I hop down the branches and walk casually to where the drawbridge is located, leaning against a pole and pretending to check my nails. As she sashays in, I look up like I’m super bored and then go back to inspecting my nails. She spots me and heads right my way.
“Yo Dude. Where’s mah crib, yo?” she says, trying to sound cool and snazzy.
“Yo. I’m Princess Ellowyn Aspen of Calais. I go by Elle. I don’t know where your room is, ask QUeen Marisel, yo”, I say, playing along with the cool-wannabe attitude. “I’ll come witcha, yo.” She smiles and does a weird body jerk that I take to mean yes, so we set off to the room. Queen Marisel assigns her, coincidentally, the room next to mine. I sit on her bed while she unpacks. It takes her a couple hours to unpack, and we talk about how annoying sisters can be. She blabbers on about how I’m so annoying, and I agree with her about everything, no matter how much it kills me to do it. I tell her about my little ‘sis’ Posy and how much she bugs me.
Now we’re on friendly terms, so we go for a stroll together. I show her my room and tell her how much I hate that dumb tree, because climbing makes me icky and sticky. She totally agrees. After another couple hours of this mindless bore, it’s finally time for dinner, which is mercifully silent. Everyone retreats back to their room for sleep. I dream of being buried alive with a talking parrot that sounds just like Snow-White.
I wake up, bleary-eyed, at seven. I go through the same routine, scrubbing myself down and washing my hair. Today, I’m wearing a sapphire-blue long sleeve dress, elegant and easy to move in. It comes with a long gold piece of cloth that ties as a belt, and another of the same that is used as a hair tie. After I’m all ready, I knock on Snow’s door. She opens it, dressed in a ruby-red frock.
“What up, yo?” she slangs lamely.
“Nothing much, yo. ‘Bout you, yo?” she says, trying to lean against a wall. But she misjudges the distance, and ends up on the floor looking confused. I don’t know why, but every sentence in Snow-White’s “cool” vocabulary ends with ‘yo’. So annoying.
I decide to attempt to figure out the plan. But I’ll need a really good bait. Hmm. How about this?
“I wish I were princess of this land, yo. How cool would that be?” I throw the hook, hoping she takes it.
“Oh, yeah? Well, soon I’m gonna be the princess of the land, yo. I’m gonna mar-oh, I can’t tell you, yo. Irene says so, yo.” Darn it!
We head down to breakfast together, with Snow prattling on and on, mostly about how annoying Rose-Red was. I satisfy myself by thinking of how angry she would be if she knew who I really am. The thought is so funny that I burst out laughing in the middle of a story. Unfortunately, this is a ranting story, not at all funny, and she turns to me, confused.
“Huh, yo? Why’d you laugh, yo?” she asks, her brow wrinkling and the corners of her lips turning down. This sight is so comical that I almost start laughing again, and just manage to hold it in. I have to pretend that I didn’t laugh and that she was imagining things, and no matter what level her IQ may be, she’s not buying it. Thankfully we arrive at the dining hall and I’m spared. Irene’s here too, and she makes me nervous. She’s staring at me, probably assessing my strengths and weaknesses. I smile at her and delicately nibble at a croissant, like a proper princess would. I make sure to be extra polite and everything.
Finally, at the end of breakfast, I run back up the stairs (when she’s not looking, obviously) and have a small mental breakdown in my room. This is incredibly stressing. I don’t know about you, but having the country’s fate be up to me is slightly-only slightly-unnerving. ACTUALLY IT’S REALLY, REALLY UNNERVING! I know what you’re thinking: Shadow’s psycho. Yeah, why don’t you try being a foreign princess trying to save your home and having the two people you used to serve stress you out?!
Okay. Deep breaths. I do some yoga and then decide to check on Snow-white again, just to see what she’s up to. Strangely, she’s not in her room trying on dresses and eye shadow. After a brief search, I find her doing what? Chatting with the prince. They’re getting along pretty well, so I guess I didn’t act “cool” enough. But as he sees me, his face twists into a sneer again.
“You”, he says as a greeting, rather meanly, actually.
“Yo dude”, I greet him. He’s taken aback.
“Wait- but in the room you were so mean- um- who are you and what did you do with Ellowyn Aspen?” he asks.
“Never seen you before, yo”, I tell him. As an afterthought, I add, “Except on TV, yo.” His mouth is hanging wide open. I think I just saw a fly go into it. Eughh.
“Uh-uh-uh-okay”, he stutters, his flabby cheeks turning pink.
I smile and ask Snow-White, “Whatcha wanna do, yo?” She thinks for a couple seconds and then asks the prince if he’ll “give us a tour of the castle, yo.” The prince agrees and we set off. But he’s so dull and boring that I fake an illness and head back to my room to come up with a different plan. Hmmm…I know where Irene’s room is, and I know that Snow-White goes there every night. So if I went there tonight, I might be able to find out some valuable information.
The day goes by much too quickly, and before I know it, dinner is over. I couldn’t eat more than a couple spoonfuls of rice. The queen seems to notice and genuinely care. She even asks me if I’m feeling all right. I assure her that I’m fine, but I’m just watching my weight. Queen Marisel seems to accept that, and I excuse myself to my room. I would normally bite my nails, but they’re already chewed to stubs. I’ve got to break that habit.
I pull on my black cloak and leave my room at midnight. My heart nearly stops when I step on a creaky stair, but I force myself to keep going for my country’s sake. Fortunately, Irene’s room is at a corner, so I have a wall to peek behind, to make sure nobody’s coming. Oh yeah! I read this idea in a book! I kneel down on the floor and take off the cloak, shoving it under my dress. Then I take off the actual hair-tie that I was using and drop it on the floor, pretending to reach for it. That way if Snow-White or Irene comes out, I can say that I was picking up my hair-tie. Also, my other excuse is that I was looking for the bathroom because mine is broken.
I place my ear against the door and start to listen to the conversation. Snow-White is talking without all the ‘cool speak.’ I guess she only does that around people our age.
“I think the prince likes me”, she brags. “Good thing that he has to find a bride soon. I’m definitely going to marry him.” Then she starts to scratch her head and twitch her nose. He has to get engaged soon? How soon?
Irene smiles nastily. Boy, you can see how ugly she’s becoming. Snow-White’s, like, ten times prettier than her now. “And then you know the plan; finish off all male relatives, the king and queen, and then finally the prince. Then you will be the ruler! But remember, on one condition: I tell you what royal decisions to make.” They start to laugh maniacally. Irene’s obviously had some practice, but Snow-White sounds like she’s a donkey with a sore throat and has to break off because of a coughing fit.
“Tomorrow”, continues Irene,”you feed the prince’s brother a potion that I have concocted! He shall sputter and die on the spot! Bwahaha! But I only made one batch- call it a testing round. Make sure he eats it!” she rasps. Uh-oh. I won’t be able to stop that! I’ll figure it out tomorrow. I know it sounds heartless, but the prince is my bigger concern.
“Go back to sleep now. And watch that Ellowyn girl-there’s something I don’t trust about her.” Snow-White frowns about that, but nods hesitantly. She’s starting to walk out of the room, so I’m gonna take the opportunity to get out of here. I run as quietly as I can back to my room and pull the covers over my body. I need all the rest I can get for tomorrow.
I wake up at eight-thirty, so I have to kind of rush to get ready. Half asleep, I wash in the warm water and run a brush through my sleep-tangled hair. I choose an elegant white dress with sleeves just past my elbows. Lace designs decorate the hemming at the base and top. I pair it with some dangly diamond jewelry and
white slippers with the same lace pattern. Pulling my hair into a simple over-the-shoulder braid, I’m out of my room two minutes before breakfast starts.
I glide down the stairs with Snow, who, to her credit, looks really pretty in purple with amethyst jewelry. Queen Marisel is busy greeting everybody, so I’m the only one who notices Snow-White slip the pink liquid into Prince Alexander’s oatmeal. I stand up quickly and make as if to get water, then accidentally-on-purpose knock his bowl onto the floor. Phew! I blabber on and on about how sorry I am, and have to suffer through his death glares all of breakfast. I have a sudden urge to slap his face and tell him how I just saved his life, so he can stop staring at me already!
Breakfast finishes too slowly under his scrutinizing gaze, and I’m glad for the opportunity to rush back up. This is my last chance to find and destroy the-what was it again?- oh yeah, poison apple. I know that Irene will be at the spa today-I checked the schedule-so I have about another hour and a half until she comes back. I check both ways and bound up the stairs to Irene’s room. Let me see if I can find the poison apple before she comes back! I creep into the shadows and peek into her room. She’s not there, so I tiptoe-run in and start to open the drawers as quietly as I can. In the first few drawers, there’s only clothes and jewelry and makeup. But in the next drawers, I see silver plates and candles and coins! She’s been looting the palace!
Okay, that’s kind of disturbing, but whatever. The apple isn’t in any of the drawers, and that’s what matters. I rummage through the clothes, to see if she hid them there, but she didn’t. I need to search the rest of the room. It’s not in the bathroom cabinets either, or her wardrobe, or her bed. An hour later, I give up. She’s probably carrying it around everywhere, just to be safe. I need to go now, just to make sure I don’t get caught in here. I put everything just as it was before and carefully step out of the room and run back to mine. Just in time, too- I see one of the staff step in to clean it. Phew!
As I walk back to my room, I get the shock of my life when Queen Marisel is waiting in front of my door. I manage to hold back a gasp.
“Oh, hello, Queen Marisel. To what to I owe this pleasure?”
She responds, “I thought that you and Snow may have been slightly bored in the castle. So I have arranged some lessons including all our finest tutors in the arts, and you shall attend classes with Snow-White and all the other princesses in the castle. The classes will include speaking regally, posture, dancing, fashion, and makeup - all the things a princess would ever need to know. You will get quarters closer to your lessons. Meet in the ballroom at ten tomorrow morning.”
I’ll admit, it’s a step up from wandering around gossiping, but I’m less than thrilled. No math? No reading? No geography or science? I taught myself things like this in my free time, but I want to improve on them. But these nonsensical topics?
Well, it’s not like I have a choice, so I agree and tell Snow. Lessons start tomorrow.
The day passes quickly and I fall asleep very soon, for some reason exhausted beyond belief.
Chapter 5
I get dressed as soon as I wake up and meet Snow-White and the ballroom, where all the princesses were requested to gather. The voice over the loudspeakers calls small groups of princesses at a time, about 10 or so, probably to hand out schedules. FInally my group is called.
“Princesses Ellowyn Aspen of Calais, Snow-White Tempest of Panthea, Adelaide Alicia of Willowsbourgh, Sophia Blanche of Quintenna…” The voice fades off as I start to make my way to the main building. In the room, a mousy woman takes our measurements and hands us our schedules. The people called are who I will have all of my classes with. Luckily Snow-White is in my group, so I can keep an eye on her. The mousy lady, who I’ll nickname Mouse, leads us to a room covered with fabric squares of pastel colors- soft pinks, blues, greens, oranges, purples, you name it. They’ve even managed to find different shades of white, for heavens’ sakes!
Snow-White chooses a beautiful shade of purple, the color that suits her best. The other girls choose other shades, but I notice each picks a different color. I settle on white, because it seems to compliment any color.
Then Mouse takes us to another room filled with MORE pastel colors, apparently for the trim. I choose soft purple because it looks pretty with the white. And even though I don’t have a taste for fashion, let’s face it: I need to develop one if I want to continue my fake identity.
Finally they lead us to our new housing, because it will be easier to travel to our classes from here. We have a HUGE house, about the size of two mansions put together, for all 10 of us. I choose a room right next to a window, with light blue walls and white trim. It has a nice soft sofa, a lilac colored and scented bathroom, and a small but cozy bed with a mattress just plushy enough. Even though it’s not nearly as big as my last room, I like it much better.
I visit Snow’s room soon after, and as I suspected, she went after the biggest one. The walls are a garish pink, the bathroom a yellow that hurts your eyes, and it has no windows. The mattress is so soft it’s like water, the sofa is beautiful but hard as stone, and there is marble as flooring, not snow-white, fluffy carpeting like mine. I hate the room, but Snow-White is in love with it, and I guess that’s good enough. When she visits mine, she pretends to love it, but it’s obvious that she thinks it’s much too quiet and simple Oh, well- I guess we have different tastes.
Upon further investigation alone in my room, I see a small hideaway space in the wall with cushions and pillows to make it comfy. It has a small round window that opens, and I could sit here for hours, looking at the view, without getting bored. There’s also a gigantic wardrobe, I guess to put shoes and dresses in. I love the room more and more as I discover new things and places in it, and I feel very pleased when I go to explore the non-room parts of the house.
There’s a kitchen with the most hi-tech appliances available, a jacuzzi and swimming pool in the back. In the backyard there’s arches, pathways, swings, and every imaginable plant. I lie in a patch of snowdrops for an hour, just drinking in sunlight. Finally, I arrive back in to pick up my school uniform, which has just been dropped off.
As I try it on, I realize that I might not be so bad at fashion as I thought. My eyes look darker and prettier, my skin looks less tanned and more flawless, and it compliments my hair perfectly. The purple trim makes the outfit look sophisticated, so I’m happy with it. We each get 10 uniforms, to wear if we need to wash the other ones in the premium, high-quality machines we have downstairs. By this time it’s time for dinner, as a bell announces to the house. I take a seat at the table with the other girls, waiting for it to be served.
I’ll get to know the names of the other girls too, but two immediately stand out to me, not including Snow and I. One is Calla Natalya from Clementine, who has light brown hair, big green eyes, and the emptiest head I’ve seen. There’s also Kalila Valeska of Venezia, who wants to be a fashion statement. She has on rainbow sunglasses with dark shades, her hair is long and electric blue, she is wearing a pink cut-off top, jangly bracelets, loads of necklaces, and a black tight skirt with golden high-heels. Honestly, she looks quite ridiculous.
“I’m hungry”, whines Calla. “I want food. Like, food that you can eat with your mouth. With my teeth, not, like, with my ears.” Yeah, Calla, because there’s some food that you can eat with your ears.
Kalila seems to be scouting out people’s outfits. “Sorry, Elle, but your outfit isn’t bold at all”, she comments about my blue dress with a shimmery scarf. “Your outfit is YOU! Your outfit tells me that you must be having personal problems. Accessorize! Embrace your inner self! Take an approach like mine. My outfit screams beautiful! Unique! Fashionable!” she explains. Not the words I would use to describe her outfit, but sure. Another girl that I recognize as Sidelle rolls her eyes towards me.
Finally, we finish dinners and head to our rooms for some sleep. I doze off in a moment.
The next morning, I take a hot shower and scrub all the dirt o
ff of me. I wash my hair, comb it, dry it until it’s soft and silky. I put it up in a messy bun and wear my school uniform and a pair of pink, soft slippers. Then I go down the stairs to a breakfast of cinnamon rolls. Then, with butterflies in my stomach, I report to my first room, fashion.
As I enter, I see a couple other of my classmates in the room. My teacher- I think her name is Ms. Ella- is wearing a blue gown and gloves. She looks rather pretty, if shallow.
The bell rings soon, and everybody is in the room by then. Ms. Ella passes out a piece of thick paper and a pencil pouch with 10 color pencils in it and one regular graphite pencil and a white eraser. She proceeds to tell us that the colors were each of the rainbow colors, black, white, and metallic. Each pencil will change to whichever shade we choose on the digital controller she hands us. Wow, pretty cool- very hi-tech.
Then she begins to explain our assignments.
“Here’s what your assignments will be in the future- they will be pass or fail, nothing in between. I will tell you an event- for example, a ball- and you will design an outfit based on it. You will have two artists who will prepare you for the even and sew your dress. Every two weeks, we will hold the event that you have been assigned and you will wear your sewed creation. One of you will be crowned as the best outfit. Your score will be passed back the next day. For the next two weeks, the topic shall be masquerade ball. You may begin.”
Hmm. A ball- that means very poofy but elegant gowns, gloves, tiaras- fancy stuff. I first sketch a figure and soon realize that I am a very talented artist. Then I ponder what to dress her in. I choose deep midnight blue as the color. But in what style? I decide on a sleeveless top, with a heart-shaped top of the bodice. Then I draw a skirt that widens only slightly more than the waist. I decide on flats for my shoes. Biting my lip, I see that it looks far too plain. So I add ruffly layers to the skirt, pulling the pencil-and-paper fabric in different directions.
The Darkest Shadow Page 3