Chapter 6
"What am I going to wear?!" shrieks Serena, throwing clothes all around the room. I dodge a shoe as I come into the room. "Whoa girl, hold your horses, this is not supposed to turn into Earthquake Serena," I say, laughingly. Serena turns around, she is very agitated, "what am I going to wear? There is nothing here!" she says. I pick up some skirts, and place them on her bed. "Serena," I say as I sigh. "Serena, you have 100 times more clothes than I did at your age," I say, "there has to be something here." Serena just gives me a look and goes back to what she was doing, I roll my eyes. I pick up a pale blue dress, "how about this one?" I ask, Serena turned around. "That's perfect!" she exclaims, grabbing the dress from me, "now get out of here while I change." I turn around and start to leave the room. "When did my little girl grow up?" I ask myself. I left the room, and run into Aerik. "You have to stop doing that," I say to him, he ignored me. "Did Hurricane Serena just hit?" he asked me. "Oh yeah," I say, we both start to laugh. "Are you going to the ball Aerik?" I ask him. "Yes I am, the queen gave most of us guards leave for the night," he says, and I sigh. "One thing I have never known is your birthday," he tells me. "My birthday!" I say, "why would you want to know that?" "Every one deserves to every one else's birthday," he says. "That is true," I say back. "So, when is it?" he asks me. "Day after tomorrow," I say. "July 4?" he asks. "Yup," I say. "Wow, that's soon," he says. "I know," I say. "How old are you going to be?" he asks me. "23," I say back. "That's great," he says. "And when is your birthday?" I ask him. "In three months and five days, uh, November 6," he says. "How old will you be?" I ask him. "27," he says. "You're not much older than me," I say. "Are you saying that I look old?!" he says, he pretends to be hurt. I started to laugh, he smiled. Suddenly the door opened, there was Serena, she was just staring at us. "Do you need something Serena?" I ask her. "Yes," said Serena, I go into her room. "Can you button this?" she asks me. "Sure," I say, I begin to button up the dress. When I finish she spins around. "How do I look?" she asks me. "Gorgeous," I tell her, "absolutely gorgeous." "What are you going to wear?" she asks me, "it has to be nice in order to impress that guard." I stare at her, "what are you talking about?" I ask her. She looks at me like I am dumb. "Alana, you to were so, like, flirting out there," she said. "We were not," I said. "Right," said Serena, turning to her mirror, I went to my room.
To the ball I wore a lavender-colored dress, and tied my hair into a braid, little flowers were woven into it. My hair was not as long as it had been when I was thirteen. If I had hung my hair down it would come down just bellow my shoulders; it looks much better now. I meet Serena right outside the Grand Ballroom, as is traditional. I do my usual nanny thing. I put her hair back into place, check her makeup, etc. Then the trumpet sounds, signaling us to enter. We both smile as we step out onto the stage. The queen makes her speech, welcoming the families of: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Earth, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn. Finally she gives the signal for everyone to dance. "Go ahead Alana and socialize, you don't do that much anymore," the queen told me, I gave her a grateful glance and went out onto the dance floor. "May I have this dance?" a man asks me, he looks very familiar; he is also hot, so I accept. We dance three dances before I ask, "and who is the man I am dancing with?" "It is I Alana, Aerik," he says, a humored look on his face. "Aerik," I gasp, "you look, different, nice, but different," I say. "You know me only in my armor," he says, "but thank you," "You are quite welcome," I say. We keep dancing, out of the corner of my eye I think I see the queen watching us and smiling, but when I look she is not there. "Aerik," I say, we stop dancing. "Yes?" he asks me. "I am hot, may we go outside for a minute?" I ask him. "Yes, I could use a walk to," he says, he leads my outside towards the gardens. Even at night they are beautiful. "I like to be outside," I say. "Me to," said Aerik, neither of us noticed 10 pairs of eyes staring at us through the bushes. We walked through the gardens, talking about many things. We came to a fountain at the end of the trail. "May we sit?" I ask. "Of course Alana," said Aerik. "They're so beautiful," I say, staring at the sky. "What?" asks Aerik. "The stars," I say, pointing towards the sky. "Yes, I agree with you," said Aerik, "I also think your eyes are beautiful," he said. We smile at each other, and then he kisses me, it is a nice, sweet kiss. Our kiss is interrupted by little giggling bushes. We turn toward the bushes and ten little princesses and princes fall out. "What are you all doing here?" I ask them, "it could be dangerous." "Then why are you two here?" asks Rei, who folds her arms and puts on a puckered face. All of us start to laugh, "that is a good question," I say. "Why don't we all go inside," says Aerik, "if we stay here people will start to miss us." I nod in agreement. I look at my watch and notice how late it is, "oh my goodness," I exclaim, "it's past all of your bedtimes, we must go in at once. There is a loud groan from the children; Aerik and I smile at each other. We quickly usher the kids inside. After I put the kids to sleep, I got ready for bed; Aerik stood bye the door like he does when he guards me. "Aerik, the queen gave you the night off, go to your own bed," I tell him, he shakes his head. "Until you are in bed I cannot leave you," he says. I give him a peck on the cheek, "go to bed," I order. "Fine," he says, he walks down to wherever his room is. I roll my eyes and go to bed.
The next morning I wake up and realize that I am late for breakfast! I rush to get my clothes on and my hair done up in a ponytail. I throw open the door to my room and see, Aerik. His hand is raised like he is about to knock on my door. "Sleep in your nannyness?" he asks me. "Oh shut up," I say, "come on, we're late." "Correction," he says, "you're late," I glare at him and he backs off. I stop just in front of the doors leading into the dining hall to straighten out my dress, and then I rush inside. Luckily, breakfast hadn't been served so no one noticed my entrance, except for Serena who winked at me. "Alana!" someone said to me as breakfast was served. "Yes," I said, turning my head to see who was speaking to me. It was the Queen of Venus (some say she is actually the goddess of Venus herself. "Alana you sure have grown, not only in age, but in beauty!" she says. "Why thank you your majesty, and may I say that you look more lovely yourself," I say pleasantly back. She does look more beautiful, and younger! The last time I saw her she was pale and sickly, but now she is tall, elegant, and looking extremely well. "Why thank you dear," she says back, beaming at me; I can tell that she really likes me now. "Alana, I didn't see you at the ball last night, except, well, for the ceremony," said the King of Mars. I blushed, why oh why was everyone paying attention to me? "I, was, talking with someone out in the gardens, and being spied on by curious eyes," as I said this I glared at the children who smiled innocently, you could almost see the little halos. "Oh," said all the adults at once, grinning at one-another. I know that some thing is going on but I don't know what; this is a conspiracy! "Didn't you dance at all?" asked the Queen of Neptune, her blue eyes glittering. "Yes, I did, about six or seven dances, I think," I say. "You think?" asked the Queen of Neptune. "I was kind of busy talking with my partner to notice," I say, that is only half true, the other half of the time I was staring into his eyes. "How old are you Alana?" asked the Queen of Mercury. "22," I say. "So that would make you about 14 or 15 when we came the last time?" she asked. "If you were counting by years, yes, but by months and days, no, you left about a month or so before my birthday," I say back, politely, as not to offend her. "Yes, yes, I could see how one would make a mistake like that," she says, I am very surprised to hear her say that. The conversation grows dead after that. I finally finish my breakfast. I set my napkin on my plate, to indicate that I am no longer hungry. A maid comes over and takes my plate; I sit quietly. Soon everyone else finishes his or her breakfast. Then we are all dismissed to our rooms. Aerik follows close behind. I reach my door and smile at Aerik. His face turns pale and scared, I wonder why that is. "Alana! Watch out!" he screams, running towards me, I am very confused, then I hear a window break. Before I can react, Aerik leaps on top of me, dragging me to the ground. Suddenly I hear a 'whooshing' sound and a 'crack' from behind me. Suddenly I hear the sound of men screaming and running. I am in shock, but I notice that my head hurts and that I am kind of dizzy. Aerik turns me over so that I am face-up, but still lying on the ground. He is kneeling beside me and is breathing hard. "Alana are you ok?" he asks me, "oh no! You cut your head." "I am fine," I say, "I think." "Do you think you broke anything?" he asks me. "I think the biggest injury is shock," I say, he chuckles. "You're definitely fine," he says, with a tone of relief. A guard comes over and pats him on the back, "good job," he says, then he walks off. "What happened?" I ask Aerik. "Someone tried to kill you that's what," he says back. I smile up at him, "thank you for saving my life," I say. "It's my job," he says back, shrugging, I slap him playfully on the shoulder. "What is going on here?!" shouts a voice, I recognize it as the queen's. "Are any of the children hurt?" asks someone else with a gruff voice, I think it's the King of Mars. "No your majesties," says a guard, "luckily no one was badly hurt, and none of the royal family was hurt either." "I heard that someone got hurt," said a voice, it sounded like the Queen of Mercury. I have got to learn their names. "Someone was hurt," says the guard, "but not to bad, she will survive. She probably would have died if it weren't for a guard standing post here," finished the soldier. "I want to know what happened and who got hurt, I would also like to see the injured," said the queen in her don't- mess-with-me voice. "I am right here," I say, I am becoming more nauseous and my headache is getting worse. The queen rushes over and gasped, surprised that it was I who got hurt. "I am fine," I tell her, "all I need is a hand so I can stand up." Everyone looks at each other and says, "she's fine." "I keep saying that," I say, "now can someone please help me up," I finish. Aerik thrusts out his hand and picks me up. I stand on my own, "see I am fine, all I need to do is clean up these cuts and I'll be good as knew," I say. Then the nausea starts to overwhelm me; I just stand where I am. "Ok, apparently not so fine," I say. The nausea takes me over and I faint into Aerik's waiting arms.
I wake up to find a wet cloth being dabbed on my forehead, not anywhere near my cut. My head still hurts, I groan to tell the person that I am awake. "Oh, hello, welcome back to the land of the living," says the nurse, I recognize her as Nurse Sara, the best doctor on the moon, besides the King of Mercury of course; I took Serena to her when Serena got the chicken pocks. "What day is it?" I ask her, my voice is actually very soft. "It's July 3rd, it's about two in the afternoon," she says. "Is that why I'm so hungry?" I ask her, she laughed. "Yes, that could be why," she says, "do you want to know what has happened since you fainted?" she asks me, I try to shake my head yes but the pain is so great it brings tears into my eyes. "Don't move your head," says the nurse, 'to late' I think to myself, "you have a pretty bad concussion so moving your head will make your headache worse and cause you to pass out again," she says. "Oh," is all I can say. "Let me tell you what has happened," says the nurse, "they caught the guy who tried to kill you. He was working for the Negaverse. He going after you because the Negaverse could easily replace you with a clone (I winced at this). The man actually killed himself in his cell. The man who saved you is now very popular, and is waiting outside in the waiting room for any news at every chance he gets (I tried to smile but she stuck a thermometer in my mouth). Your relatives have been alerted and are in the waiting room going ballistic right now. The royal children want you to get better soon so that you can play (we both started to laugh at this). Ah, you have a perfectly normal temperature, all you need is some rest right now, I am going to give you some medicine to help you sleep, and sleep yourself out you hear," she said. The nurse gave me a shot with some medicine in it; I became drowsy right away. The last words I heard were, "she's going to be fine." I drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.
I woke up at about 8 o'clock in the morning. My headache was gone and so was my nausea. I sat up, I felt fine. I walked out of the hospital bedroom door and came face-to-face with Nurse Sara. "I see that you are feeling better," she says. "Yes, much," I say back, "my head doesn't hurt and I don't feel sick at all." The nurse nodes her head approvingly. "Let me just check your bandages, and give you some advice, in other words, orders," she says. She leads me into a room full of bandages every shape and color. "Cool, isn't it," she says. She tells me to sit down, then she changed my bandages. "Now for my lecture," she says, "concussions last awhile so no physical activity is allowed for a week. Don't bang your head on anything. If you feel at all nauseated or have a bad headache drop what you're doing and come straight to me, even if it the middle of a royal ball," I nod my head in agreement. "Great, now you may leave, and go to the dining hall for breakfast." My stomach churns and I realize that I haven't eaten in 24 hours, I also realize that it is my birthday. "Go," says the nurse, ushering me out, "you're guard is waiting for you in the waiting room," before I can do anything she spins around and disappears. "Aerik," I say cautiously as I walk into the waiting room, he spots me and comes over to me. I smile at him, "now I really am ok," I say. He just grins and kisses me, I start to kiss him back when I realize that breakfast starts in five minutes and I can't run. He leads me to the dining hall and helps me get inside, even though I can do it by myself I let him. The hall grows quiet as I enter. I smile at all the kings and queens and take my place at the table. "How are you feeling Alana?" asks the queen politely. "Very hungry," is my reply, and everyone starts to laugh. The food is served and every one stops talking for awhile. "Alana," says the queen, I stare at her, still chewing my half-eaten croissant. "Because of the attack yesterday you will now have two guards, and a room away from any windows. Aerik, and your new guard Bailey will show you there after breakfast. But only after you have eaten," she said, all the royals and the royal children were agreeing. "I will be happy to oblige," I say, and this is the truth, "but may I ask you something." "Yes, you may," says the queen. "I am unable to do any physical activity for a week, how will I move my possessions?" I ask. The queen smiled, "it has already been done. Your family and your guards did so last night," she said. "I believe I will be unable to go into town for new stuff, yes?" I say/ask the queen. She nods, "yes, I believe that will have to be the case. If you need anything send either one of your guards down or a maid," she said, agreeing with me. The conversation ceased for the rest of breakfast.
When Aerik and Bailey took me to my room, Bailey was behind me and Aerik was on my right; I felt like a prisoner! "Aerik, is this really necessary?" I ask. "Yes, the entire palace fears for your safety," he says. "Well that is nice," I say back, Aerik quiets me. "Oh, I forgot to mention," says Aerik, "that your sister is now a cook in the palace and your mother is an assistant healer," he looked very pleased with himself. "What?!" I say, "please tell me I will not have my own family as a watchdog." "I could not say either way, I do not know. Last night I got the greatest thanks from your parents. I think your father has taken I liking to me. He told me to 'take care of her well son, take care of her well'," he says, I stare at him. "Really, when I was little any boy who would even look at me would hear it from him," I say. "He didn't do that, he actually had tears in his eyes," he said, but before I could respond we had reached my room. I noticed that the room was bigger than the other one, and even more grand. I made a note to thank the queen at lunch. "Well, go in," said Aerik. I opened the door and saw people! They all jumped at me and said 'Happy Birthday'. Aerik grabbed my arms and said, "happy birthday Alana, come on, go inside." I walked inside and saw that on my bed were presents, a lot of them. "When did you guys plan this?" I asked. "We didn't," said Serena, "someone neglected to tell us that today was her birthday." "Then who told you?" I asked. "Aerik and your family," said the queen, "last night while we were in the waiting room," I shot Aerik an accusing look and he just shrugged. "Open your presents Alana, open your presents," yelled the kids in unison, they were jumping on the floor because the bed was covered. "All right, all right," I said laughingly, bringing a chair up close to my bed and sitting on it. "Now which one first?" I said curiously. "Me, me, me," is all I heard from the kids, all the adults are smiling. "How about this one," I say, taking the present from Rei, her face lights up. I open up the box and just stare at what's inside. It's a beautiful red dress with matching hair ribbons. I lift it carefully from the box, I notice that it is as smooth as silk. "Thank you Rei, I say softly, it's beautiful," I say, carefully putting down the dress so that I don't rip it, Rei beams again. One of the adults puts the dress on a hanger and into the closet, it is Aerik, he is standing right behind me; I give him a thankful smile. Next I open the gift from Jupiter; it is another dress, just as pretty as the other one, but in green. "Thank you Lita," I say, handing the dress to Aerik. Earth, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto all get me dresses, they are all beautiful. I take Mercury's present and open it up; it is a bunch of books, including one of my favorites. "Thank you Ami," I say, "how did you know that I like to read?" I ask. "By all the time you spend in the library," she says, pleased with herself. When I opened Venus' present I gasped. It was a set of hair and nail accessories like nail polish, a brush, hair ties, etc. The brush and the mirror were set with stones and engraved in gold was the name Alana. "It's gorgeous Mina, thank you," Mina beamed. I finally opened Serena's present, inside was a box, engraved with little leaves and flowers, it also said Alana; there was a little key to go with it. "Open it," said the queen, I did as I was told. Inside was some jewelry, it was beautiful. "Thank you, all of you," I said. "Now for the presents from your family," said the queen. They were all dresses and accessories. After I finished unwrapping my presents I said, "now I have a problem." "And what is that?" asked the queen. "Which one am I going to wear first?" I said laughingly, everyone let out a sigh of relief and started laughing to. After everyone left Aerik turned to me, "you have one more present Alana," he said, taking a little package out of his clothes. "I am afraid it isn't as eloquent as any of your other presents," he said; I opened it, it was a necklace. It had one charm on it, a little music note. I held it up to the light and it sparkled. "It's beautiful," I said, putting it around my neck. He smiled and kissed me again. "Excuse me," said someone, it was Bailey, "but we have a job to do," he said, gesturing to Aerik. Aerik gave me one more peck on the cheek and left the room. The two men started talking softly, I listened hard. "Do you like her?" asked someone; it was Bailey. "Yes, I do, I like her a lot," said Aerik. "Do you think that will be a problem, because I can tell that she likes you to," asked Bailey. "No," said Aerik, "I may like her but I won't let it interfere with my work." "I think it already has," said Bailey; the talking ceased. I smiled and happily went back to cleaning my room.
The week passed slowly. The kids were playing together and all I could do is sit and be bored. Every once and a while they would sit with me. But sitting has its advantages. I noticed a little something between Serena and Darien. I know this could be a problem, but it is so funny to see them flirting with each other, I doubt they even know what they are doing. So far there has been no more attacks or attempted murders. "Alana!" said Serena. "Yes," I said. "We all want to talk now," she said. "Since when do you need my permission to do that?" I asked. All of them thought. "It's girl talk time!" said Rei, "Darien go away," she said. Darien left to be with Bailey and Aerik very quickly. Darien likes them, they are teaching him how to fight and defend himself. He is probably doing so because of Lita and Haruka. They are like little boys. All the kids gather around me. "So, Alana, have you ever liked a boy?" asked Mina, I almost fell off the bench. So this is what they want to talk about. "Why do you want to know that?" I ask. "Oh, come on Alana, every one knows that necklace you're wearing was not in your pile of presents," said Michiru. So they had noticed my necklace. "Maybe I have and maybe I haven't," I say, knowing that this is killing them to know. I look at Aerik for some help; he only shrugs. "Come on Alana, tell us," said the girls, I decide to change the subject. "Have any of you liked a boy?" I ask, all of the girls gasp and squeal. Luckily the lunch bell rings. The girls run to the dining hall. Aerik and Bailey walk with me. "That was close," says Bailey. "What are you talking about?" I ask, then I realize and I gasp, "you know!" I say accusingly. "I kind of guessed," he says with a shrug; Aerik and I look at each other. "Why do you do it?" Bailey asked. "What?" I asked. "That look at each other thing, people are going to suspect," he said. Then we reached the dining hall. At lunch the queen announced something. "There is going to be a good bye ball for the kings and queens of the other kingdoms," she said. "Kings and queens?" I say, "don't you mean with the children?" "No," said the queen, "everyone except Darien will be here to train in becoming Serena's court." The girls started celebrating and Darien plugged his ears to keep from going deaf; I started laughing at that.
The day of the ball Aerik and Bailey were helping me decide what to wear. "I want to wear one of the dresses I got for my birthday, but I don't know which," I complained. I had worn all the dresses my parents had given me, and three others. "Which ones have you worn?" Aerik asked. "The ones from Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto," I say. "Hmm," considered Aerik, "how about the one from Mars? It brings out your hair and eyes," he said, holding out the dress. "It does, doesn't it," I say, "now get out so that I can change," I push them out of the room. I put on the beautiful red dress; it fits perfectly. It falls to the floor but not to the point where I could trip on it. The dress falls over me loosely but makes all my features stand out. I wrap the ribbons around strands of hair, making it look crimped. I put on some blue eye shadow and some red lipstick. Then I walk out of the room. Bailey's mouth drops open and Aerik takes a step back. "You look beautiful," Aerik says, amazed." "Now it's your turn to get ready," I say. "Yes ma'am," Aerik and Bailey say in unison.
I met the royals outside the Grand Ballroom. "You look wonderful," says the queen. "Thank you," I say back. "Is that the dress we gave you?" the King of Mars asks. "Yes, do you like it?" I ask. "Lovely," says the queen. Then the trumpets sounded. The ceremony was very boring; I could hardly wait until it was open. Many people ask me to dance, but I decline. "Will the pretty lady honor me with a dance?" asks someone behind me. I turn around to decline and see that it is Aerik. "I would be glad to oblige," I say, so we start to dance. We dance four dances and then he leads me outside, we do not notice the queen watching us. We walked through the gardens, looking at every flour. "Alana," says Aerik, I turn towards him, "what is your favorite flour?" "Roses," I say. Aerik comes over to me, takes my arm and leads me to a bench near a fountain. Close to it was a balcony, where the queen, unknown to us, was standing, watching us. "Why do you ask?" I ask him. "I just want to know," he says, brushing some hair out of my face. "What is yours?" I ask him. "Roses," he says. We smile at each other; he leans over to me. "Roses are the flowers of love Alana," he says, pulling a rose out from under his cloak, "and I love you," he says, then he kisses me. "I love you to Aerik," I say. Neither of us notice the queen, standing on the balcony, smiling.
"What am I going to wear?!" shrieks Serena, throwing clothes all around the room. I dodge a shoe as I come into the room. "Whoa girl, hold your horses, this is not supposed to turn into Earthquake Serena," I say, laughingly. Serena turns around, she is very agitated, "what am I going to wear? There is nothing here!" she says. I pick up some skirts, and place them on her bed. "Serena," I say as I sigh. "Serena, you have 100 times more clothes than I did at your age," I say, "there has to be something here." Serena just gives me a look and goes back to what she was doing, I roll my eyes. I pick up a pale blue dress, "how about this one?" I ask, Serena turned around. "That's perfect!" she exclaims, grabbing the dress from me, "now get out of here while I change." I turn around and start to leave the room. "When did my little girl grow up?" I ask myself. I left the room, and run into Aerik. "You have to stop doing that," I say to him, he ignored me. "Did Hurricane Serena just hit?" he asked me. "Oh yeah," I say, we both start to laugh. "Are you going to the ball Aerik?" I ask him. "Yes I am, the queen gave most of us guards leave for the night," he says, and I sigh. "One thing I have never known is your birthday," he tells me. "My birthday!" I say, "why would you want to know that?" "Every one deserves to every one else's birthday," he says. "That is true," I say back. "So, when is it?" he asks me. "Day after tomorrow," I say. "July 4?" he asks. "Yup," I say. "Wow, that's soon," he says. "I know," I say. "How old are you going to be?" he asks me. "23," I say back. "That's great," he says. "And when is your birthday?" I ask him. "In three months and five days, uh, November 6," he says. "How old will you be?" I ask him. "27," he says. "You're not much older than me," I say. "Are you saying that I look old?!" he says, he pretends to be hurt. I started to laugh, he smiled. Suddenly the door opened, there was Serena, she was just staring at us. "Do you need something Serena?" I ask her. "Yes," said Serena, I go into her room. "Can you button this?" she asks me. "Sure," I say, I begin to button up the dress. When I finish she spins around. "How do I look?" she asks me. "Gorgeous," I tell her, "absolutely gorgeous." "What are you going to wear?" she asks me, "it has to be nice in order to impress that guard." I stare at her, "what are you talking about?" I ask her. She looks at me like I am dumb. "Alana, you to were so, like, flirting out there," she said. "We were not," I said. "Right," said Serena, turning to her mirror, I went to my room.
To the ball I wore a lavender-colored dress, and tied my hair into a braid, little flowers were woven into it. My hair was not as long as it had been when I was thirteen. If I had hung my hair down it would come down just bellow my shoulders; it looks much better now. I meet Serena right outside the Grand Ballroom, as is traditional. I do my usual nanny thing. I put her hair back into place, check her makeup, etc. Then the trumpet sounds, signaling us to enter. We both smile as we step out onto the stage. The queen makes her speech, welcoming the families of: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Earth, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn. Finally she gives the signal for everyone to dance. "Go ahead Alana and socialize, you don't do that much anymore," the queen told me, I gave her a grateful glance and went out onto the dance floor. "May I have this dance?" a man asks me, he looks very familiar; he is also hot, so I accept. We dance three dances before I ask, "and who is the man I am dancing with?" "It is I Alana, Aerik," he says, a humored look on his face. "Aerik," I gasp, "you look, different, nice, but different," I say. "You know me only in my armor," he says, "but thank you," "You are quite welcome," I say. We keep dancing, out of the corner of my eye I think I see the queen watching us and smiling, but when I look she is not there. "Aerik," I say, we stop dancing. "Yes?" he asks me. "I am hot, may we go outside for a minute?" I ask him. "Yes, I could use a walk to," he says, he leads my outside towards the gardens. Even at night they are beautiful. "I like to be outside," I say. "Me to," said Aerik, neither of us noticed 10 pairs of eyes staring at us through the bushes. We walked through the gardens, talking about many things. We came to a fountain at the end of the trail. "May we sit?" I ask. "Of course Alana," said Aerik. "They're so beautiful," I say, staring at the sky. "What?" asks Aerik. "The stars," I say, pointing towards the sky. "Yes, I agree with you," said Aerik, "I also think your eyes are beautiful," he said. We smile at each other, and then he kisses me, it is a nice, sweet kiss. Our kiss is interrupted by little giggling bushes. We turn toward the bushes and ten little princesses and princes fall out. "What are you all doing here?" I ask them, "it could be dangerous." "Then why are you two here?" asks Rei, who folds her arms and puts on a puckered face. All of us start to laugh, "that is a good question," I say. "Why don't we all go inside," says Aerik, "if we stay here people will start to miss us." I nod in agreement. I look at my watch and notice how late it is, "oh my goodness," I exclaim, "it's past all of your bedtimes, we must go in at once. There is a loud groan from the children; Aerik and I smile at each other. We quickly usher the kids inside. After I put the kids to sleep, I got ready for bed; Aerik stood bye the door like he does when he guards me. "Aerik, the queen gave you the night off, go to your own bed," I tell him, he shakes his head. "Until you are in bed I cannot leave you," he says. I give him a peck on the cheek, "go to bed," I order. "Fine," he says, he walks down to wherever his room is. I roll my eyes and go to bed.
The next morning I wake up and realize that I am late for breakfast! I rush to get my clothes on and my hair done up in a ponytail. I throw open the door to my room and see, Aerik. His hand is raised like he is about to knock on my door. "Sleep in your nannyness?" he asks me. "Oh shut up," I say, "come on, we're late." "Correction," he says, "you're late," I glare at him and he backs off. I stop just in front of the doors leading into the dining hall to straighten out my dress, and then I rush inside. Luckily, breakfast hadn't been served so no one noticed my entrance, except for Serena who winked at me. "Alana!" someone said to me as breakfast was served. "Yes," I said, turning my head to see who was speaking to me. It was the Queen of Venus (some say she is actually the goddess of Venus herself. "Alana you sure have grown, not only in age, but in beauty!" she says. "Why thank you your majesty, and may I say that you look more lovely yourself," I say pleasantly back. She does look more beautiful, and younger! The last time I saw her she was pale and sickly, but now she is tall, elegant, and looking extremely well. "Why thank you dear," she says back, beaming at me; I can tell that she really likes me now. "Alana, I didn't see you at the ball last night, except, well, for the ceremony," said the King of Mars. I blushed, why oh why was everyone paying attention to me? "I, was, talking with someone out in the gardens, and being spied on by curious eyes," as I said this I glared at the children who smiled innocently, you could almost see the little halos. "Oh," said all the adults at once, grinning at one-another. I know that some thing is going on but I don't know what; this is a conspiracy! "Didn't you dance at all?" asked the Queen of Neptune, her blue eyes glittering. "Yes, I did, about six or seven dances, I think," I say. "You think?" asked the Queen of Neptune. "I was kind of busy talking with my partner to notice," I say, that is only half true, the other half of the time I was staring into his eyes. "How old are you Alana?" asked the Queen of Mercury. "22," I say. "So that would make you about 14 or 15 when we came the last time?" she asked. "If you were counting by years, yes, but by months and days, no, you left about a month or so before my birthday," I say back, politely, as not to offend her. "Yes, yes, I could see how one would make a mistake like that," she says, I am very surprised to hear her say that. The conversation grows dead after that. I finally finish my breakfast. I set my napkin on my plate, to indicate that I am no longer hungry. A maid comes over and takes my plate; I sit quietly. Soon everyone else finishes his or her breakfast. Then we are all dismissed to our rooms. Aerik follows close behind. I reach my door and smile at Aerik. His face turns pale and scared, I wonder why that is. "Alana! Watch out!" he screams, running towards me, I am very confused, then I hear a window break. Before I can react, Aerik leaps on top of me, dragging me to the ground. Suddenly I hear a 'whooshing' sound and a 'crack' from behind me. Suddenly I hear the sound of men screaming and running. I am in shock, but I notice that my head hurts and that I am kind of dizzy. Aerik turns me over so that I am face-up, but still lying on the ground. He is kneeling beside me and is breathing hard. "Alana are you ok?" he asks me, "oh no! You cut your head." "I am fine," I say, "I think." "Do you think you broke anything?" he asks me. "I think the biggest injury is shock," I say, he chuckles. "You're definitely fine," he says, with a tone of relief. A guard comes over and pats him on the back, "good job," he says, then he walks off. "What happened?" I ask Aerik. "Someone tried to kill you that's what," he says back. I smile up at him, "thank you for saving my life," I say. "It's my job," he says back, shrugging, I slap him playfully on the shoulder. "What is going on here?!" shouts a voice, I recognize it as the queen's. "Are any of the children hurt?" asks someone else with a gruff voice, I think it's the King of Mars. "No your majesties," says a guard, "luckily no one was badly hurt, and none of the royal family was hurt either." "I heard that someone got hurt," said a voice, it sounded like the Queen of Mercury. I have got to learn their names. "Someone was hurt," says the guard, "but not to bad, she will survive. She probably would have died if it weren't for a guard standing post here," finished the soldier. "I want to know what happened and who got hurt, I would also like to see the injured," said the queen in her don't- mess-with-me voice. "I am right here," I say, I am becoming more nauseous and my headache is getting worse. The queen rushes over and gasped, surprised that it was I who got hurt. "I am fine," I tell her, "all I need is a hand so I can stand up." Everyone looks at each other and says, "she's fine." "I keep saying that," I say, "now can someone please help me up," I finish. Aerik thrusts out his hand and picks me up. I stand on my own, "see I am fine, all I need to do is clean up these cuts and I'll be good as knew," I say. Then the nausea starts to overwhelm me; I just stand where I am. "Ok, apparently not so fine," I say. The nausea takes me over and I faint into Aerik's waiting arms.
I wake up to find a wet cloth being dabbed on my forehead, not anywhere near my cut. My head still hurts, I groan to tell the person that I am awake. "Oh, hello, welcome back to the land of the living," says the nurse, I recognize her as Nurse Sara, the best doctor on the moon, besides the King of Mercury of course; I took Serena to her when Serena got the chicken pocks. "What day is it?" I ask her, my voice is actually very soft. "It's July 3rd, it's about two in the afternoon," she says. "Is that why I'm so hungry?" I ask her, she laughed. "Yes, that could be why," she says, "do you want to know what has happened since you fainted?" she asks me, I try to shake my head yes but the pain is so great it brings tears into my eyes. "Don't move your head," says the nurse, 'to late' I think to myself, "you have a pretty bad concussion so moving your head will make your headache worse and cause you to pass out again," she says. "Oh," is all I can say. "Let me tell you what has happened," says the nurse, "they caught the guy who tried to kill you. He was working for the Negaverse. He going after you because the Negaverse could easily replace you with a clone (I winced at this). The man actually killed himself in his cell. The man who saved you is now very popular, and is waiting outside in the waiting room for any news at every chance he gets (I tried to smile but she stuck a thermometer in my mouth). Your relatives have been alerted and are in the waiting room going ballistic right now. The royal children want you to get better soon so that you can play (we both started to laugh at this). Ah, you have a perfectly normal temperature, all you need is some rest right now, I am going to give you some medicine to help you sleep, and sleep yourself out you hear," she said. The nurse gave me a shot with some medicine in it; I became drowsy right away. The last words I heard were, "she's going to be fine." I drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.
I woke up at about 8 o'clock in the morning. My headache was gone and so was my nausea. I sat up, I felt fine. I walked out of the hospital bedroom door and came face-to-face with Nurse Sara. "I see that you are feeling better," she says. "Yes, much," I say back, "my head doesn't hurt and I don't feel sick at all." The nurse nodes her head approvingly. "Let me just check your bandages, and give you some advice, in other words, orders," she says. She leads me into a room full of bandages every shape and color. "Cool, isn't it," she says. She tells me to sit down, then she changed my bandages. "Now for my lecture," she says, "concussions last awhile so no physical activity is allowed for a week. Don't bang your head on anything. If you feel at all nauseated or have a bad headache drop what you're doing and come straight to me, even if it the middle of a royal ball," I nod my head in agreement. "Great, now you may leave, and go to the dining hall for breakfast." My stomach churns and I realize that I haven't eaten in 24 hours, I also realize that it is my birthday. "Go," says the nurse, ushering me out, "you're guard is waiting for you in the waiting room," before I can do anything she spins around and disappears. "Aerik," I say cautiously as I walk into the waiting room, he spots me and comes over to me. I smile at him, "now I really am ok," I say. He just grins and kisses me, I start to kiss him back when I realize that breakfast starts in five minutes and I can't run. He leads me to the dining hall and helps me get inside, even though I can do it by myself I let him. The hall grows quiet as I enter. I smile at all the kings and queens and take my place at the table. "How are you feeling Alana?" asks the queen politely. "Very hungry," is my reply, and everyone starts to laugh. The food is served and every one stops talking for awhile. "Alana," says the queen, I stare at her, still chewing my half-eaten croissant. "Because of the attack yesterday you will now have two guards, and a room away from any windows. Aerik, and your new guard Bailey will show you there after breakfast. But only after you have eaten," she said, all the royals and the royal children were agreeing. "I will be happy to oblige," I say, and this is the truth, "but may I ask you something." "Yes, you may," says the queen. "I am unable to do any physical activity for a week, how will I move my possessions?" I ask. The queen smiled, "it has already been done. Your family and your guards did so last night," she said. "I believe I will be unable to go into town for new stuff, yes?" I say/ask the queen. She nods, "yes, I believe that will have to be the case. If you need anything send either one of your guards down or a maid," she said, agreeing with me. The conversation ceased for the rest of breakfast.
When Aerik and Bailey took me to my room, Bailey was behind me and Aerik was on my right; I felt like a prisoner! "Aerik, is this really necessary?" I ask. "Yes, the entire palace fears for your safety," he says. "Well that is nice," I say back, Aerik quiets me. "Oh, I forgot to mention," says Aerik, "that your sister is now a cook in the palace and your mother is an assistant healer," he looked very pleased with himself. "What?!" I say, "please tell me I will not have my own family as a watchdog." "I could not say either way, I do not know. Last night I got the greatest thanks from your parents. I think your father has taken I liking to me. He told me to 'take care of her well son, take care of her well'," he says, I stare at him. "Really, when I was little any boy who would even look at me would hear it from him," I say. "He didn't do that, he actually had tears in his eyes," he said, but before I could respond we had reached my room. I noticed that the room was bigger than the other one, and even more grand. I made a note to thank the queen at lunch. "Well, go in," said Aerik. I opened the door and saw people! They all jumped at me and said 'Happy Birthday'. Aerik grabbed my arms and said, "happy birthday Alana, come on, go inside." I walked inside and saw that on my bed were presents, a lot of them. "When did you guys plan this?" I asked. "We didn't," said Serena, "someone neglected to tell us that today was her birthday." "Then who told you?" I asked. "Aerik and your family," said the queen, "last night while we were in the waiting room," I shot Aerik an accusing look and he just shrugged. "Open your presents Alana, open your presents," yelled the kids in unison, they were jumping on the floor because the bed was covered. "All right, all right," I said laughingly, bringing a chair up close to my bed and sitting on it. "Now which one first?" I said curiously. "Me, me, me," is all I heard from the kids, all the adults are smiling. "How about this one," I say, taking the present from Rei, her face lights up. I open up the box and just stare at what's inside. It's a beautiful red dress with matching hair ribbons. I lift it carefully from the box, I notice that it is as smooth as silk. "Thank you Rei, I say softly, it's beautiful," I say, carefully putting down the dress so that I don't rip it, Rei beams again. One of the adults puts the dress on a hanger and into the closet, it is Aerik, he is standing right behind me; I give him a thankful smile. Next I open the gift from Jupiter; it is another dress, just as pretty as the other one, but in green. "Thank you Lita," I say, handing the dress to Aerik. Earth, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto all get me dresses, they are all beautiful. I take Mercury's present and open it up; it is a bunch of books, including one of my favorites. "Thank you Ami," I say, "how did you know that I like to read?" I ask. "By all the time you spend in the library," she says, pleased with herself. When I opened Venus' present I gasped. It was a set of hair and nail accessories like nail polish, a brush, hair ties, etc. The brush and the mirror were set with stones and engraved in gold was the name Alana. "It's gorgeous Mina, thank you," Mina beamed. I finally opened Serena's present, inside was a box, engraved with little leaves and flowers, it also said Alana; there was a little key to go with it. "Open it," said the queen, I did as I was told. Inside was some jewelry, it was beautiful. "Thank you, all of you," I said. "Now for the presents from your family," said the queen. They were all dresses and accessories. After I finished unwrapping my presents I said, "now I have a problem." "And what is that?" asked the queen. "Which one am I going to wear first?" I said laughingly, everyone let out a sigh of relief and started laughing to. After everyone left Aerik turned to me, "you have one more present Alana," he said, taking a little package out of his clothes. "I am afraid it isn't as eloquent as any of your other presents," he said; I opened it, it was a necklace. It had one charm on it, a little music note. I held it up to the light and it sparkled. "It's beautiful," I said, putting it around my neck. He smiled and kissed me again. "Excuse me," said someone, it was Bailey, "but we have a job to do," he said, gesturing to Aerik. Aerik gave me one more peck on the cheek and left the room. The two men started talking softly, I listened hard. "Do you like her?" asked someone; it was Bailey. "Yes, I do, I like her a lot," said Aerik. "Do you think that will be a problem, because I can tell that she likes you to," asked Bailey. "No," said Aerik, "I may like her but I won't let it interfere with my work." "I think it already has," said Bailey; the talking ceased. I smiled and happily went back to cleaning my room.
The week passed slowly. The kids were playing together and all I could do is sit and be bored. Every once and a while they would sit with me. But sitting has its advantages. I noticed a little something between Serena and Darien. I know this could be a problem, but it is so funny to see them flirting with each other, I doubt they even know what they are doing. So far there has been no more attacks or attempted murders. "Alana!" said Serena. "Yes," I said. "We all want to talk now," she said. "Since when do you need my permission to do that?" I asked. All of them thought. "It's girl talk time!" said Rei, "Darien go away," she said. Darien left to be with Bailey and Aerik very quickly. Darien likes them, they are teaching him how to fight and defend himself. He is probably doing so because of Lita and Haruka. They are like little boys. All the kids gather around me. "So, Alana, have you ever liked a boy?" asked Mina, I almost fell off the bench. So this is what they want to talk about. "Why do you want to know that?" I ask. "Oh, come on Alana, every one knows that necklace you're wearing was not in your pile of presents," said Michiru. So they had noticed my necklace. "Maybe I have and maybe I haven't," I say, knowing that this is killing them to know. I look at Aerik for some help; he only shrugs. "Come on Alana, tell us," said the girls, I decide to change the subject. "Have any of you liked a boy?" I ask, all of the girls gasp and squeal. Luckily the lunch bell rings. The girls run to the dining hall. Aerik and Bailey walk with me. "That was close," says Bailey. "What are you talking about?" I ask, then I realize and I gasp, "you know!" I say accusingly. "I kind of guessed," he says with a shrug; Aerik and I look at each other. "Why do you do it?" Bailey asked. "What?" I asked. "That look at each other thing, people are going to suspect," he said. Then we reached the dining hall. At lunch the queen announced something. "There is going to be a good bye ball for the kings and queens of the other kingdoms," she said. "Kings and queens?" I say, "don't you mean with the children?" "No," said the queen, "everyone except Darien will be here to train in becoming Serena's court." The girls started celebrating and Darien plugged his ears to keep from going deaf; I started laughing at that.
The day of the ball Aerik and Bailey were helping me decide what to wear. "I want to wear one of the dresses I got for my birthday, but I don't know which," I complained. I had worn all the dresses my parents had given me, and three others. "Which ones have you worn?" Aerik asked. "The ones from Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto," I say. "Hmm," considered Aerik, "how about the one from Mars? It brings out your hair and eyes," he said, holding out the dress. "It does, doesn't it," I say, "now get out so that I can change," I push them out of the room. I put on the beautiful red dress; it fits perfectly. It falls to the floor but not to the point where I could trip on it. The dress falls over me loosely but makes all my features stand out. I wrap the ribbons around strands of hair, making it look crimped. I put on some blue eye shadow and some red lipstick. Then I walk out of the room. Bailey's mouth drops open and Aerik takes a step back. "You look beautiful," Aerik says, amazed." "Now it's your turn to get ready," I say. "Yes ma'am," Aerik and Bailey say in unison.
I met the royals outside the Grand Ballroom. "You look wonderful," says the queen. "Thank you," I say back. "Is that the dress we gave you?" the King of Mars asks. "Yes, do you like it?" I ask. "Lovely," says the queen. Then the trumpets sounded. The ceremony was very boring; I could hardly wait until it was open. Many people ask me to dance, but I decline. "Will the pretty lady honor me with a dance?" asks someone behind me. I turn around to decline and see that it is Aerik. "I would be glad to oblige," I say, so we start to dance. We dance four dances and then he leads me outside, we do not notice the queen watching us. We walked through the gardens, looking at every flour. "Alana," says Aerik, I turn towards him, "what is your favorite flour?" "Roses," I say. Aerik comes over to me, takes my arm and leads me to a bench near a fountain. Close to it was a balcony, where the queen, unknown to us, was standing, watching us. "Why do you ask?" I ask him. "I just want to know," he says, brushing some hair out of my face. "What is yours?" I ask him. "Roses," he says. We smile at each other; he leans over to me. "Roses are the flowers of love Alana," he says, pulling a rose out from under his cloak, "and I love you," he says, then he kisses me. "I love you to Aerik," I say. Neither of us notice the queen, standing on the balcony, smiling.
