Sorry about the lateness of this! It has been an incredibly busy past month, combined with a tiredness that made me just too darn lazy to write! But here it is!

I don't care what people say about the healing powers of ice cream and other samples of junk food. When it came to stress, there was nothing like a pure-fruit, sugar-free smoothie, and I was guzzling mine to well past brain freeze.

"It's quite a plausible spell," Mary told me as she delicately sipped on her smoothie. It was a treat that seemed perfect for her. A dainty fairy embellishing in fruit. "I've seen crazier. Heard of craziest."

Well, of course anyone could demonstrate a heck of a lot more imagination. I raised an eyebrow and forced the ice-covered straw from my mouth. I felt utterly trashy, curled up on the cracked vinyl seat of the shop. "Yes, but is it true? You have worked with Mr. Maser for years. Shouldn't you know?"

She shrugged and flipped back some of her hair. "I'm not… I'm sorry, I'm not much help here. My association with Rowan Maser is strictly professional. I just know he had this son and, well, that was pretty much it. I mean, they're nice enough, both of them. One of them."

"Nice?" It was a word I wanted to scream into the heavens. "Mary, I like to consider myself a nice person. I come from a small town. I've been the queen of dances. I try not to mean to people that don't deserve it and I think I'm pretty good at that. I just want to make people look nice. You're a nice person. The girls are very nice people, most of them. Nice people do not try to kill you. Nice people don't lie to you!"

She blinked at me and took another loud sip of smoothie. The half-fairy had been transformed into a deer-in-the-headlights. Wasn't she the one who had been threatened within an inch of her virtually immortal life? "Are you more concerned about someone trying to kill us or kissing an old guy?"

I sighed. My smoothie was almost gone save for a few remaining pomegranate clumps around the base. "Mary, Mary!" Quite contrary. "Think! Rowe-- whoever that was—talked about Sleeping Beauty. You were the fairy who dealt with her. Can you think of any good reason why anyone would need her dead?"

"I really didn't know much of the royal family's lives other than the curse." She squeezed her eyes shut in thought. "Tansy, that was centuries ago! How am I supposed to remember anything? Sleeping Beauty is long dead!"

"What about through the Salon doors?"

She opened her eyes and now looked at me as if I were the stupid one. "Tansy, didn't Mr. Maser explain it to you? We have all these fairy tales in this world and you all assume it's the same person just because the title of the story says so. Sleeping Beauty, the one I cursed, is dead. She lived until she was like a hundred or something and died of complications after she tripped and broke her hip. She and the prince had about nine kids. One took over the kingdom, a couple of the girls married a few other princes, and I think one of them went Croatoan out of society. I don't know what happened after that."

So much for playing Kinsey Milhone. I sighed and considered getting another smoothie. "Apprently it was a pretty important reason if she's still after you. I don't get you. How come you don't intend on doing anything?"

She shrugged. "I really don't know what I should do. This is pretty much the main detail of my banishment. I help Mr. Maser run the shop. I'm a receptionist. I'm pretty much invisible. I think it's very sweet that you are trying to help me, Tansy, but I really don't know what else to do. No one has ever come after me like this before." A tiny smile crept out, and I wondered how she would look with some dramatically dark lipstick. "It's kind of exciting."

I found myself smiling as well. "You do have a point there. I haven't worked here very long and I'm already certifiably crazy."

"You're not crazy. You're just involved. So what about Rowe? Rowan? Mr. Maser? Whoever he is?"

That was the one thing I did not want to think about. My smile immediately vanished. "Why did you bring him up?"

"I was thinking we were right around that topic with the way this discussion was going. Rowe, or someone who looked like him, is clearly involved with everything."

A bitty fire began to burn within me, and it was not the romantically passionate kind. It was the kind that wanted to rage and burn things Carrie-style. "I have absolutely no idea whatsoever, Mary. What am I supposed to think of that story?"

"I told you already it's a plausible spell. Isn't it interesting how this conversation has come full circle?"

Great. Now the mouse had learned how to make fun of me. Good for her. I would have been proud if I had not been in the center of confusion. I dragged my hands down my face and gave a muffled, tight-lipped scream. "I hate men."

Mary murmured her agreement. "I'm just glad I'm not in your shoes."

"Thank-you." Not with the correct feeling.

"Should we go back to me?" she continued, "Or should we keep talking about you and Rowe?"

"The former."

"I think I have an idea."

I sighed again and looked at her. In the short time I had known her I had never quite imagined her as the type to have a plan. But there she was, smiling broadly and secretively like she was the cleverest little half-fairy to set foot on the planet. "Shoot."

"Well," she began innocently enough. "You heard about the ball, right?"

"Cinder's?"

"Yes. I think we should go. I'll talk to Mr. Maser about it."

"Rowe," I said automatically, though I still could not connect the two men I had seen in my mind. A spell that made one age thirty years?

"Yes, if we can trust him even though I already told you it's a very plausible spell."

"And I thought we agreed we weren't going to talk about Rowe," I said.

"We're not talking about Rowe." She took another noisy sip. "I am merely talking about the man who bosses us all around, not some cursed prince."

"But we can't even trust him."

I don't think she was used to not being told what to do. "Then... we'll go anyway. If he's in league with our villainess, well, we'll get him at this time."

I stared at her. "Wow."

"What?"

"Assertid. Or assertive. I can't remember the world. That whole Type A thing."

"What about it?" She was back to her characteristic terror-filled face.

"You're showing it. I think I like it on you."

She blushed. "Thank-you."

"You can return to what you were saying. About the ball. Because I think it sounds like a lot of fun but I can't imagine what it has to do with anything. But it does sound promising, so you keep going."

So Mary did. "All I am trying to say is that fairies are pretty much automatically attracted to large groups of people. We like balls and christenings and all the like. At least we are supposed to."

"It sounds so stereotyped."

She rolled her eyes. "That's pretty much the best way to describe it."

I raised a finger. "Question. So we have everyone at the ball, and the Evil Queen or fairy shows up. What are we going to do then?"

"I only came up with this plan a few minutes ago. I think we have enough time to later figure out the details."

I considered it. Half a plan sounded good enough to me. "What about the rest of the girls? Are you the only fairy we have?"

"As far as I know, it's just me. But Linda is pretty smart. I'm sure she could help."

"If we knew what we were doing," I pointed out.

Mary sighed and slammed her head down onto the tabletop. "I'm so sorry. I'm just making this up as I go. I've never had someone sneak after me before like this."

I patted her head. "You are doing fine."

Then I considered it. This was Cinder's ball. We were plotting to do something to a wicked fairy who possibly taught me everything I knew about beauty at her ball. Her one chance to be properly gorgeous and to hopefully impress some prince. I knew I should feel more stressed than I did. Or maybe it was some sort of safety mechanism that had been put into me at birth. I had to do the only thing I knew at which I could be good. "What are you going to wear?" I asked.

She lifted her head. "What?"

"What are you going to wear?"

"Tansy, why do you want to know what I'm going to wear?"

How oblivious could she be? "We're going to a ball. A royal ball. You need something nice. And I'll do your hair for you. You'll look stunning."

She was continuing to look at me like I was insane. "I'm going to have a date for you."

"Who?"

"Michael."

The insanity accusation increased. 'Tansy, I can't date your ex!"

"Sure you can. He's my ex, I'm offering him to you, and he's a perfectly nice man. We just did not fit as soul mates go."

"You want me to go to the ball with Michael?"

Ah, she was finally coming around. "Exactly. You will take him and he will protect you if anything horrible goes wrong with the plan we have not yet created. Please do not try to pretend I haven't seen the chemistry between you two. You would be adorable together."

I think she was trying to hide it, but there was definitely a smile there. "What about you?" she asked. "Who will take you?"

I froze. How dare she turn this around on me. "I still have time to find someone." Strangely enough my first thought was Rowe. He would have been a marvelous escort. But no, he had to turn about to be another form of my boss! One little confession ruined. And my boss was probably a murderer. "I don't need an escort anyway," I continued. "I'm a fairy godmother."

Mary just smiled.

I shook my head. "When did my life turn so nuts?"

She shrugged.

It was incredibly late when I finally returned home to my apartment. My lovely, repaired, and cleaned apartment. I stood a moment in the doorway, surveying the complete lack of damage. It was a good feeling. It was almost as if no one had ever ransacked the place in search of nothing before. I flung my purse onto the couch and debated my next step. I had work in the morning and after an evening like the one I had just had sleep was what I needed. But I didn't feel like sleep quite yet. I wanted to pour lavender bubbles into the bathtub until the water ran onto the floor. I wanted to lounge in that until I drowned or had some sort of near-death experience. But sleep was probably healthier. Neither mattered, though. The red light of my answering machine was blinking away like that creepy computer from that old space movie on the fritz.

I think I knew who had left a message, but I wanted to pretend it was my mother or Kendra or someone half-way normal. I would even accept Michael, as I clearly had to talk to him at some point about his date with Mary. I took a deep breath and forced my way to the machine to release the messages.

Yep. Rowe. Or Rowan. Or Mr. Maser. The person I did not want to think about.

The message was short, brief, and obnoxiously to the point. "Please, Tansy. Consider what I said and believe me. Good night."

I deleted the message. My heart was pounding enough to break my ribs. I didn't want to think about Rowe or Mr. Maser or anything about his supposed curse.

He was a liar, I suddenly decided. He was a crazy-insane liar who wanted nothing more than to make my life miserable and kill Mary or something. I couldn't trust him. For all I knew he wasn't even related to Mr. Maser. Just because I had never seen them together. He was some guy who had convinced everyone of his goodness enough to climb into a beauty salon and terrorize the world. And yes, what I had just thought was the epitome of insanity. Or Mr. Maser himself was evil as well and was allowing all of this chaos to reign for some unknown purpose.

I went for the bath. I needed that relaxation.

Really, when had my world become so wild?

Everything looked better in the morning. Why do things work out that way? Or maybe I was just a pathetic creature of habit who was much too involved in her work. Either way, I hopped into my little Cavalier and drove to work, the idea of running into Mr. Maser forced out of my mind. I greeted Mary at her desk like nothing out of the ordinary had happened the day before. I readied my station for the day and imagined things for my customers. I chatted with Linda and Alexis, only partially wondering if they would be willing to do something utterly insane for Cinder's ball.

Mr. Maser never appeared.

I also wondered if Snow White would make any kind of appearance. How long was she supposed to be asleep?

I succeeded in not thinking about anything important.

Snow White did not show up, but first on my list was Princess Deanna, the chubby little thing wallowing in the mist of depression. Ah, a challenge. My one-track mind was ready for this. I was going to deal with her. I was going to change her life. Inside my heart was weeping in a mix of excitement and my own depression. But I could do this.

Princess Deanne looked, of course, miserable. "I've had the worst day," she began.

"I don't want to hear about it," I sang, motioning her into the chair.

"I just want a—"

I help up a finger, silencing her. "Shush. Deanne, you are going go through exactly whatever I want you to go through today, okay? Got it?"

The poor thing nodded. She looked terrified. Good.

I pulled out the necessary shampoo and conditioner bottles and prepared the sink for a hair wash. Good way to start the morning. "First, I want you to tell me one good thing that happened today."

"I guess the sunset was kind of nice."

"Hooray!" I paused to give a quick applause. "Wonderful to hear that. Anything else?" I did not give her time to respond as I shoved her underneath the faucet. I was going to give her highlights, I decided. Nice, dark, dramatic red highlights. And some blond ones. I was going to give her a completely different look. No, red would be too dramatic. But blonde would work. And some light brown. She would be lovely.

"Deanna," I told her awhile later as I prepared the hair color. "I have an idea for you."
"Huh?" I think she was officially traumatized of me.

"How would you like to go to a real royal ball?"

"I can't dance."

"Neither can most men. You'll be fine."

She shook her head. "I can't go to a ball."

"You will." I grabbed the foil and began the highlights. "You will go. You will talk to men. You will flirt. You will have fun. And you will lose some weight before you go."

"I can't lose weight."

I laughed. "Sure you can. And if you can't, there is always control-top pantyhose."

She did not reply. I watched her carefully as I worked, unable to fully understand her expression. I could not decide if she were pouting, crying, or just thinking.

Finally, about midway through her extreme haircut (I was taking off a good foot) she said "Tansy, you are incredibly nice."

"Thank-you. I promise, you are going to look fabulous at the ball. When I am done with the scissors, I want you to pay extra attention to how I am styling your hair."

Then there was the make-up. A tweeze-off of half her eyebrows revealed some chocolate brown eyes. Stunning. "Look!" I squealed. "Look what you have! Gorgeous eyes!"

"Really?" she said shyly.

"Really. You just need mascara…"

It was a proud, proud moment when I finally let her out of the chair. Princess Deanna really did look nice. Hopefully that would brighten her mood.

"Next time you see me," I said as she left, "I want a list of ten happy things."

"All right," she said dutifully.

I turned back to my station to clean up. Mr. Maser stood in the doorway, watching me.

I stopped, every detail of the night before returning. "Yes."

"Nothing, Miss Bryner," he said softly. "Nothing at all." He turned.

Something inside of me snapped. I was sick of this. This place was full of mysteries and I was expected to participate without any idea of what was going on. I charged out of the Salon, ready to yell at my boss.

But there was not a single sign of him.