“If we can just hang that holly an inch or two higher, we will be all set. A little to the left. A little farther and…beautiful!”
I’m standing in the center of the Royal Academy grand ballroom putting the finishing touches on a banner I made entirely out of holly and winter flowers. I’ve enlisted a few hummingbirds to help me hang it. If you get close, you can see it’s actually ivy curved into letters that spell out WELCOME! Several chipmunks are busy scurrying along some of the ceiling beams, working with a flock of birds to weave a faux ceiling out of ivy. Normally, I’d be nervous someone would notice all my nonhuman helpers, which would lead to a lot of questions. But everyone is pretty wrapped up in their stuff right now, and no one’s paying me much attention up here. Besides, animal friends are approved princess helpers. (I know this because I’ve finally started consulting the manual.)
All around the ballroom, princesses and princes are working on different activities. Some are directing ladies-in-waiting on how to make swans out of their napkins; some are making sure the china and the sterling-silver table settings gleam. Others are doing displays on the banquet serving tables or wrapping the night’s parting gift (a small, glass Princess Ella–inspired pumpkin coach that’s been etched by the town blacksmith).
I start climbing down the ladder I’m standing on, then pause, remembering Princess Rule 73: It’s always good to make a prince feel needed. “Can someone help me down?” I ask the princes.
I put on a grateful smile when a blond-haired boy offers me his hand and leads me down the steps. “Thank you,” I murmur. (Rule 27: A princess speaks softly and delicately in order to maintain a composed and regal appearance at all times.) “I’ll be sure to save you a dance at the ball.” He bows and walks away.
“Devin?” Clarissa walks up behind me with a clipboard. “Do you have the welcome sign completed?”
I try not to tense up. Our committee chair (grr…) would notice my stiff shoulders in this spaghetti-strap dress. There are no pants under this gown either. I put all those dresses in the back of my closet. Marta has been told not to fill orders for anyone who asks for pants, and I’ve been asked not to wear them. I miss them, but it’s not all bad. You can hide a lot of things under a hoop skirt.
“I just finished, Clarissa,” I reply politely, and the hummingbirds fly to my shoulder.
“Good.” She crosses it off her list and looks at the birds. “I see you had help.”
“A princess can always rely on animal friends for assistance,” I say on autopilot. (Rule 31.)
“And what about the chair covers?” Clarissa asks. “Did you change the sash fabric from Little Bo Pink to Briar Rose?”
I smile tightly. “Yes. I just have to pick them up from the tailor.”
Clarissa’s smile matches my own. “Go now, or send your birds. I’d like the sashes done today. We only have a week till the ball, and I have a fitting that I need to get to. Have you heard? Heathcliff asked me to go with him.”
“How lovely,” I say pleasantly, even though the news surprises me. Heathcliff and Clarissa? I thought he couldn’t stay far enough away from her. What do I know? Everyone is acting a bit strange. Raina has thrown herself into after-school clubs. Logan has been going to allergy testing to find a cure for his dragon aversion, and Heath, well, he’s started courting princesses rather than running from them. I guess that includes Clarissa. I heard the boys got a talking-to after the tower rescue debacle too. Something about failing in their duty to protect the princesses even though they all still insist the tower entrance was magically bolted shut so that they couldn’t get in. Maybe I’m not the only one who’s trying to play by the rules.
“I’m happy for you,” I add. (Rule 42: A princess should always be gracious.) “You got exactly what you wanted.”
“Didn’t we all?” Clarissa says. “Now, those sashes. Let’s not procrastinate. Princesses never do.”
“Yes, Clarissa.” I send the birds on their way and walk out of the ballroom and down the long hall that leads to the Royal Underground. I walk slowly, hoping by the time I return, Clarissa will be gone, but I don’t complain out loud. (Rule 35.)
Milo follows me to each mirror I walk past, watching my every move as he has the past few weeks since Olivina and I had our little chat. I wish I could run away from him, but that’s not going to happen in these new heels I’m wearing. (Rule 12: Footwear fit for a princess always involves a heel!)
Peck! I look up. That white pigeon is back. I’ve seen him a lot the last two weeks, but I don’t dare go to the window to see what he wants. Olivina wouldn’t want me getting distracted when there is a ball to plan. I keep walking. Peck! The bird flies to the next window I pass. Then a third. I turn to look at it finally, getting worried someone will notice me being followed by an animal and… Whoosh! I’m pulled through a door I didn’t know existed.
“It’s me!” Sasha whispers, holding up a candle. “I needed to talk to you somewhere we wouldn’t be overheard.”
“Milo will know I disappeared.” I feel the rising panic and begin to feel my way along the wall to look for a way out.
“He’ll just think he lost you. He won’t think you were sucked into a wall,” Sasha insists. “These tunnels are soundproof. I found directions on how to get into them under a floorboard in our room. Aren’t they neat? Apparently, they were put in when the castle was built so people could go places unnoticed.”
“Why would a new castle need that?” I ask.
Sasha’s illuminated face lights up. “Exactly! Why? I need to know.”
“I don’t. I can’t get in trouble again. You know that! I’ll be banished.”
“We aren’t doing anything wrong,” Sasha tells me. “And we weren’t that day in the tower either. Devin, you and I both know that dragon was real.”
I feel a burning feeling in my chest. “We can’t go there,” I tell her. “Even if we were able to figure out what’s really going on, what could a couple of kids do about it? She’s the most famous fairy godmother in the kingdom. We can’t mess with her. Besides, she can see everything that’s going on in the castle. She’d catch us and throw us out before we even made a move.”
Sasha looks at me strangely. “Who are you, and what have you done with my roommate?”
I bristle at that and shoot back, “I’m doing what I have to. She threatened my parents, Sasha. What else can I do but fall in line or eventually find a way to convince her I should just go home quietly? You basically told me to do the same thing!”
Sasha looks away. “I was trying to protect you. I was trying to protect all of us until I had something concrete on her, but I can’t do this alone.
I step back. “I can’t help you.”
“Devin, you know she could have killed us with that test! And why on earth is she threatening your parents? My instincts tell me something is up with Olivina. I should have known from the second she threatened the Enchantasia Insider.” She looks pensive. “Before that even… I’ve always thought there was something weird about all the power she has with the royal court. And at our first ball when she turned into a harpy? How did she get the other harpies into the school? My gut tells me something more is going on here. Do you know where she is right now?” I shake my head. “In the barn again. Every day this week she’s been in and out of there for an hour, and it’s not on her official schedule. What is she doing?”
I can’t imagine Olivina going somewhere full of hay and horse poop. “I don’t know.”
“I think she’s meeting with someone. But it’s not a teacher, and it’s not Hazel. She’s usually standing watch at the entrance. She’s hiding something. Someone needs to find out what’s really going on.”
She looks at me expectantly. Everything inside me says she’s right. Sasha has two strikes just like I do, but she’s willing to risk it all to get to the bottom of things. I’m not. This isn’t the life I want to lead—ball gowns, waiting in towers for princes, or following princess rules—but I don’t see a way out of it right now. Olivina is too powerful. I can’t be involved in this, not when my family could be hurt if we’re wrong.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t risk it.” I feel my way along the wall and hear a click. The door begins to open.
“Wait!” Sasha cries. “She’s been harder on you than anyone. I really thought you’d want to help me figure out what’s going on here. What if people’s lives are at stake?”
“People’s lives are at stake. Mine. My family’s. I can’t get involved. I’m sorry.” I look at her sadly. “I’m trying to be a good princess now. It’s the only way to keep everyone safe.”
Sasha’s mouth hangs open as I disappear through the crack in the wall. Then I pick up my dress, push back my shoulders, and focus my mind on the task I was asked to do: go get sashes.