by Kirsten Boie
“Well, I already kissed him,” said Jenna defiantly. “On the balcony. So he’s already caught all my viruses!”
When you’ve got a fever, maybe you lose a few inhibitions.
Mom laughed. “Then you can dream about him,” she said. “That’ll do you more good than any medicine.”
Jenna sipped at the steaming mug of tea. It was much too hot. Mom had never understood that honey lost all its vitamins if it was dissolved in such hot water. But at least Mom could tell her what had happened today. Jenna slid back under the covers, putting the mug on the bedside table. “So, what’s the latest?”
Mom understood. “They went and arrested him,” she said softly. “At the mill. Now he’s in prison. Don’t be sad, Jenna. I wish I could have given you a better father. But in those days I was young and stupid.”
Jenna nodded. Mom shouldn’t be apologizing. It had all been way worse for her. First Norlin, then Petterson. Poor Mom, she thought. Who knows if she’ll ever trust a man again? Jenna decided not to ask what had happened to Petterson.
Then she thought again of Jonas. Fortunately, she had not inherited Mom’s bad luck!
“And eventually they’ll find Bolström,” said Margareta. “I’m sure they will, and the two of them will be put on trial, along with Petterson and von Thunberg and all their accomplices.”
“What about Liron?” asked Jenna with a big sniff.
“He’s here with Jonas,” said her mother. “Now blow your nose! Is that how you were brought up? Otherwise you’ll get blocked sinuses on top of your fever, and we don’t want that!” She sighed, and pushed another tissue into Jenna’s hand. Then she watched Jenna give a mighty blow, after which she threw the tissue with unerring aim into the wastebasket. “Finding the accomplices won’t be so easy, though. What’s the evidence? Who’s going to confess to being part of it, now that the plan has failed? But the real heroes are you children. Magnus and I are so proud of you.”
Jenna sneezed. “I don’t feel like a hero,” she said grumpily, and rolled her eyes.
Mom laughed. “Sleep well, my little snuffler. Tomorrow everything will look different.”
She turned off the light and pulled the door shut behind her.
Jenna rolled over on one side. How could life be so unfair? She’d helped to protect the country against the conspirators, and now she had to lie in this dark room all alone while everyone else was out partying. Was that gratitude? Was that any way to treat a princess who was also a hero?
“What a bummer!” she murmured, and had a good cough.
At that moment, the door opened very quietly. Jenna only noticed it because for a second a thin shaft of light fell on the carpet. Then the room was dark again.
“Jenna?” whispered a voice that she would have recognized anywhere. “Jenna, are you awake?”
“Bea?” said Jenna in amazement, and bolted up in bed as the light went on. “What are you doing here?”
“I so knew you wouldn’t be asleep,” said Bea, and stopped three paces away from the bed to give a little bow. “I’d have been surprised if you were. Just please don’t give me your virus, Your Highness. I want to live it up while I’m here. How often do I get the chance to hang out in a palace?”
“But how did you …?” Jenna started to ask, before being rattled by another bout of coughing. “What are you doing here?”
“Your moms invited me,” said Bea, pulling up a chair so that she could sit close to the bed. “To join in the celebration! Because I helped you with the TV people, et cetera. But then she told me you were ill, so I said, in that case, I’d come and see you …”
“… but then, let me guess, she said I needed to sleep,” said Jenna. “Classic! Pass me a tissue, please?”
Bea looked for the box. “So I just sneaked away,” said Bea. “Since that time we climbed out the window, I’ve really felt like doing it again. You know, a crazy adventure! Seriously, Jenna, it’s so just like in a movie!”
Jenna giggled. “Oh, totally. Especially the part at the end when I catch a cold,” she said. “How anticlimactic!”
Bea shrugged. “Even royalty can catch cold,” she said. “Moving on. The boy. Details, now. Why wouldn’t you admit it last time?”
“Oh!” said Jenna. Should she tell Bea the whole story? After all, she was and would always be her BFF …
“One day there shall be a double wedding!” Bea pronounced dramatically, draping a clean tissue over her head like a bridal veil, then passing Jenna the mug of lemon tea. “Now drink up, my child. Yes, you and Sir Spaghetti-and-Meatballs, and Malena and that Mr. Brainiac she’s besotted with. I shall be your bridesmaid, and wear a fetching designer frock the color of which is yet to be determined. How completely and utterly romantic!”
Jenna couldn’t help but smile. “Mom’s forbidden Jonas to come and see me,” she said, taking a gulp. The lemon and honey drink had cooled down a bit by now.
Bea nodded thoughtfully. “When that woman’s right, she’s very, very right,” she said, giving Jenna a searching look. “Frankly, my dear, you look dreadful. Although with true love, that’s not supposed to matter. Personally, I wouldn’t want to take the chance!”
Right then there was a cautious knock at the door. “Jenna?” whispered the voice that would have made her immediately turn red if the fever hadn’t already done the job.
“Ooh, busted!” Bea whispered. “Now we’ll find out whether he really loves you.”
In the doorway stood Jonas, Malena, and Perry, all three with trays in their hands. “I see you’ve already got a party going on in here!” said Malena. “Can we join you?”
“We figured that if you weren’t coming to the party, then the party should come to you,” said Perry, and put his tray down on the desk. “We only brought the best. Who’d like some crudités?” he said in a pompous voice. “Buffalo wings? Waffle fries?”
Jenna wasn’t even listening to him. She wished she could disappear under the covers.
“Well, Jenna,” said Jonas, sitting down at the end of the bed. “I have to say your hair looks as stunning as a toilet brush.” The expression in his eyes was everything she could have wanted it to be. Then he gave her foot a quick squeeze through the blankets.
“I look awful,” she mumbled.
Jonas nodded. “That you do,” he said.
“Jonas!” cried Malena. “You mustn’t say such things!”
“Why not?” said Jonas, grinning at Jenna. “She knows I really think she’s beautiful!”
Perry made a gagging noise. “Stop!” he said. “Or I’ll puke. You’ve been watching too many bad movies.”
“I think so, too,” said a voice from the doorway.
Jenna looked over. No doubt her fever had crept up a few more degrees in all this excitement, but she didn’t care. “Ylva?” she said.
“I’ve brought the drinks,” said Ylva, carefully depositing a tray on the floor. “If you don’t mind? Since all the interesting people at this party seem to be hanging out in here … Anyway, I just wanted to tell you …”
“It’s OK,” said Jenna, looking toward the end of the bed, where Jonas had now settled in comfortably. Life was perfect. “You don’t have to —”
“But I want to,” Ylva persisted. “Jenna, I’m sorry. I behaved very, very badly.”
“If it’s going to get this serious, I’m out of here!” said Perry. “Is it? ’Cause I’ll go join the conga line with the old folks, I swear.”
“Oh no!” said Malena.
“Oh no!” said Jonas.
“No, definitely no!” said Jenna.
“Who’d like a soda?” asked Ylva.
Jenna sighed. What a good thing it was that Mom had told her to stay in bed!
Kirsten Boie, author of The Princess Plot and its sequel, The Princess Trap, was born in Hamburg, Germany, where she still lives today. Before becoming an author, Kirsten worked as a grade-school teacher. She began writing after the adoption of her first child, and since then she has publ
ished more than sixty books for young readers. She is the recipient of the prestigious German Youth Literature Award, and many of her books have become international bestsellers.
Original text copyright © 2007 by Verlag Friedrich Oetinger
English translation copyright © 2009 by David Henry Wilson
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. Originally published in hardcover in 2010 by Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, CHICKEN HOUSE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. www.scholastic.com
This edition first printing, June 2012
Cover art © iStock
Cover design by Becky Terhune
e-ISBN 978-0-545-44303-6
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