"I have a surprise for you." D'artagnon said proudly "Your mother's moving here!"
"Really?" Corinne asked happily "But how? What about the farm?"
"We're giving it to a family that has suffered a lot this past year. Since our land is good, we're giving it to them." he answered "Isn't it great! You'll get to see your mother almost whenever you want!"
Corinne smiled "And so will you."
D'artagnon nodded "Yes. Get to see my wife everyday instead of occasionally."
She hugged her father "That's wonderful Dad."
He chuckled "Isn't it time for your training with… whoever it is?"
Corinne nodded "Yep."
"Who's been training you all again?" D'artagnon asked.
She patted him on the shoulder "We promised we wouldn't tell."
"Come on!" Renee called to her "We're going to be late!"
Corinne flashed her father a smile then went running after her friends.
They ran through the passageways and into the secret training room.
"Good morning girls." Madame Helene greeted "Are you ready for your training?"
"Yes!" All four girls exclaimed.
Helene chuckled "Perhaps I should give you lessons on how to land a balloon."
The others laughed while Corinne blushed.
"Anyways, let's begin." the older lady said, then they trained for the next four hours. When they sat down for a rest, Aramina started talking "Renee met a boy today!"
"Really?" Corinne asked "How interesting."
Renee rolled her eyes and nodded towards the red head "Leave it to Aramina."
"You were blushing!" Aramina insisted.
"It was hot inside my parents' shop!" Renee said "It was like… eighty in there!"
"Um, Renee." Viveca said, fixing the brown curls on top of her head "It was ninety outside."
Corinne laughed "So, what was his name?"
"Hugh." Renee answered "My parents just hired him. No biggie."
Viveca silenced Aramina before she could say anything else "Let time prove itself."
"What does that mean?" Renee demanded.
"Nothing." Corinne chuckled "Absolutely nothing."
"Girls." Helene called "It's time to hit the chores upstairs."
"Yes Ma'am." the girls answered. Then they left the passageways and returned upstairs.
While they dusted, Aramina hummed as she normally did.
Then to everyone's surprise, Renee joined her.
The Viveca joined in. Then Corinne joined. Their voices blended perfectly together.
As their voices flowed through the castle, everyone else stopped and listened.
Then they started singing, it sounded something like this.
Aramina: I lost myself today
All work no time to play
I'm holdin on to what I know.
Renee: And this discovery
Blindfolded I could see
I'm catching on by letting go.
Viveca: And now I'm rising up
Corinne: No comin' down.
So hang on for the ride
All: Look how high we can fly
Look how high we can fly
We can see everything
From up here in the sky
We've got the perfect view
Together me and you
Look how high we can fly
Outside the castle, Hugh was helping another boy carry a large box up the steps when the voices drifted out the window.
"Listen." Hugh said stopping their progress.
Viveca: Words come so easily
Hard to believe it's me.
Renee and Viveca: With every breath the feeling grows
Corinne: Take tome to make time stop.
Unplug turn off the clock
Corinne and Aramina: The less you try the more it grows.
The boy that was with High raised an eyebrow "Is that Viveca?"
They listened as the chorus was sung again.
Hugh, being the music lover that he is, just had to figure out who it was!
"Let's find out." Hugh answered.
Then both boys deserted the box and ran into the castle.
Corinne: I don't need to live in a fancy castle (Viveca: Oh no)
That isn't where I should be (All: Ahh)
Open up my heart and where it leads I'll follow
Up high where I can be free!
Viveca: Look how high we can fly
Look how high we can fly
We can see everything
from up here in the sky
Viveca and Aramina: Look how high we can fly
Look how high we can fly
Renee joins: We can surf on the winds (Corinne: So completely alive! Aramina repeats)
Renee: There's nothing we can't do
All: Together me and you
Look how high we can fly (Aramina: look how high we can fly)
Look how high we can fly (Aramina: look how high we can fly)
Look how high we can fly.
"That was incredible!" Aramina squealed, then she turned to Corinne "Why didn't you tell us you could sing?"
"I wanted to be a musketeer. Not a singer." Corinne answered.
"Well," Viveca said "We knew each other could sing, because I sing while I sew. Aramina sings while she dances, and Renee sings while she's writing music. We just never sang together."
"Who knew we would sound so good together!" Renee laughed.
"Was that you four singing?" Louis asked, walking around the corner.
The four girls nodded.
"Y'all were amazing!" Hugh said, coming into the room "Perfect blend!"
The other boy nodded "Yeah. Y'all were great." he stared at Viveca a second "Is that you, Viveca?"
Viveca looked at him a second then her eyebrows raised "Victor?"
The boy nodded "Yeah! Long time no see!"
She crossed her arms "And for a good reason!"
Victor rolled his eyes "You aren't still mad about that are you?"
"Yes!"
Victor was about the same height as Louis. His hair was shaggy and dark chocolate brown. His blue eyes flashed with mischief.
"Vivi! It's just plain fact." he said "Girls can't be musketeers!"
The other three girls gasped "What!?"
Louis cleared his throat "How long have you been in town?"
"Two days."
Louis nodded, and started backing up slowly "Do yourself a favor and run."
All four girls placed their hands on their hips and glared at him.
Victor looked at them confused "You found more girls who want to be musketeers?"
Louis tapped him on the shoulder "Um, Victor. They are musketeers."
Victor laughed "What a joke!" when he realized that no one else was laughing, he stopped "Are you serious?"
Louis nodded "Yep."
"Need us prove it?" Viveca asked in a threatening tone.
All three boys stumbled back and fled from the room, tripping over each other in the process.
The girls laughed.
"Who was that?" Corinne asked.
"A boy I used to know." Viveca answered "He was my friend until he said that girls couldn't be musketeers. Then he moved to London and I hadn't seen him since."
Helene came walking around the corner, leaning heavily on her cane that she didn't need.
"That was beautiful girl." she said with a nod "Now if we can get the castle to look at pretty as y'all sounded. We'll have it made."
The four girls laughed, then grabbed their cleaning supplies and resumed their chores.
Louis and the two boys laughed as they stumbled into the throne room.
"That was close!" Louis said "Learn a lesson now and you won't regret it later. Never tell a girl she can't be a musketeer. Ever!"
"I'm Hugh." Hugh extended his hand out to Louis.
"Louis." He excepted Hugh's hand "Pleasure to meet you."
Victor squinted his eyes at him "Louis? As in King Louis?"
"Yeah." Louis nodded slowly "That's me. Please don't bow or call me your highness or any of that! Please!"
Hugh chuckled "Sure thing Louis." he looked around "So, what's it like living in a castle."
The king shrugged "To me, normal. I mean, I've lived here my entire life."
"Not married yet, I assume." Victor guessed.
"Nope." Louis answered, nonchalantly rearranging some papers on his desk.
Hugh thought for a second "You like the blond, right?"
Louis' eyes widened "How did you…"
The other two boys laughed "It's obvious."
He pushed his light brown hair out of his eyes "It doesn't matter. It's not mutual."
"Oh." High looked over at Victor and shrugged.
A loud clap of thunder caught all of their's attention.
High suddenly gasped "The box! We left it on the stairs!"
The three boys ran for the front door. They skid to a stop when they reached the front entrance.
Right inside the front door was the large crate with four soaking wet girls sitting on top of it.
Louis chuckled.
"Did y'all bring that box in?" Victor asked, remembering him and Hugh struggling up the stairs with it.
"No." Viveca said sarcastically "Aramina picked it up herself and brought it in"
The other three girls laughed.
"No Victor, we all carried it in." Viveca rolled her eyes "Doi!"
Corinne tapped Viveca on the shoulder "Calm down Viveca. The poor boy's still getting over the shock that there are female musketeers."
"As if." Victor mumbled.
Louis shook his head amused "What's in there anyways?"
The four girls all leaned back towards the middle of the box in unison, making it look like it had been planned.
The four girls looked at each other, sending a silent message. Corinne nodded, then they straightened up.
"Cleaning supplies." she answered "Put in the care of Madame Helene."
The girls laughed again.
"What is so funny this time?" Victor demanded.
"Same thing that was funny three minutes ago." Viveca said, as the four girls jumped to the ground "Later."
Then they pushed the box from the room, laughing the whole time.
Louis watched them round a corner "There is not cleaning supplies in there."
"Do you think it'll work?" Aramina whispered.
"Oh yeah." Corinne chuckled, continuing to push the crate down the hall "They're boys. Curiosity is their weakness."
"What do you think they think is in here?" Renee asked.
"Who knows." Corinne pushed her hair out of her face "Stop here and grab a crow bar."
The four girls laughed as they pried open the wooden crate.
The boys peeked around the corner to see all four girls peering into the box.
"Aw!" Aramina exclaimed "So precious!"
The three boys looked at each other confused.
"It can't be anything alive." Hugh said "It wouldn't be able to breath in that box."
They heard the girls start laughing again, then they gasped and silenced immediately.
"Girls." Treville, the captain of the musketeers, said, eyeing them curiously "We're calling an emergency meeting on the grounds. Do hurry."
"Yes Monsieur." The four girls curtsied.
Treville walked around the corner and spotted the boys.
Her took a quick glance back around the corner then chuckled "Boys. To save y'all the misery, it's just fabric."
"Fabric?" The three boys asked simultaneously.
The four girls erupted into laughter again and peeked around the corner.
"Sorry, we had to do it." Corinne laughed, then she pointed towards the door "Come on girls."
The others nodded and followed her out.
Treville looked at the three boys and chuckled "I still haven't figured them out, so don't even ask."
All the musketeers assembled in the courtyard. The girls were always in the front.
Viveca looked around "I really need to make new uniforms. All the blue is getting old."
"Hey!" Renee hissed.
Corinne chuckled. It was true. All the male musketeers, and Renee, were in blue. As had been the custom for years.
So Corinne's pink dress, Viveca's purple dress, and Aramina's green dress, kind of stuck out in the crowd.
"Men!" Treville called "And ladies. We have reason to believe that someone is making advances on the castle. Or more specifically, King Louis."
The four girls looked at each other. This had to be bad.
"Corinne."
"Yes Sir?"
"Did you notice while you were up in that contraption with the King that someone tried to shoot y'all out of the sky?"
Corinne thought a second "I did notice something fly by. I assumed it was a bird."
Treville shook his head "It was an arrow. We're not sure where it came from." he pointed at her "No more balloon rides for now."
Corinne held her hands up in surrender "I've already discussed that with His Majesty. There will be no more… for now."
Treville rolled his eyes. Girls… and boys. He shook his head and continued "You girls will continue to patrol the palace, doing your normal maid duties. Just keep your eyes and ears open."
The girls nodded "Yes, Sir."
He gave the rest of his men their duties and sent them on their way.
"D'artagnon." Treville called to his friend.
"Yes, Treville?"
"You might want to keep an eye on your daughter and her friends. They're prone to be risky."
D'artagnon chuckled "Yes, Captain." then he jogged away.
