by Joan Holub
“Ow!” said Cinda’s partner as she tromped on his toes.
“Sorry,” said Cinda. Despite Awesome’s coaching, this was not her idea of fun! By the time they left the Hall, more than one boy was limping. And it was all her fault!
Two nights later, Cinda was in Pearl Tower staring at the hearth in dismay. It was full of ashes from the fire that had burned there the last few days. Time to clean it. Much like dancing, this was definitely not her idea of fun.
She dug around in the common area closet and found a straw broom. It was pretty scraggly. But the minute she wrapped her hands around its handle … whoosh! The broom took control!
It began twirling and whirling her around the common room, causing her to trip and stumble over pillows and bump into tables. It must be magic! That was kind of cool. However, it wasn’t being very helpful as far as cleaning went.
“Ow! Whoa! Hold your bristles, broom!” she begged. It didn’t listen. She tried to let go of its handle, but her hands seemed stuck to it. After one full circle of the room, the broom whirled back to the hearth and finally got down to business, sweeping and sucking up the ashes like a vacuum.
Wow! Back home, it had taken an hour to sweep the hearth. But the work was a snap with a magic broom! After a few breathless minutes of effort, the hearth was spic-and-span and the broom calmed down. Finally able to let go of it, Cinda quickly tucked it back in the closet and shut the door.
Phew! Feeling slightly dizzy, but relieved to be finished with her chore, she went to her room to study.
Once seated at her desk, Cinda pressed the button on the cover of her book. “Comportment,” she said. Then she opened the cover.
Her understanding of the subject grew as she began to read. Comportment was about etiquette, which was the same as good manners. Only in Cinda’s opinion, Ms. Queenharts didn’t have any of those. So maybe she meant for her students to learn to do the opposite of what she did?
Cinda rubbed her forehead. School here was confusing. She’d hoped to be around magical stuff and learn magic herself. But now she was halfway wishing that the teachers and studies would be more normal!
There was a knock on the wall outside her curtain and then Red’s voice called to her. “Come look what your roommate has done!”
Shutting her book, Cinda leaped from her chair and followed Red to the outdoor walkway that Snow had led her along on her first night at the Academy. They leaned way out to gaze down to the big fountain in the middle of the fifth-floor patio below.
There were now two mermaid statues atop it! Suddenly, the bigger one moved. It wasn’t a statue at all!
“Is that — Mermily?” Cinda whispered in surprise.
Red nodded. “She’s a mermaid. Didn’t you know?”
Cinda shook her head, gazing at her roommate in wonder. Instead of standing on her usual legs, Mermily was balancing on an iridescent blue-green tail in the water that filled the smallest, topmost ring of the fountain. She was holding a fancy-looking wrench, and had added a mermaid statue about half her own size to the center of the fountain’s top tier. It was curved in the shape of an S and spurted water in three streams that looped over each other to fall into the lower rings of the fountain.
“It’s grimmtacular!” Red called down to her.
“It really is!” Cinda agreed.
Mermily smiled up at them and gave her tail a happy splash. “Thanks! Since I’m Fountainkeeper this term, I thought I’d shake things up a bit. Get creative.”
“Hey, Grimm girls!” a voice called just then.
Cinda and Red looked over to see Awesome, Foulsmell, and two other boys Cinda didn’t know. They were outside playing putt-putt golf on the long narrow courtyard that ran the length of the flat rooftop above the auditorium. Below the auditorium was the gym, and below that was the two-story-tall Great Hall. Taken together, they all formed the four-story building that spanned Once Upon River between Pink Castle on one end and Gray Castle on the other.
When the girls waved back, the boys started making silly shots, showing off for them and making them laugh. Cinda wished she could join their game. But she had more homework — a History test to study for.
For the last two days during History and Balls class, she’d been talking up the two Steps to Prince Awesome as much as possible. Only, he kept changing the subject. For some reason, he wanted to know stuff about the village Cinda came from, her old friends, and her hobbies.
What would the Steps do if he didn’t pay attention to them at the ball? Try to get her in some kind of big trouble, that’s what! Tomorrow was Friday, the day of the Awesome Ballsome, as everyone had nicknamed it. She still wasn’t planning to go. But she had no idea how she was going to get out of it.
It wasn’t until the next morning that a brilliant idea presented itself. It happened when Cinda awoke to another School Board announcement.
“Attention! All students must complete their assigned tower tasks or they will not be allowed to attend tonight’s ball. Knights in armor will be posted at the door to the Great Hall to ensure that all who are admitted to the ball are in compliance. For further details, refer to Rule Number 75½ in the handbook.”
Cinda bolted upright in bed. That was it! The perfect excuse. Like Mermily, she would “get creative” with her tower-task assignment. She would mess up the hearth so that she’d have to stay late to clean it. She’d make sure that the mess was something the magic broom couldn’t fix. Something that couldn’t be sucked up and would take a while to clean. Soup, maybe. She’d seen some stored in the cabinet in the common room. Perfect! And that would be her reason for not attending the ball!
After breakfast, she, Red, Snow, and Rapunzel picked up the gowns and slippers they’d reserved in the library. They were getting ready to head back to their rooms when Cinda spotted the Steps coming down the stairs toward her. The other three Grimm girls continued on, unaware of the drama that was about to unfold.
The Steps’ eyes went to the gown Cinda held. It was mostly covered with a cloth for protection, but bits of yellow satin peeked out at the neckline and hem. Would they demand to see her gown and then make fun of it? She spun around, hoping to escape them —
And walked smack into Prince Awesome! Cinda moved left to go around him, but he moved left, too. He moved right to get out of her way, but she moved right, too.
The prince laughed. “Hey, Grimm girl, I guess you know how to dance, after all! Be sure to save me one at the ball tonight.” His eyes went to her ball gown. “I’ll watch for Cinderella dressed in yella!” With that, he went off down the hall, still grinning at her over his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Odette and Malorette were standing on the stairs, watching the whole “dance” thing. And they did not look happy.
They stalked out into the hall and up to Cinda. “You haven’t been talking to him about us at all, have you?” Malorette accused.
“All this time, you’ve been flirting with him yourself. Hoping he’ll dance with you instead of us!” Odette hissed.
“No,” Cinda began. “I hate dancing! You know I do.”
“Humph,” scoffed Malorette. “But you like princes, apparently.”
“You’ll be sorry,” said Odette. Again, her eyes flicked to the dress Cinda was holding.
Cinda was fed up with their threats. But before she could gather the courage to tell them so, they pushed past her and kept walking. Frustrated, she gazed after them, trying to calm herself down.
She was starting to like it here at the Academy. Yelling at them wasn’t worth the risk of getting sent back home. She’d just have to try to keep out of their way from now on. Another reason to avoid the dance. Once they discovered she wasn’t there, and once Prince Awesome gave them each their one dance apiece, maybe they’d leave her alone!
Sixth period was canceled that day so the Hall could be decorated for the ball. There wasn’t a sit-down dinner in the Hall, either. Instead, Mistress Hagscorch made take-out newt dogs on buns, which everyone ate in the Bouquet
Garden, picnic-style. Snow and Red spent the whole time trying to convince Rapunzel to join them in the Pearl Tower dorm to get ready for the ball.
“It’ll be more fun that way,” Snow insisted.
“We’ll be with you every step of the way up,” Red promised.
Finally, Rapunzel agreed. But she looked even paler than usual at the thought of going six floors up!
After dinner, Cinda watched as Snow and Red each took one of Rapunzel’s arms, gently encouraging her up the stairs. They didn’t seem to notice when Cinda held back. Which made her feel a little left out. It was obvious how much the other three Grimm girls all liked and cared about one another. They were nice to Cinda, but she wasn’t one of their BFFs. How could she be? She’d only been here four and a half days!
Cinda split off from the other girls and ducked into an empty classroom. Feeling sort of lonely, she did some homework, waiting for time to pass. When she heard the Hickory Dickory Dock clock bong seven P.M., she went upstairs. The ball would start at eight.
By the time Cinda reached the dorm, all the other girls were already zipping around, getting spiffed up. Most of the curtain-doors were open so everyone could help everyone else get ready.
She heard Red calling to someone about perfume. Mermily was over in another girl’s alcove, helping her choose the perfect color of lip gloss. Rapunzel had obviously survived the trip upstairs, because she and Snow were helping fix each other’s hair. By now, Rapunzel’s hair had somehow grown long again. It was all the way down to the floor.
Making sure no one saw her, Cinda slipped into her alcove and slid the curtain shut. It was now or never. Quickly she changed into her old pj’s from home, not wanting to take the chance of totally ruining one of her three old gowns.
Checking that the coast was clear, she tiptoed over to the common room in the middle of the dorm, planning to “accidentally” spill some soup on the hearth. A mess just big enough to keep her busy while everyone else attended the ball without her. But when Cinda got to the hearth, she gasped.
Because it was already a disaster! Someone had dumped the lentil soup from the cabinet and a bunch of blueberries, too, all over the hearth! With enough time, she could clean up the soup, but how would she ever get the stains from the berries out of the stone?
“What in the grimmworld …?” Cinda heard someone murmur. She glanced around to see that some of the other Pearl Tower girls had gathered close without her noticing, including Red, Snow, and Rapunzel. They were all in their petticoats or robes, not yet fully dressed for the ball.
“Who did this?” Red asked.
“I don’t know,” Cinda said truthfully. But almost instantly, she realized who the culprits had to be. Who else but the Steps! They’d told her she’d be sorry. Of course, they’d had no idea she’d been planning to make a similar mess herself to avoid attending the ball. Still, this was much worse, and it made her hopping mad that they had done something so mean.
The hearth was beautiful. It was her job to take care of it. And they’d probably ruined it forever!
“Be right back,” Cinda told the others. Forgetting she was in her pj’s, she tore out onto the walkway and stormed over to Ruby Tower. Cinda wasn’t sure what she was going to say to the Steps or what she’d do, but she had to let them know she was onto them. Being mean to her was one thing, but what they’d done had hurt everyone in Pearl Tower. For once, she wouldn’t stay silent and let them get away with their evil deeds!
The Steps’ names were embroidered on their alcove’s curtain. It was closed, but Cinda could hear the two of them talking inside. Before she could call out to them or pull the curtain back, she overheard something that made her ears perk up. The word pumpkin. Huh? She put her ear to the curtain, listening.
“The pumpkin is in position for the big rollout,” said Malorette. “No thanks to Cinda, who had to go and get assigned the very trunker where it was hidden in the first place.”
“Don’t worry,” Odette replied. “She has no clue about the rollout. Much less that tonight’s ball will create the perfect magical conditions for it to occur.”
“Right. If all goes as planned, the E.V.I.L. Society will be pleased with us,” said Malorette. “Especially if we also succeed in recruiting Prince Awesome. We absolutely must dance with him tonight and talk him into joining.”
Evil Society? What was that? Cinda wondered. It definitely sounded bad!
And it also sounded like the Steps knew way more about Peter Peter’s pumpkin than they’d let on. And that they were plotting some kind of dastardly deed with it that would take place during the ball. How unfair! Even if Cinda didn’t want to go, everyone else at Grimm Academy was so looking forward to this event.
And what about Prince Awesome? Why would the Steps want to ruin his ball? Or get him to join an evil society? She thought they liked him!
Suddenly, the curtain whipped open. The Steps stared at Cinda in surprise. They were both dressed in costly matching gowns made of rose-colored satin. As Malorette fastened the laces at the front of hers, she pulled the chain holding her trunker key from around her neck and tossed it onto her bed. For some reason, her key was white instead of iron like everyone else’s.
Before Cinda could speak, the Steps looked her up and down and started laughing.
“Pj’s? Good choice to wear to the prince’s ball,” Malorette said spitefully.
“Yeah, since you don’t like dancing, you won’t have to worry. No one’s going to ask you, looking like that!” said Odette.
Blushing a little, Cinda folded her arms and glared at the girls. “Someone messed up the Pearl Tower hearth.”
Malorette smirked. “Well, you’re Hearthkeeper for your dorm, right? I guess you’ll have to clean it up. Which means you won’t be able to go to the ball tonight.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Odette said in an insincere voice.
“You did it,” said Cinda. “I know you did. You dumped lentil soup and strawberries on that hearth.”
“You mean blueb —” Odette started to correct her.
“Hush!” said Malorette. But she was too late.
“Aha!” said Cinda, flinging her arms wide. “You did make that mess! How else would you know it was blueberries, not strawberries?”
Malorette’s smirk widened. “Prove it.” Then she whipped the curtain shut, leaving Cinda out in the hall.
“Well, don’t think you’re going to get away with your evil pumpkin plan tonight!” Cinda called to them.
The curtain whipped open again. The two girls stared at her, looking worried now.
“You were eavesdropping!” said Malorette.
Cinda narrowed her eyes at her. “Prove it!”
Turning on one sneakered heel, Cinda stalked off to the stone walkway and hurried all the way back to Pearl Tower. She was going to go to that ball after all, she decided. Just to spite the Steps. And to foil their plans, whatever they were. But first she’d tell the other Grimm girls what she suspected. And then she’d clean the hearth as fast and as best as she could!
When she entered her dorm, Red, Snow, and Rapunzel were still crowded around the hearth. They had opened the closet and gotten out the broom, a sponge, and a bucket. It looked as if they were planning to clean up.
“No!” said Cinda. “I’ll do that. It’s my job. Though I don’t know how I’ll ever get those berry stains out.”
“I do!” Snow held up a spray bottle and grinned. Her tower task was Tidy-upper, Cinda remembered.
“Is that some kind of magic cleaner?” Cinda asked hopefully.
Snow nodded. “Flour, hydrogen peroxide, and some other magic stuff I mixed up. It’s great for getting stains out of stone.”
“Let’s get started on this mess,” said Red.
“But —” began Cinda.
“We insist,” said Snow.
“With all of us working, you’ll get to the ball sooner,” said Rapunzel.
Cinda looked at her friends, hardly able to believe what they
were offering. Because she really did want to go to the ball now. To stop the Steps from executing their wicked plan!
“Thank you,” she said softly. “You guys are the best!”
“Pearl Tower Grimm girls stick together!” said Red.
“Yeah! Pearl Tower power!” said Rapunzel, punching a fist in the air.
As they got to work, Cinda told the others what she’d overheard her stepsisters saying. Her friends were as worried as she was, but none of them exactly understood what the Steps were plotting.
Just as the school clock bonged out eight o’clock, the girls turned from the sparkling hearth. With Snow’s cleaner and all four girls sharing the task, they’d finished in no time.
“Last one ready is a rotten Mr. Hump-Dumpty!” called Red. Giggling, they all dashed to their alcoves.
When Cinda opened her armoire, she found her yellow ball gown crumpled at the bottom of it. Why wasn’t it still on the hanger she’d hung it on that morning? she wondered. She picked it up and drew in a sharp breath. Her beautiful gown had been destroyed! Its skirt was slashed and its bodice ripped apart. Even the yellow slippers were torn. The Steps! They must’ve done this, too!
Now all she had left were her three ugly dresses from home, her cloak, her pj’s, and a robe! No way the knight guards would admit her if she wore those. None of the other girls in the dorm would have a spare ball gown just sitting around in their armoire either. What was she going to do?
And what would Ms. Goose say when Cinda showed her the slashed gown? She had borrowed it, so she was responsible for it. A magic-mirror-designer gown was probably expensive. How could she possibly pay for its loss?
After throwing her old cloak over her pj’s, Cinda grabbed her tattered dress and torn slippers and went in search of the others. But when she pushed her curtain aside, they were just arriving in their ball gowns to get her.