Let’s Talk
Almost an hour had passed since Bella had talked to her dad. She still hadn’t found Violet. The princess had looked everywhere and asked everyone, but no one had seen her cousin.
Bella finally went back to the castle, deciding to look for Violet inside.
She entered through a side door in the kitchen and almost smacked right into Violet.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Bella said. She looked at her cousin. Violet’s eyes were pink and her nose was red. “Have you been crying? What’s wrong?”
Bella reached out a hand toward Violet, but her cousin yanked her arm away from Bella. “You don’t have to be nice,” Violet said softly, her chin wobbly as she talked. “I heard you talking to Ivy and Clara. I’m sorry I ruined your entire week. I’m going upstairs to pack and am going home tonight.”
Violet turned away from Bella and darted out of the kitchen.
“Violet! Wait!” Bella called after her. But Violet didn’t stop. Bella followed her to the guest bedroom and watched as Violet yanked her suitcase on top of the bed and began pulling clothes off hangers and tossing them into the suitcase.
“Violet, please,” Bella said. “Please just let me explain. Give me ten minutes, and if you still want to leave after, then I’ll help you pack. Okay?”
Violet swiped at her nose with her hand. She plopped on the bed, hanger in hand. “Ten minutes. Go.”
“I am so sorry you heard me talking to Ivy and Clara,” Bella apologized. “I should have talked to you first. Have you seen Glimmer this afternoon?”
Violet glared at her. “No. I didn’t go anywhere near the stable, since I’m trying to steal your unicorn, apparently.”
“I’m sorry that I said that, too,” Bella said. “But if you had seen Glimmer, you would have been pretty surprised. Because of me being so jealous of you, Glimmer turned green!”
Violet blinked. “She’s green?”
Bella nodded. “It’s all my fault. Glimmer won’t go back to normal until I stop feeling so jealous of you.”
“Jealous of what?” Violet asked.
So Violet hadn’t heard that part of the conversation with Ivy and Clara.
“I’m . . .” Bella paused, taking a deep breath. “I’m jealous that you got here and everyone instantly wanted to be your friend. Ivy and Clara never make a new friend this fast. You and Ben can talk about Foris all the time. Even Glimmer loves you like crazy!”
Bella took a breath.
“There’s just one more thing,” the princess said. “I’m not sure why, but you don’t want to talk about the Pairing Ceremony. Ever. I’ve tried to talk to you about it, and you always stop me. Vi, I was so scared before my ceremony. If you had already done yours, I would have asked you a million questions. You haven’t asked me any. It hurt my feelings, too, because my ceremony was the biggest night of my life, and you don’t want to hear about it in person.”
Bella watched as Violet dropped her head.
“I haven’t asked you because it reminds me too much of home,” Violet said in a whisper. “Once I go back, it’s all that I’ll hear about or have to think about. I’ve been having so much fun with you, Ben, Ivy, and Clara. I don’t have one friend at home.”
“Oh, Violet,” Bella said. Her cousin’s lower lip trembled.
“It’s so amazing being around friends! On the train ride here I was so scared that I wouldn’t fit in and that your friends would think I was weird or something. But they’ve been so nice. Friday’s party is coming up so fast—I don’t want this visit to end.”
“My friends are the best,” Bella agreed. “And there’s nothing ‘weird’ about you, Violet. You’ll have to come over more often to be around us. Maybe your parents would consider letting kids of castle employees go to school with you or something.”
Violet gave Bella a tiny smile. “That sounds cool and scary at the same time. I feel so lucky to already have made friends here with your help. I’d be really scared to have kids I don’t know in a room at my castle.”
“They would love you,” Bella promised. “Really, Vi. You’d make friends at home just as fast as you did here.”
“I’m sorry, Bella,” Violet said. “I came here to be on vacation with you. I was so excited to have your friends like me. You kind of have to like me because we’re family.”
“I was jealous because it seemed like all of my friends liked you better than me,” Bella replied. “And I didn’t feel like we were spending enough cousin time together. I’ve missed you!”
“I missed you, too!”
Bella pointed at Violet’s suitcase. “Ten minutes are probably up. Do you want help packing?”
Violet nodded. “Yes.”
Bella felt as though her heart plummeted to her feet.
“With unpacking,” Violet said, smiling.
“Ahhh! You totally scared me!” Bella said with a laugh. “Are we okay?”
“More than okay,” Violet said. “I know that you, Ivy, and Clara will be at the party. It’s not going to be as scary as I thought.”
“It’s going to be way more fun than you can imagine,” Bella said. “Trust me.”
“Bella, I would really love to hear about your ceremony, if you still want to tell me about it,” Violet said. “Being scared of my own ceremony was the reason I spent so much time with Glimmer. I thought if I spent time with a happily matched unicorn that it would help me somehow at my ceremony. I’m sorry that I kind of treated Glimmer like my own unicorn.”
“It’s okay,” Bella said. “I understand now. Of course I’ll tell you about my ceremony. There’s so much you don’t know. And after that, maybe we can pick outfits for the party?”
Violet nodded. “I’d like that. I definitely need help choosing the perfect outfit.”
“Me too. That’s why I’m glad you’re here. Sparkling grape juice toast please,” Bella declared. “Hold your hand like mine,” she told Violet.
A glass appeared in each of their hands. Bubbly grape juice filled each of their glasses.
“Too cool,” Violet said, grinning. “So remembering that trick at home.”
Bella raised her glass. “Here’s to starting over, to being good best friends, and being the best cousins ever!”
“Yay to that!” Ivy grinned.
The girls clinked their glasses together, then took a sip of their juice. They finished their small glasses quickly.
After a final squeeze, they left the guest room and headed for the stables.
Crossing her fingers for luck, Bella peered into Glimmer’s stall.
Purple!
Glimmer let out a soft whine and walked up to the stall door. She nuzzled Bella and Violet.
“Oh, Glimmer!” Bella exclaimed. “I’m so glad you’re purple again! I promise never to let that happen again.”
“Let’s talk inside her stall,” Bella said to Violet. The girls went into the stall and sat down on clean straw. Glimmer circled once, then lowered herself onto the straw next to the girls.
“So,” Bella started, “there’s a lot that happened at my ceremony. Some of it is amazing and some of it not so much.”
“I want to hear all of it,” Violet said.
And so Bella told Violet all about her ceremony, red auras, Queen Fire’s scary appearance on Bella’s birthday, and details about the nasty, evil queen of the Blacklands.
The cousins talked for hours—so long that Glimmer fell asleep. By the end of the conversation, Violet was super excited for her own ceremony—exactly what Bella had hoped for. The girls decided not to spend another second talking about Queen Fire, and instead they left a sleeping Glimmer in her stall and headed up to the castle. Lightning bugs flashed across the castle property—the girls had talked until the sun had started to set.
That night Bella went to bed in a better mood than she had been in all week. The girls stayed up talking and giggling, just like Bella had always wanted for the visit. Bella drifted off to sleep, glad to have her cousin by her side, and vowing to make sure the rest of Violet’s visit was magical.