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6. Cash Cash – Sugar Rush

Daisy peered around the door. She nearly jumped out of her feathers when someone tapped her shoulder.

"Donald!" she whispered angrily. "I swear, if you sneak up on me like that again, I will bash you over the head with your own staff."

Donald looked sheepish. Or maybe it was scared. She really would do it, after all. "What's going on?"

"Shhh." Daisy went back to peering. After a moment, he joined her, positioning himself lower on the doorframe and making them into a crude duck version of a totem pole.

"Why is Minnie in the kitchens? It's 6 a.m.!"

"I know." Daisy's chambers were close enough to the queen's that she heard her friend going down the corridor – more specifically, heard her crash into a marble bust in the dark and stop it falling from its plinth. "She snuck down here."

"Why?"

"Why do you think I've been spying on her?" Minnie had been given to some pretty odd behaviour in the time Mickey, Donald and Goofy were away. Daisy had put it down to stress. Now threy were back, however, and she was still doing odd things. Something occurred to Daisy. She squinted down at Donald. "Why are you down here so early?"

"I was mixing potions in the workroom."

"All night?"

"It, uh, took longer than I expected. And I was asleep for part of it."

Ah, that explained his rumpled appearance and slight sulphurous odour. Also, the charred state of his face, neck and shirtfront. Donald's impatience meant his potions often exploded on him when he poured out incorrect amounts or tried to mix powders together too soon.

He shrank backwards. Daisy raised her eyes and did likewise. Minnie was moving towards them. As she got closer, Daisy could finally see what had prompted her to rise early and spend so long in a room she, as queen, wasn't even supposed to go into. Minnie wasn't like other queens, just like Mickey wasn't like other kings. Daisy tried to imagine royalty from neighbouring kingdoms dressing in clothes with more zippers than fabric, running off to fight yellow-eyed shadow monsters, or baking three-tier, pink sugar-frosted 'welcome home' cakes when their beloved finally came home safely from fighting those monsters.

"Donald?"

"Yeah, Daisy?"

"I'm glad you're home too, y'know."

"Aw, Daisy –"

"But we both know my cooking stinks."

"That's okay. Did you miss me?"

"Sure. Who else am I supposed to yell at when I'm stressed?" Daisy smiled, but resolved to follow Minnie's example and find something sweet to do for her guy, too.

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