by CN Thornton
CHAPTER FOUR
I stood at the large bay window that overlooked the backyard, watching as the crowd began to flood in. It was well past five and the party crowd was growing by the second.
I tried to do my best to sort out which peers belonged to which house, but it was near impossible since no one was wearing their uniforms.
A drawer closed behind me and I let out an annoyed sigh. Quinn was digging through my clothes, trying to find something for me to wear to the party. This had been going on for the past ten minutes.
Then she let out a squeal of delight and I turned around to see her holding up a sheer, cerulean-blue dress. I immediately recognized it as the dress my father had given to me as a gift when I was just seven years old. The dress had belonged to my mother.
It was sleeveless and had a v-neck in both the front and back—the back dropped further down, stopping just at the spot where my tail-bone would show. The fabric was silk, so it flowed in the most magical way. Then, covering the magnificent dress, a sheer cape was topped with two silver embellishments that snapped into place just above the ribs. It was perfect, elegant. It was fit for a queen.
Since the day my father had presented it to me, I’d kept it on one of several mannequins to keep it in view. And I’d only brought it with me because I couldn’t bear to part with it.
The attachment I’d formed with my mother’s things wasn’t because they’d once belonged to her, but because my father was the one who had given them to me. That alone added so much sentimental value that it made me ache when I thought about parting with them.
“No, I can’t wear that. What if it gets ruined?” I rushed out, slightly panicking at the thought of red pomegranate juice staining the beautiful cerulean-blue silk of my dress.
“It’s the only thing you have that looks decent,” Quinn argued.
I shook my head as my lips pressed into a stern, hard line. I crossed my arms and glared at her, hoping she would give in and continue looking.
Finally, after what felt like a stalemate, Quinn let out a sigh of defeat and neatly put the dress back in the confines of my drawer. Her defeat was short-lived, as I quickly heard her gasp.
She raised up another dress, only this one I couldn’t say no to. It was another dress my father had given to me.
Powder blue and strapless, it was made to be form fitting at the torso and fall freely from the waist down to the mid-thigh, where it ended. A sheer bow tied around the waist.
“Definitely this one!” She gleamed, excited about the new find.
It took me almost five minutes to get into the dress. I wanted to take my time, so I wouldn’t risk tearing or stretching it.
Then Quinn started doing my hair. She put in two single braids near my right temple and then retrieved an item from my jewelry box—a crown braided from calla lilies. She gave me a pair of her barefoot sandals, which were made out of beautiful white pearls, and then deemed me party perfect.
I didn’t even get to go look at myself in the bathroom mirror before she whisked me downstairs and out into the backyard, where the party was now as active as a live wire.
As I made my way through the crowd, I couldn’t help but smile at the sounds of laughter, music and squeals of delight. I knew this song. It was one of my favorites, called “Goodness Gracious” by a human named Ellie Goulding. The song was perfect for the party—it really built up, adding to the already intense energy coursing through the crowd. The song was only about thirty seconds in and I was already fighting with myself, wanting to lift my arms into the air, close my eyes, throw my head back and dance.
I continued walking through the crowed, then stopped when I felt like it. It wasn’t until my mind caught up with me that I realized where I was—the giant toadstool trampolines.
Why had I come here? I wasn’t wanting to jump, so it made no sense. Then I heard male laughter and turned towards it. There, jumping, with a smile perched on his handsome face, was Silas.
I was here for Silas—but why? After the awkwardness between us earlier and Quinn's ultimatum, he was the last person I wanted to run into.
I moved to turn and walk away when I heard my name being called over the crowd. I easily recognized that the voice belonged to Silas, and I froze.
What now?
I could pretend like I hadn’t heard him and walk away, or I could acknowledge him and hope that what came next wasn’t as unnerving as before. I decided on the latter.
I turned to face Silas, smiling as I made eye contact with him. We were a few yards away from one another, but it felt like we were standing side by side. I could feel his presence, his power. And it was strong.
He jumped down from the toadstool he had been preoccupied with and quickly closed the distance between us, bringing me into a hug.
“I’m sorry for how I treated you earlier. You didn’t deserve it.” When he released me, he looked into my eyes. “I should’ve been more accepting and understanding of what you wanted.”
I shook my head, not wanting him to take all the blame for what had happened. “I could’ve changed my train of thought, too. I mean, maybe I was overthinking what you were asking.”
“I understand now,” he said. “If you really want to invite your friends along with us, I won’t mind.”
I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Actually, I think I’d like to hear more about how not to live my life constantly trying to please everyone but myself.” I had a problem with that. I always wanted the people around me to be happy, even at the expense of my own happiness.
“It’s a deal.” He grinned. Silas seemed to be back to his normal self. His blue-green eyes were as bright as ever, and his smile reached from ear to ear. I couldn’t deny that he was gorgeous.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to come face to face with Dean.
I was surprised to run into him, but I felt uneasy when I caught his unhappy expression.
“Are you okay?” I asked, placing my hand on his arm.
He looked down at my hand and his eyes seemed to narrow. He looked bothered or angry—I was unsure which, but neither made sense.
“I’m fine,” he growled, his forehead creasing. “Just family crap.” He clenched his hands into fists.
“Is that why you were in the office this evening?” I asked. When I’d seen him earlier, he’d looked really upset.
He nodded. “My father sucks at being a father.”
I imagined a life where my father wasn’t the father he was to me. Where he never spent time with me or saw me or told me how much he loved me . . . Though it wasn’t real, the idea brought tears to my eyes.
“Oh, Dean.” I sighed as I wrapped my arms around him, bringing him into a hug. His arms just hung limply at his sides, so I gripped him tighter.
After a few moments Dean brought his arms around me and held on tightly. His body began trembling and I knew he was doing everything he could to hold back his tears.
“I know how you feel, man,” Silas said, placing his hand on Dean’s shoulder. “My dad isn’t around much, either, but when he is it’s like he’s my boss instead of my father.”
Dean released me and fell into a conversation with Silas. Dean wanted to know how he dealt with his disappointment in his father, so I decided to let them have some privacy and go get some food.
As I walked, I suddenly had a strong urge to see my father, but it was after hours and I knew he would no longer be in his office—and I didn’t know where he would be after that.
I managed to maneuver through the crowd to get to center of the party, where the food was. The line at the buffet was surprisingly short. I didn’t know more than half the people who were in line, but there were two I recognized—Aeronica and Divya. They were talking.
“I should’ve had the entire week off, not that girl and her friends.” Aeronica’s arms were crossed, and it was clear she was agitated. “Did I tell you it was my idea?” She gestured towards the rides. “They stole my idea and tossed my pape
r out so I couldn’t get credit for it.”
I huffed as I listened to her lies. It hadn’t happened like that, and she knew it.
“You’re a liar!” I snapped, stepping forward.
Aeronica stepped towards me. Her tall, lean figure towered above mine by mere inches. She was so pretty that her beauty seemed to radiate, making me feel plain.
I cringed slightly, shrinking away from her.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the infamous klepto . . . How are you enjoying my week off?” She sneered, her perfectly arched eyebrow rising to intimidate me.
I did my best to stand up straighter and look more confident. If I didn’t feel it on the inside, I wanted to at least look it on the outside, especially in front of Aeronica.
“I didn’t steal anything from you. We came up with the idea and we—” I jabbed my finger at myself. “My friends and I put together the details.” Then I jabbed my finger at her. “You’re just jealous that you didn’t win.”
She looked at me like I was crazy and gestured towards herself. “Me . . . jealous of you!” Why should I be jealous of you?”
“You are a monster! You’re horrible! And I’m genuine and nice!” I shouted at her.
Aeronica rolled her eyes. “Unless you are my mother, you can’t be better than me. I am Queen Monroe’s daughter.”
I gasped. What little bit of fake confidence I’d managed to show on the outside fell away.
“Wait a moment!” I started. “Your last name isn’t Monroe. You aren’t the princess.”
“Hawthorne is a fake name, given to me for my protection and privacy.”
“Then you’re an idiot to tell me.” My confidence was back again. “If word of this gets out, you’ll be a target for every dark faerie that is out to take the throne.”
Her eyes widened from what I suspected was fear from the realization that I now basically held her life in my hands.
“You wouldn’t . . .” she hissed.
Of course I wouldn’t. But for her to think I would was what mattered. As long as she thought I might tell, I held all the power in my hands.
I raised my eyebrow to her, like she had to me earlier, in an attempt to intimidate her. “Try me,” I sneered, in a perfect imitation of her.
She glared down at me, her blue eyes burning into mine with a strong feeling of pure hatred. If I’m not mistaken, I had just made my first enemy here at Endeavour.
“You are going to regret this,” she threatened before turning and stalking off.
“What was that all about?” a voice behind me said. A girl I recognized as one of my roommates, Gabriella, stopped at my side.
Gabriella was a beautiful girl, tall with bronze skin and long dark loose curls.
I shrugged my shoulders. Never in my life have I resorted to shrugging my shoulders as much as I did since I arrived at Endeavour.
“Aeronica was spreading lies about how we stole her idea for the party and blabbing on about how she is the daughter of Queen Monroe.”
Gabriella burst into a fit of laughter that was cut short as she began coughing. I quickly got her a drink and she slowly sipped it down, soothing her cough. When she was able to breathe steadily again, she spoke.
“Aeronica is not the daughter of the queen,” she said, her voice full of conviction.
“How are you so sure?” I asked, my curiosity clear in my words.
Gabriella tossed her beautiful curls over her shoulder. “Because, my mother and I live there. My mother was one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. She was there the night the queen’s daughter was born, thirteen years ago.”
“Who is the true princess, then?” I pressed, eager for more information.
The smile on Gabriella’s face suddenly fell. “I couldn’t tell you. To be honest, the only thing my mother told me was that the day the princess was born, she had to be taken away to keep her protected.”
“So for all we know, the princess could be anyone,” I stated.
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about who the princess could be since I got here. At the sorting ceremony, I managed to narrow the possibilities down to a handful of girls. First, by their hair color: the king has dark hair and the queen platinum blond.”
“The princess would have dark or platinum-blond hair, or even a light blond,” I murmured.
“And the eyes. Both the king and queen have gray-blue eyes. Now, there are only a few girls here with that kind of combination.”
I went to open my mouth and say something in response, but I stopped myself. Why on earth did it matter to me? Whoever the princess was, if she actually was here, it was a secret for good reason.
It didn’t take a genius to know that every day, dark faeries were plotting against the queen and king. All they had to do was get rid of the princess and wait for the king and queen to die—or be murdered.
I was confident that if we continued this discussion, I would find out who the princess was. I didn’t want to have that kind of knowledge. It would just make me a target for those who wanted to know it.
“I’m going to use the bathroom,” I said quickly before turning and heading towards the house.
I was inches from freedom when I collided into a girl who had crossed my path. Our bodies crumpled together as we fell to the ground in a heap.
“Ouch!” I gasped, pushing myself into a sitting position. I rubbed a tender spot at the back of my head that had been hit in my fall.
“You’re saying.” The other girl groaned. “At least you weren’t on the bottom of this haphazard.”
As I gathered myself to my feet, I held out my hand and helped her up.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her, not making eye contact.
“You’re Neenah, right?”
I glanced up at her and my mouth fell. She had the same hair and eye color as Queen Vera. As a matter of fact, she looked exactly like her.
“I am.”
“Yeah, I thought so. You and I are in the same room. My bed is just across from yours.” She held out her hand. “I’m Saveraeh.” I took her hand and shook it.
“Yeah, that’s right. I remember seeing your name on your trunk while I was putting my things away, but you weren’t there.”
She clutched her upper-right arm with her left hand. “Yeah, I was talking to my mother. I didn’t get back until dinner.”
I nodded, doing my best to smile. It was hard for me to feel happy whenever I heard the M-word. But I didn’t want to let anyone know that.
I cleared my throat uneasily and said, “Does your mother work here at the school?”
Saveraeh shook her head and began laughing. “Absolutely not. My mother is just overseeing things. She wants to make sure the deed is done and doesn’t trust that I can handle it.”
“What deed?” I asked.
Saveraeh’s laughter quickly died as a fearful expression appeared on her face. She glanced over her shoulder, as if making sure no one was eavesdropping.
“What?” I asked, slightly leaning to the right to try and see what she had been looking at. “What are you looking for?”
When she turned back to me, her expression had darkened. “Don’t trust anyone,” she said, placing her hand on my shoulder. “No one—not even me,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” I asked, but she quickly ran off without giving any explanation for her weird behavior.
I stared after her, watching her disappear into the crowd. What had she meant when she’d told me not to trust anyone . . . or her? And what was the deed her mother wanted her to do?
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I let out a shriek, jumping and whipping around, only to come face to face with Dean.
“Oh my goodness!” I gasped, pressing my hand to my chest and feeling my heart beating rapidly. “You scared me!”
His eyes narrowed as he looked past me to the exact spot where Saveraeh had disappeared into the crowd. Then his eyes were back on me.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked. His voice was hard
. . . cold.
I rubbed my arms, trying to get rid of the goosebumps that had sprouted all over them.
“One of my roommates, Saveraeh.”
“What did she want?” he pressed. I saw his eyes glance once more in the same direction.
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “Nothing, just . . .” I bit my lip. Did I really want to tell him about our conversation? It was more nonsense than anything else.
“What did she say?” Dean asked again, only this time he seemed angry.
I took a step back, not liking the harsh vibes that were rolling off him in strong waves.
It was then I decided not to tell him exactly what she had said to me. “I was heading back to the house when I ran into her.” I wrapped my arms at my waist and dropped my gaze to the ground. “Then we just formally introduced ourselves. I mean, we are roommates after all—it’s only polite.” I could feel the warmth growing in my cheeks, and for the first time of the night I was thankful it was dark, so my telltale blush couldn’t be seen.
“Oh,” he said plainly. His anger seemed to subside almost instantly, and I was relieved.
I didn’t understand why he had acted like that, but I felt like it had something to do with what Saveraeh had told me. “Don’t trust anyone.”
***
The raging party continued for several hours. And then it ended just as quickly as it had begun. Students left in packs, heading towards their houses, until there were only Tamaracks left.
With everyone’s help, the backyard of Tamarack house was restored to its previously clean state. The first and second years cleaned up the food and trash while the third and fourth years dismembered the attractions and restored each item to its normal, petite size. Then the items were tossed back into the forest where they had been found.
Once everything was finished I made my way into the house and upstairs to my dorm room. When I entered, I saw that I wasn’t the only one there. Saveraeh and Gabriella were both in their pajamas and tucked into bed.
“Hey, I was wondering where you’d gone,” Gabriella said as I closed the bedroom door behind me.