Wednesday, November 25
11:30 P.M.
Eis Schloss Stockerdörfl, Austria

HRH Princess Mia Thermopolis “FtLouie”

Hi, Olivia! Just checking in to see how things are going in Stockerdörfl. I hope you aren’t too cold up there in the mountains! Do you have enough sweaters? How are you feeling? Is your throat sore at all? What about Rocky? Has anyone asked if you want to build a snowman? Just kidding. Send photos!

We’re fine (in case you’re worrying) and so are the babies. They miss their aunt Olivia, though! I’m so, so sorry that Dr. Khan sent you away, but I’m sure it’s for the best. And they say that La Grippe is already on the wane. Fewer cases were reported today than any day all week.

Say hello to Rocky and Snowball for us. Oh, and Grandmère, too. I hope she’s letting you have fun! XOXOX Mia

P.S. I almost forgot—a letter arrived for you the day before you left. It has the royal crest of Qalif on it. The Royal Genovian Press Office should have forwarded it to you as soon as it arrived, but as you know, a lot has been going on over the past couple of days!

Anyway, I think it’s probably a birthday card from your aunt. Do you want me to throw it out? I’m happy to do so if you want me to. You know you don’t have to communicate with those people ever again if you don’t want to.

Let me know what you want to do.

XOXOX Mia

P.P.S. You still haven’t told us what you want for your birthday! I know things have been busy, but there isn’t much time left. Can you give us a little hint, at least? XOXO

P.P.P.S. Sorry this is so long.

Oh my gosh. I totally forgot—I’m an aunt!

I feel so guilty. I’ve been so caught up in the drama around here, I completely forgot about the new babies!

But if they’d been my responsibility, I wouldn’t have forgotten. Snowball is my responsibility, and I haven’t forgotten about her. I’ve been feeding her and taking her for walks (even though it’s about thirty degrees outside and there’s a foot of fresh snow on the ground, so I have to put her little snow booties on so she doesn’t get ice chunks between her toes). I’m making sure she gets plenty of fresh water and lots of cuddles. I’m a good dog mother!

And if I were home with the twins, I’d be a good aunt to them, too.

Not like my aunt, who apparently suddenly remembered my existence.

I’m kind of not surprised. She and her family moved to Qalif—where they wanted to take me, too, until Mia and Dad stopped them.

I guess I did sort of forget she was living there. Probably she isn’t sending me happy birthday wishes at all, but writing to ask for money so she can move back to New Jersey. I can’t imagine she’d want to live in a place where there is a civil war going on.

Well, fat chance! She stole all the money Dad was sending her to take care of me. She can use that to get out of Qalif.

But who has time to worry about that drama when there is so much more exciting drama here???

It started after dinner, when we all went to our rooms (Madame Alain said it was important for us to get plenty of sleep tonight, since the Games would begin tomorrow morning right after our buffet breakfast downstairs, and we needed to be fresh if we were going to decimate the competition).

Princess Komiko and I were brushing our teeth in the bathroom when we heard a THUD against the glass doors to the balcony.

“What was that?” Nadia cried.

Even though we were all in our pajamas, we rushed out onto the balcony to look …

… and got pelted with snowballs.

“Ha ha,” cried some voices from down below us. “Stupid Genovians! They have never seen snow before! They are so dumb, they won’t know what to do!”

I had so much snow in my face, I couldn’t see where it was coming from.

But Nadia, who had been in the bedroom when the first snowball hit the balcony door, had gotten a good look at the perpetrators.

“I saw red,” she hissed from behind the table where we’d ducked. “Red-and-white tracksuits!”

Princess Komiko gasped. “The Royal Academy in Switzerland!”

“That’s it,” I said, grabbing some snow off one of the balcony’s chairs and forming it into a ball. “THIS IS WAR!”

So that’s what we’ve been doing all night. It’s TRAIS against the RGA!

We sent an emergency text to everyone in the hotel (who attends the Royal Genovian Academy, of course) about what is happening.

I know that technically we’re all in school to learn diplomacy.

But when someone hits you in the face with a ball of snow, all diplomacy goes out the window. Er, balcony door. It’s time to FIGHT!

Besides, Serena has really good aim (of course she’s joined in. She can’t allow me to be struck by enemy fire, even if it is only a snowball).

From the seventh grade, we’ve managed to get Prince Khalil, Princess Komiko, Nadia, Victorine, Luisa, the 12th Duke of Marborough, and the 17th Marquis of Tottingham on our side.

(Okay, I’m not too thrilled about the last two, but we really need all the help we can get. I mean, even Rocky is here making snowballs for us to throw. He’s stacking them up behind the sun loungers we’ve overturned and are using as our fort and home base down by the infinity pool.)

I’m wearing my snow boots, puffy vest, neck warmer, and mittens over my pajamas. I sincerely hope there are no paparazzi around, because if they get a photo of me running around the hotel like this, Grandmère is going to give me her “I’m very disappointed in you, Olivia” speech.

But it will be worth it.