I reached out and touched his arm. I’m not sure he even felt it underneath the chain mail. “I’m so sorry, Hudson.” He looked past me as though he hadn’t heard my apology. “Before they left me there, they took my shoes and clothes, everything down to my boxers.”
I let out another gasp. What could be worse than being tied up and left in your underwear on a road in the Middle Ages? “I’m really, really sorry.”
“Oh, I wasn’t there for long. A group of nuns on a pilgrimage came by and found me.”
Being found half-naked by a group of nuns. That would be worse.
“I’m sure my fairy godmother will send you back when she finds out about the mix-up,” I said.
He cocked his head like he had his doubts about that. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy sleeping on straw mattresses and brushing off fleas every morning, but I have a life to get back to in the twenty-first century. So when exactly will that be?” Hudson suddenly seemed so imposing standing there in his chain mail. I took a step away from him. “I don’t know. I’ve been calling her 130/356
all morning …” I let my voice trail off, feeling miserable. “She might expect me to stay here until I marry King John and have his baby.” Hudson coughed in disbelief. “You wished to be queen?”
“No, it’s just that—”
He didn’t let me finish. “King John isn’t some fairy tale Prince Charming. He’s in his thirties and is out of his mind. Literally. If you look deep enough into his eyes, you can read a little sign that says, GONE TO LUNCH. TRY BACK LATER.”
“I don’t want to marry him. I’m not going to if I can help it. I never wished for …” It suddenly occurred to me that the best way to get out of this wish was to break the chain of events right at the beginning of the story. If I escaped from the castle now, Rumpelstiltskin wouldn’t come, and King John wouldn’t want to marry me for my gold.
I took hold of Hudson’s hand, trying to make him feel my urgency through his leather glove. “You could help me escape. My entire house was brought here. We could take the things we need and hide out with my family somewhere safe until my fairy godmother sets things straight.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “You brought your family here too?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
He let out a grunt. “Nick barely survived high school PE. How could you send him to a place with wild animals, bandits, and sword-wielding knights?”
“It’s not like I asked for this,” I said.
Hudson pulled his hand away from mine with an unsympathetic sigh. “What did you ask for, Tansy?” My hand felt small and alone, rejected. Telling him my wish would only intensify that feeling. I hadn’t just wished for wealth; I’d wished for unending wealth. I’d been greedy.
131/356
I turned and walked to the window. The sun blazed high in the sky, but the stone sill was cool to the touch, as though even the sunlight couldn’t warm this place.
Hudson followed. He put one hand on the wall and leaned toward me. “I can’t imagine that you wished to be imprisoned in the Middle Ages … although you wished for Robin Hood to come to Rock Canyon and hold up stores, so who knows?”
“I didn’t think Robin Hood was going to hold up stores when I wished for him to come.”
“Oh. You just wanted some guy with a criminal bent you could make out with in Walgreens?”
“No,” I said hotly, “I didn’t know that was going to happen either.
Wishing for Robin Hood was something I accidentally did when I was complaining about the police. Which, you know,” I said, waving a hand in his direction, “sort of makes the whole thing your fault since you were the one I was complaining about.” Hudson rolled his eyes.
I wanted to change the subject. “So how did you become one of King John’s guards? What happened after a bunch of scandalized nuns found you?”
“They weren’t scandalized,” he said. “They were very kind. Especially Sister Mary Theresa.” The way he said it made me wonder who she was. I imagined her as some young novice who, upon seeing Hudson’s broad shoulders in all of their glory, had some serious second thoughts about taking vows.
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? And what did Sister Mary Theresa do?”
“After I was fed and clothed, I was taken to the Sheriff of Nottingham,” Hudson said, pointedly leaving out the details I’d asked for. “He didn’t hire me because I wasn’t good enough with a bow or a sword, 132/356
but I’m a head taller than most of the people in the Middle Ages, and the castle is always in need of men. He gave me a letter of recommendation and I joined the garrison. I used to have the night shift walking the parapets, but two days ago I was promoted to guarding prisoners.