"Crystal!" her step-mother yelled. "Crystal! We need water for the cat! Get up, please!"
Crystal groaned. Her dream had been wonderful, yet so strange. She was the queen of a gang of weird creatures and a vast kingdom. A man with strange hair was smiling down at her (she was certain he was wearing lip gloss). Nonetheless, she had a job to do. "Coming!" she called.
She pulled on the dress she wore every day- a white, feathery-looking knee length long sleeve. She also had white gloves, white leggings, white boots, and a white owl mask so no one saw her face. At least, anything above her mouth, and even then no one saw anything.
She set out to the well in a cheery mood. Every day started cheery enough, but more often than not she lost her temper. She barely recalled her mother telling her that she had inherited it from both her and her father. But that wasn't accurate. Her father was a very patient man.
When she got to the well, she started singing. It was a tune that her mother had taught her…
I'll paint you mornings of gold, I'll spin you Valentine evenings though we're strangers til now, we're choosing that path between the stars. I'll lead my love between the stars. As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you. Every thrill has gone, wasn't too much fun at all. But I'll be there for you-ou-ou, As the World Falls Down. Makes no sense at all. Makes no sense to fall. Falling, Falling in Love.
Crystal heard ruffling feathers behind her. She turned to see a barn owl in a tree. It looked at her for a second, then dropped something and flew off. Crystal looked at what it had dropped and gasped.
It was a music box with a tiny dancer inside. She turned the key on the side and was surprised at the tune. It was the tune her mother had taught her. "Wow. No WAY they'll let me keep this. Unless…"
The only way they'd let her keep it was if she said that it had her name on it and she had found it in the secret garden. The secret garden wasn't really a secret, at least in the castle. It was where her mother had taught her the song. She could say that she had been told to retrieve it a week before her 17th birthday, which it was.
With her pail filled with water for the cat and the music box under her arm, she happily set out back to the castle.