Enchanted Hours

Livvy had been to Whimsy World several times, but each visit felt a little less magical than the one before. Nothing had ever quite matched that first trip at ten, when she'd believed the magic was real. She hadn't wondered where they were going next, what time they needed to be somewhere, or who was planning any of it. She'd just wanted to see everything. Now she was back with Ethan and her stepkids, Owen and Sadie, and she spent most of the day looking down at her phone. She checked wait times, adjusted restaurant reservations, and kept track of whether everyone was having fun. She was determined to give the kids a magical vacation, even if she had to run it like a military operation.

She loved the park just as much as she had at ten. She was a librarian back home, where most of her day went to other people's questions: which tax form they needed, which book they should read next, whatever anyone else needed to find. She read book reviews constantly but couldn't remember the last one she'd finished simply because she wanted to.

Near closing time, with the crowd bottlenecking toward the exits, she told Ethan she needed the restroom and would catch up.

"We'll meet you at the Sweetery, get some fudge while we wait," he said, one hand on each kid, guiding them toward the front of the park.

Inside the restroom, she was surprised to find herself all alone. Livvy washed her hands, caught her own reflection in the mirror- frizzy hair and a sunburned nose- and walked back out.

The crowd was gone. Not a single person in sight.

She started toward the Sweetery. As she walked, the pavement began to glow beneath her feet, soft blues, purples, and greens spreading outward with each step, then slowly fading behind her.

When she stopped, the colors went still. When she started walking again, they followed.

Music still floated down from speakers somewhere above, delicate and tinkling, like the tune from an old jewelry box with a spinning ballerina. The Whimsy Works Factory sat at the end of the avenue, its polka-dot chimneys and stacked storybook towers gleaming in the night sky.

Somewhere beyond the silver-leafed trees, the Fairy Ferry kept making its rounds, water churning softly in the dark. She heard tiny, high-pitched giggles. Strings of small lights swayed overhead. She could smell sugar and butter drifting from the direction of the Sweetery.

She headed for the candy store, expecting her family to come into view as she got closer, her own footsteps loud on the empty pavement. But they weren't there. She got out her phone to call Ethan. The screen stayed black when she tapped it. She pressed the side buttons. Nothing. It couldn't be dead; it had been at fifty-five percent the last time she checked.

She kept walking toward the exit and glanced down again. Plain white text appeared on the black screen, one letter at a time.

Your guide is on the way.

She heard a little bell behind her and turned toward Dream Boulevard. Rainbow-colored lights lined the path. Something was coming toward her under the streetlamps, its wheels rattling over the trolley tracks. A bicycle chain clicked as it came closer.

An old-fashioned surrey came into view, the fringe on its striped canopy swaying as it rolled toward her. She figured a park employee had come to give her a ride to the exit.

“Oliver Puddingham, at your service,” he called in a warm Southern drawl. “Ms. Livvy, I presume?”

“Guilty as charged,” Livvy called back. She figured this was part of the routine.

As the surrey drew closer, she got a better look at the driver.

A cat. A human-sized tuxedo cat, black except for a white triangle on his chest, sitting upright with his paws on the steering wheel and his feet on the pedals. It had to be a park employee in character.

“That's a really good costume,” Livvy said as he stopped in front of her.

Oliver looked offended. “Costume?”

“You look very real.”

“I am real.” He flicked his tail. “I'm a cat.”

She remembered the name. Oliver Puddingham, the cat from the books who talked to children when the adults weren't around.

Oliver smiled at her, the expression oddly human. “Congratulations, Livvy. Tonight you're the winner of Whimsy World's Exclusive After-Hours Enchanted Experience.”

Livvy blinked. “I won something? What exactly did I win?”

“Me, for starters.” He patted the seat. “Get in.”

Livvy climbed in beside him, still not sure what was happening.

“My family must have left without me.”

“They're fine. Heading back to the hotel.”

“I didn't tell them to leave.”

“Check your phone.”

She did. Her usual screen was back, and there was a message to Ethan.

Go ahead. I'll find my way back to the hotel.

“I didn't write that.”

“I took care of the details,” Oliver said.

“You texted my husband?”

Oliver looked at her. “Would you rather I'd left a dead bird on his pillow?”

Livvy laughed, imagining Ethan's reaction to that.

She put her phone back in her bag and felt the paperback she carried everywhere, always meaning to read it. Usually, she ended up scrolling instead.

The bookmark was still on page two. Most nights, she managed a few paragraphs in bed before her eyes started closing.

"So how does this work?" Livvy asked. "Does somebody win every night?"

“Not every night. Only when the park decides someone needs a little extra oomph.” He gave his shoulders a little shimmy.

“Oomph?”

“Yes. You seem to have lost yours, little lady.” He pushed out his lower lip in an exaggerated pout.

Livvy laughed.

“One guest, an empty park, and their favorite Whimbledon Press character for company,” he continued.

“How did they know you were my favorite?”

“No idea. Nobody tells me anything.” He smiled. “But thank you.”

“For what?”

“For choosing well.” Oliver flicked an ear. “Usually it's the astronaut. The one with the pet mouse.”

Livvy laughed. “Really?”

“Or the little green fellow. I don't understand the appeal.”

“They're boring,” she said.

“Exactly.” Oliver inspected one of his claws. “Nice to have someone with taste for a change.”

He started pedaling, and they rolled slowly down the empty avenue.

“Ready for your favorite rides?” Oliver asked.

“You bet.”

“Then start naming them.”

She chose Skybound Voyage first. The little painted ship was waiting at the dock. No line, no attendant checking Zip the Line passes.

They climbed aboard. Oliver squeezed into the seat beside her, and the ship lifted off. Below them, the tiny windows of a painted city glittered in the dark. She remembered leaning forward at ten, trying to see inside the houses.

She leaned forward now.

Usually, she would have been checking the app for the next ride's wait time. But she left her phone in her bag and watched the rooftops pass beneath them.

When the ship returned to the dock, Livvy stayed in her seat.

“Again?”

“Again.”

They rode it twice more. On the third trip, she was still finding things she'd missed. She pointed out a little cat in an upstairs window, and Oliver craned his neck to look.

She could have stayed on all night.

As they walked past the Moonberry Creamery, Livvy spotted a single Moonlight Swirl waiting on the counter, already starting to melt.

“Did you know this is my favorite?”

“We have your app data,” Oliver said.

Livvy laughed. “Seriously?”

“Kidding,” he said with a chuckle. “Maybe.”

They sat on a purple bench nearby, and Livvy took a bite of her blueberry soft serve.

Oliver eyed her cup.

“Want some?”

“I was waiting for you to ask.”

Before she could answer, a little boy in striped overalls came running down Adventure Lane, his nanny chasing after him.

“Ricky!”

A huge pink blob swooped between the lampposts.

Livvy stopped with her spoon halfway to her mouth. “Is that a pig?”

“I only said I'd let him drive my car when pigs fly!” the young woman called.

The pig circled overhead, then shrank as it fell. By the time it hit the pavement, it was a stuffed toy.

Ricky stopped and looked down at it.

“Technically, it flew.”

“Technically, you're six,” she said, catching up.

Oliver shook his head. “Ricky Wordley.”

Ricky looked up and waved. “Oliver!”

“Evening, Ricky.”

The young woman took Ricky's hand, and they walked on, still laughing.

“Ricky Wordley,” Livvy said. “He's one of the new characters, isn't he?”

“Very new.”

Oliver pranced over to the stuffed pig, picked it up, and offered it to her.

“Souvenir?”

When she'd finished her ice cream, she tucked the pig into her bag and climbed back into the surrey.

They passed a hare sprawled flat on a bench, eyes closed and panting, his ears hanging over one side and his little feet splayed in a V over the other. A tortoise in tiny jogging shorts trotted past him, clutching a small trophy.

“Best two out of three?” the hare called.

The tortoise kept going.

“Still arguing about it,” Oliver said.

By the time they reached Firefly Falls, Livvy could hear the screams from the ride's speakers, even though nobody was on it.

They climbed into a log, and Livvy held her bag between her knees. At the top of the drop, she glanced at Oliver.

“You're going to get soaked.”

“I dry fast,” he said, gripping the bar.

The log tipped forward. Livvy screamed, then laughed as they hit the bottom and water splashed over them both. A camera flashed.

Oliver got out first. He walked a few steps down the dock, turned his back, and shook himself so hard his ears flapped. His fur stood out all over for a moment, then settled back into place, dry.

He turned around.

Livvy was still wiping water from her eyes.

A screen beside the exit lit up with their picture. Her hair was stuck to her face, her mouth wide open in a laugh. Oliver sat beside her with his fur plastered to his head, looking rather offended.

“The camera actually took a picture of you?”

“I'm a cat, Livvy, not a vampire.” He glanced at the screen. “A copy should be in your app shortly.”

They could hear the organ at Ratwood Manor from the path outside. Livvy pointed toward the entrance, and Oliver steered the surrey over.

Inside, they climbed into a Haunt-o-Mobile, Oliver tucking his tail out of the way. They rode past the dancing couples in the ballroom and the graveyard choir. Livvy quietly sang along with the part she remembered.

Near the end, their car turned toward the mirror where a ghost was supposed to appear beside them.

But there was no ghost.

Livvy leaned forward. The girl in the mirror leaned forward too.

She was ten.

Her mouth hung slightly open. She lifted a hand to her face, and so did the girl.

Then the car turned, and she caught one last glimpse of her adult reflection before the mirror disappeared behind them.

She was quiet as they got off. Outside, she looked back at the building.

“How is this still a secret?”

Oliver laughed. “It isn't. Not really. Somebody once posted a video of the whole experience online.”

“What happened?”

“Five million views.”

“And?”

“Nobody believed him. Said it was AI.”

On the way back to the gate, Livvy watched the lights and listened to the music. A few hours ago, the empty park had felt eerie. Now she wished the ride back were longer.

Oliver stopped the surrey, his paws still on the steering wheel.

“This is where I leave you.”

Livvy stayed in her seat. “Will I ever see you again?”

He turned to her. “You're a librarian, Livvy. I should think you know where to find me.”

She smiled, then leaned over and hugged him.

Oliver stiffened. After a moment, he patted her back twice with one paw.

“Yes, well,” he said. “That will do.”

She let go and climbed out.

“Good night, Oliver.”

“Good night, Livvy.”

He turned the surrey around and started pedaling back into the park.

“I'll see you at the library,” she called.

Oliver glanced over his shoulder and lifted his tail.

“I’ll be there. But you’ve already got a book in your bag waiting for you.”

She watched until she could no longer see the striped canopy.

Her phone buzzed as soon as she stepped through the exit. The time and signal bars were back. A text from Ethan appeared:

Got your message. Back at the hotel. Kids getting ready for bed. See you soon.

A cherry-red WhimsyRide waited at the curb, a little dome turning on its roof. There was nobody behind the wheel.

“Livvy?” the car asked.

She stopped beside it. “That's me.”

The back door swung open.

“Feet tired?”

“A little.”

“Mine never are. Hop in.”

Livvy laughed and climbed inside. The door closed, and her seat belt buckle lit up.

She fastened it, then looked back at the Whimsy Works Factory as the car pulled away.

“Fun night?” it asked.

She smiled. “Very.”

The TV was still on when Livvy got back, showing the park directory and playing soft music. Everyone was asleep.

She set the stuffed pig on the dresser, changed into her pajamas, and washed her face and brushed her teeth.

Reaching into her bag for her phone charger, she felt the paperback. She pulled it out instead.

She climbed into bed beside Ethan and switched on the little reading light on the headboard. The bookmark was still on page two. She started reading.

By the time she thought to check the clock, she was thirty pages in.