by Rose, Imogen
“Faustine,” Dr. Parker, my psychology teacher sighed. “Surely you can muster up enough energy to make it through class?”
I nodded at him. I’d have to wait until after school to talk to Taylor, anyway. She was taking a much deserved day off.
No such luck for Luke! Dorian had arrived with Mom early this morning. As soon as they had reached Manhattan, Dorian got a call from Alfred saying that he was needed back in London again. So, once he spent some time making sure that Luke was well enough to go to school, he took off. Luke was struggling through the day’s classes, same as me.
My biggest regret from last night was not having had a chance to talk to Kismet. After all that! I was desperate to find out more about her, but Suman disappeared with her as soon as she heard that Katerina was still around.
Ryker had returned to my room late last night to fill me in on the Katerina situation. He had wandered her back to her apartment and plunked her down on her bed. Then, he waited. Why? I guess out of curiosity. He was as nosy as I was. He made himself invisible and watched her sleep. A little creepy. Ryker said that she slept for a couple of hours before she awoke. He had been startled as she suddenly sat up in bed, her red, expressionless eyes wide and her fingers fused. Her zombie-like look made him question his nosiness. When she stood upright in one jerky maneuver, he considered bailing. But he stayed put. He watched her put her hand to her head and shriek in pain, and then stumble into the kitchen where she gulped down several glasses of water and a handful of painkillers. She then pulled out a slice of steak from the refrigerator and devoured it raw. Once she was done, she’d walked into the living room and slumped onto the couch.
She remained there, sitting in silence, for ages, until she spotted Robert’s jacket. She snatched it up from the floor, where it had been discarded before Robert had made his way to her bedroom last night. She sat down and brought the jacket to her nose, seeming to breathe in the scent. Her vacant expression slowly morphed into anger. Fury. She let out a blood-curling screech and transformed into a demon. That’s when Ryker bailed.
And landed back in my bedroom, where he stayed the night, falling asleep while trying to remember what homework he needed to complete.
The bell finally rang. I was beyond relieved that it was finally lunch. Not only was I really hungry, I was also desperate to talk to Luke. We walked into the cafeteria together, hoping to grab a couple of sandwiches and find a quiet corner somewhere.
No such luck. Viola, Audrey, Nicole, Mel, Kelsey, and Tara were waiting for me.
Luke shook his head. “Can’t deal with them right now. Talk to you later, Princess. Come to the basement apartment after school.”
I nodded and went to join my friends.
“Hey! Where have you been?” Viola asked.
“I haven’t been feeling well, must have caught something,” I lied.
“Like what?” Audrey asked me suspiciously. She would know that I don’t catch anything.
I shrugged, shooting her a look. “Don’t know; I’m fine now.”
“I wonder if Taylor and Neave are down with the same.” Kelsey pondered. “Has anyone spoken to them?” She picked up her cell phone when everyone shook their heads. “Shall I call them?”
“Call them after school,” I suggested. “If they have whatever I had, they’re probably sleeping.”
“Well, my mom’s having a private trunk show after school. I’m sure Taylor will want to come...” Nicole persisted.
“Text her,” I suggested. Nicole’s fingers got busy tapping her phone.
“Faustine, you should come, too,” Nicole invited. “I would have said something earlier, but you haven’t been around. The twins are coming. We could ask Neave as well.”
“Faustine can’t make it,” Fitch announced from behind me.
“Fitch! How’s Taylor?” Nicole asked.
“Is she feeling any better?” I hurriedly interjected to give Fitch a clue.
“Better,” he said vaguely.
“Will she be well enough to come to a trunk party this afternoon? She comes every year; she won’t want to miss it,” Nicole added. “There’s going be awesome swag this year. I’ve had a sneak peek.”
“Oh, what?” Tara practically screamed. “Tell!”
“No, you’re going to have to wait,” Nicole laughed. “So, Fitch? Taylor?”
“I’ll call her and find out,” he said dismissing her. “Faustine, we need to talk....”
“Oooo, what’s going on here?” Kelsey teased. “Does Ryker know? Where is he, by the way? Sick, too?”
“Good grief, girls. Give me a break! Nothing’s going on; and yes, Ryker isn’t feeling good either.”
Actually, Ryker had been summoned back to Spencer’s this morning. He–well, both of us, actually–had been rudely awakened by a formidable-looking lady. She turned out to be Amadea, Spencer’s wife, the same one who had warned Ryker to stay away from me. She had insisted that Ryker wander back to Spencer’s with her. We weren’t even able to say a proper goodbye before she practically hauled him off. I should have grabbed onto him and gone with them, but I was so groggy from my abrupt awakening, that I had just sat and stared at them. I hoped he was going to be all right.
“Earth calling Faustine!” Viola nudged me. “You okay? You seemed to be in a trance.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, I guess. I’m just a bit tired from being ill.”
“I’ll meet you after school and walk you home,” Fitch said as the bell rang.
The rest of the school day was uneventful and pretty boring. I wandered into detention with Luke, put my head down on the desk and promptly fell asleep. When we met up with Fitch an hour later, he looked annoyed.
“Wassup?” I managed.
“You should have told me you had detention. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Sorry, Fitchy,” I pouted.
He laughed. “I have a sister; that doesn’t work on me. I’ll take the apology, though. So what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I mumbled. “I’m going home to sleep some more.”
“No. You’re not,” Luke and Fitch said simultaneously.
“Why not?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
“Because we have another issue,” Fitch declared.
“Yeah? Don’t tell me; I don’t want to know,” I yawned.
Luke put his hands firmly on my shoulders and glared into my eyes. “I don’t flipping care if you’re tired! You’re the sovereign, so deal with it!”
Temper! “When was the last time you ate, Luke?”
“Why?” he asked irritated.
“You seem a bit on edge.”
“I’m on edge because we have an issue; that’s all,” he said, more evenly.
We walked the rest of the way in silence and went straight to the basement apartment after texting Mom to let her know that I’d be late. She responded with an angry text that said that Manuel was waiting for my fitting. Oh, well.
Once the three of us were safely in the apartment, Luke dove right in. “Katerina has disappeared.”
“Where to?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes. He needed to eat; he was being very testy. “Disappeared,” he repeated. “Dad decided to go and check in on her before flying back to London, but she was not in her apartment.”
“That’s not exactly disappeared,” I protested.
“True,” Fitch agreed, “but no one has seen her, not the doorman or any of her friends. Alexandra and Edith tried tracking her when they went to her apartment last night to put a shield around it. She couldn’t be located, which is disturbing.”
I told them what Ryker had said about what had happened to Katerina when she woke up in her apartment. “So, the last Katerina sighting is when Ryker saw her transform into a demon.”
“That means that we are all still in danger,” Luke sighed. “Nothing has changed.”
“Well, that’s not entirely true. You’re free, as is Kismet. I assume she’s in hiding with Suman, so she should
be okay.”
“And we have Dad,” Fitch added.
“What did Edith do with him?”
“She’s keeping him incarcerated at a safe location while they decide what to do with him.”
“Does he know that we have his twins?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” was the reply.
I wondered if Robert cared, or were they, too, just tools for him to use to achieve his goals. “This has been an interesting chat, but I want to go home now. Katerina is missing. There’s not a lot we can do, apart from being careful,” I mused.
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “That’s why it’s been decided that you will stay here, in the basement apartment, for now. Lady Annabel will be joining you.”
I laughed. “Luke, there’s no way Mom would agree to stay here! And neither will I!”
“You have no choice. This is a direct order from Queen Alexandra. Your mother just texted me to say that Alexandra spoke with her, and that she’s on her way down.”
“Queen Alexandra’s orders? She can’t do that!”
“She can. She’s the sovereign demon of New York, and you are under her dominion.”
Way to treat a fellow ruler. Just wait until she visited my realm! No soup for her, as The Soup Nazi would say. I pursed my lips and furrowed my brow to make it exactly clear how unhappy I was about this. I hated being confined!
“How long am I stuck here?” I asked haughtily.
“We’re not exactly enjoying this either,” Luke muttered. “I’m just going from one prison to another,” he said sourly. “Anyhow, to answer your question, until you are sworn in.”
“Two days? I’ve got to live here for two days?” I spat.
“Not exactly, just over a day and then we’re leaving for London.”
“What about school?”
“We’ll all still be going to school,” Fitch replied. “But no trunk parties for you.”
“Oh, but I have something much better than that!” Mom exclaimed, walking into the apartment. “Manuel will be here soon to do a fitting; that should be fun!”
“Here? He’s coming to the basement apartment? Can we trust him? He seemed to know Katerina...” I warned.
“I wish you had told me that earlier,” Mom replied. “I assumed that she met him for the first time at the fashion show at home.”
“No, Mom. She set that up. She called him and had him call you.”
She shook her head. “Well, it’s too late now. Neave is on her way downstairs with him.”
“What do we know about him?” Luke asked.
“He’s been my personal shopper for a year. My friend Penny recommended him,” Mom said. “I don’t know anything about his personal life. Professionally, he’s always come through for me. I haven’t landed on a worst-dressed list...” she shrugged.
“Is he human?”
“I always assumed so, but...” She shrugged again.
“Look, let’s play it by ear,” I suggested. “Too late to do anything else,” I said, as there was a knock on the door.
“Hi,” waved Neave as she walked in with Manuel, who smiled once he spotted Mom.
Manuel was pushing a cart laden with garment bags and boxes. “Lady Annabel, I brought everything I could think of,” he huffed, as he pushed the cart into the corner.
“Did you bring suits for the boys?” she asked, nodding at Luke and Fitch.
“Yes, ma’am, I did,” he confirmed, pointing to the garment bags.
I went first. I went into the study and changed into the dress hidden in the garment bag labeled Princess. It fit like a glove, and since it didn’t need any further adjustments, I put it back into the bag and handed it back to Manuel, who had waited in the living room with the others.
“But, Princess,” he protested. “I must see it on, to make sure it’s right.”
“It’s right. Take my word for it,” I said firmly. “Who’s next?”
Mom went next, and once she was done, Neave was fitted, followed by Fitch and then Luke. I called Alexandra while Mom was in with Manuel. She arrived at the apartment while Luke was being fitted.
Once the fittings were complete, Manuel gathered all his bits and pieces and made ready to leave.
“Manuel, you seem to have quite a few alterations to do,” Alexandra observed, watching him go through his paperwork.
“Manuel, this is my friend, Alexandra,” Mom introduced.
“Very nice to meet you,” Manuel responded.
“Manuel, we would like you to be our guest here until we fly to London. You’ll have plenty of space to do your alterations,” Alexandra offered.
“That’s very nice of you, but I’ll need the supplies at my workshop.”
“I’ve got someone bringing your entire workshop over here,” Alexandra retorted.
“Why?” Manuel protested. He looked flustered and angry. I couldn’t blame him for that.
“I apologize if I have angered you,” Alexandra soothed. “The Princess’ outfit needs to remain confidential until the coronation. This is to ensure that it does. You’ll be given everything you need right here, and it’s only for a short time.”
“But my family,” Manuel protested. “They need me!”
“I can bring them here as well,” Alexandra offered.
Manuel sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s okay. I just wish I’d been told before. I’ll call them and let them know,” he said, pulling out his cell phone.
As he did that, Mom and Alexandra followed Luke through the apartment getting rooms assigned to everyone. It was going to be cramped. I was going to have to share with Neave.
“Is this really necessary?” I asked Alexandra.
“I don’t know. But my priority is to make sure that you get to your coronation safely, so if this is what I have to do to keep you safe, I will,” she said firmly. “We’ve still not located Katerina. Robert’s in confinement, but as long as Katerina is at large, I’m uncomfortable. I’ve increased own security as well.”
“Where are Kismet and Tessa? Are they safe?”
“I don’t know where Suman took Kismet,” Alexandra shrugged. “Tessa and Pauline are staying over at Edith’s house.”
I nodded. I knew Alexandra was doing her best. I shouldn’t have tried to make it difficult for her. If Katerina was just a demon, she’d be no problem for me. It was her witch component that made her a threat. I had no way of fighting her spells.
“Is Taylor coming to the coronation?” I asked.
“Yes, of course! She’s thrilled about it. She’s got a fabulous dress and can’t wait to show it off.”
“Can you do me a favor?” I asked.
“Sure.”
I handed her a list containing the names of those I’d like to see at the coronation. The whole thing seemed more real now that I had tried on the dress. Since I had to go through with it, I wanted to share it with my close friends. The list included Audrey, Viola, Kelsey, Nicole,Tessa and some of my friends from the Academy. Ryker was on there, too.
Alexandra scanned the list and nodded. “I’ll take care of it. All apart from the humans and Ryker. They can’t come.”
“I understand about the humans, but why not Ryker?”
“I can’t get involved in Sigma-W politics. Ryker disobeyed his uncle, so it’s between the two of them to decide whether or not he will go to the coronation. I’m sure Spencer is aware that you highly desire Ryker’s presence....”
Highly desire was an understatement. More like needed.
I woke up feeling stiff. Sharing the queen-size bed with Neave sucked. I was used to sleeping on a king-size one by myself. Neave spent the entire night tossing and turning, pushing me to the very edge of the bed. I stretched, quietly, so as to not wake her. It was only four in the morning, still plenty of sleep time left before school. I got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen to get something to drink.
