UnTwisted

by Elise Allen

  Sara lowered her head and tried to take deep breaths, then she heard a familiar voice. “Her room’s this way,” it said. “Six down from mine. But you should just go yourself. I don’t have anything to say to her.” Then a far more familiar voice answered, “You do. You’re teammates. You’re going to see each other all the time. You have to work this out, and I’m sure she feels better about everything now than she did last night.”

  That voice was Flissa’s. Sara flung herself off the wall and hurtled down the hall in her direction. Flissa was walking with Zinka, and they both looked at Sara like she was something slimy about to splatter on them.

  “Sara?!” Flissa asked, sounding heart-piercingly horrified. “What are you doing here?”

  “How did you even get up here?” Zinka asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Flissa asked, folding her arms. “From Zinka. You know, my friend, Zinka.”

  Zinka furrowed her brow and looked at Flissa like she’d lost her mind. “She knows who I am, Flissa.”

  Flissa didn’t bother to explain the slight, she just raised an eyebrow to Sara.

  “I brought your Literature book,” Sara said, pulling it out of the canvas bag. “Mom wrote me a permission slip so the fairies would let me up to find you. Do you think we could talk for a second? Outside maybe?”

  Sara glanced at Zinka. She really didn’t want to do this in front of her.

  “I can’t right now,” Flissa said. “Zinka and I have to talk to Loriah.”

  Flissa continued down the hall, right past Sara. Zinka kept pace with her. All Sara could do was follow them and plead her case. “Flissa, come on! I ran! A lot! Me! I got pebbles spewed at me by a carriage and I bammed into an invisible wall! It still hurts—I probably have a giant bump on my head.” She gingerly touched the top of her head, then winced and quickly drew her fingers away. “Yes! I totally have a giant bump on my head.”

  It was humiliating to chase after her sister, begging for attention. Other girls in the hall were staring. But Sara didn’t care. She was here, they had time before class, Flissa was clearly still upset…they had to talk it out.

  “You can’t come in here,” Flissa said when she had her hand on Loriah’s doorknob. “You weren’t invited.”

  Sara reeled back at the iciness in Flissa’s voice, but she pulled herself tall again. “I’ll wait out here, then,” she said. “And if there’s still time before class, we can talk.”

  Flissa folded her arms and locked eyes with her. The go away message was loud and clear, but Sara wouldn’t budge.

  “For real, you’re just gonna stand there staring at each other?” Zinka said. She leaned past Flissa, turned Loriah’s knob, and pushed the door open.

  “Whoa,” Zinka said, then she grabbed Flissa’s arm so hard Sara saw Zinka’s red-scratched knuckles go white. At the same time, Sara and Flissa both looked into Loriah’s open room.

  Loriah was on her back, seizing in midair. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and her mouth foamed as her whole body twitched violently, as if she’d been struck by lightning.

  Sara barely had time to register what was happening before Flissa screamed down the hall, “Somebody call for help! Loriah was cursed!”

  “On it!” Zinka said. She pulled out her vial of message milk while Flissa raced into Loriah’s room. Sara fol-lowed her.

  “Help me turn her on her side!” Flissa shouted. “We have to keep her airway clear!”

  Sara didn’t doubt her for a second. Ever since their time in the Twists, Flissa had read everything she could about curses, and would throw out the most gruesome bits of information at the worst times, like just before Sara was about to bite into a drippy tomato-and-mutton sandwich.

  Sara and Flissa gently placed their hands on Loriah’s thrashing and jerking body and tipped her to the side. She was still convulsing, but at least she was in a better position.

  “What if she falls?” Sara asked. “She’s floating now, but what if the curse fades or changes or something and she falls? We should put something under her.”

  “Yes, that’s good,” Flissa said. “Grab the pillows from her bed. Hurry!”

  Sara was glad she’d come up with something helpful. She scrambled up the ladder to Loriah’s loft bed and found four pillows, which she threw to Flissa before climbing back down. She’d only made it halfway when she heard a loud THUMP.

  Loriah had plummeted to the floor.

  Sara scrambled down the ladder and joined Flissa, who knelt at Loriah’s side. It looked like the pillows had helped; Loriah had dropped down on top of them, but her eyes were squeezed shut and she looked drained.

  “OW.”

  Loriah said it like a statement, not an emotional reaction to her pain. If anything, she sounded annoyed. Sara thought it was a good sign.

  “Loriah?” Flissa asked, and Sara was impressed by how calm she made herself sound. She knew that, inside, Flissa’s heart was thundering as loud as her own.

  “Let me through!”

  Amala’s voice sliced through the room, and Flissa and Sara got up and moved aside so the Shadow could see Loriah. Two people Sara didn’t know followed Amala in. Doctors, maybe? Other Shadows?

  “Thank you, Princesses,” Amala said. “We’ll take it from here, but I’ll have some questions. Please wait outside the room with Dame Yentley.”

  Dame Yentley’s name made Sara purse her lips to hold in an inappropriate smile. She waited until she and Flissa had walked past Amala and the others, then she whispered, “Waiting with Dame Yently would be delicious.”

  Flissa gave the littlest snort before she regained control of herself and softly added, “Yummy.”

  She darted her eyes to Sara’s, and they exchanged a smile. It made Sara feel like everything that happened last night didn’t matter. They were back to themselves again.

  “Oh, darling Princesses!” Dame Yentley cried when they emerged into the hall. She wrapped them both in an awkward hug—especially awkward since she only came up to their shoulders and made them feel like giants. “It is always delectable to see you, but I’m sorry the circumstances are so unappetizing.”

  Sara caught Flissa’s eyes over the top of Dame Yentley’s head; they danced with suppressed giggles, and Flissa raised an eyebrow that begged Sara not to laugh, because then she’d do the same and there was no good way to explain why the situation would give them the giggles. Sara bit her cheeks, and when Dame Yentley let them go, she saw that the hall was empty. Only Zinka was out here with them, a giant oak to Dame Yentley’s acorn.

  “She okay?” Zinka asked, her brow furrowed as she looked at Flissa. Flissa immediately grew serious again, and Sara felt a flare of resentment, as if Zinka had physically stepped between them.

  “I think so,” Flissa said. “I’m not sure.”

  “Oh, come on! No. I’m fine!” Loriah’s voice rang out from her room.

  “It’s a precaution,” Amala said. “We want to make sure you’re okay. You were cursed.”

  “Yeah. And I grew up in the Twists. You think that was the first time?” Loriah shot back. Then Amala must have done something, because two seconds later Loriah huffed and said, “Fine, I’m going, but not in that. I’m walking.”

  Loriah strode out of the room, looking every inch her normal self. She rolled her eyes at the girls. “They magicked up a stretcher and wanted me to get on it. Like that was gonna happen. They’re making me go to the infirmary, though. Back for hoodle practice, for sure. Oh, hey, Sara.”

  She kept moving down the stairs, and the two men who’d come in with Amala had to scramble after her.

  “She won’t be at hoodle practice today,” Amala said as she emerged from Loriah’s room. She looked serious, but her mouth turned up at the edges, like she was secretly impressed by the way Loriah had handled the situation. “Thank you, Dame Yentley. You may go.”

  “Oh, that’s all right. I don’t mind staying,” Dame Yentley said as she patted the bun on her head. “I’m sure the princesses
could use a friendly face after their trauma.”

  She reached up to pat both Flissa and Sara on the shoulder. Amala gave her a tight smile. “I apologize. I didn’t realize I needed to be clearer. Instead of ‘may,’ I should have said ‘You must go.’”

  Dame Yentley blushed bright red. “Oh…yes…well…that’s actually better then…I’m in the middle of an absolutely scrumptious lesson plan, and I’m eager to get back to it. Bye now, Your Highnesses!”

  She waddled off, and Sara knew she should wait for Amala to speak, but she had a million questions and she couldn’t keep them all in.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Was there a magical signature? Do you know who did it? Is she okay?”

  Amala raised an eyebrow. Sara had more questions, but she let her voice fade away.

  “She seems fine,” Amala said, “but we’re going to keep her at the infirmary for a bit to make sure. There was no magical signature, but I believe that’s because the curse wore off before I arrived. You didn’t find her on the floor, is that correct?”

  “No,” Flissa said. She told Amala everything, from the moment they opened Loriah’s door to the moment Amala walked in. Amala listened, nodding. Sara thought the Shadow might congratulate them on working so quickly to call her, turn Loriah to the side, and get the pillows under her, but she simply moved on to her next thought.

  “I see,” she said. “So we’ll need to suss out who did this another way. Did anyone have a reason to curse Loriah? Some kind of grudge or argument? Even something insignificant. Anything.”

  Sara saw Flissa and Zinka share the briefest look before Zinka said, “Nope,” at the same time Flissa said, “No, not at all.”

  Sara frowned. She was sure she remembered Flissa saying last night that Zinka and Loriah had some kind of drama. “But—” she began, then Flissa glared at her so harshly, Sara thought cream-colored mist might come out of her eyes and curse her on the spot. The look was almost as awful as if she had.

  “Yes, Sara?” Amala asked. “Did you want to say something?”

  “No,” Sara said. “Sorry—I was thinking of something else.”

  “I see,” Amala said. “First block has already started, but I’ll send bubblegrams to make sure you don’t get detention. If you want to visit Loriah later, I’ll be keeping her at the infirmary for the day. You may go.”

  Flissa and Zinka exchanged a relieved look, and for the first time Sara noticed the dark circles under Zinka’s eyes.

  What were they keeping secret? Did Zinka curse Loriah? And if she did, why was Flissa protecting her? And why wasn’t Amala picking up on all the things Sara saw?

  Unless she was picking up on them but specifically ignoring them. Maybe because of whatever Amala was plotting with her Ambassadors of Kaloonification.

  Sara’s skin crawled as she thought of Loriah floating on her back. With the exception of the thrashing, it wasn’t that different from the way Nikkolas and Jentrie looked when Amala had them suspended in the air, was it?

  Sara took deep breaths and kept her eyes to the floor as she followed Flissa and Zinka to the stairs, but then Amala called out, “Sara, please stay a moment.”

  Flissa and Zinka wheeled to look at her, and Flissa’s eyes flashed with that look again—as if Sara were guilty of some kind of horrible betrayal. Sara barely registered it; she was too worried about Amala. How strong was her Shadow magic? Did she know what Sara was thinking? Is that why she called her back?

  “See you at Magic Lab,” she croaked to her sister and Zinka. They both stared another moment, and Zinka looked so earth-shatteringly tired that Sara almost asked her what was wrong…but the moment passed. Zinka nodded and turned away, while Flissa said, “Yes. See you,” and shot her a last meaningful look before following her friend downstairs.

  Sara watched them go as if they were the last lifeboat leaving a sinking ship.

  “I know you saw us,” Amala said softly when they were gone.

  Sara desperately didn’t want to turn around, but she did. She half expected Amala to have morphed into a sallow-eyed venom-dripping beast, but the Shadow looked beautiful as always and completely relaxed and calm. She leaned casually against the wall, and it was so unlike her usual formal pose that somehow Sara found it even more intimidating, like she’d dropped her veneer specifically because Sara had already seen past it to the demon inside.

  “Saw…what?” Sara squeaked.

  “Oh, come now,” Amala said. “Let’ s not play games. I didn’t want to say anything in front of the Ambassadors; I want them to feel comfortable in my meetings and not worried about prying eyes. But I heard you when you moved out of the hall, and I know you were watching and listening.”

  Sara was as terrified as she’d been when she saw Rouen in the Twists, before she knew he was on her side. When she thought he was an emissary from the Keepers of the Light, come to destroy her.

  “No,” Sara said. “I mean, yes, but I…I mean…I wasn’t spying really, I just…it was an accident and—”

  Amala smiled. “Sara, relax. I’m not upset. You were coming out of detention, you were looking for the bathroom, and you got lost.”

  “You—” Sara’s voice caught in her throat. “You know all that? You can read minds?”

  Amala’s laugh was surprisingly full and rich. “No,” she said. “I can ask questions, which is what I did. And I want to apologize for not coming to the palace and talking to you sooner, because I can imagine what you must have thought.”

  “You can?”

  “Of course. Keeping Genpos in suspended animation while I regaled those with magic about their superiority? I’m sure you thought the Cleaner was back…that is, if you believed she’d ever left.”

  Amala raised an eyebrow.

  Was she looking for an answer? Sara tried to stammer something intelligent, but only got as far as, “Ahhhh…errrrr…ummmm.”

  “I am not against Genpos,” Amala assured her. “Nor am I scheming with the magical students. I want Kaloonification to work—desperately—but I also recognize the reality that we’re divided. And while we all have to take steps to make things better, it’s a simple fact that those with magic—”

  “Are more powerful than the Genpos,” Sara said, remembering Flissa’s words. “And because of that, we have a responsibility to help them. Like parents of small children.”

  Amala cocked her head, surprised.

  “Flissa read me part of your book,” Sara said. “When I told her what I saw.”

  “Really?” Amala’s voice lilted with delight, and she clapped her hands, smiling wide. “That’s wonderful. I had no idea anyone was still reading it. It’s exciting, you know; you write a book, put it out there in the world…you really don’t know if anyone will read it. But to have it on someone’s bookshelf after all this time…Was it on her bookshelf?”

  “Um…yes,” Sara said, feeling very uncomfortable. “May I go now?”

  “Of course, yes,” Amala said, waving a hand in the air as if to brush away her own train of thought. “I just wanted to make sure you understood and didn’t have the wrong idea. You do understand, yes?”

  Sara didn’t know what she understood, but Amala’s eyes were suddenly cold marbles, and there was really only one possible answer to the question.

  “Yes,” she said. “I understand.”

  She hoped Amala wasn’t lying when she said she couldn’t read minds.

  “Good. Off to class, then. I’ll see you in Magic Lab.”

  Sara said goodbye and ran down the stairs, out the door, and down the patio stairs, her head swimming and so full that she barely registered it when someone called, “Hey!”

  The familiar voice tapped into the edges of her thoughts, but it had to call out again before she saw Galric running across the fields toward her, Krystal at his side.

  “Hey!” he said again as he bounded in front of her, panting from the effort. “What happened? Is Loriah okay?”

  “I think so,” Sara said. “How
did you know?”

  “Word spreads,” Krystal said, grinning and bouncing on her toes so her hair flopped around.

  Sara fixed her with a look. “Why are you here?”

  She didn’t mean it to sound rude. Not really. But Galric and Krystal both frowned, so Sara shook her head and tried to walk it back. “I mean, first block started, so…”

  “I had Athletics with Lazando,” Galric said. “He let me go. He kinda buys that whole hero thing, so…” He blushed and couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “He buys it ’cause you are a hero,” Krystal said. Then she turned to Sara. “I had Chemistry, and my teacher got a bubblegram from Amala to come to the girls’ dorm and take care of ‘a situation,’ so we all got the period free. Pretty cool, right? I mean…not cool that your friend got hurt, just cool that…” Krystal winced, clearly realizing she’d steered the conversation down a bad path. “Anyway, I saw Galric and tagged along. Is your friend okay?”

  Like you actually care is what Sara was about to say, but she stopped herself. She really needed to talk to someone, and it couldn’t be Flissa since her sister was now lying to protect…Zinka? Amala? Who even knew? And while Sara would love to tell only Galric, there was no way she could keep everything in until after school, and there wasn’t a chance she’d see him alone before that.

  Sara looked over her shoulder to see if Amala was coming out of the dorm, then lowered her voice. “I need to tell you something, but I don’t want to do it here. Topiary garden, okay? And not in a group.” Sara knew she was being paranoid, but she could imagine Amala watching from the window and getting suspicious of the three of them sneaking off together. “Spread out and we’ll meet there, okay?”

  Both Galric and Krystal looked concerned, but they didn’t question her. They turned and walked off in separate directions, and Sara walked with a purpose as if she were headed to Ethics class, yet once she was out of sight from the dorms, she curved around and took the long way to the topiary garden. Krystal was already there when she arrived.

  “Hey,” Sara said.