Fairest of All (Whatever After #1) Read Free Page A

slippers!
    “Yay!” I cheer. I run toward them and slip them on. Ah. Fuzzy striped slippers can make a person feel much better.
    I turn to Jonah. “Did you find your sneakers?”
    “Yup,” he says, pointing at them.
    “Well, put them on, and tie them this time.” I wait. “Are they tied?” I know he knows how to tie them, because I taught him. And I taught him the right way, not the baby way with two bows.
    He groans and laces them extra tight.
    Good. We’ve completed Step One. Now for Step Two: Get back to our basement. Hmm. That one’s tougher, but nothing I can’t handle.
    I suppose it would help if I could figure out where we are.
    We can’t be very far from home, since the whole trip only took, like, a minute. There must have been a tornado, or maybe even an earthquake. Yes, an earthquake! An earthquake that tossed us a few blocks from our house! Yes! We must have hit our heads and fallen asleep and that’s why it’s already daytime!
    Now I just have to find our way home. Time to focus.
    Growl.
    What was that? Nothing. I must have imagined it.
    Crack.
    “Did you hear that?” Jonah whispers.
    “Um. No?”
    Growwwl.
    My heart thumps. “Any chance it’s your stomach grumbling because you’re hungry?”
    He scoots closer. “Maybe it’s an animal’s stomach. Because the animal is hungry.”
    Growwwl, crack.
    “Hungry for humans,” Jonah says, sounding a bit too excited for my liking.
    Crack, growwwl.
    Argh! How am I supposed to focus on Step Two of my plan with scary animal-stomach noises all around me?
    “I think we should go,” I tell him.
    “Go where?”
    Growl, crack, growl, crack, growl, crack, crack!
    “Somewhere that isn’t here!”
    I grab his hand and we run.

i never knew I could move so fast.
    If I was back at school playing tag — the right or the wrong tag — no one would ever catch me.
    That’s the good news about my mad dash with Jonah. The bad news is that I have no idea which way is home, or where in Smithville we are.
    I also don’t know what’s chasing us. But guess what? Our fast-running feet may have outrun it, because I no longer hear anything behind us. Then again, that may be because my loud huffing and puffing is drowning out all other sounds.
    A sharp pain stabs my side, and I stop.
    “Need … water!” Jonah pants. “Need … food! Forget Cheetos. I’ll eat anything! But no broccoli, please!”
    I lean over and try to catch my breath. “I don’t know about you, but I have yet to spot a restaurant around here. Just trees, trees, and more trees.”
    “Look,” Jonah says, dropping his voice. He points at something up ahead.
    I look, and my heart leaps when I see that it’s a person! A female adult person!
    “Oh, yay!” I call, charging toward her. “Hi, there!”
    She keeps going, slipping between the trees. Did she not hear?
    “Excuse me!” I cry. “Wait! Hold up!”
    Finally, she turns around. She’s old — like grandparent old, but without the hot pink lipstick my nana wears — and she’s wearing a black coat and holding a basket.
    I wave and smile.
    She glares. And continues walking.
    How rude. Grown-ups aren’t supposed to be rude. My nana would never be rude.
    Now what am I supposed to do?
    “Excuse us!” Jonah yells. “Excuse us, excuse us, excuse us, excuse us, excuse us, EXCUSE US!”
    The lady stops in her tracks and turns around again. “What?” she barks.
    Yay, Jonah! I guess being persistent can pay off.
    “Do you know where we are?” Jonah asks.
    “We’re kind of lost,” I add. “We were in our basement, but then we knocked on our mirror, or rather, my silly brother knocked on the mirror, and —” Maybe it’s best not to go into the details. “Well, anyway. Can you help us, please?” I give her my most charming smile. I elbow Jonah to indicate that he should do the same.
    She scowls and goes back to walking.
    My nana would never ignore two lost kids in a forest, even if they weren’t us. She would walk them home, tell