Nefera waited for an answer, but there was none. She carefully unlocked the door to open it just a second later. "Fine! Then I'm gonna keep all of your stuff!" Nefera yelled after seeing that Cleo wasn't there.
The crown princess closed her door again as she didn't get a reaction. Pah! Cleo was too immature and scared to deal with the powerful Nefera! That was how it was!
She put her nighties on, critiquing herself in the mirror all the while. Hmmm… Did Nefera's legs really look like they couldn't support her weight? No, of course they didn't! Cleo had said that because she just wanted Nefera to believe her, and eat, and get fat! Cleo's evil scheme was obvious!
The little talk she had with her younger sister did leave marks, though. Nefera felt much skinnier and happier than usual! She WAS skinny, even Cleo said so! She turned to Azura, who had watched Nefera dressing up. "I'm beautiful, I know! You don't have to tell me again!" She said to the scarab, who was way too tired to even think straight even if she could have answered.
Nefera wondered if she should call some servants for a nice compliment round that could get started again, but decided not to. It was pretty late, and Nefera was… well, hungry. She decided to ignore her feelings of hunger and just go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a better day!
Nefera turned off the lights and went to bed. She heard her stomach growling a few times, but dozed off eventually.
Hours passed and Nefera woke up again. The first thing she felt was hunger, the second one was confusion. Why had she woken up?! It was 3am, far too early in the morning!
Cleo had been sleeping quite soundly, until the pleasant dream she was having started to turn into a nightmare.
She had been revisiting the memory of winning the trophy at Monster Mashionals, when suddenly her father was escorted onto the stage by an entourage of servants and Monster High faculty, snatched the trophy from her and yelled, "What are you doing? You should not be here, this place is not fit for a princess of the de Nile family!" She looked around at the stage, but the stadium was empty, and when she looked back to her father Nefera was standing there too, pointing and laughing at her. Her sister walked over to a huge switch and pulled it, turning off all of the lights.
And that was when she had woken up.
Sitting upright in her bed, Cleo rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It was still dark in the palace - what time was it, anyway? Regardless, she didn't feel like chancing another bad dream just yet. Lifting her nightlight from its place to use as a lantern, she left her room to go and stretch her legs; the cool night air would do her some good.
Nefera turned around in her bed. She wanted to sleep again, but she couldn't! The princess felt unbelievably hungry. She honestly didn't remember the last time when her stomach was completely full.
She closed her eyes again, in another attempt to doze off. Right when she felt a little closer to sleeping, Nefera heard her stomach growling another time. She had to face the fact that she was too hungry to sleep. But what could she do about it? Eat? Pah! Nefera was certainly not going to do that, but suddenly the feeling of hunger became a feeling of pain.
The crown princess got up and turned a little light on in her room. Did she have anything to eat in her room? Ugh, she didn't! What a shame.
Nefera eventually decided to go down to the kitchen and find something to eat there. Only a tiny, tiny thing. Maybe she would allow herself half of an apple. She was as quiet as possible, trying not to make any noise, or alert anyone to the fact that Nefera was eating secretly at night! She felt so weak and embarrassed of herself, but what should she do? Nobody would notice, she just had to be quiet.
As Nefera entered the kitchen, she was sure that no one had seen her, not even a servant! She wanted to grab an apple or something, but there was a plate with cookies laying on the table. Nefera looked at the plate like it was her worst enemy; several seconds passed while the size zero model stood in the kitchen and looked at a plate of home-made cookies.
Oh Ra! They were still warm!
The palace looked incredibly different in the dim light of nighttime as opposed to its usual radiant gold in sunlight hours - different enough for Cleo to not quite recognize the hallway she was currently standing in. Maybe an early morning walk wasn't such a good idea after all. She would find her own way back to her room, though.
One of the statues struck the princess as familiar. If she remembered rightly, there was a secret passageway hidden behind it if one pushed the middle gem of the god's intricate necklace… Aha! Of course, she was right. Now, if only she could remember where this particular tunnel lead to?
While Cleo was walking through the huge palace, her older sister was still spending her time in the kitchen. She stared at the cookies. No, no, no, Nefera couldn't eat a cookie! She couldn't even allow herself a single bite! The last time Nefera had eaten sweets was some years ago. She hadn't allow herself sweets since her career started - grabbing a cookie now would just be weak! But they smelled so nice…
Nefera grabbed one of the cookies to enjoy its fragrance a little more. She wondered if she should risk a bite? No one would see it anyway…
Suddenly the princess gasped. Something she had never seen before appeared in front of her. "Imaginary Nefera here! What you are doing is wrong, you fool! I warn you! Don't dare to eat these! Look at you - You're already fat enough!" The imaginary Nefera quickly disappeared again, having, just as the normal Nefera, no talent in giving others helpful advice.
Fat? Pah! How could the imaginary Nefera dare to call the normal Nefera fat?! She wasn't fat!
…Was she fat?
Nefera didn't know which evil demon was controling her, but she heard the cookie in her hand talking to her in a sweet voice. 'Come on, Nefera, eat me! Eat meeee! You know you want it!' That was too much. Nefera, who was starving, did what her little cookie friend told her.
Oh Ra! The cookie was extremely delicious! The best thing Nefera had eaten since days, maybe even weeks! Ah, how much she had missed this!
The princess wanted to stop, but she couldn't. She grabbed more cookies from the plate, two, five, ten! She was unable to stop herself. All royal table manners were forgotten when Nefera put several cookies together in her mouth, not caring about the fact that she was half-laying on the table, moaning at the pleasurable taste. For some seconds, the crown princess was in heaven. This feeling didn't last long, though. She fell down to Earth really quick again when she realized that someone unwelcome was standing in the kitchen, watching her having a 'snack attack'.
It was Cleo.
