jinx, was accounted for.

I scoffed at him, and gave the room a good once-over.

"I don't think you can clean this place. You need to condemn it!" I said, following him. He came up to the table and began searching among the various papers laying on it. He would pick one up, glance at it, and toss it over his shoulder, where it would flutter down and land in an ever growing mountain of paper.

"What are you looking for?" I asked. "Maybe I can help."

Ezu snorted. “I don’t think so. Why don’t you go sit down somewhere, out of the way, okay?”

“What, like I’m going to make this place any more of a mess?” I retorted, bristling. Ezu rolled his eyes, but shrugged.

“Alright, fine. If you’re so insistent. The sooner we find it, the sooner I can get you out of my hair anyways, I suppose.”

“You’re too kind,” I shot back, coolly.

"It’s a rolled up piece of parchment... It's a contract or something... I think it’s got a stamp on it..." He described vaguely, not looking up from his search.

"So specific..." I mumbled under my breath, but I sighed resignedly and rolled up my sleeves. I took my backpack off and placed it carefully next to me, in plain sight.

"Now don't you run off, do you hear me? I'm watching you..." I told it--or rather, the Book that was inside of it-- sternly, quietly enough so Ezu wouldn't hear. I wasn't sure it could hear me either, but I wasn't taking any chances with that Book. It had done stranger stuff than running away on its own before.

I stared at the piles of papers before me, wondering where to start. I ended up grabbing a rather yellow looking sheet, and scanned it. It wasn't a contract of any sort, just a list of names, which I seemed to be various types of plants. There were some I recognized, like chamomile and myrtle, but a lot more I didn't. I cleared a place to my right and placed the sheet there carefully. I grabbed the next paper and did the same, dismissing it and placing it on top of the first.

"This is going to take a while, isn't it?" I asked Ezu hesitantly.

"Probably." He replied in a very matter of fact tone.

Several hours later I was slumped on the ground, groaning and rubbing my eyes.

"It’s absolutely no where!" I moaned. "Does it even exist? Or were you lying to me or something?"

"Yes, yes, of course it exists! It's just... lost." Ezu snapped, waving a hand at me to shut me up.

"Well then, I suggest we call in the National Guard for an emergency rescue mission, because at this rate we’re never going to find it!" I complained.

"The national what?" Ezu asked, still only paying half attention. Oh, right. They don't exist anymore.

"Nothing. Forget it." I grunted, standing up.

"Oh. That's wonderful." Ezu muttered. I raised my eyes to the heavens. He wasn't listening to a word I was saying. I grabbed my backpack, which thankfully was right where I had left it, and stepped around the numerous stacks of papers I had laying in neat rows beside me and shuffled my way over to Ezu, yawning.

"Look, if we haven't found it yet, we're not gonna find it anytime tonight. Just give up. We'll look in the morning." I told him. He stopped his tireless searching for a moment and glared at me, probably about to tell me there was no way he was giving up. But when he saw how low my eyelids were drooping, he seemed to change his mind, and shrugged.

"Fine. You're probably right anyway. Come on.” He grabbed my arm and led me over to the stove, Jinx--who had spent the past few hours buzzing around our head and not helping in general-- flittering behind.

"Where are we going?" I asked, waking up slightly.

"Just watch." Ezu told me. He also seemed more upbeat, and I tell he was slightly excited. He let go of my arm when we reached the stove, and bent down next to it. When I realized what he was about to do, my eyes widened to twice their natural size, and I reached out to grab him.

"Wait, no, stop!" I shouted. "That's hot-"

Ezu just grinned at me, and before I could touch him, he rammed his shoulder into the broad side of the stove. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, but instead of hearing a shriek of pain, I heard the grating sound of metal against stone. I opened my eyes slowly, and saw to my amazement Ezu pushing the huge stove out of the way as if it weight nothing, apparently unscathed.

"How..." I trailed off, as I noticed for the first time a large, red door standing behind where the stove once was. Ezu patted the stove and smirked at me.

"Enchanted. All of this is." He motioned around the room. "Watch this." He stepped up to the door, and knocked twice sharply. He then opened the door with a flourish and stood aside, letting me see what lay beyond.

To my amazement, a good sized, though rather plain, bedroom greeted me. It was painted a rather solemn shade of green, with a smaller version of the stove in the main room in the corner. A neat little bed stood on the left wall, with an earthy brown colored bedspread. There were matching curtains, closed, on the wall directly across from me. I stepped inside, surveying my surroundings. Ezu entered after me, and closed the magic door, letting Jinx zoom in at the last moment.

"I know it isn't much, but it is pretty comfortable, and the stove keeps the place warm. You'll be sleeping here tonight." He said with a shrug. I turned to him.

"Where are you sleeping?" I asked.

"I'll be in the main room, I'll be fine." He explained. I thought for a moment, then it clicked.

"Oh wait- this is your room, isn't it!" Ezu shrugged. I took that as a 'yes'. "No, I can't sleep here, you take it, I'll have the main room!" I said. Ezu narrowed his eyes at me.

"I sleep in this room every night. One night in the main room won't kill me. You take this room." Something in his tone made it clear he wasn't arguing about this anymore. Why he was suddenly being so chivalrous after trying to ditch me in the forest, I had no idea, but I was too tired to pursue the topic further. So I frowned in annoyance, but obediently shuffled over to the bed and sat down on the edge, placing my backpack carefully beside me. Ezu eyed it for a moment, but looked away uninterested.

Good, I didn't feel like trying to explain about it tonight, and anyways, it wasn’t like it would make any difference, except maybe he’d think I was even crazier than he already did.

Ezu just stood there in front of the door, looking a little awkward.

“So, er, goodnight, I guess.” He said after a moment.

“Yeah. Goodnight. And, um, thanks. You know, for helping me,” I replied, just as awkwardly, but figuring I should at least try to be polite to the guy who had saved me from wolves, become my guide through the forest, and was letting me sleep in his bed in the warmth and safety of his house.

“Yeah. So, I’ll be back in the morning. To take you to town. Don’t break anything.” He said, effectively making me take back any idea of gratefulness I’d been harboring.

“I’m not making any promises.”

Ezu sort of made a face that could have been a mistaken for a smile--in the dark--from a distance. Well, it was better than insults, I suppose.

“Night,” he said again, and he spun on his heel rather mechanically and rapped the door three times with his knuckles, opened it, and marched out, Jinx following dutifully behind.

After he shut the door, I waited, unmoving, for a few seconds. When I was sure he wasn't coming back, I snatched my backpack and tore it open, pulling out the Book and opening the cover. I flipped past the title page and the forward until I reached the table of contents.

"Let's see..." I muttered. "The Frog King...The Twelve Brothers...Rapunzel...Hansel and Grethel...The White Snake...Little Red-Cape..." I continued scanning the names of the stories listed.

By now I was sure I had read them all, but I was checking again in case there was one I missed. I reached the end of the extremely long list, finishing with The Golden Key which happened to be my favorite story, and was the only one without an ending.

I sighed and shut the Book, thinking. Not one character in any of the stories were named Ezu.

So... who was he? Perhaps his story hadn't started yet, or he was only one of those nameless minor characters.

I leaned back onto the pillows and stared up at the ceiling, my mind wandering. The past two days had passed in a bizarre, dream-like blur. Perhaps this was all only a dream. I didn’t see how it could be anything else. But as I laid in Ezu’s bed, feeling the warmth radiating from the little stove in the corner of the room, and smelling the musky scent that musk have been Ezu, rubbed off on the coarse woolen blankets that itched the bare flesh of my arms, I very much doubted that this was a dream.

As tired as I had been earlier, I found myself unable to fall asleep. My mind was too busy racing, churning over everything I had been through to allow me to sleep. I stared at the ceiling without really seeing it for what felt like hours, until I couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

I rose up out of the bed, grabbing the book and stuffing it back in my backpack. I almost left it on the bed, but on second thought I brought it with me, unwilling to leave what might be my only ticket back home alone. At the door of the bedroom I knocked three times, waited a moment, then pushed it open gently, without giving myself a chance to change my mind.

In the big green armchair, Ezu sat awake, with a short knife and a something small in his hands. He looked as if he was carving something. When I poked my head out the door, however, he paused and glanced up, looking only mildly surprised to find me staring back.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asked.

“Guess not,” I shrugged, coming all the way out of the room and closing the door behind me. I cleared off one of the chairs and sat down, putting my backpack in my lap and resting my elbows on my knees, my chin in my hands. Ezu went back to carving the piece of wood or bone or antler, or whatever it was he held.

We sat like that for a long while, both in silence. Eventually, however, my curiosity overcame my sensibility and I spoke up.

"Could you tell me a story?" I asked, then I felt my face go red. "That came out wrong; not like that, not like a story, I mean, like, your story. Like, who you are and stuff." I explained, fumbling slightly on my words.

Ezu glanced up at me, and seemed to mull my request over. After a moment he set his knife and carving aside, and leaned back in his armchair, his mismatched eyes fixed on me.

"So, you want to know my story, do you?" He asked finally. I nodded. "You’re the first person to be interested in my story," he said, sounding almost amused. "Well, too bad." He went on, firmly. "You can't hear my story. That is, not until I have heard yours."

I slumped in disappointment. Ezu rolled his eyes.

"But, I will tell you part of it. The part about how I happened to acquire this home."

"Alright then," I said with a content grin plastered on my face.

Ezu fell silent again, only this time he seemed to be collecting his thoughts. Then he cleared his throat.

"Well," he began, "My story begins on the day I turned 16, the day I became a man, and left home for the first time..."