In the last week, I’d tried to steal if from his locker during Twenty-Three Skidd practice, but after I hid it the sword had reappeared in his sheath like it had never been gone. On another occasion I’d offered Daniel a different sword that I claimed Sir Lowden had personally recommended. Daniel had given it a try, but halfway through testing it, the replacement sword suddenly lit up with a bright white glow then morphed into his cursed blade. This surprised both of us, and we ended up testing the phenomenon a few more times together. The result proved consistent. Whatever random sword Daniel fought with, after a few seconds the blade from Avalon would inevitably switch places with it.
This didn’t happen if Daniel chose another weapon, like a knife or axe. But he was a sword man in the same way I was a spear girl. He used it 95% of the time. There was no way I could convince him to give up the weapon entirely. Even if I did, given the sword’s magic, I had a feeling one way or another the cursed blade would find its way back to him regardless. As such, while Daniel contentedly accepted his sword’s weird ability, I lived with the ongoing annoyance of not being able to separate it from him.
The only other idea I’d had to possibly break the curse was telling Daniel and Kai the truth, then convincing him to kill her with the assurance that I would return her to life afterward. This was a Plan B I’d like to avoid though. What if something about the sword’s curse made it so once Kai was killed, I couldn’t bring her back? Magic could be tricky that way and stranger things had happened, so it was too big a risk to take unless absolutely necessary. I’d go on keeping this secret for now and keeping that option in my back pocket while I held out faith that Merlin would find another way.
Hm. Faith.
Birds flitted across the sky, twittering their sweet song. The air smelled clean like pure nature, but with the vague undertone of bacon and baking bread drifting from the school kitchens. The temperature was pleasant—crisp and livening.
As I took it all in, I pondered how faith and fate occupied most of my mind these days. Maybe that was why I liked standing out here absorbing the morning. It was an atmosphere drenched in so much hope and light that it reassured me that those two things would work hand-in-hand, not against each other or against me, as the future edged closer.
“Pass the jam please,” said Princess Marie Sinclaire.
Our good friend—granddaughter of the famous female protagonist from The Princess & the Pea and Gordon Sinclaire’s younger sister—sat next to me in the banquet hall. The room had a myriad of long dining tables draped in shimmering runners. As it was breakfast time, the casual décor of the tables featured mason jars filled with sunflowers and pink petunias, each jar tied with a polka dot ribbon. Silver servers that looked like candelabras held an assortment of condiments. The nearest was in front of me, so I picked it up and handed it to Marie.
“Thank you,” she said. Her platinum blonde bob bounced as she moved her head. I wondered if that got annoying when she was reading a book or trying to eat soup.
“It’s official,” Blue said, swooping into the seat across from us. Her breakfast plate was full of waffles and nothing else. Instead of asking Marie to pass the condiment candelabra, Blue opted to forgo our lady-like teachings and reach across the table. “I stopped by the scheduling office this morning and transferred into Driver’s Ed.”
“Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?” I commented. “Lady Agnue said our new electives would begin today. We were supposed to have filled out the paperwork before the weekend.”
“I was busy.”
“Doing what?” Marie asked.
“Not doing paperwork.”
“I thought you were going to take advanced archery with me,” Kai said. She was two seats down, next to Girtha and across from Divya. Her thick black hair was pulled back in a ponytail today. Continuing to borrow SJ’s clothes, she wore a black romper with crystals decorating the V-neckline.
“Changed my mind,” Blue replied. “In hindsight, I don’t even know why you’re taking archery. You rock at it and so do I. That’s why I went another way; I wanted to take something I’m not already good at so I can improve.”
Kai scoffed and rolled her eyes. Blue may have had a point, but Kai was new to this school. After the antagonists tried to kill her, we knew she wouldn’t be safe in Century City, so we’d made a deal with Lady Agnue and Lena Lenore. They agreed to pretend Kai had been chosen as a protagonist so she could stay in our room and enroll as a new student while SJ worked with Merlin in Camelot. Ergo, while Blue was right about the merits of pushing yourself, Kai was making a good call with the archery elective. She was already swallowed in a new world; sticking to things that were familiar whenever possible seemed like an understandable choice.
“I guess that puts you in the same class as Marie and me,” I said.
“The more the merrier,” Marie replied. “I am really looking forward to this class. I was not sure I was going to be able to take it before we graduate next year. My parents do not feel that learning to drive a carriage is the most appropriate use of a princess’s time. They already picked out my electives for the next two semesters so I am glad we get to take an extra one now.”
“Yup, nice to know that a teacher going homicidal has an upside,” Blue said bluntly.
Divya choked on her muffin.
“Joking,” Blue said.
We knew that, but no one spoke for a minute. That was because no one in school liked to talk about Madame Alexanders.
Our school’s distinguished potions professor had been sent to Alderon because she’d been an accomplice in the magic hunters’ attempt to kidnap and kill me. The magic hunters had only been able to get past the school’s In and Out Spell by means of a complicated, unheard of potion Madame Alexanders had spent the semester concocting.
The professor’s plan would have been successful if not for my Magic Instinct. Her betrayal spurred the necessary emotion for my Pure Magic to unleash in full defense mode. Which led to me killing Parker, and almost killing her too. Thankfully, I’d managed to regain control of my powers before the latter. Our former teacher had gotten off easy just getting arrested. She was no doubt rotting in Alderon right now, which was better than rotting in the grave . . .
I shook away the dark thoughts. Madame Alexanders couldn’t hurt me anymore. Lady Agnue told me that the Fairy Godmothers had wiped part of her memory so she couldn’t re-create the In and Out Spell defying potion in Alderon. However, I couldn’t completely move past the incident. The fallout at school meant changes to everyone’s schedules.
Potions classes, a requirement for every student over second year, had been cancelled until a replacement teacher was hired next fall, so former Madame Alexanders students had to sign up for an additional elective to finish out this year.
“Even money that I smoke you in this course, Blue,” I said, breaking the silence with something lighter. “Evasive maneuvers are my specialty.”
“Please,” Blue said. “There’s not one action-packed course at this school I’ve taken that I haven’t been at the top of.”
I sipped my orange juice and shrugged. “There’s a first time for everything.”
I was right; there was a first time for everything. At the moment, it was the first time I’d ever feared Blue was going to get us hospitalized.
Marie and I rode in the back of the horse-drawn carriage. Blue sat up front with our driving instructor, Madame Sifew. The woman was not pleased. Neither were Marie and I after being slammed against the sides of the vehicle’s innards.
We skidded around another curve in the driving track as Blue yanked on the reins. I glanced forward through the front window of the carriage that gave view of the driver.
“Not so taut, Miss Dieda, not so taut,” Madame Sifew exclaimed, putting her hand on Blue’s arm to try and get her to ease up.
Blue’s blue cloak and blonde waves bounced like crazy. We were going so fast I worried that if a turtle crossed the road, Blue would be unable to stop and ca
use a massive wreck. Marie blew her bangs out of her face and pulled herself off me. She was normally very composed and calm, but now she was clearly vexed.
“Blue!” she implored. “Slow down. Not all of us in the back seat can resurrect ourselves.”
“And my powers don’t cover concussions!” I added.
Another turn in the track approached. My eyes widened. Blue was good at a lot of things and great at tons more. But driving a carriage was most definitely not her thing.
“Oh, would you two hush,” Blue said, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Blue!” we both shouted in unison.
Blue’s attention whipped forward just in time to see an obstacle on the track—a mechanical cow set to wander out on the road at a moment’s notice.
Our friend hauled on the reins. The carriage spun-screeched to a hard stop. We barely missed the cow. Madame Sifew and Blue may have had seatbelts up front, but I considered it poor planning that we didn’t have them back here. I grabbed the window frame to brace myself while holding Marie’s arm to keep her from face-planting against the front of the carriage or worse, flying out its window.
At last we came to a complete halt. Marie and I took a moment before throwing open the side door and fumbling out of the vehicle. Madame Sifew had already disembarked by then and stood beside the transport, jotting down notes on her clipboard. Her bangs were windblown, her dangly earrings had gotten tangled in her hair, and dust covered her skirt. Still, despite Blue’s driving misadventures, the woman seemed relatively calm. I guess you couldn’t be easily rattled if you were going to teach teenagers to drive.
“Miss Dieda,” the petite, freckled woman said. “That was not a very good showing for your initial attempt on the track. I realize that this is your first day whereas other students have been enrolled in the course since January, but truly your vehicular deficiencies are more spectacular than anything I have ever seen.”
“Um, thank you,” Blue said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. She stole a glimpse at the rest of our classmates assembled on the bleachers off to the right. Aside from the three of us, there were seven other girls in the class, and most of them were seniors. We’d been taking turns on the course with Madame Sifew. I could tell our peers were trying not to snicker at my friend’s poor showing.
“If you are going to stay in this class, Miss Dieda,” Madame Sifew continued. “I highly recommend you spend time practicing on weekends and ask one of the older students to help you. Otherwise, I do not foresee you passing this course, and then you will be short a junior credit, and then your graduation may be delayed, and then—”
“Okay, okay,” Blue said. “I get it. I’ll shape up.”
“Please do,” the professor said with a sharp nod. “Now, Princess Sinclaire, it is your turn.” She pivoted to my friend then to me. “Princess Knight, do you want to sit this round out? You seem a bit . . . out of sorts.”
If out of sorts means dizzy enough to hack my breakfast.
“Um, you okay with that, Marie? You were nice enough to ride in back and support me during my turn.”
“You were nice enough not to drive like a maniac,” Marie replied. “It is fine. Besides, I think I would be more nervous with you two sitting behind me.”
Madame Sifew tore the top sheet off her clipboard, handed it to Blue, then proceeded to lead Marie to the driver’s perch. Blue looked at the evaluation. There was a lot of red ink marks across it, a few frowny faces, and a bunch of arrows and diagrams I assumed Madame Sifew wanted her to study.
Blue and I moseyed over to the bleachers and climbed to the top level where we had left our book bags. We rose past a pair of princesses whispering to each other and a female protagonist wearing sunglasses who smirked at Blue.
“See, it’s times like these I wish people were as afraid of me as they are of you,” Blue commented after we sat down. “I feel like I just lost my mystique, respect, and reputation in one bad driving lesson.”
“Calm yourself,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “You are one of five female protagonists skilled enough to be on a Twenty-Three Skidd team and you’re one of the most skilled fighters at school. I’m not worried your reputation will die here. Now that mechanical cow on the other hand . . .”
“Shut up,” Blue said playfully. “I guess I’m just glad we didn’t place actual money on who would be better at this. You were awesome whereas I sucked.”
I took my evaluation out of my pocket and looked at it again. Although there were a couple recommendations for improvement on my stops, I had done excellent overall. But then, I’d driven a carriage before. I had so much on my plate that I’d taken Kai’s Easy A approach when picking my new elective (i.e., I was already good at carriage driving). My brother Alex and I used to sneak out of our castle and into the city at night when we were younger. He was four years older than me and a graduate of Lord Channing’s, so he’d taken it upon himself to give me lessons in driving as well as many other things.
Hm. Alex.
Thinking of him made me sad and I stared into the cloudless sky as I wondered what had happened to my older brother. Alex was once the heir to my family’s throne in Midveil. We had another older brother, but Pietro was adopted and therefore not in line for the crown.
Alex wasn’t in line for the crown anymore either. He’d betrayed our family and entire kingdom. The antagonists had manipulated him into turning on his protagonist kind, becoming a Shadow Guardian, and joining their wicked cause. Within the last month they’d goaded him into executing a commons rebellion attack on our castle that killed a lot of people and going after Excalibur on the villains’ behalf.
I’d beaten Alex to the sword, our castle had been rebuilt, and I’d driven the Shadow out of him since then, but I didn’t know where he was now. When I’d burned the Shadow out of his body we’d been in the middle of a great battle, and when I circled back to where he’d collapsed after the exorcism, he was gone. He could be anywhere at this point, and he could be anyone. I wasn’t terribly optimistic about that last part though. He may have been carrying a Shadow for some time, but it hadn’t forced him to make wicked choices, or attack my friends and me, or hurt people. For all I knew, he was just as dark without it.
Sigh.
It may have seemed cold, but in the weeks since I’d last seen him, I hardly thought of Alex. He and I had been the closest of siblings growing up. The guy had been as much my brother as he had been my friend. When he’d betrayed our family, he’d broken my heart. By the time it healed and I accepted that he’d become my enemy, the emotions spent mourning his loss had emptied me out. Now I felt very close to nothing for my brother—only the occasional curiosity about what had become of him.
With a quiet but deep breath, I returned to the present and folded the evaluation, stowing it in my book bag.
“I guess you could always give me lessons,” Blue said, not noticing my space out.
“I think you should listen to Madame Sifew and get help from one of the older girls,” I responded. “I’m already training you in magic. I think you might start to resent me if all the recreational time we spend together involves me acting as your teacher.”
Plus, the whole point of me taking this class is so I don’t have to work that hard.
As if on cue, Jacqueline Day Ripley scaled the bleachers and sat a row below us. “Hey, Blue.”
Jacqueline was the fifth girl on a Lord Channing’s Twenty-Three Skidd team. She was super nice but not close to the rest of us. Being a senior, she hadn’t had any classes with our group of friends until now. Divya was in the same boat being younger, but having a spot on a team with Girtha had resulted in her integration into our group.
“I hope Madame Sifew wasn’t too hard on you. I know she can be rough,” Jacqueline said. The sunlight caught on the lenses of her eyeglasses, which her choppy black bangs nearly touched.
“Then why are you TAing for her?” I asked.
“I’m neck and neck with another girl for valed
ictorian and any extra class credit I get will help,” Jacqueline responded. “Anyway, Blue, if you need someone to practice driving with, I’m happy to work with you.”
“I can’t give you class credit,” Blue replied.
“I know, silly. There are no strings attached; I just want to help. I respect you both, and we warrior types have to stick together.” Jacqueline flexed her lean arm muscles and grinned. “Might make me feel less bad about beating you in Twenty-Three Skidd.”
Blue huffed, amused. “Jacqueline, we warrior types don’t go down so easily. But I’ll end my smack talk at that since I actually could use the help.”
“Good,” Jacqueline said. “We can coordinate our schedules after dinner tonight.” She gave Blue a pat on the shoulder and trotted down the bleachers to rejoin her senior friends.
“Hopefully we’ll jive well during the tutoring,” Blue thought aloud, watching her go. “I may make jokes, but I’ve never failed a class and I’m worried.”
“I’m sure working with Jacqueline will be great,” I said. My eyes wandered to the track. “And if for some reason it’s not, you could always ask Marie for help . . .” I tilted my chin and Blue followed my gaze.
Under Marie’s guidance, the Driver’s Ed carriage was speeding along smoothly. Her turns were pristine. She dodged several mechanical cows and kept the vehicle rolling effortlessly until she came to a stop and parallel parked perfectly between a couple of other carriages.
Blue groaned and threw her head back. “Is everyone great at this except for me?”
“It would seem so.”
Blue smacked me on the arm.
APPY BIRTHDAY!!!”
It was Tuesday, May 26th—SJ’s birthday. Blue, Kai, Jason, Daniel, and I were crowded around my Mark Two at eight in the morning on Lady Agnue’s front lawn. We’d agreed to meet before classes to wish our dear friend a happy birthday together.
Into the Gray Page 6