Chapter 10: A Ball

As Snow was falling asleep during the rosy dawn of Monday morning, Cindy was waking up. After a quick shower and changing into her school uniform, Cindy went into the kitchen where Lucifer was waiting for her. He did his usual obnoxious meowing until Cindy gave him his wet-food, and then got to work. Eventually, she made three plates consisting of spinach omelets, wheat toast slices, and small sausages. After pouring coffee into the three adjoining cups, she placed them on breakfast trays just as she heard their voices crying for food above.

"Alright, I hear you!" she replied, and stacked all three trays on top of each other without spilling or ruining their contents thanks to the legs each one was accompanied with. As she ascended the stairs gently, Lucifer started weaving between her legs and meowing again.

Cindy ignored him like she always did, and gave each breakfast tray to Ana, Trissy, and Ms. Tremaine in exchange for their laundry baskets to deal with later. After that, she cleaned up the kitchen, microwaved a breakfast burrito that she stashed in the freezer for cases like this, and ran out the door with her book-bag in tow. Looking at her wristwatch, she knew she was barely going to make it, but was intercepted by two boys that blocked her way to the school gate. One was short and fat with reddish-pink hair shaped like devil horns. The other was tall and skinny with turquoise hair done in a similar fashion to the fat boy. They both wore jeans and the trademark leather jackets of the Pandemonium street gang.

"What do you want, Pain and Panic?" Cindy asked, looking at each of them with irritation.

"We just wanted to ask you some questions," said Pain, the short one.

"Yeah, just a few questions," added the tall one, Panic.

Cindy sighed in irritation, and brushed past them. "Well, I'm kind of in a hurry, so if you don't mind—

Pain immediately grabbed her wrist, and then Panic pinched her shoulder, forcing Cindy to look at both of them. Cindy tried to break from Pain's grip, but it was strong and the more she pulled, the tighter he held her. She was just about to scream for help when Jack and Gus appeared by the gate.

"Hey, let our friend go!" shouted Jack, pushing his white dress-shirt sleeves up as Gus did the same.

"You want to fight us?" Panic asked, looking at them. "Then I dare you to take another step!"

To make his point, Panic reached around Cindy's back and was about to reach under her dress-shirt when an ear-splitting whistle stopped him. Then when Pain and Panic looked around to see who it was, they let go of Cindy and ran past Jack and Gus. The one who blew the whistle was a young male student with medium blond hair, tan skin, and a big nose, wearing the school uniform and a yellow band stitched with red letters that spelled 'Hall Monitor' on them. Next to him was the boy Cindy met in the lunchroom last week, who walked over to her.

"Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" he asked urgently.

"No, they didn't hurt me. I'm fine," Cindy replied, avoiding the boy's gaze.

"It's a good thing Char saw Pain and Panic harassing you when he did, or things would've gotten really ugly," the Hall Monitor said, glancing at Jack and Gus.

"Well they were the ones who were provoking us, Phoebus," Jack said in defense.

"It doesn't matter who was provoking whom. Fighting is not allowed on campus period, even against non-students," the Hall Monitor, Phoebus, replied. Then he looked over at the boy and said, "How is she doing, Char?"

"She says she's alright, but her hand looks swollen," the boy Char replied.

Upon hearing his name, Cindy looked up at him, "Char, as in Charming, the heir to Kingsley Industries?"

Char sighed, and said, "Yes, but I won't be able to inherit the company until I get married, at least that's what my father said."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad, I guess."

"It isn't in theory, but my father wants me to get married soon so he could have grand-children."

"Oh, I see."

It was then that Cindy noticed Char was holding her swollen hand. Embarrassed, she broke from his grasp and walked through the main doors despite Char's calls, asking for her name.

###

As the day wore on, Cindy's swollen hand started to lessen, and nobody seemed to notice as she hid it inside of her dress-shirt sleeve. Then when she went down to the kitchen to help the chef during lunch, Bruno noticed her hand and started licking it obsessively. Cindy would've normally found this annoying, but today she felt that she needed it. Afterwards, she met up with Rose, and told her about what happened that morning.

"That's awful!" Rose said, "But why would Pain and Panic want to talk to you? Did they say what they were asking for?"

"No," Cindy replied.

"I wonder if it…no, it couldn't be," Rose's eyes wandered.

"What is it? Did something happen?" Cindy asked.

"Will you keep a secret for me?"

"Of course, I'm your best friend, aren't I?"

Rose looked both ways and then she whispered, "I think my aunts are magic-users, and I've heard a rumor that Hades is asking people about it."

Cindy was bewildered, but mostly confused. "So, what's the big deal? There are a lot people who use magic, and I think Hades is one."

"But that's what's odd. You remember when Aunt Fauna used her wand to open the door by accident? Did you see how afraid she looked? It's like they've been keeping it a secret from me on purpose because they're worried something might happen to me if I knew."

"So they're protecting you? And if that is the case, who are they protecting you from?"

"I don't know, but lately, I've been noticing more ravens."

"But what do ravens have to do with…you think those ravens were sent by Hades, or maybe they were Pain and Panic in disguise?"

"But that doesn't make sense. What would Hades want with someone like me, other than desiring a new girlfriend?"

After Rose left, Cindy's mind now wandered from her hand, which had now gotten better, to Rose's aunts. She had never seen any of them use magic until Fauna did that one time in Choir. But if they were protecting Rose from someone who was using magic, why were they trying to hide theirs? Wouldn't the natural reaction be to use more magic instead of suppressing it completely? These questions kept Cindy occupied all the way through the rest of school and even when she walked home. The flag on the mailbox was up, meaning there was mail inside. Cindy opened the lid, and found three large envelopes next to a few smaller ones. While the smaller ones were addressed to her stepmother, the big ones were addressed to her and her stepsisters. Inside, she found her stepmother sitting with Lucifer on the couch.

"Give me the letters," Ms. Tremaine demanded. "And I'll need you to mop the floors before you prepare dinner."

"Yes, stepmother," Cindy answered, and gave her stepmother the letters. While she kept the small ones, she gave two of the bigger envelopes back. "I think one of those is mine."

"Give your stepsisters those two, and until I know what's in them I'll hold onto yours for the time-being," replied Ms. Tremaine.

"But, isn't that a little—

"Do as I say!"

Then with that, Cindy nodded, and obediently gave Ana and Trissy their envelopes. They didn't thank her as they always did whenever she did favors for them, and then Cindy got to work mopping the floors. While Trissy practiced "Sing Sweet Nightingale" for Choir upstairs, Cindy did the same, and for a brief while, she forgot her troubles, but was brought back to reality when Lucifer walked all over the mopped floors with paws that were steeped in the dust she swept earlier. After locking the cat in the laundry room, she finished the mopping in time to make dinner, this time being a tuna casserole.

When dinner was served, Ms. Tremaine asked her daughters, "So, what was on your letters?"

"They were invitations to a ball at the end of the semester!" Ana said, barely containing her excitement.

"And everyone from freshman to seniors may attend!" Trissy added.

"Which means that I may go if I wanted to," Cindy said, and turned to Ms. Tremaine. "Can I have my envelope back now?"

Ms. Tremaine glanced at the letter pile on the couch, and then said, "Yes, but only if you find something suitable to wear."

"You've got to be kidding! I don't even have an allowance!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Then you can't go if you can't buy a dress."

"If you just don't want me to go, you don't have to come up with some ridiculous excuse for it. Have a nice dinner."

Cindy left with a heavy silence hanging over the table, but as soon as she shut the door to her bedroom, she heard them laughing. She tried to convince herself that she wasn't upset that she didn't get to go to some stupid ball, but then realized that Char might go, though it might be because of his father's influence. Regardless, she had always wanted to go to a ball, and this was probably the only chance she would get. So she resolved to get herself a job, and earn enough money to buy a dress before the end of the semester was over.

End of Chapter 10