The Stepsister Scheme

a much easier time killing you.” She gestured for Danielle to draw her own knife. “This time when I lunge, bring the blade across your body to knock mine aside. Take it slowly. First learn the movements, then worry about speed.”
    For close to an hour they practiced. Danielle suspected it was as much for Talia’s sake as for hers, something to distract Talia from her discomfort. By the time Karina began to circle, Danielle’s hand was cramped and sweaty, and her shoulder ached from trying the different lunges and parries Talia had made her do again and again.
    Danielle put the knife away and turned over, studying the ground below. Awe swept all other feelings aside as she gazed down at the chasm that split the island in two. Malindar’s Triumph, some called it. The canyon ran the width of the island, an ugly gash that seemed to stretch on forever. Even so high in the air, she could see no sign of the ocean.
    Grass and trees grew right up to the edges of the chasm, and in some places, the trees actually clung to the vertical stone, maintaining an impossibly precarious hold. As they flew over the crevasse, Danielle could see water at the bottom, a ribbon of sky-blue glass.
    “There it is,” Snow said, pointing.
    Karina veered west, and Danielle saw it: Fairytown. A huge wall drew a rough circle on either side of the chasm. At the center, a silver bridge joined the two halves of the fairy city. From here, the bridge appeared to be made of silk and spiderweb. Two castles stood on either side of the bridge. The one to the north was a wonder of white spires and majestic curves. To the south was an equally magnificent structure of ebony roofs and golden buttresses.
    In some places, the land seemed almost mundane: the crowded greenery of the woods, an open field where a herd of cattle grazed. Other parts of Fairytown were like images from a dream. A small lake of ice shone like a jewel in the sun. Pink trees crowded around a sparkling path leading to the ebony palace.
    Karina flew lower, toward the northern wall.
    “Can’t we land inside?” Danielle asked.
    “Look up,” said Snow.
    Danielle moved to the side, squeezing next to Snow and pressing her eye to the wall of the basket. Long wisps of cloud drifted past overhead, but she saw nothing more except—
    Wait. Several of those wisps had turned, mirroring Karina’s flight.
    “Cloud striders,” Snow explained. “They can conjure lightning powerful enough to turn away a dragon.”
    “Don’t worry,” Talia added. “They probably wouldn’t bother to use lightning on a nuisance like us. They’d just eat us instead.”
    No doubt similar guardians protected Fairytown against those who tried to enter through the river below.
    Danielle braced herself as Karina dove toward the wall. It wasn’t quite like falling, but Danielle’s stomach still made a valiant attempt to climb out of her chest. Beside her, Talia clasped her eyes shut and muttered in another tongue.
    Wind whistled through the basket. The trees grew larger. A brown strip of beaten earth flashed past, then returned as Karina shifted direction. They followed the road, swooping lower and lower, so fast Danielle thought they would crash. The basket shook as Karina pumped her wings. Danielle held her breath. Beside her, Talia’s fingers gripped the basket, her body tense as steel.
    They touched down so gently that Danielle only knew they had landed because Karina’s wings stopped flapping.
    Snow was already standing to unbuckle the straps at the top of the basket. Danielle climbed to her feet to help, grimacing at the cramps in her thighs. Soon, cool air rushed in.
    Snow tossed the bags out, then scrambled after, tumbling to the ground in an undignified heap. Danielle’s landing was no more graceful. She hit the earth hard, then stumbled toward a cluster of dandelions at the side of the road.
    “What’s wrong?” Talia called out. Moving slowly, but still with more grace than Danielle could achieve on her best day, Talia slipped out of the basket and somersaulted to her feet on the road.
    “That hawk needs a chamber pot.”
    By the time Danielle returned, Snow and Talia had finished unpacking. “Where do we go now that we’re here? Do we need to inform the fairy king and queen?”
    “Not if we can avoid it,” Talia said. “They’d make great proclamations of their innocence and accuse us of trying to smear their names. Knowing fairies, they’d probably suggest we had arranged the whole