Beginnings

hey say the calm comes before the storm. What they don’t say is why.

Maybe it’s the world’s way of drawing you in to a false sense of security. Or maybe the world never knew devastation was imminent, and was just as surprised as you were when chaos streaked the sky.

Up ’til now my life had by no means been a picnic, but I had experienced the good fortune of having wonderful friends who I never fought with and never doubted.

I’d met SJ and Jason on my first night at Lady Agnue’s School for Princesses & Other Female Protagonists. Blue had joined our gang two years later when her protagonist book appeared, courtesy of the Author, and she’d enrolled at Lady Agnue’s as well. If I disregarded the newest addition to our group, Daniel (which I so often preferred to do), the four of us had been pretty tight knit for a while.

Little did I know our easygoing friendship was but another calm before a storm. And little did I know that the “why” behind this particular storm would be my own actions.

At the moment the clouds were beginning to brew (figuratively and literally). Gray manifestations of coldness were coming across the late twilight sky as steadily as they were encircling our group. As they stirred, I found my mind wandering to brighter days—memories, beginnings, milestones. In particular, my thoughts drifted to the eventful evening when I’d first met SJ and Jason.

I couldn’t say why I let the recollection consume me so vividly. Maybe the hesitation I felt toward my friends in the aftermath of today’s events had me feeling guilty, and my subconscious was trying to remind me that, given our history, trusting my friends should have been the easiest thing in the world.

Or maybe I was just bored. After all, it’s not like you get complimentary snacks or inflight entertainment while riding a Pegasus.

I very clearly remembered my first interactions with Jason and SJ six years ago. In all my life I had never felt so crowded, yet so alone.

The giant hallway intersection of Lady Agnue’s was bustling with activity. Most of the other ten-year-old, first-year students were huddled around the Treasure Archives, admiring their magnificence. I did not join the herd. I was sure there would be time to regard our ancestors’ fairytale relics later. I would be attending this school until I was eighteen, after all.

Besides, despite being Cinderella’s daughter, the treasures displayed in those cases weren’t so much exciting to me as they were annoying. From Aladdin’s genie lamp to my own mother’s glass slipper, they were shiny reminders of every tradition I was walking in the shadow of.

I hung around the back of the room, leaning against one of the cold, grand windows that allowed moonlight to spill through. Its ghostly glow caught on the shimmering material of my light purple gown, particularly the smooth, pearly beads that decorated its bodice.

I looked on at the myriad of first-year girls flocking the space. The school seamstresses had made each of us a custom gown in preparation for our first ball at Lady Agnue’s tonight. How they’d divined our sizes ahead of time, I did not know. Maybe our parents had sent them in. Or maybe it was just a “one size fits all” deal and if you happened to be a plus-sized protagonist you were out of luck.

I clawed at the uncomfortable corset of my dress. None of the girls here had even hit puberty; why in Book was it necessary to wear dresses that defined our waists when most of us didn’t even have waists?

It was frustrating, but at least I wouldn’t have to wear the dress for very long. While my mother’s famous ball had expired at the stroke of midnight, the first-year students only had to be at tonight’s ball for an hour in the middle. It would be kind of silly for us to be present for more than that. None of us knew how to dance yet; our formal ballroom training didn’t start until our second year. And it wasn’t like any of us were keen on the boy-girl socializing aspect of such functions. We were all still in our respective “boys are gross, girls are strange” stage of life.

The lot of us younglings from Lady Agnue’s and Lord Channing’s were instructed to meet in front of the Treasure Archives at eight o’clock, at which time the Damsels in Distress (D.I.D.) teacher, Madame Lisbon, would escort us inside and teach us about ball decorum, fanciness, and other things I didn’t care about.

I sighed as I stared on at the masses.

I would have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t worried about the journey ahead. I’d been looking over my course schedule for this semester and was as far from thrilled as physically possible. I mean, Grace for Beginners, Singing with Nature, A Young Lady’s Guide to Diction—forget graduating at the top of my class, I’d be lucky if I didn’t get bored to death before my adult molars came in.

It didn’t help that the only courses that did intrigue my interest were off limits. Stuff like Boomerangs for Beginners, Tracking in Nature, and A Young Tomboy’s Guide to Tomahawks were classes exclusively for the common protagonists at my school. I was told that in later years I might be able to take more stimulating electives. However, in the meantime I was doomed to an academic curriculum that had the equivalent excitement of dry toast.

In spite of all this, as I stood there and fiddled with the fabric of my dress, what filled me with the most anxiety was the realization that I might have to go through this alone.

It was true a lot of kids here didn’t know each other, especially the common protagonists. While the children of royals tended to meet one another at some point as a result of our parents’ friendships, common protagonists did not have that advantage. Common protagonists were either Half-Legacies (the relatives of non-royal fairytale characters) or new protagonists entirely—chosen by the Author for a greatness yet to be determined.

Yet, despite their lack of familiarity with one another, I could already see friendships starting to form, particularly between roommates.

This made sense. When you were dropped off at a brand new boarding school—ripped away from everything and everyone you were accustomed to—your immediate reaction was to attach yourself to somebody going through the same. Sort of a safety in numbers, we’re-in-this-together kind of thing.

Alas, I had not been afforded such a luxury. After arriving at Lady Agnue’s with my mother, I’d learned that I’d been assigned two roommates. Both were Legacies (protagonists whose parents had been protagonists and royals), and one of them I already knew.

The girl in question was Princess Mauvrey Weatherall. She was the daughter of Sleeping Beauty, and because of our kingdoms’ close proximity and parents’ congenial relationship, we’d already known each other for a long time.

From what I could remember she hadn’t been so bad at first. But apparently evil and narcissism were characteristics that needed to lie dormant for a while before fully manifesting. Because in recent times this golden-blonde princess had fine-tuned a unique kind of malice that would’ve made a mutilated magic hunter look sweet.

She hadn’t spoken to me since we’d arrived at school (unless you count getting shoved out of the way to our shared bathroom as talking). If so, after she pushed me aside in her haste to get ready for the ball, I’d definitely done my share of “talking back.”

Needless to say the girl and I were not bonding.

In her case our lack of roommate connection didn’t matter. She appeared to be doing just fine in the friend department. Although she was about as kind as an eel, her inherent princess charm gave off a conductive spark that drew others toward her. I didn’t know if the electricity cackling in her personality and dangerously sharp blue eyes were inspiring the other princesses to listen to her out of faith or fear, but they were drawn to her circle either way. And as a result, I knew with every passing minute my chances at befriending them were slipping. Mauvrey would not hesitate to get a jump on spreading word about my weirdness. She was just vicious enough to view poisoning the other girls’ opinions of me as a sport. And thus far it wasn’t hard to tell she was winning.

With this unfortunate turn of events, I held onto the hope that my other roommate was not going to be so blind or catty. Though I didn’t allow that hope to get very high. For my second roommate was to be Snow White Jr. (And yes, I do mean the daughter of that Snow White.)

I’d never met the princess before. But given her lineage, her appearance, and the shocking number of glittery dresses in her suitcase, I had a feeling we weren’t meant to mesh well.

Looking at her now, I was all but sure of it. She’d gotten here extra early and was following Madame Lisbon around asking questions, offering to help, and carrying the professor’s pre-ball checklist. Her dress was silver silk and incomparably graceful. Her face looked pale and cold like an antique doll. And her long black mane was braided neatly behind her, unlike my own brown hair, which fell thickly and thunderously around my face.

It may have been rash to judge her off the bat like that, but after growing up around princesses like Mauvrey I didn’t have any evidence to support the possibility that she might be different. Whether she was or not, though, I still hadn’t had the chance to verify.

By the time I found our room this afternoon she had already left for the two o’clock tour of the school. I had been forced to miss that tour and take a much later one because our headmistress, Lady Agnue, held me back to scold me after orientation. I’d helped myself to the snacks before the program started, which apparently was some kind of major transgression.

She said she would think of a punishment appropriate for the crime and get back to me. As such, I was doing my best to avoid her. Mom would flip if she found out I’d gotten into mischief on my first day, let alone my first hour at school. She’d asked me at least a dozen times on our way over here to do my best to keep out of trouble. Granted, I think she suspected that with my bold nature and disinclination toward obedience I might not be able to avoid it and would inevitably provoke difficulty. But she also hoped for the best.

Me? I wasn’t sure what I hoped for when it came to my development at this school.

The brochure in our welcome packet stated my path pretty clearly. I was meant to follow convention and become everybody’s idea of a proper princess. But despite being only ten years old, I already had a strong enough sense of myself to know this probably wasn’t going to work out.

I did want to be a good princess someday, but not in the way this school or my realm deemed fit. Moreover, I didn’t want to be limited by the role. My brothers had attended Lord Channing’s School for Princes & Other Young Heroes and were trained to be valiant protagonists. So, much as I did truly want to make my princess-ness my own, my greatest hope was that I might someday combine that with something more, that I might somehow branch out and be part of a new breed, a stronger kind of archetype—a hero-princess, if you will.

Sadly, I seemed to be alone in thinking I could achieve such a thing. As it stood, most of the other princesses in my year were already starting to avoid me due to Mauvrey’s warnings of my weird personality. The common female protagonists in our class, meanwhile, didn’t seem to want me near them either. I may have been a different kind of princess, but to them I was still a princess, and therefore my presence in their circles weirded them out just as much. Evidently I was too much combat boot for the prissy girls and too much glitter for the tough ones.

I absentmindedly tugged on one of the silver pumpkin earrings hanging from my ears and turned my back on the noise and clutter to look out at the grounds.

The campus on the other side of the window was bathed in shades of dark blue, but occasional fireflies that resembled mischievous, moving stars added a warm twinkle to the landscape. It was unusually windy for a September night. I watched the trees sway in the forest that separated us from Lord Channing’s. They moved with purpose, I thought. And at the thought, I found myself feeling jealous. For I wished I could do the same.

My pensive ten-year-old wonderings were interrupted by a sudden impact against my right arm. I rotated around to find a boy in a khaki pantsuit that was slightly too big for him. He’d tripped on an untied shoelace and rammed into me.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment as he bent down to retie the misbehaving shoelace. He stood when he was done then glanced around and gave me a bashful grin as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I feel so stupid,” he said. “Balls are weird and I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t either,” I replied. “But then, I’m used to it.”

The boy smiled brighter. His blond hair was kind of messy, making me wonder if he’d just been playing outside, or if an older classmate had given him a noogie. He had a naturally pleasant, happy-go-lucky look on his face, but the color of his bright blue eyes was intense for anyone, let alone a kid.

“I’m Jason Sharp,” he said, extending his hand.

“Crisa,” I said, shaking it.

“What are you doing over here by yourself?” he asked.

“Just observing,” I said, nodding my head toward the little groups of girls and boys scattered around the corridor, each huddled together tightly like the protons and neutrons of a chemical element.

“Mind if I join you?” Jason asked. “I don’t feel like picking a flock yet.”

I gestured to the spot beside me, extending an invitation. Jason put his hands behind his head and stared out at the crowd. “Girls at balls are like bears in forests—only look them in the eye if you mean business,” he said.

I turned my head and raised my eyebrows in confusion. “What?”

“It’s the only piece of advice my brother gave me for tonight,” Jason explained. “He went to Lord Channing’s a while back.”

“Who’s your brother?” I asked.

“You’d know him as Jack from Jack & the Beanstalk.”

“You’re a Half-Legacy.”

He nodded. “What are you?”

I hesitated at the question. Maybe that was stupid. But pronouncing myself as a princess did not feel right as I was not sure what the title even really meant. Introducing myself as Cinderella’s daughter didn’t sit well with me either. It would’ve been a form of false advertising; I was nothing like my mother and anyone who spent more than three minutes with me knew it.

Furthermore, going with “Legacy” as my official brand seemed just as wrong. It implied that the greatest part of my identity was being an extension of someone else’s. And while I may not have been the kind of kid parents bragged about, I really believed my life had to amount to more than that.

“Crisa?”

I blinked. I guess I’d been staring off into space. Jason had his head tilted at me like a perplexed puppy, waiting for my response. “I said, what are you?” he repeated.

“Um, let’s go with undecided,” I replied. “Anyway, if you believe your brother then why are you talking to me, eye contact and all?”

“I haven’t met a lot of the other guys yet,” he admitted. “And, well, I guess you’re not as scary as the other girls.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

“I would.”

“Children, children!” Madame Lisbon called out, waiving a handkerchief at us with both excitement and aggression.

The lot of us cut off our conversations and instinctively took steps closer to the teacher out of good manners, not necessity of hearing. This woman could project.

Despite her booming voice, Madame Lisbon was not an intimidating person. At barely five feet in height, she was a lot closer to our eye level than, say, Lady Agnue who towered in at six foot two. She was also kind of thick and squishy-looking, reminding me of the many stuffed bears I had in my room back home. Frankly—from her rosy complexion to her soft and sparkly eyes—everything about her seemed non-threatening.

I supposed I was grateful for that. These ballroom lectures were the extent of our D.I.D. training this year. But once we began taking the subject in a classroom next year, I garnered it would be a lot easier to not pay attention if the teacher didn’t intimidate me.

“Welcome, my little protagonists,” Madame Lisbon gushed, “to your first ball at this fine institution. I am sure these monthly gatherings will become a favorite pastime of yours in the wonderful years to come. Now then,” she waved theatrically to a corridor on the right, “it is time to go in. Please proceed behind me in single-file order. The first forty minutes of the itinerary will be a lecture. Following that you may wander about the ballroom on your own. But please stay to the sides, do not inconvenience your older classmates, and do stay out of trouble.”

We moved into a line like Madame Lisbon had requested. Jason filed in behind me and leaned in for a whisper. “I think I can make two of those work.”

I smiled in the shadows of the pillar we crossed under. I liked this kid already.

Once we’d entered the ballroom Madame Lisbon began her lecture. The topic was the importance of formal introductions when meeting someone new. I guess Jason and I had already failed at that, what with the ramming into each other and all.

I would have liked to have made a sassy comment about this to him, but upon entering the ballroom Madame Lisbon had separated us into two groups—boys on the left and girls on the right. As a result, I was on my own again (psychologically, anyway).

Squished in between the fine fabrics of other gowned princesses, I tried my best to focus on what the teacher was saying. I found this difficult, though. Past my tendency to mentally wander whenever boring subjects were being shoved down my throat, it was kind of hard to hear. The orchestra never stopped playing, and the conversations of the older protagonists in the room didn’t help either. There were so many of them, and they all looked so . . . romanticized.

That’s a word right?

Yeah, let’s go with that. Romanticized.

Watching them was just plain mesmerizing, making me feel like a June bug drawn to the light of a lantern. I wondered if I would be as graceful and glamorous when I got to be their age. Then I laughed to myself at the idea. Like even.

When our lecture had concluded I thought I might reunite with Jason only to discover that he and a few of the other boys were hitting it off now. I decided to leave him alone.

Mauvrey and most of the other girls had taken to the sidelines to observe the flowing wonder that was the formal dance circle in the center of the room. Boys in tailored suits and girls in glittering dresses that fitted them way better than ours did us moved with such elegance it was as if the music pulsed through their veins, a body-enveloping extension of their heartbeats.

I decided I would try to join my future classmates and stood next to the princess farthest away from Mauvrey. She had white-ish blonde hair and a navy dress with a matching choker.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Crisa.”

“My name is Princess Marie Sinclaire,” the girl responded formally, curtsying and then extending her hand. “How do you do?”

“Wow, you really took that lecture to heart, didn’t you?” I replied, shaking her hand.

A tantalizing smell wafted under my nose and I turned my head to where it was coming from. Across the ballroom I saw members of the school’s kitchen staff setting out a fresh round of fancy appetizers, among which I could definitely detect something wrapped in bacon.

While the dancing may have been an enjoyable spectacle to observe, and Marie seemed nice, the aroma won out. I bid goodbye to the princess and headed toward the food. On my journey to the snack table, however, I encountered two obstacles.

The first occurred about halfway there when I had to quickly sidestep to evade a couple in mid tango. In my haste I bumped into another one of my new peers. Alas, unlike Jason, I instantly disliked this boy.

“You should watch where you’re going,” the boy said condescendingly. “A small princess like you could get trampled if not careful.”

I glared at him. “Dude—”

“Chance.”

“Chance,” I continued. “We’re basically the same height.”

“Yes, but princesses are so much more fragile. You’re damsels. Besides, I am in the middle of a growth spurt.”

“I hope for your sake it’s a big one. You might look disproportionate if that big head of yours doesn’t get a matching set of shoulders.”

Chance eyed me like a boxer sizing up an opponent, but also like a dog meeting a raccoon for the first time—with careful consideration. I eyed him too. But my version of it was like a mongoose observing a proud snake—amused and insulted, for the snake had no idea what I was capable of.

I noted that for a ten-year-old, Chance had a lot of confidence. It practically radiated from him. And he was cute, I guess. (Again, for a ten-year-old.) But the boy had a smugness in his eyes that made me certain that if I’d ever run into him on a playground growing up, I would have surely shoved him in the mud.

“Pay no mind to her, Prince Chance.”

A surprisingly stealthy Mauvrey slipped next to us. Her arms crossed, she bumped Chance’s shoulder playfully. “She is hardly worth the attention of our kind.”

“You’re so right, Mauvrey,” I replied, unfazed. “Allow me to direct you to something of interest that’s more on your level.” I tore a few sparkly beads from the bodice of my dress and tossed them across the floor like marbles. “Go get the shiny, Mauvrey. Go on, go get it girl.”

Mauvrey narrowed her eyes at me but didn’t retort. She simply grabbed Chance by the arm and led him in the other direction. I was sure I would pay for my snarky comment in some way later. Maybe Mauvrey would plant peanut butter in my shoes or use her perfect vocal chords to persuade the mockingbirds outside our room to mock me. For now, though, she’d been foiled. And that was good enough for me. After all, I had bigger fish to fry, and by that I meant eating the fancy, bacon-wrapped fish sticks arranged in towers at the snack table.

Unfortunately, that was where I encountered the second obstacle between me and my quest for treats: my height. The fish stick towers, modeled to look like the skyscrapers of Century City, were on top of a two-foot-tall display stand at the back of the table close to the wall. Even on my tippy toes I couldn’t quite reach it.

There were plenty of other snacks within reach. In fact, pretty much all others were. But I was hardly the type to let things go. Once I got an idea in my head, I would follow that path no matter how dangerous or potentially problematic it could be. It was not the wisest way, but it was my way. And most of the time that kind of cement-headed persistence tended to yield fruitful results. Right now, though, it was just making me feel stupid.

I gripped the edge of the table with my hands and boosted myself up. Then I balanced my weight on one hand while I outstretched the other.

Almost . . . Almost . . .

“Here, let me help you with that.”

Startled, I looked up to see an older girl, about fourteen and fairly tall, reach past me and grab a fish stick. I released my grip on the table and landed on the ground just as she handed it to me.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No problem.” The girl shrugged, her impressively curly, chestnut brown hair bouncing off her shoulders. “When I was younger I had the same kind of face-off with a fondue fountain. Needless to say it did not end well.”

I opened my mouth to respond but was cut off.

“Ashlyn!”

An elegant girl with tan skin that glowed like bronze and dark hair pulled into a regal bun, scurried over. Her pale yellow dress matched the canary diamond earrings hanging from her ears. When she reached us she excitedly grabbed onto the arm of the girl who’d just been helping me.

“Come on,” she said. “Prince Daryl is looking for you. And you know if you do not swoop in now, one of the other princesses will snatch him up.”

“Right.” The girl (Ashlyn, I guess) nodded. “Go time then.”

She pushed some loose curls out of her face, adjusted the lift of her strapless bra with a subtle pulling motion, and then gave me a nod. “Good luck, little duck. Try to keep out of trouble.”

As she and her friend rushed off, I ate my fish stick and wondered why people were always telling me that. I guess while Chance radiated confidence and Jason emitted amicability, I must’ve given off an aura of mischief.

I’m not sure if that’s something to lament or embrace, but I guess I’ll roll with it.

After a few minutes of dawdling by the snack table I got bored and decided to try and find some place where I might have more fun. I was on the other side of the ballroom now, pretty far from most of the other kids in my year and surrounded on all sides by our bigger, more majestic counterparts.

I knew my older brother Alex was somewhere in that mess, but I didn’t look for him. My mom and I had traveled to school separately as he’d planned to meet up with some friends along the way. Besides that, I’d long promised myself that I wouldn’t bother him when we got here. He and I were close, but he had a good thing going at school. At Lord Channing’s he was popular—royal, handsome, heroic—and he didn’t need a ten-year-old kid sister cramping his style. He would’ve never actually said this to me, of course, but I was realistic enough to know it was true.

With no one to talk to and nothing to do, I found my way to the stage at the front of the room. The forty-piece orchestra was playing animatedly, framed by heavy, light pink curtains.

There was a door ajar that led to the backstage area. I subtly slipped through it. Sixteen steps later, I found myself surrounded by a myriad of pulleys and levers that controlled the curtains and lighting equipment.

I peered onto the stage. I was just behind the orchestra, which was elevated on platforms facing outward. Spotlights in assorted pastel colors rotated around the musical ensemble, reflecting off the instruments and mimicking the rhythm of the songs. They were so bright and spellbinding that the tiny particles of lint dancing in the air looked like magic dust.

Only Lady Agnue’s could manage such a trick of the light, I thought, and make something so bland and inconsequential resemble something so inexhaustibly sparkly.

I was surprised that there was no one back here monitoring the equipment. But on further inspection I realized that all the lights were on timers. And the curtain ropes did not need supervision. They were secured in place—tightly wound and held by a sturdy padlock to keep their knots fortified.

The orchestra had its back to me. The side area I stood in led to some curtained-off corridors, which likely ran to a greenroom. I knew there would be no performers or professors back there now as the ball was midway through. Other than the random cricket I saw perched on one of the control boards, I was completely alone.

As such, in the cover of the secluded alcove I finally felt comfortable letting myself feel like myself. And what that meant was drawing out my wand.

A few years ago, my godmother (my mother’s Fairy Godmother, Emma) had gifted it to me on my birthday. Since then I had become attached to it in the way most girls grew fond of their dolls.

It was about a foot long and off-white. In dark spaces it gave off a silvery glow, but the luminescence of the stage area was so bright that the effect was counteracted for the time being.

I’d never really had a proper place to store the wand. (Emma hadn’t exactly included a carrying case in the gift bag.) And since I’d always been dead set on preventing anybody—my parents, my brothers, my teachers—from finding out about it, I had a tendency to keep it shoved in my boot.

I lifted the hem of my gown, exposing the inappropriate footwear I had on beneath it.

Despite my mother’s famous origin story and the laws of society that dictated I would eventually have to master walking in high-heeled shoes, I loved nothing more than wearing one of my many pairs of boots.

It went without saying that my mother was not a fan of this proclivity, even after I pointed out that if she had been wearing boots the night of her famous ball she could’ve gotten away a lot faster and not twisted her ankle in the process (an unfortunate truth so often left out of her fairytale’s retellings).

However, regardless of her disapproval, she had allowed me to pack a few pairs for school. And as I was already going to be on my toes figuratively tonight, I’d opted to secretly wear a pair beneath my dress.

So far it had proven to be an inspired choice. Nobody was the wiser and I had a place to keep my wand for the evening.

I knew I couldn’t very well store the precious thing in my boot forever. If I kept it there for more than an hour it seriously started to press into my calf, causing me to walk with a limp. But it had been worth the irritation tonight. I wasn’t relaxed enough at school yet to feel comfortable leaving it in my room, even if it was hidden. Moreover, messing around with it had a calming effect on me. After the stressful day I’d had that was definitely something I needed.

I twirled my wand between my fingers with ease. Then I smiled and let out a whisper.

“Knife.”

The moment the word escaped my lips, or rather the moment the thought escaped my brain, the wand changed in my hand. The bottom part of it thickened and formed a leather grip. The top widened and sharpened—morphing into a glistening, unbreakable blade (the likes of which no kid my age should’ve been allowed to handle). When it had fully transformed I twirled the knife with just as much effortlessness.

My Fairy-Godmother-issue magic wand was enchanted to turn into whatever weapon I willed it into. It made for a very intriguing, adaptable toy to say the least. Though I wished I had more use for it.

I’d always wanted to be good at combat like the heroes at Lord Channing’s, or even some of the grittier common female protagonists at Lady Agnue’s. However, that was a hard undertaking when you were a princess.

My mother and father would’ve sooner invited the Wicked Witch of the West to stay in one of our guestrooms than let their little girl train for combat. They loved me and wanted me to be happy and everything, but fighting was just not a princess thing, despite some of the scuffles I’d gotten into during play dates as a toddler that suggested otherwise.

My brother Alex had secretly been giving me lessons in combat and fighting when he was home from school for the summer. As a result, I had picked up a bit of skill and know-how over the last few years. But I knew this small amount of practice was not going to turn me into any kind of hero. It definitely wasn’t going to be enough to feed the desire I had to grow beyond my damsel princess archetype.

I had hoped that at school I might occasionally get some more intensive combat training, but without a partner I didn’t know how I would ever improve on a practical level.

Then again, it wasn’t as if I could use my wand even if I did find somebody to spar with.

Only Fairy Godmothers were supposed to have wands (powerful magic like theirs required sturdy conductors), and really, the magical items were supposed to be useless without a Godmother’s magic. My having one was definitely not above board. I didn’t know how Emma had managed to acquire the wand or, more importantly, how it functioned for me, but I did know that if anyone ever caught me with it, it would be as good as confiscated.

With two new roommates, a school full of protagonists, and an army of teachers who would be watching me with the intensity of a hundred female hawks, I didn’t know when I’d get to use my wand. This might well have been my last moments with the thing for a very long while. Hence my decision to take it out of my boot.

The knife glided through my fingers. I tossed it into the air with flourish like I’d been practicing. It spun three times before I reached out and caught it perfectly by the grip.

On guard! I thought as I pointed the weapon at the cricket on the control board.

The cricket chirped but did not seem impressed. Luckily for me, I did not care. For the next several minutes as the orchestra played on, I continued my game. The music became the soundtrack to which I fought imaginary enemies—transforming my wand between a knife, a sword, an axe, and a shield.

My mind whirred with scenarios. I had a knack for quick thinking and creativity, so there was no shortage of fight scenes that ran through my head. I was in the middle of fantasizing about wielding an axe against a lizard monster when suddenly the game altered in a way I never anticipated.

“What are you doing?”

I was so surprised by the voice that I leapt out of my skin and—in the process—let go of my axe. Time seemed to move in slow motion in the moments that followed.

My axe flew from my hand with such force that its unforgivably sharp blade chopped through several of the curtain ropes on the control board. I turned and found my new roommate, Snow White Jr., standing behind me—Madame Lisbon’s checklist in her left hand and a small, sparkly purse in her right. She and I blinked at one another for a second before our attention shot upwards.

The ropes were unraveling and there wasn’t time to stop them. Seconds later, pounds of pink curtains were cascading on top of the orchestra, followed by screams and crashing symbols. The cellists’ chairs toppled off the stage. Flutists took each other down like dominos.

One of the swinging curtain ropes flung a cluster of hooks at a sector of stage lights, knocking them out of their intended vectors. And as if the universe’s premier planners had orchestrated this embarrassment for an exhibition of their finest work, one of the spotlights was redirected to the backstage area—directly at me.

With many overhead curtains having knocked down orchestra members, and several side curtains that had been previously shielding me on the ground too, a perfect window of visibility was created. It was narrow. But it was enough.

I held up my hand to shield myself from the blinding glare. In doing so I caught a glimpse of the last person I wanted to see.

Lady Agnue.

She was across the ballroom, dark brown hair in a tight bun and wearing a blood-red dress with long sleeves and elegant ruching. The crowds separating us were thick and disorderly. Nevertheless, even if it was just for a second, it was unmistakable that she saw me too.

“Crisanta Knight!”

I dashed back into the shadows where Snow White Jr. was still concealed. Without thinking I grabbed my axe from the ground, transformed it back into a wand in mid-run, slid down the banister of the stairs, stuffed the wand in my boot, and slipped out the door.

My boots and natural quickness allowed me to merge back into the ballroom crowds without drawing much attention to myself. Some people may have heard Lady Agnue call out my name, but I had moved with such swiftness that I doubted that more than a few had seen me slide out the door.

In that continued gait of stealth I inconspicuously but hurriedly darted in and out of the gown-clogged sections of the dance floor. The poofy dresses, combined with the confusion and sheer number of students in the room, were my allies as I maneuvered across the area. But I knew their concealment wouldn’t last forever, because that’s when I heard Lady Agnue’s voice.

She was talking to a teacher about fifteen feet away. I could just barely hear her over the other students, and I could just barely evade her line of sight as I hid in the shadow of a tall prince with red hair and big coattails.

“When you find her, bring her to me,” the headmistress snapped. “I do not care who her mother is, she will be made an example of.”

I felt myself gulp as I slowly backed up.

“Crisa,” someone whispered from behind.

I spun around, panicked. Thankfully it was just Jason standing next to the snack tables. He’d picked up the edge of one of the floor-length, deep purple tablecloths and was gesturing underneath it. “Hide,” he said.

I zipped over to him. The two of us ducked beneath the tablecloth. I scooted toward the wall on the other side of the table, but Jason stayed on his hands and knees.

“I’m gonna go draw some attention on the other side of the ballroom,” he said. “Buy you time to think of a plan.”

“I already have a plan,” I responded. “Dig a hole through the floor, escape on wild Pegasi, and live a long and healthy life as a traveling acrobat.”

“I meant more along the lines of a story you can tell Lady Agnue to lessen whatever punishment she’s plotting.”

“Yeah, I know. My plan just sounds so much more feasible.” I knocked my head against the wall with a groan. Eventually I sighed. “All right. I’ll think of something. I always do.”

“Good. So like I said, I’ll go buy you time.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t,” I protested. “You’re not in any trouble and you haven’t done anything.”

Jason smiled at me. It was a goofy, sympathetic, boyish smile. “I know,” he said. “And neither is how I want to end my first day.”

He scooched toward the tablecloth’s draping barricade.

“Jason . . .”

He paused and looked back at me.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Crisa. I am. You’ve been dealt a bad hand. What kind of person would I be if I just let you crash and burn?”

“An unscathed one,” I replied.

He shook his head of unruly blond hair. “A selfish one,” he corrected. “I may not know anything about being a hero or a protagonist yet, but I’m smart enough to know that neither would turn their back on a friend.”

Jason ducked beneath the tablecloth and disappeared before I could fully appreciate the statement.

For the next minute I sat lost in thought. Had I just made a friend? Could it honestly be that easy? This kid hadn’t known me for more than an hour and was offering me his trust like we’d been pals for ages. It was confusing, but if he actually was for real then maybe that’s just what we would end up becoming—pals for ages.

However, the part of me that was always on guard made me think that the odds of this were very, very slim.

I looked up quickly when I saw the tablecloth rustle as a small hand began to lift it anew.

“Jason?” I whispered.

The hand pulled up the tablecloth. It wasn’t Jason.

Snow White Jr.’s head peeked beneath the tablecloth. My mouth hung open with surprise and dread. She stared at me curiously. Her giant gray eyes blinked; her expression showed no signs of emotion. I truly expected her to call out for Lady Agnue or Madame Lisbon or an equivalently responsible adult. But much to my surprise, she didn’t.

She looked over her shoulder—checking to make sure no one was watching her—then without invitation or explanation ducked below the tablecloth and joined me.

Snow White Jr. sat across from me and put down her checklist and the small, sparkly purse she’d been carrying. I watched her elegantly straighten the wrinkles out of her pure silver gown so that its shimmering fabric lay gracefully enough to be painted for a portrait.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Straightening my gown,” she replied. “You never want silk to wrinkle. It would require a steamer to return it to normal.”

“No,” I said more pointedly as I pointed to the spot of ground between us. “What are you doing here?”

“I gathered you could use some company,” she responded.

I crossed my arms. “Even if that were true, why would you want to provide it? I just caused a major catastrophe, took out the orchestra, and ruined the first ball of the semester.”

The increasingly hard-to-read princess shrugged without worry or judgment, as if I’d just told her I collected stamps or something. “That was an accident,” she stated simply. “You are my roommate; I am hardly going to avoid you because of one mistake.”

“Well there are plenty of other reasons to avoid me. Haven’t Mauvrey and the other princesses spoken to you yet? You must’ve heard the rumors about me being a trouble-making, weapons-loving princess who can’t sing, can’t curtsy, and basically doesn’t belong here.”

“I have,” Snow White Jr. nodded.

“Well, don’t you think I’m weird?” I asked.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “But who says that is a bad thing?”

Um, pretty much everyone I’ve ever interacted with.

We stared at each other without saying a word. It was like a cat meeting a dog for the first time—two creatures entirely different in nature and perception sizing each other up, deciding whether or not they could accept the other’s dissimilarity.

I crossed my legs and sat up a bit straighter, as uncomfortable in my dress as I was in this situation. The commotion outside continued, so I still couldn’t get out of here. But I wondered if braving a run for the ballroom exit would be less awkward than continuing to sit under this table. I focused on the barricade of tablecloth intensely, like I was trying to see through it.

“Your name is Crisanta Knight, is it not?” Snow White Jr. asked, startling me.

“Um, yeah,” I responded hesitantly. “But I go by Crisa. And you’re Snow White Jr.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “But I go by SJ.”

I raised my eyebrows. “SJ? Really?”

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“No,” I replied. “It’s just not what I expected. Kind of . . . unconventional.”

“Says the princess hiding beneath the snack table.”

I allowed myself a slight smirk. “Touché. Although technically you’re hiding under here with me.”

SJ glanced around at the enclosure then let out a slight huff. She got onto her knees and grabbed my wrist with one of her hands. “Not for much longer,” she said. “Come on, no more hiding. We must face Lady Agnue sooner or later, so it might as well be now.”

“I don’t know, later sounds like a pretty compelling option,” I countered, pulling my wrist away. “Besides, what’s all this ‘we’ stuff? I’m the one in trouble. Whatever consequences are out there, I have to face them alone.”

SJ sat back, meeting my gaze. Studying her now, I no longer saw coldness. She may have been polished and proper—an inherently flawless Legacy like Mauvrey—but there was something unique about her. I saw a deep kindness in her eyes, which had been evident the moment she’d popped her head under the table and hadn’t judged me.

For whatever reason, SJ was willing to accept my flaws right out of the gate, no questions asked. Moreover, despite barely having met me five minutes ago, it seemed she was willing to stick her neck out for me too.

“You will not have to face the consequences alone,” she said decidedly. “I shall tell Lady Agnue that the accident was my fault as well. That we are both to blame for what happened.”

Part of me thought I’d heard her incorrectly. Confused words stuck in my throat like cotton wool. I pushed my hair behind my ears and leaned my head on the heels of my hands.

A strange wave of apprehension set in.

Growing up, I had never had any good friends. Not fitting into your designated slot in a world defined by archetypes and stations made your life a study in isolation and spurn—the combination of which taught you to never truly rely on anyone.

This made me tougher in a lot of ways. It also made me unafraid to be bold and take chances. But whether you think this was a character-building way to grow up or a lonely one, it was what I had gotten used to. Which was precisely why SJ’s kind gesture felt as foreign to me as it did unbelievable. Things never worked this way. People never worked this way.

“SJ, I—”

“You can thank me later,” SJ interceded, a little unexpected sass in her tone. “And do not worry. I will not tell anyone about your wand either.”

My heart stopped for a second. I’d forgotten that she’d seen my wand—seen that I had it and seen it transform. Instinctively I tried to scooch away, but my back was already against the wall. I had nowhere to go.

SJ saw my reluctance and sighed. She picked her handbag off the floor and opened it. Within its silver-lined interior I saw a crumpled quill, several wrinkled pieces of parchment covered with scribbled thoughts, and a few small glass vials with cork stoppers. Each of these vials was filled with some kind of colorful liquid. The instruments struck a chord of familiarity, and I realized I’d seen similar (albeit empty) vials on my tour of the school.

“Did you get those from the school’s potions lab?” I asked.

“I did,” SJ responded. “I have a weakness for potions study and sought special permission from the potions professor to work on some experiments in between orientation activities.”

“SJ, schoolwork before school even starts—”

“She said no,” SJ interrupted.

“What?”

“I suppose I understand,” she continued. “Giving a ten-year-old permission to mix chemicals in a laboratory is hardly something a responsible teacher would do. It is not as if I could provide her with proof that I have been studying and practicing potion formulation in the basement of my castle for two years.”

“I don’t understand.”

SJ closed her purse. “I love making potions, Crisa. And I am very good at it. But I have never had the opportunity nor the means to develop my skill without being judged. And while I know students here are not permitted to take potions classes until our second year, being in that potions lab today, I was just so excited that I am afraid I could not help myself. In between tour groups I mixed these anyways. They are harmless—just some height and hair-coloring potions I read about in a book last month. But the chance to use such wonderful equipment and refined ingredients . . . I am ashamed to say it was too great a temptation to pass up.”

“SJ,” I finally said. “That’s some could-totally-get-you-into-trouble stuff and . . . you don’t even know me. Why are you telling me this?”

SJ got back on her hands and knees, scooped up her purse and checklist, and made for the edge of the tablecloth. “Well,” she said, “I suppose I trust you, Crisa. Now the question is, will you trust me too?”

That night I had done something quite opposite my nature. I’d trusted someone. I’d trusted SJ. And as a result, we’d forged the beginnings of a vibrant friendship—one that continued to grow in the years that followed.

It seemed that SJ and Jason had been meant to be my good friends from the beginning. And when Blue eventually enrolled at Lady Agnue’s, she too earned an immediate spot in my heart when on the very night of her arrival the two of us got mixed up in an adventure involving underground troll poker and unicorn vomit.

Over the years the three of them had consistently been true in all aspects of their word and friendship. Even as recently as this afternoon in Century City, they’d demonstrated what an unstoppable team we could be when we worked together.

This made the growing compulsion I felt toward keeping secrets from them pretty conflicting. On the one hand, doing so made no sense. They were my best friends. On the other hand, I didn’t like the idea of increasing the vulnerability I was already feeling by sharing it with other people.

I guess I needed time. I needed to think. I needed . . .

Well, firstly I needed to get off this Pegasus. I was starting to get a serious butt cramp.