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Chapter Twenty-Five

"I don't know about this."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to save the princess?"

"Of course, but"

"Then that's all you need to know."

Daisy was starting to loathe that simplistic way Ludwig had of answering her lately. He was making things sound so very plain and easy when they weren't. There was a lot to worry about, but he was taking things in stride like this was a basic operation.

"Try not to act so suspicious," He told her, "Just because we're in your kingdom doesn't mean you can let your guard down."

Daisy nodded to herself in affirmation to what he'd said. As they meandered down the quiet marketplace heading back to the inn she pondered what was to come. Ludwig wanted her to take on an alias. That was a smart idea but also a foreign one. Even though she'd been lying low in the Mushroom Kingdom, she had never gone so far as to change her name or appearance: Ludwig wanted her to do both.

But I suppose, in the scheme of things, it's a small sacrifice to make, she reasoned. And it's not like this will be permanent.

The two of them got to the upstairs room and Ludwig laid the clothes he'd bought for her on the bed. Daisy noticed that, along with the clothes, there were small hair ornaments and three pairs of shoes. All of the things were incredibly boring, all of them were in washed out whites, faded browns, and so on. They just screamed 'poverty'.

"Go ahead, put one on." Ludwig ordered.

Daisy picked up an outfit, a white dress and matching slippers, and headed to the bathroom. When she'd gotten into them, she took a glance in the mirror.

I don't look too different, she blinked.

"Come out here so I can glamour you." Ludwig called.

"Excuse me?" She called back, affronted.

He explained, "A spell to alter your appearance is called a glamour, sweetheart."

Daisy blushed and started walking out of the bathroom towards him.

Oh. Of course. What else would he be talking about?

She sat down on the bed and closed her eyes. For what? She didn't know. She expected the spell to be something she could feel, like a sprinkle of magic or a pinprick of pain all over her body, within her nerves. Something to indicate that she was changing. But seconds went by in silence and suddenly Ludwig was handing her a mirror.

"Open your eyes and look." He instructed.

Daisy did as he said and drew in a breath. Looking in the mirror was like looking through a window at someone else. She didn't recognize this plain Jane that was now her.

I mean, I was no knockout before, necessarily, but this is too much. A step up from androgynous, I think. And if the looks aren't enough, I'm...I'm...hopelessly flat!

She lamented the changes but kept a brave face. It was all for the sake of the operation. No small sacrifice would blind her from the big picture; Bowser had to be taken down, Peach had to be saved. End of story. If she had to be flat and unremarkable, so be it.

And it's not permanent, she reminded herself.

Still, the ash-blonde, pin-straight long, chin-length hair was unnerving, as were those dove grey eyes. She especially hated the fact that Luigi wouldn't be able to tell who she was anymore. But this was a necessary sacrifice indeed.

"Did you have to make me look so...bland?" She asked, putting the mirror aside.

Ludwig was studying her as well. He nodded resolutely.

"Yes. Bland is good." He stated, "Bland is easily overlooked. You, as your natural self, are incredibly remarkable, and any male with functioning eyes would notice you. That would be counterproductive."

Under his veiled praise Daisy found herself blushing once more. But she composed herself long enough to ask something of him.

"So um, who am I?"

It was such a peculiar question to ask, but under the circumstances it was a prudent one. Ludwig answered quickly as if he'd already had this figured out.

He probably did have it figured out; he always seems to be two steps ahead.

"Rose. No surname, that's common among the poor in his kingdom," Ludwig replied, "You're 18 years old and an orphan whose father recently died."

Daisy didn't like how close to home that backstory hit but didn't say anything about it. At least it wouldn't be hard to remember.

"Why do I want to work for the...for him?" She asked.

Ludwig said smoothly, "Kitchen hands are treated fairly well, you've heard rumors of three square meals and a place to lay your head at night under the king's employment. And you're a hard worker."

He stressed the last part heavily. Daisy cut her eyes at that. She was used to hard work and doing for herself and her cousins. Not for the first time she thought of Danny and Meech, and if they were okay.

Do they miss me? Are they still running the shop? Taking care of each other? I wish I could just see them one more time, just for about five minutes, long enough to hug them both.

She blinked rapidly and cleared those thoughts from her mind. There was no time for that now. She had to focus. Ludwig was giving her vital information and she knew that once she got inside the palace, it would be up to her to put it to use.

"Not only will you be fulfilling the role of a generic maid," Ludwig spoke on, "But you'll need to find ways to shadow the king, to get information about what's going on without bringing attention to yourself."

"I'm guessing that's gonna be harder than it sounds."

Ludwig spared her a glance and murmured, "Smart girl. You should know that the king has a screening process in place for all prospective workers; this means you'll have to deal with his court of magicians."

"So the king doesn't bring in new workers, the magicians do?" She asked in confusion.

The enforcer nodded, "Even since the war, he trusts his court to handle certain affairs."

Daisy said, "So should I be worried about them or the king?"

"Both," Ludwig stated curtly, "The court are his eyes and ears so don't let your guard down. And when they interview you, try not to make an impression on them."

"...Oh. Kay." She remarked slowly.

That was an odd piece of advice. She would try to keep it in mind.

"It's best if they forget about you, anonymity is key." Ludwig told her sagely. "Once you're in there, just stay aware of what's going on around you. Get away from your duties as much as possible because when I come to you each night, I expect you to have adequate information for me."

Daisy frowned and asked, "Wait, how do you expect me to do that? Don't you think that'll bring attention if I'm never working?"

Ludwig sighed and patiently stated, "I'm not telling you to abandon your work, just find excuses to get out of it."

"Alright, but how are we gonna' meet every night?"

"Let me worry about that." The enforcer said, "just do your part and garner intel."

Daisy had a lot more questions and insecurities that she wanted to address about the mission but Ludwig held up a hand.

"That's enough for right now. We'll pick this up later on."

Ludwig strode away from her and towards the door, saying he'd be back in a short while.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To run errands," he called out, "Don't wait up for me."

Daisy folded her arms and stared at the door with her lips scrunched and her brow cocked:

Don't count on it, she thought.

Something was definitely up with these kids, and today I found out what that was. Now there were several things that tipped me off, and together it led me to one stunning conclusion; they were all hiding something. But what? That was what I'd been wondering, but like I said, I found out just what that was today.

The first thing that had clued me in that something was amiss was Larry and Lemmy. Of course with Lemmy, just the sheer agility for someone his age was not normal. The kid was some kind of Spider Man, what with the way he dodged and evaded and twisted and turned; that was during an outdoor game of what he and Larry mimicked after basketball. And speaking of Larry, he was a regular King James: and no, I'm not talking about the one who had the Bible translated. Like good old Lebron, Larry was a pro at their version of basketball, but the kid's talent didn't stop there. Tennis, hockey, baseball, you name it; he was super-humanly gifted. He never missed a shot, never got hit by an errant ball, never ran too slow or swung too soon. It was downright uncanny. After I had played with the two of them for a few days and got over the weirdness of having to wrap up in three blankets while these little boys pranced around in nothing but shorts and t-shirts, I started to notice those things.

But that was just the beginning of the abnormalities.

Roy and Morton I usually left alone. The oldest had a sour attitude and Morton, or MJ as his siblings called him, played right along with whatever his brother said or did. Well, when I was fixing lunch for the two smallest kids, Roy came sauntering in the kitchen and started fumbling around. He was looking for something to eat as well. I asked him if he wanted a sandwich like Lemmy and Larry but he opted for cereal instead. That's what he was looking for, a spoon, but when he found one he dropped it and then accidentally kicked it under the fridge. He cussed under his breath and I almost turned around to berate him but thought better of it; I mean, he's not my kid. But out of the corner of my eye I saw something beyond freaky: this kid lifted up the fridge.

No I'm serious. I saw that fridge go up.

He denied it of course, saying, "you must be seein' things, yo," but I know what I saw. Or half-saw. That fridge went up. How else could he have gotten that spoon so fast? The thing went way under there. But like I said, he denied it in that smart-mouth way of his and Morton was right there backing him up, so I let the matter drop. That was yesterday.

That still wasn't the strangest thing to have happened, though.

This morning I helped Lemmy get dressed. Apparently this was something Larry usually did, they were roommates after all, but since I was here I guess the young jock didn't feel the need to do the task anymore. At any rate I was pulling Lemmy's shirt over his head when I saw something odd. The bathroom is right across from the two brothers' room and when their door is open, you can pretty much see right into it. Now the bathroom door was closed but it wasn't shut all the way, per say. So when I happened to glance that way, I could see the person's reflection in the mirror. It was Wendy, and she must've just washed her hair because it was soaking wet. However, with a simple curve and flick of her wrist, the water was tugged from her thick locks and splashed right into the sink. She then shook her long, blonde, considerably dry hair.

The hell?

The only one of the kids I haven't seen acting weird or covering for the other, in Morton's case, is Iggy. He spends most of his time in the basement, though, only coming up for air whenever he needed to eat and I'm pretty sure there's another bathroom down there, so yeah. I don't know about him. The rest of the kids have been acting funny this entire week and it was time to address this. So this afternoon I called them all to the front room for a little meeting.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked.

All of them were crammed on either the couch across from where I stood or on the loveseat adjacent to it. To say they couldn't stand being around each other most of the time, they sure did stick together whenever they thought they were in trouble.

"I wanted to talk to all of you." I started.

Roy asked, " 'Bout what?"

How should I put this? I'm seriously beginning to think you're all hoarding some freakish genetic secret? No. That didn't sound like it'd go over too well.

"Come on, man, you wastin' my time, yo." Roy griped.

I rolled my eyes and said, "You're sixteen years old; where do you really have to be?"

"...Places," Roy frowned.

Right. I'm sure.

"Well there's not a real easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna come out and say it. Er, ask it: what are you guys hiding?"

It was as if a bucket of ice cold water had been doused over them all; each of them sat up that much straighter and paled a lot, shifting their eyes in any direction but mine.

"W-what you talkin' 'bout, man?" Roy asked in a significantly less confident voice.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Morton chimed in.

I stared at all of them and said, "You know what I mean. Lemmy, you're way too flexible for a human being and Larry, no way you're just that good at sports. And as for the rest of you, well; let's just say I've noticed some things."

I didn't want to put the girl on the spot, but I couldn't help looking right at Wendy when I said that. She blushed and glanced away; somehow she knew exactly what I was referring to. The other kids seemed to have caught on to what I was hinting at by now so all that was left was for them to go ahead and come clean. I crossed my arms and stood there, waiting for someone to break the sudden silent spell.

"In the bathroom. Earlier. You saw that, didn't you?" Wendy asked me nervously.

I nodded.

Roy looked dumbfounded and asked, "What did you see? Were you eyein' my lil' sister up in the bathroom, yo?"

"No, nothing like that," I assured him.

She's about ten or eleven years too young for me.

"He saw me doing my hair." Wendy stated brusquely.

Morton asked, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"With my powers," She elucidated.

Now the the other two seemed to get it. Morton made an 'o' with his mouth and nodded to himself while Roy cut his eyes.

"So you just had to slip up, Wen," he scoffed, "I don't know why you're always fixin' your hair and doin' your nails and puttin' on those tight clothes."

"Shut up, Roy." She hissed, "My clothes aren't that tight."

"Who are you trying to impress, huh?" Roy continued to jeer, "We're in the middle of nowhere, so who are you gettin' cute for?"

"I said shut up!" Wendy snapped.

The boy's words did have some truth in them. Since I've been here, Wendy has been dressing in some of the prettiest clothes and going the extra mile with her hair and makeup. I didn't know where she was getting the tools to make herself look like she'd just fallen off the runway but I really only interacted with Lemmy and Larry, the rest I left alone.

"I think Wendy looks nice in all her clothes," Lemmy chirped.

He was promptly ignored by everyone else in the room since both his older siblings were still going at it.

"Is all this for Luigi?" Roy teased.

Morton added, "Yeah, are you doing this for him, sis?"

Wendy blushed again and narrowed her eyes. "Both of you need to stop."

"Oh, but you didn't answer the question, dear Wendy." Roy laughed.

"Nope, you did not indeed," Morton piped up.

"Leave her alone," I said at last.

I didn't want to get in there but they were giving her a real hard time. The boys still snickered but that was the end of that. For now. I had to get talking before they pulled anymore shenanigans.

"Now your sister isn't the only one I caught in the act," I said, "That's right, Roy, I saw what you did this morning."

"You ain't seen nothin', yo!" Roy denied.

"Oh, come off it," I sighed, "you don't have to be ashamed, I just wanna' know what's going on."

Another silence ensued.

"Alright, fine." Roy said quietly, "Everybody, drop the henge."

I think that if I would've blinked, I would've missed this key transformation the kids suddenly underwent. One moment I saw them and the next, they were vastly different. Gone was their pale skin and normal facades, leaving behind an interesting group of young people in their stead. Wendy was the only one who remained the same, with her clear blue eyes and long hair.

Lemmy had the same length and texture hair but right now it was about ten different hues. Teal, magenta, canary yellow; it was a real eyesore, but in a sort of endearing way, I guess. His brother Larry had royal blue hair that was short on each side but longer and spiked in the middle. Roy's was still short all over but was now hot pink, and Morton's hadn't changed at all. However, over his left eye was a faint, star-shaped grey scar that almost looked like a tattoo. Iggy, the tall, skinny, quiet one that I most often overlooked had long, straight hair that was bright lime green and tied up in a high ponytail. I blinked and took this all in.

"Okay. Give me a minute to um."

I rubbed my eyes and kept them closed for a few seconds. When I'd gotten over my initial shock of seeing this new revelation, I regarded the uh, children once more.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that Roy was a lot more well-built than before, all of them were. Even Wendy had a bit of muscle definition under that curvy figure. She was hiding it under her red snakeskin pants but those legs looked deceptively strong for a fifteen year old's.

Not that I'm checking this girl out.

This all just gave me the impression that Ludwig's been working these kids out or something. He is an enforcer for King Boo after all. I wouldn't be surprised if he taught them to fight.

"Is there anything else I should know about?" I asked.

They shared glances among themselves.

"Go on." I prompted with a wry smile, "It's not like there's much more you need to hide."

"Wendy isn't the only one with powers," Iggy spoke for the first time since I've been here.

He had a strange sort of voice, stuck in between that of a child's and a young man's. How old was he again? Thirteen? I chalked it up to puberty.

Iggy pushed his thick black glasses up on his nose and blinked rapidly. He was twitching and fidgeting like he had bad nerves or something.

"Larry is a master at anything involving sports or hand-eye coordination." He explained, "and Lemmy is, well, supernaturally flexible and limber."

Lemmy declared, "Wendy can make water!"

"I can't make water, I can only manipulate what's already there." She corrected him patiently, "Roy has monstrous strength, by the way."

"It's true, yo," Roy admitted, "And MJ here can deck cracks in the ground."

Morton chuckled. "Yup, I can do that alright."

"You forgot about Iggs!" Larry shouted, "He's the smartest out of everybody. He's always down in the basement, doing his inventions."

"Not so loud, buddy." I told him.

I see Ludwig didn't teach him about inside and outside voices.

"We weren't supposed to let anybody see our true selves," Wendy said quietly, "Ludwig put a henge on us. It's like a glamour spell, only stronger."

"You're speaking Greek to me," I told her.

Roy said, "Big brother made us hide our real appearance. Plain and simple."

"Okay," I replied, "Why?"

Wendy answered with, "He wants to get us used to living in the real world, as normal people."

"Normal people without cool powers, yo." Roy muttered bitterly.

"Just boring, regular people," Morton acceded.

Wendy shot them both a look.

Okay, that was enough of that subject. I could sense dissension in the air. It was clear to see that Wendy had a strong desire to integrate into the 'Real World', which I'm assuming was America. It would make sense since Ludwig has all this modern technology and all of the furniture and even their clothes were American-styled. However, her brothers didn't share in her sentiments. Roy had made it known that he didn't relish giving up his powers for a bit of normalcy.

"So you each have unique abilities," I stated, "That's fine with me."

"It is?" Larry asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "I just wanted to know what was going on, and now I do. So you can all go back to what you were doing."

A few shrugs, a few murmurs and they were all getting up and taking my suggestion. All but one, that is.

"Hey, Weegie, you gonna' come play with us?" Lemmy asked.

Larry added, "Yeah, you coming? We're playing catch in our room."

I glanced at Wendy sitting on the couch. I didn't know much about girls in particular, but I could read people fairly well. This child wanted to talk.

I told them, "I'll be there in a little bit."

Then I sat down beside Wendy. On his way to his room, Roy saw the two of us and started making kissy faces at his sister, taunting her about a crush he claimed she had on me. For the third time today she blushed and bowed her head. The way her hair fell over her pink cheeks and the way she wrung her hands reminded me of Daisy. These were some of her nervous habits.

"Don't worry about them," I told her gently, "did you have something on your mind?"

She glanced up at me hesitantly and said, "Yeah. Sort of. I mean."

"Take your time." I encouraged.

Wendy paused and took a breath. "Yeah, I did want to talk."

"Okay."

"I mostly wanted to know...what's it like over there?"

"You mean in my world?"

"Yeah."

"It's a lot like here."

"Really?"

She asked her question with a hint of skepticism. I didn't blame her, that was a poor answer on my part. Brooklyn was nothing like here, save for the general layout of things and the cold weather. I tried to think of a better thing to say.

"It's alright. Lots of people, lots of buildings, lots of snow, and lots of noise." I said honestly.

"Oh." She hummed. "I thought it would be more exciting."

"It is," I told her, "In certain parts. There's plenty of restaurants, plenty of clubs."

I almost forgot who I was talking to.

"But uh, you're a little too young for those, I think."

"Clubs? What are those?" She piped curiously.

I looked into those bright eyes and tried to give her the G-rated version of what went down in some of those seedy places.

"They're like parties people go to. To um, dance and have fun." I replied vaguely.

She smiled sweetly and said, "I like to dance."

Not as much as late-night Brooklyn, sweetie.

"Are you going back there, after Ludwig comes back?" She asked me.

I shrugged, "Probably."

"I wonder, then, if I'll see you there." She said softly.

I really didn't like where this was headed, so I changed the subject.

"So you like to dress up?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I mean I don't really dress up I just like making my own clothes, making things that fit me."

"You make your own clothes?"

"Yes. I sew really well. And Ludwig brings me back fabric when he's not feeling stingy." she smirked.

I was impressed. The clothes she wore were by no means cut-rate. They certainly were unique and they 'fit' her, alright. A little too well sometimes. I suppose that was her outlet, though. In a house, er, bunker full of boys, all she had was that. Sewing her own clothes, listening to her radio and dancing when she thought the door was closed. She was a tomboy trying to embrace her girly side because I think she feared she may lose touch with it altogether if she didn't.

A/N: Would you guys rather shorter chapters that come in fairly quickly or longer chapters that take a bit more time in between updates? Let me know and it shall be so!

And don't forget to tell me what you think of the story so far, of the characters, and anything else you have to say in a review! Until next time...

~DymondGold~