The Last Fairy Tale by E. S. Lowell

torn out in patches. Its body was bare, and Olivia saw that its skin was sickly pale and stretched tightly over its misshapen bones.
    Olivia frantically looked around for a place to run and then looked back at the creature. Three more creatures appeared behind the first one. They all looked similar, but some had growths protruding off their bodies or what looked like inverted joints. Olivia turned and began to run as fast as she could.
    All she saw in front of her was a dead, black patch of land with burnt, twisted shapes jutting from its scorched soil. A forest ! she thought. In the distance, she noticed one enormous black tree that was still standing. She remembered her dream with Ink and his instructions to find the old tree. In her desperation, she ran for the tree, not allowing herself to think how ridiculous it was to believe that those creatures were chasing her or that the tree in the distance could be a doorway to another world. She heard the siren sounding again, its pitch still low, which only made her run faster. She didn’t look back and kept her focus on the tree. The key lies in your veins , she remembered. The only thing in my veins is blood , she thought.
     As she neared the tree, she saw that it twisted out of the ground like a giant black spike, with dead limbs shooting off of it. The tree’s base was larger than Olivia’s room. When she finally reached the tree, a sharp pain shot through her side and she had trouble catching her breath. Olivia now wished that Mr. Schafer’s physical education exercises were a bit more rigorous. Her body still shook, but not just from the cold. She tried her best to steady herself and focus. She ran her finger down the tree’s surface, which was rough like sandpaper, looking for the keyhole Ink had mentioned, but she couldn’t find it.
    She quickly glanced over her shoulder to see that the creatures had topped the hill and were advancing toward her. One of them walked at a brisk pace, while the others crawled in lurching motions. Olivia shuddered and turned her attention back to the tree where she noticed a knot in the trunk and bent down to look at it more closely. To her disbelief, the knot was shaped like a perfect keyhole. Now to unlock it ...
     She looked around frantically for something sharp and then remembered the clasp on her father’s journal. The clasp had a small rough barb that sometimes nicked her finger when she carelessly opened the journal. She quickly twisted the clasp and pressed her finger against the barb, wincing as a large drop of warm blood welled up on her finger. She took a deep breath and pressed her finger to the knot in the tree.
     Olivia’s heart stopped beating. The moment she pressed her finger to the keyhole, she felt a swift pain in her chest and she couldn’t take in a breath. She tried to move but couldn’t, as if her finger had become part of the knot. She felt as if she would suffocate. Her eyes began to roll as she struggled to stay conscious. The tree started to buzz with energy, its branches cracking and twisting in different ways. Olivia felt another sharp pain in her chest and suddenly inhaled deeply. Her finger was released from the knot, and she stumbled backward. She backed away from the tree, feeling weaker and dizzier. The sound of coughing was behind her and growing louder by the second.
    Suddenly, the rough outline of a door began to etch itself into the trunk of the tree. When the outline was complete, a rough wooden knob sprouted from the tree above the keyhole. Olivia laughed weakly. She was certain that she had finally gone insane. Well, what have I got to lose ? The world around her was swimming. With the last of her strength, she grabbed the knob and turned it. The door opened, and Olivia fell through.
      Warm air hit her as she fell to the ground and the door behind her closed. Olivia’s vision was blurring. Just before her eyes closed, she glimpsed small flecks of purple and blue light dancing about a