Smokey laughed as she rewatched the scene over and over on her television "That girl works fast! She's good." she rewound the scene again "But, boy. Philippe's face does beat all!"

There was a soft rap on the door, so she paused her tv and turned around "Come in. It's unlocked."

The door knob attempted to turn then there was a slight grunt on the other side.

She chuckled "Oops. Now it's unlocked."

Philippe walked in the door and dusted off his jacket "I assume you know that Corinne and her friends are back in the palace?" he growled.

Smokey sighed "I hate to come off as one of those people who know everything, but unfortunately... I do"

"Do you have nay idea what this means!?"

"That you have four extra maids?" she replied dully "Or that you're panicking over a group of teenagers." a smirk spread over her face "Girl teenagers."

"They're not teenagers!" He snapped.

"They're nineteen, Honey." she rolled her eyes "Well. I suppose have them around as nineteen year olds isn't quite as humiliating as seventeen year olds." she laughed "Imagine that! You got beat by a seventeen year old blond girl!"

"Smokey!"

She blinked several times and said innocently "What?"

"I need to get rid of them!"

"Then do it. Don't look at me." She turned around to face her tv then a moment later turned back to face Philippe "Are you aware that you're doing this about the same time of year you did it before?"

"Hadn't really thought about it." He answered impatiently "But I suppose it's true."

"Well you'd better watch it." she pointed to her screen where it was paused on where Louis had run into Corinne "Look familiar?"

"Yes." Philippe shrugged "That happened when they first met."

"No." Smokey shook her head "That happened this morning."

Philippe froze "Oh..."

"You were lucky." she interrupted "If he had been walking say... four seconds faster. The curse would have been broken," she snapped her fingers "Like that."

"Then I will make sure nothing else like this happens!"

"You'd better." she shook her head "I'm warning you, that collide on the top of the stairs was close enough to time that it made your cousin have a flash back."

"What!?"

"He'll be seriously confused." she sent him a pointed look "You might want to go have a... talk, with him."

"I will."

~*~*~*3-Musketeers*~*~*~

Corinne and her friends were washing the windows in one of the long halls. Everyone, except Aramina who was humming, was working quietly.

Helene walked down the hall and nodded approvingly then disappeared around a corner.

Corinne couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. She knew there was a dead end around that corner "Hey, Girls. Follow me." she jumped down from the window sill she'd been standing in and followed the way Helene had gone.

"Alright." Renee sighed "But I'm getting worried."

Corinne simply laughed. Once she and the others had gone around the corner she pressed the stone in on the wall and watched as it slid away "Come on."

"We're coming." Viveca sighed.

"Why are we back in the passageways?" Aramina asked as they hit a flight of stairs.

"Yeah," Renee placed her hands on her hips "Where are you taking up?"

Corinne looked over at a candlestick that was hanging on the wall "She's right. You ask too many questions." then she turned the candlestick and the stairs flattened out into a slide.

"Hey!" Renee gasped as she fell.

"Help help help!" Aramina squealed.

"My dress!" Viveca screeched.

Corinne just chuckled. Now she knew why Helene had looked so amused. Oh yeah, they still had to land. A moment later, she flew off the end of the slide and landed on her feet in the room "2... 1... and..."

BOOM! The other three slammed into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

Helene spun around in shock "What... how did you get here?"
"Talk to Corinne." Renee groaned as she got to her feet "She brought us."

Helene frowned "How did you know about this?"

Corinne smiled "That's not important right now, Madame." she motioned to her friends "We would like you to train us to be musketeers."

"Her?" Aramina whispered "Corinne... are you sure?"

"She's tougher than she acts." Corinne answered before turning her attention back to the old lady "Will you?"

Helene frowned as she turned around and pulled on a large standing candlestick "You think you can be musketeers?" a large wall turned around. On the other side, it was covered in weapons.

Corinne rubbed her forehead "Here we go again." then she smiled "Toss Aramina a fan."

Helene raised an eyebrow "As you wish."

Corinne stood off to the side and watched as each of the girls displayed their talents. She could tell that their moves were much more experienced than the first time they were here. But it seemed that had no idea they were as experienced as they were "That'll come back quickly." she thought.

When Helene caught a pebble that Renee had sent ricocheting across the room, the three stared in shock.

"I must say," Helene said with approval ""You're better than I thought you'd be. Except..." she turned to face Corinne who was leaning against the handle of a sword, a smile on her face and another sword in her hand "You."

Corinne straightened up and tossed her one of the weapons, walked over to a long table that was in the room and flipped up onto it "En guarde, Madame."

Helene raised an eyebrow then straightened her shoulders and walked towards the table, spinning the sword leisurely on her finger.

Corinne just grinned. A moment later the dual started.

"She's good." Aramina whispered.

"Really good." Renee responded.

The dual lasted for about three minutes before Corinne hooked the end of her blade beneath the top of the handle to Helene's sword and yanked it right out of her hands.

Helene stared at her in shock for a moment before she crossed her arms and smiled.

Corinne chuckled as she spun both swords around on her fingers, one on each hand "Well, Madame. Will you train us?"

The older lady nodded "That I will."

~*~*~*3-Musketeers*~*~*~

"You know, I'm not as sore as I thought I'd be." Renee commented as the four girls went to their apartment that night.

Corinne just shrugged, walked over to the pink and bed and sat down.

Aramina ran over to the green bed and sat on it. Then a moment later she slid to the floor and started to weasle under the bed.

Corinne chuckled "Your name's already under there, Aramina."

The red head froze "How?"

"It's a mystery."

Viveca raised an eyebrow "The mystery is how did you know?"

Renee sat down at the desk by the blue bed "Alright. I suggest we got some sleep." she looked around at the other three "We've got to clean, train and... probably listen to the Regent complain about his cousin."

Corinne cocked her head slowly then nodded "Oh yeah! He tests his flying machine tomorrow." then she smiled "I get to clean the terrace!"

"What?" Viveca frowned.

"Nothing." Corinne laid back onto her bed "Good night." then she thought "Philippe isn't going to try to kill Louis til after the wedding. I wonder..." then she fell sleep.

~*~*~*3-Musketeers*~*~*~

"Sire," Bertram bowed "I believe I know how to get rid of the prince."

Philippe raised an eyebrow "Go on."

"He will be testing his flying machine..."

"Oh, no no no." Philippe shook his head "It didn't work last time, why would it work this time."

Bertram stared at him confused "Last time, Sire?"

Philippe frowned then he remembered "Oh yes. You... oh never mind. Just leave the prince and the princess alone til after the wedding. I want you to try and get rid of those new maids."

"Yes, Sire." the man bowed then turned to leave.

"And Bertram."

"Yes, Sir?"

"Remember. They're just teenage girls."

"Yes, Sire."

~*~*~*3-Musketeers*~*~*~

The next morning, Corinne walked around the castle to where Louis was looking up at his large floating contraption "Good morning, Your Highness."

Louis turned to look at her and grinned "Good morning."

She nodded towards the balloon "Are you going to try it?"

"As in get in it? Yes." He walked over to the rope ladder "Would you like to join me? It was your idea after all that got it up here."

Corinne just smiled and followed "You'd have figured it out eventually, I'm sure."

Once they were inside the basket Louis looked around "We're truly floating on air. This is fantastic!"

She chuckled and looked down at the ropes holding the thing to the ground "Have you ever thought about... cutting it loose?"

He frowned "But I'm not sure how it works."

She glanced at him "What better way to find out?"

He stared at her for a long moment before he walked over to the side, pulled a knife out of his pocket and sliced through one of the ropes.

"Whoa!" Corinne grabbed onto one of the many ropes going up to the balloon to steady herself.

Just as Louis was cutting through the last rope, a large gust of air swept through the area. As soon as the rope snapped, it jolted, causing Louis to fly backwards and land flat on his back.

Corinne chuckled as she stepped forward to help him up "Are you alright?"

"Yes." He nodded as he got to his feet.

Another gust of air struck the small vessel, causing them to lurch forward into each other.

Corinne couldn't help the small smile that crossed her face as she looked up at him "W-we'd better... try to steer this thing."

Louis cleared his throat and moved away from her "You're right." he shook his head as he turned to the numerous ropes hanging from balloon "Not sure I should have launched it before it knew how it worked."

Corinne laughed "What fun is that?"

~*~*~*3-Musketeers*~*~*~

"NO!" Philippe screamed as he watched the large balloon ascend into the air "How does she keep doing these things?"

Smokey let out a long low whistle "Look how high they can fly." then she chuckled and started singing:

"Look how high they can fly.

Look how high they can fly!

They can see everything from up there in the sky."

Philippe groaned "What if they break the curse while they're up there?"

"They can't." Smokey said as-a-matter-of-a-factly "They're fifteen minutes behind schedual." then she raised an eyebrow "What are you so upset about? Don't you know what this means?"

"Yes I know what this means!" Philippe shouted "Everything is going to be ruined!"

"It also means that her three friends are at the castle... alone."

Everything fell silent then a slow smirk crossed the Regent's face "Yes... they are." then he left Smokey's apartment.

Smokey plopped down in her swivel chair, turned on her TV then snapped her fingers to make a bowl of popcorn and a root beer float appear "Now this I gotta see."

(To anyone who was wondering... no the curse is not about to get broken. The story would have to end! But the fun is about ot begin... I hope.

Laterz!)