by Kat Zaccard
“Hey!” she said in her perky way. “Are you lost?”
“I don’t know,” I said morosely. “Maybe. I think I just got kicked out of mythology class.” I laughed a little sheepishly, but Shea just looked confused.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To the office. I guess I missed some sort of orientation.”
A light seemed to click in Shea’s eyes. “Oh, of course! You must not know. That little bitch Jillian ditched you, huh? And of course Den Mother Grissle didn’t give you any warning. Sometimes I think they handle things all wrong here. I mean, when I first got here and went through orientation, I literally freaked out. I mean, it was cool in a way to explain some of my, uh, natural tendencies, but dang, they really drop the bomb on you, ya know?” My blank expression gave Shea pause. “Of course, you don’t know, do you? Hang on, let me see…”
“Miss Winterstone!” snapped the coach, who just noticed her by the door. She was a small, severe-looking woman. She had short gray hair in a pixie cut, but other than her size and her haircut, there was nothing pixie-ish about her. She was all sinew and muscle and looked a little like a starved cage-fighting dog. One look from her frosty blue eyes could take your head off. “You’re in! And you, young lady, get to where you’re going, now! Stop interrupting my class, before I give you detention.”
Shea looked over her shoulder and back at me. “Sorry, I guess I should’ve known Coach Murry wouldn’t let me help you. I gotta run. Go to the office near the front of the manor. They’ll fill you in. I’ll see you at lunch and we can talk more tonight.”
“Miss Winterstone!” Coach Murry barked, and with a little yelp, Shea ran onto the court.
I slunk away and headed toward the stairs. I wish Shea could’ve come with me; I was seriously confused. This place was getting weirder by the minute.
I got to the office just as the bell rang for lunch. Damn. I hope I didn’t miss lunch altogether; I was starved. The secretary had a kindly face, round and plump, with curly burgundy-red hair and deep chocolate eyes. She looked up at me with recognition.
“Ah, there you are, Miss Luna. I was beginning to worry.”
“I’m sorry, Ms.—” I looked at the name plate on her desk. “Cope. I was in the wrong class, then I got turned around finding the office.”
Ms. Cope smiled pleasantly. “That’s quite all right, dear. I remember what a maze this place can be your first few days here. You’ll get used to it. In any case, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I smiled, glad to have a friendly person to help sort out my schedule.
“Okay, let’s see…” She typed on her computer a bit. When she looked up, it was with sympathy. “So, you just turned sixteen? Lucky you got here in time, then, isn’t it? Headmaster Giovanni already left for lunch, but he’ll want to meet you formally before orientation. Jack and Kulani will show you around the grounds this afternoon. I’ll let your teachers know you’ll be out for the rest of the day. You can resume class on Monday. Take the weekend to get used to everything, all right?”
I had no idea what she was rambling about, but an afternoon off sounded good to me. “Um, okay.”
“Just come back here after you eat, and be sure to get a good meal.”
I left the office and went out the front door. I didn’t want to see anyone in the halls. My mind was spinning, and this place seemed strange. What kind of orientation would the groundskeeper and his wife give me? I wondered. Maybe they needed to show me the grounds and tour the school. I supposed that would be helpful. I’d have to remember to ask Jack where I can get supplies, and I wondered how I’d pay for them. My parents had given me a debit card for emergencies, but I wasn’t sure how much I had to spend. I needed a few basic school supplies and books. Sigh.
I entered the dorm—Ha! Mansion, more like—and headed up the enormous staircase to the sound of talking, laughter, and clinking cutlery. It was the normal sound of a cafeteria with the abnormal setting of marble floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and velvet curtains.
I loaded my plate with salad, roast beef, mashed potatoes, and a slice of cake. There was a lunch lady filling up the buffet, and she assured me there was no dairy in any of it.
Looking around the room, I saw Jillian and her friends at what seemed to be their usual table. She smirked at me as I walked by. I chose to ignore it. She reminded me of the popular mean-girl Carianne at my old school, and I wasn’t giving her any opportunities to tease me more. So what if she ditched me? I managed just fine without her.
I saw Shea outside at a patio table with a couple of boys. I guessed lunch and classes were co-ed, as long as you weren’t inside the dorms. I made my way down a back stairwell and pushed through the French doors and out onto the veranda, carefully balancing my plate.
Shea spotted me just as she was getting up to clear her plate. “Sorry, Alice, I gotta run,” she mumbled through a mouthful of food. I had the feeling she was purposely not meeting my eye. I hoped I was being paranoid, since it’d been a relief to make a friend in a new school.
I sat down at the table she’d just left. Two other kids were there: a boy I didn’t know, and Adam from art class. “Mind if I sit with you?” I asked.
“Hey Alice! How’s it going? This is Sir Loganademas Dolph.” He gestured to the boy sitting next to him. The boy rolled his eyes at Adam, muttering something like, “This is why I don’t eat lunch with you.”
Adam laughed. “Just when you need help with your math homework, right?”
Logan avoided Adam’s comment. His wavy dark blond head turned toward me, and I saw what I would say were the most beautiful deep green eyes I’d ever seen, except that it seemed a lot of people at this school had vibrant eyes in bold shades of green, blue, or copper. I was thinking this, and realizing I needed to speak.
“Hi, I’m Alice Nacht. First day.” As if that wasn’t obvious. Mental head slap.
“It’s Sir Logan of the Royal Clan Dolph, actually,” he said with a smile as he shook my hand. Now, I’m not a super girly girl who crushes on every cute boy I meet. I mean, look at Adam: charming, tall, dark and handsome, but only friend potential, especially given my suspicions about Shea’s crush. But when Logan touched my hand, I literally felt a spark. My eyes widened a little, and I couldn’t help wondering if he’d felt anything. Adam took his attention from me. Okay, guess not.
“Dude, Logan, this is Alice Luna Nacht.” I’m not sure if Adam was going for subtle, but he was definitely trying to convey something to Logan that I wasn’t privy to. Apparently Logan caught on, because he dropped my hand like it had burned him.
I tried not to blush, but I couldn’t help being a little embarrassed. Why does everyone know my name, and what the hell does it mean to everyone else but me?
I was about to ask Adam, when a familiar snide voice quipped behind me, “Oh, how cute!” Jillian trilled in false soprano. “Our own William and Kate! Do invite me to the twining, or has it begun already? Here let me help.” She plucked a hair off of my head.
“Ow! What the hell, Jillian?” I stood up ready for a fight. I was so not going to take it from her in this middle-of-nowhere prep school.
Adam stood up so quick, his chair fell over. “Jillian, that’s a pack offense. Back off, right now.” He practically growled at her. I was glad for his support, but surprised, as well. I guess I’d made two friends today.
“Thanks, Adam. It’s fine.” I was trying to diffuse the tension. Other kids were starting to stare.
I turned to see how Logan was reacting to this weird gesture from Jillian. I mean, hello, psycho? I just met the guy. I was about to make a joke to that affect, but Logan was gone, I saw the back of his head weaving between tables, wavy, dark blond hair bouncing away. Huh, well, that’s the fastest I’ve run a guy off. I shrugged. Whatever his problem was, it couldn’t really be me.
Jillian and her friends turned away, giggling, and Jillian gave me one last superior look before whipping her ice blonde hair in my face and saunterin
g off after her friends.
Adam still looked angry, but he righted his chair and made an effort to look calm, failing miserably, but I appreciated the effort. He gestured for me to sit first, then grumbled something that sounded like, “Practically a criminal offense.”
“Adam, what the hell was that?”
He looked at me and something clicked in his brain. “You don’t know do you?” he asked.
I laughed to cover my annoyance. “No, that’s why I’m asking!” I smiled to let him know I wasn’t annoyed with him. “Thanks for sticking up for me. I don’t know why girls like Jillian always hate me.”
“Speaking from past experience?” I hadn’t meant to change the subject, but I could tell Adam was relieved for the excuse to drop what just happened.
“Yeah, well, there was this pom-pom at my old school—”
“Pom-pom?” He looked puzzled.
“Like a cheerleader, but they only have to do a dance routine at halftime, and they look down on the cheerleaders who do cheers and pyramids and things throughout the entire game. They’re totally full of themselves and glamorized at my old high school.”
“Whoa, a super-cheerleader? Sounds horrifying.” Adam was nothing if not a good sport.
I laughed. “Yeah, some of them were fine, but Carianne… she was horrible. She got of all the popular kids to hate me; told everyone I was abandoned at birth because my parents thought I was ugly. She used to call me Looney Luna and Feral Alice. Whatever. It’s stupid.”
My cheeks were blazing now. I had meant to ease the tension, but I’d forgotten just how much Carianne’s taunts had bothered me last year.
Adam look aghast. “That little—” He said a word I wasn’t going to repeat. It made me feel better though, to see him so indignant on my behalf.
“Listen, Alice, no one can call you ugly. You’re beautiful and genuinely sweet, anyone can see that. It threatens the top bitch of a clique, that’s all.
I looked up at Adam, surprised that he just said all that. I mean, in my experience, boys my age weren’t usually insightful or, well, in touch with their emotions. “Adam, thank you, that’s sweet, but I’m never going to stop blushing if you don’t stop.”
He smiled back at me. “Hey, I’ll stop, but I’m glad we can be friends. We are, right?”
Now it was my turn to tease. I looked at him mock seriously. “Let’s see, you bailed me out in art class by sharing your supplies, you let me eat lunch with you, and you defended me to the … what did you call her? Top bitch of her clique? Yeah, definitely friends.”
He smiled, and while I didn’t want to spoil the moment, I also did not want to lead him on. “Uh, but just friends. Not that I’m all full of myself or anything, but you know, I left a boy behind at home, and I’m still getting my bearings here…” Adam started laughing, and I turned into a tomato again. Why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut? Now he’s going to hate me for being arrogant and presumptuous.
“Alice, stop looking at your mashed potatoes like you’re going to fall in! It’s cool. You seem like a great girl, and just friends sounds perfect. Besides”—it was his turn to blush—“I actually might have a secret crush on somebody else. Emphasis on ‘secret.’” I couldn’t believe he was embarrassing himself for the sake of letting me feel less humiliated. Whatever else I didn’t know about this new school, I definitely picked the right seat in art class.
I let out an involuntary, “Aww,” after which we both looked at each other and burst out laughing. Spontaneous chuckles turned into tearing-up hysterics. After a moment and some gasping breaths, we both agreed to never speak of our conversation again, for the sake of our pride. We sealed it with a pinkie swear.
Adam had to get to class, and I had to find Jack for my orientation. I had wanted to quiz Shea at lunch, but I was close enough to getting some answers, so that was all right.
After dumping my dishes in a bin, I headed back to Ms. Cope’s desk in the main office. She smiled brightly. “Miss Luna, right this way.”
She bounced out of her chair and practically curtsied. I followed her through the office and into another chamber. We stopped outside a large ostentatious door, and Ms. Cope knocked politely.
“Come in!” a muffled voice called.
Ms. Cope opened the door and ushered me inside. The door clicked shut behind me.
“Ah, Your Royal Highness. It is an honor to meet you. I apologize for not meeting you formally last night.” A large man stood from behind a larger desk. He greeted me at the door with a formal bow. “Welcome to Mount Henley.”
I smiled, charmed by the platitudes, even if it was slightly insulting to be treated like a little princess.
“Thank you, sir.” His hand engulfed mine, over twice its size. He seemed more suited for the WWF than an academic board. His hair was glossy black, starting to gray at the temples. His face was open, with large features and a ready smile. His thick mustache crawled across his lip like a fat, black caterpillar. He wore a sleek gray suit, but I could easily picture him out in the wilderness beyond school grounds. He motioned for me to have a seat in the large, comfy chair. He sat down behind the desk.
“So you have yet to go through orientation, and I understand this is your first visit to our campus?” I felt like he knew that and was really asking me something else. Whatever, paranoid, I thought with a grin.
“Yes, I arrived last night. Did my birth parents go to school here?” I didn’t know why I was even here. Did the headmaster greet all new students?
“Yes, your mother, of course, was always among our elite. You have her old rooms, in fact. I thought that was a nice touch. Your father was less well-known during his time at school, but he made a name for himself later on, of course.” He gave a dry laugh, but I felt I was missing the joke.
“How so?” Headmaster Giovanni looked caught off guard, and I blessed my mom for teaching me to ask simple questions. She taught me to be direct and quizzical to get to the heart of the matter, or to make sure you’re not the butt of the joke.
“My dear your mother and father are quite famous, of course.” He looked at me. “Is it possible you really don’t know?”
I smiled blandly. “I know that my birth parents set up a scholarship for me to come here. Um, that’s about it.” My smile faltered. I shifted awkwardly in my seat.
The headmaster looked nonplussed for a moment, then broke into a wide grin. “Your Royal Highness, it is an honor for me to inform you that you are Her Royal Highness Princess Alice Luna. Your mother was Queen Marguerite Helena of the Royal Clan Luna. Your father, Harold Theodore III of the Noble Clan Aoset was her Prince Consort and briefly King Regent after her death. Your parents were the last of two old and royal families. You are now the last Princess Luna. You, my dear, are next in line for the throne.”
I laughed. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Surely this was a joke.
“Of course, here at Mount Henley, we treat all of our students the same, regardless of bloodlines. However, to the rest of our world, you are royalty. You are a princess.”
“I don’t understand. Isn’t Canada part of the United Kingdom? Isn’t Queen Elizabeth II the reigning queen?”
Headmaster Giovanni smiled, not unkindly, but also not unlike how one would smile at a concussed boxer. “There are many royal families in the world. Surprise! You’re one of them. Lucky you, eh?” I giggled at this silly man. He must be joking, and I said so.
Headmaster Giovanni grinned again. “Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Your Aunt Christina, by marriage, holds the throne in your stead. Your Great Uncle Frederick died before your parents did. Sadly, you are the last Luna. Once lost, but happily, now you are found.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” How could what he was saying be true? “You’re saying my birth parents were royalty?”
“Yes, and you are Her Royal Highness Princess Alice Luna. We were beyond ecstatic to receive your application this summer.”
Headmaster Giovanni went on, but
I missed a few words as I fumed at the thought that my parents had sent my application in the summer. They’d been planning my exile long before my sixteenth birthday last week.
I tried to tune back into what he was saying. His lilting Italian accent was melodic enough to fade into the background easily. “…you won’t come into your full inheritance until your eighteenth birthday of course, but you’ve been given a generous monthly stipend out of your estate in the meantime.”
He handed me a black credit card. I looked at it quizzically, then stuffed it into my back pocket.
“Don’t worry, it will all become clear soon enough. Jack and Kulani will show you around the grounds. You can meet Jack out front. Again, it is an honor to have you here at Mount Henley, Your Royal Highness.” He stood and bowed again.
Chapter 3
I left the office feeling dazed. I ignored Ms. Cope’s chipper goodbye and walked through the deserted halls like a zombie.
This had to be a joke, right? I mean, my parents would’ve told me if my birth family was like royalty or something. They knew better than to keep a secret like that after the adoption fiasco, right?
I walked through the building to meet Jack on the front steps. Flannel must have been his uniform, because today he was wearing a blue-and-green one with battered jeans. His golden eyes twinkled when he saw me.
“Hey, Miss Nacht, thanks for getting me out of my afternoon chores.” He smiled to let me know he meant it.
“Hi, Jack. You can call me Alice, unless there’s some rule or something. I guess that’s what you’re here for, to tell me all of the rules?” Jeez, I’m turning into my mother, chatting nervously. I guess the stress at lunch left me a little vulnerable. Thank God Ms. Grissle wasn’t giving the orientation.
