Once Bella’s feet hit the dirt outside the castle, she bolted for the Dark Forest. She ran so fast that not even the speediest Busy Bee could catch up to her.
She slowed to a jog and made an abrupt U-turn when she realized that she had no berries! Oops! She hurried back to the sunray berry bushes and pulled a few handfuls into the tote that she had hidden at the edge of the berry patch.
I could have blown my cover on the first day! Bella scolded herself. She forced herself to breathe and pasted a smile on her face. She glanced down at her watch—she had been gone for a little over an hour.
The guards tipped their heads. “Greetings, Princess Bella,” a different, smiling guard said. “The previous guard informed me of your trip.” He tipped his head toward the berry tote. “Hard time finding good, ripe berries?”
“Oh, um, yes,” Bella said. She forced herself to laugh. “I did something silly—I lay down on the grass for a minute to watch the clouds, and I fell asleep.” She patted the heads of the two nearby guard dogs. She was afraid the words I AM A GIANT FIBBER would pop up with an arrow pointing to her.
But nothing happened. The dogs’ wet noses didn’t turn red signaling danger or sensing that someone was very, very nervous—nervous like they were hiding a secret or about to attempt to smuggle someone onto the castle grounds.
The guard smiled. “I’m just relieved that you’re safe.”
With a wave to the guards, Bella pulled out her Chat Crystal.
I’M BACK! she wrote to her friends. MEET ME IN MY ROOM? She didn’t want to spend time searching the dozens of gardens for her friends.
The Chat Crystal vibrated and turned bubble-gum pink. ON OUR WAY! came from Clara’s crystal. Bella put the crystal back in her pocket and looked out to the pasture where she had left Glimmer. She spotted the gorgeous unicorn and whistled to get Glimmer’s attention. Glimmer’s eyes connected with Bella’s, and it made the princess willing to make the trek to Queen Fire’s castle every day if it meant coming home to her unicorn.
Bella blew Glimmer a kiss. “I’ll come see you later!” she called. Glimmer let out a loud whinny and kicked up her heels, dashing across the grass.
Once inside, Bella dumped the berries into a plastic bowl for Thomas, the main chef. He could whip up something tasty with the berries.
Heading toward her room, the princess felt a little better. The canopy bed with its soft lavender sheets and big fluffy comforter always made her smile. She looked over at the pictures with her friends and then a picture of Glimmer. The picture frames changed colors according to the sunlight. Right now the frame was a soft pink. Bella was glad it wasn’t red. She didn’t need a reminder of Queen Fire.
“You’re safe!” Ivy said as she dashed through the doorway, startling Bella. She ran up to Bella and hugged her hard, with Clara right behind her. The friends group-hugged, and Ivy and Clara hopped onto Bella’s bed. Bella typed a quick message to Violet, letting her cousin know that she was home safe and would message her later.
“Tell us everything,” Clara said. “Don’t leave out one detail!”
“What was the castle like?” Ivy asked, her big blue eyes open super wide.
“I’ll tell you both everything, but first, did my mom or dad notice that I wasn’t with you guys?” Bella asked.
“Queen Katherine found us once,” Ivy said. “Clara and I were sitting on one of the benches in the Sunshine Garden.”
“We heard someone heading toward us, so we started talking about the sunray pie we were excited to make,” Clara said.
“What did my mom say?” Bella asked, feeling like her heart was beating a thousand times a minute.
“She just said that sunray pie sounded good, and before she could ask, we told her that you were out getting berries at a new patch you had found. We told her that we’d stayed behind to look through the gardens for new ingredients that we wanted to try in the pie.”
“I’m sorry that you had to lie,” Bella apologized. “I should have thought more about that when I asked you to cover for me.”
“Ivy and I talked about that while you were gone,” Clara said. “We hate lying too, but not when it’s for the right reasons. Keeping Glimmer is definitely a right reason.”
Bella launched into the story of her afternoon, not leaving out a single detail. Then she flashed a grateful smile to the girls. “You guys are the best friends in the world. You covered for me today. I wouldn’t have gotten away with it without you. Now I have to start the search for the vault that has the crystal.”
“What do you mean ‘I have to start’?” Ivy asked, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
“You and Violet have been so amazing, from maps to talking to my mom, but I can’t ask you guys to do more. I know what I said before, but I changed my mind. I should do this on my own.”
“Um, no, best friend,” Clara said. She and Ivy glanced at each other, then looked at Bella.
“We know you so well,” Ivy said. “Clara and I knew you’d say all of that stuff. But we’re not going to let you change the plan we all agreed to.”
Clara touched Bella’s arm. “We’re going to help you whether you like it or not. But it would be a lot easier if you just liked it already!”
Bella laughed, shaking her head. “You two aren’t going to give up, are you?”
“Nope,” Ivy said. “So get out Violet’s map and let’s start checking rooms off that list.”
The princess was quiet for a moment as she looked at her friends. Finally she let out a giant sigh. “Okay, okay!” Bella said, smiling. “If you insist.”
“We do,” Clara said. “I have to be home in a couple of hours, so let’s go! Where should we start?”
Bella scanned the map. “How about we all start in the great room? We’ll be searching for it while totally being out in the open. If someone comes into the room, just pretend we’re playing a game.”
“Let’s go!” Ivy said, hopping off Bella’s bed. “We should look on our way.”
The search was on! It took the friends five times as long to get to the great room as usual. The hallways from Bella’s room to the downstairs were clear. The girls spread out in the great room. Bella slid a giant photograph of herself as a baby to the left and touched the bare wall. After an hour, they found a book that Bella had been looking for, a stale cookie, and a sparkly butterfly barrette. But there was no crystal to be found. At least, not yet.