By AMANDA PIZZOLATTO

Once upon a time, in a faraway land on the world of Alixandria, lived a queen and her beautiful daughter, Penelope. The princess was thoughtful, generous, and beloved by the people. Her mother simply doted on her, giving her everything she desired, except for one thing, a trip around the world. The queen would tell her daughter of the terrible dangers that awaited princesses and bade her stay in the safest place, their home. Princess Penelope was rightly horrified by what she heard and she brought it up less and less, yet the desire grew more and more over the years.

The princess’ eighteenth birthday was celebrated with a grand ball and princes from neighboring countries were invited to attend, as was the wish of the king, God rest his soul. Princess Penelope quite enjoyed the attentions of the princes, but by-and-by, she grew weary and sought solitude. She disappeared into the garden at the first chance she got, in search of her favorite place at the palace. She sat down on a bench under a cypress tree and closed her eyes, letting the scents and sounds of the garden fill her mind and calm her nerves. Then she got to thinking. Her mother wanted her to pick one of the princes to marry, but Penelope didn’t quite like any of them. Some were obviously only looking for the money, the title, or the power that came from marrying her. Others weren’t as concerned with the welfare of the people. Yet others did not give the impression that they liked her enough to marry her for love rather than just looking for a quick and easy fix to their search for a wife and mother. Were these all the choices she had?

Penelope was startled out of her thoughts by the appearance of a man she had never met before. He was dressed like a prince, and a handsome one at that. He introduced himself as Hadrien, a prince from one of the northern kingdoms, and had left the party in search of some solitude himself. A servant found them chatting away an hour later, and they would have continued had not her mother requested her presence. Penelope went to her mother and found out she had to pick from among the princes. She requested more time, but she did narrow down her options.

As the weeks went by, the list of princes grew shorter and shorter until only Hadrian and another prince, Demetrius from a neighboring country who was the queen’s favorite, were left. The people figured the princess would know who she would marry by the end of the year and began stocking up for the wedding. Penelope did figure out who she wanted to marry, but it was not to the prince the queen wanted her to marry. The queen, understandably so, wanted her daughter close and thus preferred Demetrius to Hadrian, who was to inherit a land further north. But Penelope was falling for Hadrien, and he for her.

Then the announcement finally came that Penelope was to be married and the whole country had a pre-wedding celebration. The princess herself joined in the festivities, filled with joy at the prospect of marrying the man she was falling in love with. But then the night before the wedding came, and the sunny skies became overclouded with a heavy storm. The queen went behind Penelope’s back and called Demetrius to wed Penelope while making Penelope believe she was to marry Hadrien. The queen refused to back down from the wedding, and late that night, while everyone was sleeping, Penelope ran away.

Penelope managed to sneak on board a ship, but a sailor named Matthew found her. He listened to her tale and promised to help her. He told her that they were heading south instead of north, but he knew some people who could let her stay with them, she just couldn’t open her eyes at night for seven nights. She asked him why, but all he would say was that his friends would explain in the morning after the seventh night.

Upon reaching shore, Matthew led her swiftly through the seaside town to a lonely little spot in the woods where a cabin large enough for a small army sat. There were webs galore on the inside and out, giving it an eerie look, but once Penelope saw past the cobwebs, she thought the cabin was rather cute. Seven beds lined the bedroom, making Penelope even more curious. She asked all kinds of questions, but Matthew only told her this was a family of seven brothers and she was more than welcome to clean up the inside, but to make the boys take care of the webs. He in fact stayed a little while to help her clean up the living room enough so she could sleep on the sofa. Before he left, Matthew made her promise yet again not to open her eyes during the seven nights. She promised, and went to sleep as soon as Matthew had left.

It seemed like only a few minutes had gone by when Penelope was startled awake by a loud thumping outside. It sounded like multiple legs were stomping towards the cabin. More than seven pairs. Was there more to the curse? She pursed her lips as curiosity crept deeper and deeper into her mind, but she squeezed her eyes shut. The noises continued through the night, yet Penelope kept her eyes closed. Eventually she was so tired, she just fell asleep.

When morning came, not a sound was heard. Penelope wondered if she dared open her eyes. Thinking it best not to open her eyes yet, she called out a greeting. None came, and Penelope opened her eyes to find that she was all alone. There was food in the pantry and enough things in the house to spend her time. When night came, it was the same thing. No sooner had she settled down to sleep than the noises began. They were louder and more frantic than the previous night, and it nearly drove Penelope crazy. But as with the night before, she became exhausted enough that she just fell asleep.

Five more nights passed in the same way, with the seventh night the worst one. Penelope for sure thought something was going to attack her, but she kept her eyes shut and nothing did. But she eventually did fall asleep, finally, in the wee hours of the night.

Morning came and a sense of peace with it. Penelope recalled Matthew’s words about it needing seven nights. She called out a greeting. An answer came, telling her she could open her eyes. She did, and saw seven strapping young men standing around her. They introduced themselves as sons of Ananse, chief of the spider-shifters in those parts, and had been cursed by a witch that should anyone look at them would die. It was an attempt on their parents’ lives, but they got help from a friend to prevent that, none other than the sailor who befriended Penelope, Matthew. Matthew also was the one who figured out how to break the curse and just needed someone who could spend seven nights without opening their eyes to do so. Penelope then told them of her troubles and they swore to help her as each brother had special abilities that could help her a great deal. But first, they had to let their parents know the curse was vanquished. Penelope had the whole house to herself that night and relished the quiet.

The next day, the brothers returned, with their parents and several members of the guard. Their parents thanked her profusely for freeing them from the curse. The seven had told their parents of Penelope’s troubles and they offered to ready a ship to transport Penelope to Hadrien’s country in a week. Penelope could not thank them enough and gladly accepted the offer. It seemed like the week would never pass, but soon, it was time to leave.

During the trip, Penelope wished to go ashore to find out news about her mother. The brothers weren’t sure if that was a good idea, but she promised to be extra careful and they thought of a story to tell in order to find out what she wanted to know. They dropped anchor and Penelope went ashore to a nearby tavern. She was able to find the news she wanted without having to give much. Her mother was beside herself with worry over her daughter’s disappearance and both princes were out searching for her. Both princes were in this country, in fact, Demetrius handling the southern half while Hadrien was searching the northern half. Now knowing that Hadrien was closer, Penelope figured on going straight to him. A elderly woman at the bar offered to take her to him since it was clear Penelope was new to those parts. Penelope accepted gratefully and the two set out. Along the way, the woman asked Penelope if she wanted to eat some snowberries as they walked. The woman said she had to get rid of them before they went bad. Penelope accepted a couple and ate them, before falling to the ground in a dead faint.

When Penelope had not returned to the ship by the following morning, the seven brothers went off in search of her. A couple of the brothers found Hadrien and told him everything. Meanwhile, the others traced Penelope’s movements to the bar where she got her information and learned that a woman was taking her to Hadrien. That was also where they learned Prince Demetrius had been in town and left the night before. When the brothers regrouped with Hadrien, they figured the woman took her to Demetrius instead. The eldest had the ability to see far away and looked for Demetrius. He found him, with Penelope asleep in a carriage, heading for Penelope’s country. They took off after the group, but Demetrius had enough of a head start that they didn’t catch up to them until after they crossed the border. They found Demetrius’ group at the summer lodge of the royal family, Penelope still asleep and laying in her room. The seven brothers told Hadrien about the rest of their powers and worked out a plan.

Hadrien went to Penelope’s room, right as she was waking from her sleep. He quickly told her that they had to leave and that five of the brothers had gone on ahead to make sure their path was clear. The eldest and the youngest were to escort them through to Hadrien’s country. Penelope agreed to the plan, and they set out. The eldest and the youngest had changed into spiders to make their journey faster, and so the other five would know without a doubt who was coming. Penelope wasn’t sure about it at first, but with them running out of time, she climbed on the back of the youngest while Hadrien climbed on the eldest, and they were off.

Penelope quickly found that riding a giant spider had its downs, but its ups were soon becoming rather evident, and fun. For starters, they could climb up trees and travel sideways on the buildings to get out of the city. Then, all the guards ran away at the sight of two giant spiders, which made sense seeing as how spider shifters were rarely seen in those parts, and their spider forms were rarer still, for good reason. Another thing, the spiders were quickly outdistancing the guards on horseback. But the guards were still following, even after that brief surprise of seeing the spiders.

A few minutes into their journey, a new pursuer was on their trail. The old woman who had brought Penelope to Demetrius was now also chasing them. The spiders recognized her as the witch who cast the spell on them. As if to prove them right, she changed into a lion to chase them. A screech alerted them to the presence of one of the brothers. He was standing on a ledge, surrounded by rocks. He began hurling them at the pursuers. The four quickly ran past and after a ways, came to a deep ravine. But the next brother was quickly building a bridge across and was just finishing up when they arrived. As soon as he was finished, they bolted over, heading further north. But the witch seemed to be gaining on them.

Next thing they knew, they had to pause at the edge of a lake while the fourth brother emptied the water. The witch was getting ever closer, but the four crossed the lake before she got there. The fourth brother let the water back into the lake, barring the witch from going any further, until she changed into a fish and began swimming across. The fifth brother attacked her and the two fought while Penelope, Hadrien, and the rest of the brothers kept on going. The sixth brother was waiting for them at the border. The fifth brother joined them there, and they continued on to Hadrien’s country.

Upon arriving at Hadrien’s palace, he told his parents everything. They decided to wait until Penelope’s mother joined them before taking further action, but would provide protection to Penelope and the seven brothers from Demetrius’s guards. Penelope’s mother and Demetrius soon arrived and Demetrius engaged Hadrien in a duel. But that came to a halt when Matthew the sailor came forward with evidence about Demetrius’ real character. The queen had to consent to the wedding between Penelope and Hadrien after such a report. A message was sent to Ananse and his wife, inviting them to the wedding and letting them know that their sons were safe and had completed their mission. The wedding happened after their arrival, and Penelope and Hadrien lived happily ever after.

The End