Chapter 3

Jenaka

My room was big, I must admit. Bigger than any room I'd ever had before. Anything than I'd ever wished for.

There was a four poster bed, a crystal chandelier that sawn like a disco ball when the lights were out. Some of the furniture spoke to me. The chest of drawers mainly, she's pretty chatty apparently. I know, it seems crazy. Maybe I'm wasting away, being trapped here forever has already taken a toll on me. I wonder how it's going to be like years from now. I'll probably still be right here, talking to my drawers.

The rest of the room dazzles the same way the chandelier did. Like it was made for a girl, a princess. Patterns of flowers covered the walls. The bright colours in the duvet and around the room contrast deeply from the darkness that engulfs the rest of the castle. Why would someone so evil as this beast have such a beautiful room for his prisoner?

But it didn't matter. I didn't want it. And I would never feel at home here.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Nej? May I come in?"

I gasped. How dare they. "Don't ever call me that! Only my father calls me that."

"I apologize. My master said that was your name."

"It's not. It's Jenaka."

"I'm sorry, Miss. Jenaka."

"Would you like to come down to dinner?" Another voice asked.

"No. I wouldn't. Thank you."

"But the master demands it." I heard the other whisper to the first voice.

"Cook, how would you feel if this was your first night here?" the first asked the second, whom I presume to be Cook.

"I don't know Lumos, probably pretty hungry. She's been sitting up here for quite a while stuck talking to Molly chatter box."

"Don't call me Lumos! You know I hate that."

"Hmm, you and Jenaka have something in common already. Now go convince her to come down!" After that all I heard was fighting for a few minutes. Lots of clanging, were they holding weapons?

"Guys, you know I can hear you?" I shouted swinging the door open.

But nothing was there. I looked out at both sides of the hall, just in case they had run away, or were trying to hide. But there really was nothing. "Hello? Cook? …Lumos?"

"It's Luke, actually," he corrected clearing his throat. "And we're down here."

I gasped. At my feet was a clock, and a candlestick. "You have got to be kidding me. There are more of you."

"Oh yes, the castle is full of us," Cook, the clock, explained.

"I really am crazy," I whispered to myself.

"Come," Luke said, extending his hand, or well, his candleholder. "Be our guest."

"What happened to you all?" I asked as other animated decorations skittered past me setting up my table spot and putting a napkin on my lap.

"There was a spell cast down upon the house, many years ago," Cook began. "Now we are stuck like this until…"

Luke cut him off, "Jen, try the grey stuff it's delicious." I gave him a look of disbelief. It looked like the inside someone's stomach, ground up and turned into grey mush. "Don't believe me? Ask the dishes."

I looked down at my plate, about ready to laugh at him. Not realizing that even the plates were alive. My plate licked up some of the mush and smiled at me. "Yum," it said licking its lips.

"Oh my."

"As I was saying," Cook continued. "The whole house had a spell put on it, by an evil witch, and now we only have a limited time until we are stuck this way forever. And the only one who can change us back is—"

"Cook!" The beast's booming voice echoed throughout the room, shaking every dish on the table. "We do not need to disturb Nej with these stories right now. It's dinner time. Leave. All of you. We need peace as we eat."

They all scurried away, leaving us alone. Just me and my… master.

Jade

Air, I need air. I'm a swimmer, how do I need air so quickly? How deep is this ocean? Karma would trap me in the deep depths of the ocean with no air, and legs that barely work. I would give anything to have those fins back right now.

How stupid am I? I picked the prince? Did I pick the right thing? I could be home, but I picked the prince. I thought girls were supposed to stick together.

Me and my friends, we've been friends for as long as I can remember. We've always stuck together, through anything. We're strong, and we know who to trust. But how does trusting an octopus fit under that category?

That stupid prince. He seemed so special, so different, and so… indescribable. I made it to the surface and paddled over to shore before all of a sudden something hit me: how am I going to find him? He's human, and for the past few hours I've been a fish, and I have no friends here—wherever here is. I also have no voice, and he's never met me before. How am I going to get him to fall in love with me? How will I convinced him to kiss me?

I was even stupider than I thought. That evil fish lady was smart. She knew it would never work out. I'm gonna be one of her poor unfortunate souls soon!

Another problem came to my attention while I sat on a boulder, examining my surroundings. I could see town from here. All the people rushed by in a hurry, maybe they'd never notice me. Except I could see the castle across town, there is no way I could make it all that way without at least one person noticing. Why don't merpeople wear clothes? It would make it so much easier when they decide to become humans!

Squawk! Squawk!

I wish that bird would shut up! It sounds like someone was running it over multiple times. I whipped around to yell at it, only to be brutally reminded that I can't talk. I sat there, both hands wrapped around my neck, trying to feel my vocal chords. Just to make sure one day I could have my voice back. While I did this though, they bird was having what looked to be a seizure. I'm not a bird expert, but I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to jerk their head around like that unless they're dying, or… trying to tell you something?

I scrunched up my eyebrows, mouthing, "What?" I think this proves that I really am an idiot. Only people with severe mental problems talk to birds, right? This is definitely not normal.

Neither is when it answers. The bird lifted on wing and pointed behind me. I whipped around to see what he (or she, how do you tell with birds, something about their colouring, right?) was pointing to. An abandoned sail had washed up on shore. I smiled back at the bird, then ran over quickly to grab the cloth sheet and draped it around myself.

The bird squawked again, I turned back to it questioning what it was complaining about. The bird shook its head. I didn't understand what he was complaining about (I decided it was a he, because of the colourful feathers). I pushed the cloth down from around my shoulders, and tied it underneath my arms, making it look more like a dress than a cape. He made a squawk that almost sounded like a whistle. I'll take that as a sign of approval. What now? I asked myself.

I went to ask, in the sign language-like way that I could, which way to go first, but he was gone. Not moved, or taken a little trip to stretch his wings… but gone. Great, now I'm completely alone in this world, with no way to get to the place I need to go.

Bark! Bark! Bark!

Another animal? Why doesn't actually people come down here? It's gorgeous, a lovely beach, and there's a great boating dock just over there. It's mid-day, I don't understand why it's not completely covered in people, not… dogs. No wonder the bird flew away.

Bark! Bark! Bark!

A large Old English sheepdog came running my way. I didn't have enough time or energy to spend my afternoon entertaining a dog, so I hid back behind the boulder.

He came closer and closer, sniffing around in the sand where I had just been standing. He ran around in circles on that one spot, sniffing and digging, like he expected to still find me there, just under the sand. Maybe not me (hopefully not me, I mean), but he was definitely on a search for something, and he didn't look like he was about to give up, as he etched closer toward my boulder. He looked more and more excited as he jumped on top of the boulder sniffing and turning around on the spot.

"Mach? Mach? Where are you?"

Bark! Bark!

Oh no, he has an owner! I ducked below the boulder, not wanting anyone to see me like this. I just want to get to that castle, and then figure it out from there. Maybe I can steal a dress from a… princess. What if he already has a princess? What if he's going to get married? What are the chances this is a dream?

"Mach? What have you found behind that boulder? Is it some kind of fish?"

His voice was getting closer, it's too late to run. I looked down, making sure my dress still looked okay, and was covering everything, just in case this guy was actually good looking.

Finally the moment came, his head popped up from the other side of the boulder. "Ahh!" he cried out as we both jumped back, I clearly wasn't what he expected.

He steadied himself on the other side of the boulder before appearing again, and then it was my turn to be surprised. Here in front of me was standing a tall, dark haired… prince.

I had found him, Prince David, without even trying. I didn't have to devise a plan, nothing. He had come to me.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I could answer, obviously, so I just nodded my head.

"That is quite the outfit," he pointed out, eyeing my cloth. "Where do you live, I'll escort you home, if you'd like?"

I raised my arms and shrugged my shoulders. I had no home to go, I picked him. "You don't know where you live?" I shook my head. "You don't talk much, do you?" I shook my head again.

"Okay, well, you can come home with me. We'll get you cleaned up, and find you a room," he said offering his arm to help me up.

"Come on, Mach," he called back to the dog, who was chasing after my bird that had returned just in time to see us walking off into the sun rise.

Demara

I stopped, running into a tree, there was no way I could have continue running any farther. I had no idea where I was, but I was nowhere near the castle, and no one was chasing me.

I stumbled around in the leaves, trying to find some water. A lake, a stream, something has to be around, or else I might die.

I could see a small cabin off in the distance. As I got closer I noticed that there was no one, and no one had been home for quite a while. It was clearly a seasonal cabin, only meant for vacation. All the surfaces were completely covered in dust, and the floor had tracks of dirt all over the floor. Old dishes still sat in the sink from the last visit, candy wrappers scattered on the kitchen table, and desks beside the couch.

It was hard enough finding a broom, let alone a rag cloth to clean, I had to use an old shirt that was wedged behind on of the couch cushions.

I started with the table, carrying dishes to the sink. I hummed as I scrubbed down the table. I couldn't get the image of that boy out of my head, and his song slowly slipped into mine, until I realized I was only singing "Airplanes". How he managed to hear that song, I'm not sure. I'd be surprised to find a radio in this kind of area. There mustn't be a town for miles. But why would they put a castle all the way out here, aren't castles for Kings and Queens? Why would they want to be so far away from their subjects?

I shrugged and continued on with my work, switching my song once again. When I turned toward the sink, to do the dishes, I noticed at least a dozen birds had come to listen to my humming. They all sat on the windowsill, staring at me, as if mesmerized by my presence.

I hummed a note, and they sung the same note back. I hummed a couple more notes, and they sung them right back. I chuckled and waved my cloth in their faces, trying to make them fly away, but they didn't budge. Tough little budgies these are.

"Fine, if you're not going to leave me be, then you will help," I told them. "You three pick up the garbage and dirty clothes. You two sweep off the floor. And the rest of you dust. I shall finish up the dishes."

After immense dusting, sweeping, dishwashing, and various chores, the house was finally clean. The birds, and other animals that had gathered, soon slipped away, back to their homes for dinner time. I sat at the newly clean table with a munch apple, my favourite food.

When I was all finished and the core was safely outside in the compost, and then climbed the stairs to the one room bed room. There were seven beds, of varying sizes. One was a single, four were twin, and two were doubles. All were different colours or shades, except for the two twins that both had green linens.

I was so immensely tired from all the running and the cleaning, that I just fell down in the closest bed, which luckily was the single bed, which fit perfectly. It was as if designed for someone just as short and tiny as me. Maybe I was really supposed to be here all along… well, me and six other people, it seems.

"Home sweet…home?"

"What the heck happened to the house?"

"Dad, there's a racoon in here, can I keep it?"

"Dad, I didn't think you were serious when you said cleaning fairies would clean the place?"

"Did Mom and her friends come here recently?"
"We're going to put my stuff upstairs."

"Daaaad! Come quick!"

Annie

I sat on top of a white horse, my aunts standing on either sides on me, and I had this beautiful handmade dress on that my aunts say they had been working on for weeks, but I saw them rip off the price tag this morning.

When they handed it to me, I imagined them in the store arguing on what colour it should be. My two younger aunts, Farrah and Mae, would have been arguing over a blue on and a pink one, their two favourite colours. Until finally my eldest aunt, Faith, would smack them both on the back of the head and pick up the purple dress and buy it. They're very funny like that.

"What are we waiting for?" I whispered to Mae while we stood looking at a very tall set of wooden gates. I knew they would open up into the courtyard of a castle, seeing as we were also standing on the other side of a drag bridge.

"Our cue," Farrah cut in.

"Our cue? For what?"

"To enter, obviously," Mae answered.

"What are we doing here though?"

"Going to meet your parents, like Mae blurted out yesterday," Faith said. Mae's cheeks turned bright red, and she moved away to look at the lake.

"My parents live here?" I asked surprised. "They must be the maids, right?"

"Not quite."

"Ladies and Gentlemen," A loud speaker rang over the town, grabbing everyone's attention, including my own, all the way on the other side of the door. "On this day 17 years ago, Annie Aurora was born to your Royal Highnesses. Then something tragic happened, an evil witch came and threatened the life of the young princess, promising that she would one day prick her finger on a spindle. But today, this joyous day, we celebrate, because we, the people of this fair kingdom, have managed to wipe out all spindles, so that our lovely princess can come home. And today, on her seventeenth birthday, she has done just that. If you would stand and give a round of applause, we would like to welcome home… Princess Annie!"

Suddenly the doors opened, and I could see a big crowd of people had gathered around, only leaving a road size path for us to get through.

"You ready?" Farrah whispered.

"Sure," I said unsteadily, taking a big gulp. "Let's go."

I smiled and waved as they all clapped, and bowed as I rode by on my steed (which I was darn thankful to have, otherwise I would have fallen over for sure).

"I'm a princess?" I whispered to my aunts.

"Don't worry, it will sink in soon enough."

"Just wait until you meet your prince."

Prince? Oh man, I had forgotten all about the boy in the forest. He was probably waiting there while I was here, being adored by all these people.

He did say he lived in town, maybe I'll be able to find him and apologize. Or, even better, maybe he hadn't been able to slip away, and maybe he was here?

I looked and looked through the crowds, but didn't see his face anywhere. I would definitely have to go looking for him and apologize.

But until then, I might as well soak this in. It's not every day a girl gets to be royalty.

When we arrived at the castle steps, two people were waiting for us, both wearing very rich, expensive clothing, probably from Bloomingdales or Royalty-R-Us, and crowns.

The man stepped forward with his arms outstretched. "Annie, my little Annie," he said. I guess that's my dad.

He helped me off the horse and then pulled me right in for a hug. My mother joined in on our hug when she was finally able to collect herself. "Welcome home," she whispered.

I smiled up at both of them. I know this was definitely a dream, and any second now I was bound to wake up, but something about them still made me feel like I had known them my entire life.

A man off to the side stepped into view with a crown sitting on top of a pillow. My dad picked it up carefully and placed it on my head. It fit perfectly, as if made just for me. Then I intertwined my hands in both my parents, and together as the crowd cheered we walked into the castle.

"Do you remember any of this?" my dad asked.

"No," I said honestly. How could I remember it, I'm not even from here.

He laughed a deep, but happy laugh. "Of course not, you were an itty bitty bug back then."

"Don't call her that, she was precious," my mother argued.

"Shall we give you a tour, or would you like to see your room?" he asked as we skipped down the halls. Something they must not do often, by the looks on the faces of the people working inside the castle.

"My bedroom, I'm awfully tired," I said.

"Yes, yes, too much excitement for one day, you're right," he agreed.

"You were quite the sleeper when you were little too. Never once made a peep in the night, we would have to go check on you just to make sure you hadn't died." My own mother often said that to me whenever I was sleepy. Maybe her daughter and I are very alike.

We skipped all the way up the three cases of stairs and all the way down the halls until we finally made it to my room. They must really have missed having me around if they were willing to skip all that way. And I must really be dreaming, because I haven't skipped like that since I was about eight.

"Here we are," dad said opening the door to reveal a room that really was made up for an eight year old. There where little stuffed dolls and tea party toys, and the walls were pink, along with most of the furniture. There was no need to complain though, I was probably going to wake up soon, so while I'm here I might as well enjoy whatever princess treats I get handed.

"Thank you!" I said wrapping my arms around their necks and giving them a squeeze.

"You're welcome," they both said, giving me a kiss on the top of my head.

"Get some rest," my mother told me as they shut the door leaving me alone to explore the room.

Firstly I jumped on top of the bed, actually tired, and ready to have a nap before dinner. It didn't seem like I had done a lot today, but all the preparations for the little I did do had drained me completely. I could use some forty winks.

"Annie…" I heard a whisper.

I opened my eyes immediately, sitting right up. "Yes?"

"Annie…" Was it coming from the closet? I couldn't tell, my eyes… they drooped. Tired…must sleep.

"Annie…"

But I had to go check and see who was inside my closet.

"Yes?" I asked opening the door.

I didn't see anyone, but I could still here it, "Annie…"

It seemed to be coming from the corner of the room. I dragged my feet over, the room was pitch black, but something was shining bright in the corner. I was too tired to care whatever it was, I just wanted it to shut up. "Yes?" I repeated.

Nothing answered. I could see it clearer now. It wasn't a person, it was a spindle, I think. But how was it talking to me?

Someone had mentioned a spindle earlier, but why? My mind grew foggy, and I couldn't remember much of what had been said before I entered the castle.

I reached out to the spindle, trying to see how it had called my name, when I accidently pricked my finger. I pulled back, examining the wound. I was bleeding, ouch, it hurt too!

"Annie? Where are you?" I could hear my aunts behind me, they must have just entered my bedroom. My eyes had already fallen, and I had laid myself down on the floor.

Finally I could sleep.