I know I’m not supposed to go outside at night, Mama always said so, but he was waiting for me. My friend, the prince of shadows. Mama also told me that fairies weren’t real.

She says a lot of things. I don’t always believe her.

My bedroom door creaked as I opened it and I paused in the hallway, the sound of my breathing loud in my ears. Mama’s bedroom door was closed, her snores leaking out under the door.

I smiled and continued down the hallway, careful to avoid the squeaky spots in the wooden floor. I knew where they all were now. It was nice, knowing things Mama didn’t.

The kitchen door creaked when I opened it, and my breath stopped in my chest, but Mama didn’t stir. I made my way outside and paused at the edge of the grass. Grandmama died last month. One day she was here, the next she was in the hospital, and then we had to go to her funeral where lots of people were crying. I got hugged by so many old people. At least the flowers there were pretty.

I missed Grandmama. She believed me when I told her about the prince of princes.

My prince! He must be waiting for me. I skipped down to the end of the garden and flung myself onto the grass. I slapped my hands over my mouth before I could laugh but a little giggle slipped out. The stars were bright and sparkling above me as I laid and looked up through the rose brambles at the end of the garden.

I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. It was hard not to peek to see if it was working but I had to be good. The prince said I had to play all their games, or else.

Tiny feet walked across my forehead, and I wiggled with anticipation. A second set of feet joined them, dancing across my face, stepping on my nose, my eyes, my lips. I wondered if they were leaving any tiny footprints. I should wash my face before bed.

The feet vanished and someone tapped me on the forehead. My eyes popped open and I sat up. Sitting cross legged beside me was a boy my age and size, with shaggy black hair and eyes bluer than paint. He wore strange black clothing that was part rags and patches and part old fashioned stuff like out of my book of fairy tales.

He smiled at me and my heart fluttered. I felt funny when he was around, but I liked it. The prince of shadows made me feel special.

The prince stood and offered me his hand. I took it, letting him pull me to my feet. Other fairies flew through the air around him, wings like bugs’ but large and pretty. Some had butterfly wings, others moths, and some had sparkly wings like a dragonfly.

They flew so fast, I knew I’d never be able to catch one. I had tried once and the prince became so angry he didn’t talk to me for a week, no matter how much I’d cried. I was allowed to chase the fairies but only when the prince said it was time to play.

But the prince was smiling now. He kept hold of my hand and led me around a clump of bushes where an old shed stood. My house wasn’t visible and he relaxed as soon as we were out of sight of it.

“Are you going to tell me your name tonight?” I asked him.

The prince shook his head with a twinkle in his eye. “Only if you can fall in love with me!”

My cheeks turned red. “I’m too young to fall in love, Mama said so.”

The prince tilted his head. “No one is too young for love. Or too old.”

“Have you been in love before?”

The prince looked up at the moon with a distant, sad smile on his lips. “Oh no, it is not my fate.”

“That’s so sad,” I said with a frown. “Why not?”

His answering laugh made tingles pop up on my skin. “Love is wonderful. But it is a human thing. But enough of this. Catch me, and maybe I’ll tell you my name.”

He spun around and leapt into the air, shrinking until he was the size of the other fairies, and darted past me. He tugged at my hair and I tried to grab him but he was too fast. Not that I wanted to catch him. I never wanted the games to end.

I chased the prince back and forth across the garden, laughing. He laughed too, like the ringing of a bell, and almost let me catch him once. But he flapped his wings and sped away at the last moment, and I nearly crashed into the bushes before I could stop.

I dropped to the ground, breathing hard. Chasing was one of his favourite games, probably because he always won. When we played hide and seek, I sometimes hid better than he did, and he didn’t like that.

It was okay with me if he wanted to win. So long as we got to keep playing. I wanted to play with him forever.

When I turned around, the prince and the fairies were gone. I groaned and let my head fall back to the grass. Was it midnight already? The fairies had a bedtime too, though the prince never said what would happen if they were late. Did he have a mother who would growl if she caught him awake?

I sat up and walked back towards the house. Tomorrow was another night. I wondered what games we would play.

Mama was mad at me. I sat at the breakfast table, trying not to cry as she scrubbed at my nightgown. There were grass stains in it from tumbling around in the garden the night before.

“I told you, Mirabel. I told you not to go out into the garden at night and what do you do? You go outside anyway!”

I sniffled and stared down at my toast. “I know, I’m sorry.”

Mama wrung my nightgown out over the sink and set it on the radiator to dry. “If you were sorry, you would stay inside. What would happen if you fell into the pond? You could drown!”

“I’m a good swimmer, I could get out,” I said.

Mama shook her head. “Not good enough. There are weeds in that pond. I would know! I went swimming there once, when I was your age. Plants wrapped around my ankle and nearly pulled me under. I would have drowned if your Grandmama hadn’t pulled me out. She was so upset . . .”

Mama looked so sad. I almost felt bad for going outside last night. Almost.

Mama sat beside me and took my hand. “I need you to promise me you won’t sneak out again. I can’t sleep at night thinking you’re out there, playing by yourself. It isn’t safe.”

“But–”

“No buts! I’ll have your promise or you won’t be allowed back at school again.”

“Mama! I need to go to school, my friends are there!”

“And they will still be there, but only if you promise me.”

I poked my toast with a sad finger. It was cold. “I promise,” I said, in the quietest voice I could.

Mama squeezed my hand and leaned in. “What did you say?”

Tears started to fall down my cheeks. What will I do without my prince? But to not go to school, and stay locked away inside helping Mama with chores all day . . .

“I promise, Mama. I’ll stay inside.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Mama released my hand and patted my head.

“That’s my good girl. Now eat up.”

I ate my toast through my tears, and tried not to think about my fairy friends. They would be so mad. But I knew I had to wait until Mama had forgotten before I could go back outside.

I lasted an entire week. Pictures of the prince filled the margins of my notebooks and I got called into the principal’s office twice for daydreaming. But at last Mama stopped asking me to stay inside when she tucked me in at night. I was ready.

The prince was ready too. He waited for me at the end of the garden by the shed, arms crossed. I gasped at the sight of him.

“You don’t want me to pretend to be asleep first?” I asked.

He shook his head, lips tight. “Where have you been?”

“Inside. Mama made me promise not to come outside at nighttime. She’s afraid I’ll drown in the pond.”

The prince glanced over his shoulder, where the pond lay beyond the garden shed. Tiny waves rippled across the surface, caught by the light of the full moon.

“This pond?” He crossed over to it and walked across its surface as casually as he strolled over the grass. His feet left little ripples in his wake and my eyes went wide.

“Can you teach me how to do that?” I asked.

The prince glanced over his shoulder, surprise flashing across his handsome face. He held out his hand to me and wiggled his fingers.

“I could try. Come with me.”

I approached the edge of the pond. The water was all moonlight and shadow as the tiny waves flashed over its surface, and I gulped.

“Mama says to stay away from the pond.”

The prince’s eyes narrowed. “Your mother says a lot of things. She wasn’t always so strict.”

I placed my bare toes onto the surface of the pond but the water didn’t hold my weight and my foot got wet. He wiggled his fingers again, impatiently, but he was too far away for me to reach. I took a step back and crossed my arms.

“I don’t want to walk on water,” I said.

The prince’s eyes narrowed before a smile flashed onto his face. “Why not?” He spun in a circle and danced a few steps, droplets of water catching the moonlight as they flicked through the air. “It’s fun!”

I eyed the water. “I don’t want to get wet.”

The prince stopped dancing. “You don’t trust me. I thought we were friends.”

My mouth fell open in dismay. “We are friends! I do trust you. I just . . .”

His lip trembled as though he was about to cry, and I reached for him. He was too far away to touch, though, so I took a step into the pond, and another, all while he watched with clear eyes. His lip no longer trembled once I stood knee deep in cold water, mud seeping between my toes.

The prince bowed and offered his hand once again. I took it, and he pulled me out of the water. He was stronger than he looked; I don’t think I could have pulled him like that.

To my surprise, my feet landed on the surface of the water, smooth and cold as glass. His smile was full of wicked delight as his arm snaked around my waist, pulling me tight to him. He stepped backwards and lead me into a dance.

We spun in circles, skating over the surface of the pond like it were ice. There was no music, but I didn’t need any with my prince holding me. The stars reflected off the pond until we were in a bowl of moonlight, illuminated like a stage. The little fairies spun in their own dances around us like darting fireflies.

I don’t know how long we danced for, but it wasn’t long enough. The prince loosened his grip on me and pulled back, a startled look on his pretty face.

“Someone is coming,” he said tightly.

The little fairies vanished into the brambles, and the prince began to pull me towards them. I wiggled in his grip.

“I can’t go into the brambles, I’m too big! The thorns will get me.”

The prince gave me an exasperated look. “The thorns will do as I say. But if you truly wish to stay here . . .”

The prince shrank into his tiny form and darted away. For a moment after he let go of my hand, the water supported me. Then it turned to jelly and my feet sank. I had only the briefest glimpse of my prince’s light vanishing into the rose brambles before the water closed over my head.

My arms flailed and I pulled myself towards the surface. My legs kicked, propelling me up towards the light of the moon. Before I could reach it, arms closed around me and pulled me up. My head broke the surface of the pond and I sputtered in surprise.

Mama gripped me tight, anger and concern at war on her face.

“Mirabel! My Mirabel, what are you doing?”

“I was dancing, Mama. Dancing with the prince of shadows.”

“Dancing? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t care what you think you were doing out here. You disobeyed me,” said mama as she pulled me towards the edge of the pond. She pushed me onto the grass and then hopped out beside me. We sat for a moment, looking at the brambles on the other side of the pond.

“You scared me, Mirabel. Do you understand that?”

I looked away, down at the moonlit surface of the water. “I didn’t mean to, mama.”

“Well, you did. You scare me every time you leave the house at night. This talk of princes and fairies and dancing, it stops now.”

Tears blurred my view of the pond and I refused to nod.

Mama sighed and stood.

“Come,” she said as she offered me her hand. “Let’s get your dried off and back to bed.”

I took her hand. It was large and warm and familiar, but I wished I was still holding the prince’s hand instead.

My bedroom had a lock now. Mama locked me in when she puts me to bed. For my own safety, she says. She even nailed my window shut, to make sure I couldn’t get out! She didn’t listen when I told her I was never in any danger! This was just her being selfish. So what if it scared her? I wasn’t afraid!

The weeks passed slowly without my prince, and even my friends at school couldn’t distract me. The only thing that interested me was Grandmama’s boxes. Mama had cleaned up her room and piled all of Grandmama’s things into my closet. She said mine was the only room that had space for them.

That was fine with me. It meant I could look at him again.

My prince.

Grandmama had always been a good drawer and she had pictures saved that were very old, from when she was my age. And among the flowers and rainbows were drawings of fairies. Not silly fairies like in the movies. My fairies.

I recognized my prince immediately. I think Mama did too, the way she got mad when she found the pictures in my bed.The prince was old, he told me that himself. But I didn’t know he was as old as Grandmama. I frowned, jealousy welling up in my chest. Had he danced with Mama and Grandmama too? The prince was mine! He had said so himself.

He belonged to me, and if I went with him into the brambles, I would belong to him, too. He would even tell me his name if I went to live with the fairies.

The longer I was locked up, the more tempting it seemed. To live with the fairies and to dance under the moonlight forever sounded so much better than homework and chores and Mama being mad at me.

And Mama was still very mad. I flopped back on the floor with a groan. I had done more chores in the last three weeks than I had in my entire life. I didn’t know why she was punishing me.

Why couldn’t she understand?

The wind made the tree outside my window rattle and shake and I stirred, warm under the covers of my bed. Sometimes it sounded like someone was knocking at my window but whenever I checked, there was no one there. It wouldn’t be my prince; he never came up to the house.

I sat up as the knocking came again. That didn’t sound like a tree.

Lights flickered beyond the curtain and I sprang to my feet with an excited gasp. I flung the curtain back, and there on my window sill were three tiny fairies. The green and gold of their dresses shimmering in the light given off by their fluttering wings.

They looked scared but determined. One waved to me and motioned for me to stand back. The three fairies lined up and peered at the nails that kept my window in place. One by one, the nails twisted, squealing in the wood before lifting up and clattering to the ground.

I wasted no time and heaved the window open. I didn’t even pause to see if Mama heard. I didn’t care. Crawling out of the window was scary but the chiming voices of the fairies encouraged me. Branches from the bush under my window scratched me when I landed on it but I barely felt them.

The fairies fled ahead of me as we raced around the side of the house towards the garden. My feet made slapping sounds on the cool flagstones, too late in the season to keep the heat of day. It was almost fall, after all.

And then I was in the grass. Wild laughter erupted from my chest, and if Mama heard, so be it. I was home.

I reached the end of the garden and pulled up short, aghast. It looked like a tornado had passed through the brambles, tearing them up at the roots and leaving them in messy piles.

My insides went cold. Mama. It had to be. She was destroying the fairies’ home!

I raced towards the pond, fearing the worst, but it was still there, as were the brambles on the far side.

I fell to my knees. But where was my prince?

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I bit off a scream. I spun, ready to apologise to Mama for being out, but it wasn’t her.

It was my prince.

His clothing was more ragged than ever, and dark circles bit into the skin under his eyes. But he was still the most handsome boy I had ever seen. I threw myself into his arms and he hugged me back just as tight.

“I’m so sorry, Mama locked me up! I couldn’t get away!”

My prince squeezed me before standing back. “I know, I sent my fairies to spy. Your mother is a wicked woman, keeping you from me.”

My heart clenched. “I love my mama, but . . .”

“Do you love me?” asked my prince.

I look up at him, blushing. “Love?”

“Yes, love. The greatest of human emotions. Do you feel it for me?”

I stepped out of his arms and looked down at my bare feet before nodding.

The prince tilted my head up with a gentle hand. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve always wanted to know what love is, and I think you can teach me.”

I shook my head, confused. “You don’t know what love is?”

“No fairy does. Our hearts are too wild.”

Shouting sounded from the house and I froze. Mama was awake, and she sounded angry.

The prince reached down and grabbed my hands. “Come with me. The summer is almost over and without it, my power will fade. If you want to love me, you must come with me. Now.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Mama was running towards us, terror etched into her lined face. “Mirabel!” Her voice shook as she raced forward.

I looked back to my prince. There was nothing in his cold eyes, no hope, just that pretty smile. His words echoed through my head. ‘Our hearts are too wild.’

My eyes squeezed shut. Mama’s shouts reached my ears, begging me to stop, to stay.

I took a deep breath and reached out my hand.