Chapter Three – Dangling
When Sofia entered Amber's room she sat up from her seated position and closed the romance novel she had been reading.
"Did it work?"
When Sofia shook her head Amber frowned. "I tried it four times. The last time we ended up falling down the stairs and I broke my leg." Amber glanced down at the supposedly broken leg and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, but Cedric fixed it."
Sofia's eyes widened when she realized what she had just admitted. She was sure Amber would make the connection, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Well it's a good thing Cedric was nearby. Broken bones aren't very romantic."
Sofia felt a small sense of relief that her secret was still safe. She just wasn't ready for everyone to know she liked Cedric. She felt he deserved to know first, and then everyone else could find out when they were ready…if they ever got together, that was.
"We'll just have to raise the stakes," Amber said, forming a fist and pounding it down on the palm of her hand like a judge calling for order in the courtroom.
"What do you mean?"
Amber picked up her book and beckoned for her to come closer. When she sat down next to her sister, Amber handed her the book and Sofia glanced at the title: Outlaw Of Love. Amber flipped to the middle of the book, where Sofia saw a picture of a scantily clad women lying in the path of an oncoming stagecoach—mouth open wide in a scream, with one hand pressed against her forehead. A shirtless man on a stallion could be seen in the background riding towards her.
Sofia sent Amber a sharp look. "I am not letting you run me over with a stagecoach."
Amber pouted. "Oh, fine. But we can make your mystery man think you're in danger—then he'd have to save you! After a woman is saved she always gives the hero a kiss and voilá! They fall in love and live happily ever after." The idea sounded appealing, but Sofia wasn't totally convinced.
"What would I have to do?"
"Well, we just have to find a dragon and have him kidnap you, and—"
"No! I am not letting a dragon kidnap me!" Sofia exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.
Amber waved a hand. "All right, fine." She thought for a second and then snapped her fingers. "Well, there was this one romance novel where the princess was kidnapped by an evil sorcerer who held her for ransom! Hey, maybe we can get Cedric to pretend to be evil and kidnap you!"
Sofia closed her eyes and let out a tolerant sigh. "Amber, if Cedric pretends to kidnap me dad will throw him in the dungeon." And it would totally defeat the purpose of all this! she thought to herself.
Amber put a hand on Sofia's shoulder, making her open her eyes again. "That's a price you have to be willing to pay."
"Well, I won't. Cedric is one of my best friends."
"Why do you have to make this so difficult?" Amber grumbled before tapping her chin in thought. "Oh! I got it! Since this mystery man lives at the castle we could have you dangling from a tower ledge!"
Sofia's mouth dropped open a little. "I am not—!"
Amber held up a hand, cutting her off. "Just hear me out. You have a good grip and strong arms from all those years of Flying Derby racing, right?" Sofia thought about it and nodded. "So you wouldn't really be in any danger. You'd just have to hold on and dangle there until your mystery man saves you!" Well, when Amber put it like that… "We just have to make sure your mystery man walks outside so he'll be sure to see you."
"I don't know, Amber. What if my hands slip?"
Amber waved another dismissive hand. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'll help you practice holding on tomorrow at school, during your free period."
Well, if there was a chance it would work, and it was mostly safe, then Sofia was willing to give it a go.
"All right. Tomorrow during free period."
The next day Amber showed up outside Sofia's geography class. It was five minutes before the bell rang, and Sofia could see her outside the small glass window, waiting for her to get out so they could go to the gym. Since Amber and James were two years older than Sofia, they had both graduated already, while Sofia was set to graduate in a few months. Even though the twins had graduated they were allowed on campus during lunch and free period to visit their friends who were still in school. When the bell finally rang Sofia stuffed the book into her backpack and ran out to meet her. They moved away from the door so all the other students could get out.
"Are you ready?" Amber asked, and Sofia nodded. Suddenly there was the sound of a girl laughing loudly, and they both turned to see Princess Adriana laughing with Prince Hugo down the hall. He gave her a kiss on the cheek before throwing an arm around her shoulder and walking away.
Sofia turned her gaze back to Amber and was surprised to see pain and sadness in her normally cheerful brown eyes. She knew her sister had flirted with Hugo for a while, but that had been a couple years ago. Everybody thought they would start courting, but their complicated relationship ended a couple weeks before Amber graduated. Amber had taken it pretty hard, and refused to talk to anyone about it. In fact, now that Sofia thought about it, she realized that was when Amber had started reading romance novels in her spare time. She was about to ask her about it when Prince Desmond stepped up to them.
"Hey, Amber," he said, a lopsided smile on his face.
Amber's mood instantly changed and her eyes seemed to light up. "Oh, hi, Desmond."
"What are you doing here? Uh, not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, but you never seen to stop by anymore," he said nervously.
"Oh, I came to see Sofia," Amber said as she flipped a strand of hair over her shoulder. Sofia looked in between her sister and Desmond, a smile growing on her face. They liked each other!
"I'm sure everyone would like it if you stopped by more often," Desmond suggested shyly.
Amber flipped her hair again. "Maybe I will. I'll have to see if I can find time in my schedule…and you'll just have to wait and see." At this she flashed him a bright smile. Sofia could see that Desmond was utterly spellbound by her.
"Hey, Desmond, come on!" one of his friends called from down the hall. He turned away reluctantly.
"Be there in a minute!" He turned back to them and gave a slight bow. "See you later, Amber! Bye Sofia!"
Amber fluttered her fingers in a wave as he walked backwards for a few steps before turning around and running after his friends.
"Well, we'd better go and practice," Amber said before Sofia could question her about Desmond. She made a mental note to inquire about it later. They made it to the gym a few moments later. Since most students preferred to go outside or read and study in the library, they would be the only ones there. Amber grabbed a stopwatch from the basket of equipment, then led her sister over to a pull up bar.
Amber waved a hand at it and Sofia walked over, raising her hands to grip the metal bar. "Just hang on for as long as you can."
Sofia nodded and bent her legs behind her so they wouldn't be touching the ground. After a few seconds her hands started to hurt, but it was nothing she wasn't already used to. After a good flying derby workout her hands and legs were usually a little sore.
After a couple of minutes her arms started to burn, and the palms of her hands went numb. A thin sheet of sweat formed on her forehead, but Sofia still held on. Finally, when she couldn't bear it any more, she dropped her feet. There was a brief flash of pain that shot through her hands as she released her grip. Sofia bit down on her lip and waited for the pain to pass.
"That was four minutes. That should be enough time for your mystery man to come out and see you dangling there." Amber tapped her chin while Sofia slowly flexed her fingers, trying to relieve some of the pain. "Oh! I almost forgot—you need a new dress!"
"What's wrong with my dress?" Sofia asked, looking down at her pastel purple dress, adorned with pearls and other jewels.
"It's fine for everyday use, but you want to catch your mystery man's attention this time! Let him see you wearing something new and bold as you dangle helplessly from the ledge!" Amber exclaimed, throwing a hand across her forehead like she would faint at any moment. Sofia giggled.
"All right, what should I wear then?"
"Hm, I've got an idea. I have this charming little purple and black dress that would suit you nicely, though it is a shade too dark for your amulet. It really is hard to pick out clothes for you since you refuse to take it off. You wouldn't believe how many colors clash with that purple jewel."
Sofia instinctively reached up to clutch the amulet. After ten years of various villains trying to take it from her, she had become very protective of it. That was another thing she loved about Cedric—he had always shown a special interest in the amulet and wanted to help her protect it. However, in the last couple of years he had shown a lot less interest than before. Maybe he thought she didn't need his help anymore.
"Thank you, Amber. The dress sounds lovely, but I won't take off the amulet."
Amber pressed her lips into a thin line. "Well I suppose the colors won't clash too terribly. You can keep it on."
When the carriage carrying Sofia and Amber finally pulled up to the castle, Amber literally dragged her out of the carriage and up to her room. Sofia sat patiently on Amber's bed while she walked into her closet, emerging a minute later with a frilly dress that was more beautiful than Sofia could have imagined.
There was a wide, purple frill adorning the square neckline, and the sleeves were cut short, just how Sofia liked them. The gown had a slim waistline, and a couple inches below it, the purple skirts pulled back to reveal an underskirt of fine, black silk.
Amber helped Sofia into the dress, and even had to tighten her corset to make it fit, but when she looked in the mirror she had to admit she almost didn't recognize herself. She looked different in the dark, contrasting colors, but found that she still preferred her soft purple dress. However, it was a nice change of pace, and Cedric would definitely notice her in it.
"Ok, do you know which tower ledge you want to dangle from?" Amber asked. Sofia thought about it for a moment. She knew that there was a large, rectangular window in Cedric's workshop, and directly across from it was a blue-tiled tower steeple. If she dangled from there Cedric would surely notice her from his window. Hopefully.
"Yes, but I don't know how to get up there. It's the blue tower steeple at the front of the castle on the right side."
"The one in front of Cedric's workshop?" Amber asked, and Sofia felt her body stiffen. If she said yes, Amber would make the connection, but she couldn't really lie about the location.
"Yes."
Amber gave Sofia a sly grin. "That's one of the castle defense towers, so your mystery man must work for security." Sofia felt her body relax, and decided not to say anything to either confirm or deny Amber's assumption. "Well lucky for you, I know about a secret door that was cut out from the tiles. I'll just lower you down from the trap door so you can grab onto the ledge."
Amber grabbed Sofia's hand and led her to the supply closet, grabbing a long cord of rope before setting off to the tower.
In response to an anonymous review: there won't be any chapters from Cedric's point of view. The whole premise is based on how Sofia views the situation and what she does in response, but there will be glimpses from her point of view as to how Cedric feels about her. At the end his feelings will be revealed, though, whatever they may be. ;)
Thanks to everyone who subscribed, favorited, and reviewed! Your support means a lot! :) Hope you enjoy this chapter! ;)
I'd like to give a big thanks to my beta-reader, FlynnieG. Without her help and suggestions, this story wouldn't be as good as it is today. :)
