When I woke up, Giselle and Victoria were dead silent as they prepared for their day. Normally they chatted while they got ready, but today you would have thought they were preparing for their own executions. I couldn't really blame them with the day they had planned, but I still did my best not to laugh at their solemn faces. I stayed as quiet as I could and hoped they wouldn't think to force me to go along. I figured it would be best to avoid them as best as I could this morning; it would only cause problems – especially in their current moods. I slowly picked up my book from where I had left it on the floor and turned on my side to read. Maybe they wouldn't even realize I was awake.
There was a knock on the door which was no doubt one of the maids coming to tell them that Dewey was here to pick them up. They both stood in front of the door longer than necessary. I guess they were hoping for some miracle that would prevent them from going shopping today. "I can't believe we're doing this." Giselle whispered.
Victoria opened the door and the maid gave them the news that Squire Dewitt was waiting for them. They followed the girl out of the room and I all but leapt from where I lay. I was free for the day. I quickly got dressed. I was giddy with the fact that Giselle and Victoria would be spending the day with Dewey and I was spending my day free of them. It might have a bit mean to be so excited about not having to see my stepsisters, but I was still flying from my day with the prince and I didn't want them to ruin it. I tied my hair up in a braid that fell over one shoulder and picked up a purse to carry my money. I slung the bag over my shoulder and carefully situated it so the flap to open it was pressed firmly against my thigh. With one last smile at myself in the mirror I excitedly set forth from the Gilded Leopard.
It was true that I did not originally want to buy a dress for the first ball, but I wanted to impress Christian and I felt nothing I brought would do the trick. Where to start? I couldn't go far for I had neither carriage nor horse to carry me. Lilac Avenue was the closest shopping district I could think of so I set out for there. The avenue was a wide street lined with fancy shops with bright clothes displayed in the front windows. This early in the morning it was not busy yet, but as the day went on more and more people would come to shop. For awhile I just walked up one side of the street and down the other looking in the shop windows. I examined the dresses displayed there to decide which shop I would go in first. One shop had absolutely horrendous dresses that were nothing but too puffy sleeves and even puffier skirts all covered in lace and bows. Another shop had pretty designs but awful color choices. Eventually I decided to go into a shop in the middle of the avenue that I thought had the nicest dresses. This shop was busier than I expected. It seemed the outside street was calm because all the shoppers were in the stores already. Many ladies were looking for their last minute ball gowns like I was. I worried that with all the people all the good selections would be gone. I should have looked for my dress sooner.
I browsed a few racks and nothing really caught my eye. From what I knew the first ball was to be a black and white mask. When Giselle and Victoria got their masks, they made sure to buy costumes that would draw attention. I wanted to be less flashy than them and stick with something simpler. I saw little in the way of black and white gowns though. What was there had already been picked through. I kept looking though, if for no other reason than to admire the pretty dresses.
"May I help you, miss?" One of the shop girls asked me as I was examining a green gown.
I dropped the dress back into the rack. "I'm looking for a dress to wear to the ball in a few days."
The girl nodded knowingly. I was not the first person who she had helped find a dress for the ball. "There are still a few good black and white dresses here. Perhaps this one?" She held out the dress I had just looked at a few minutes ago. It was a gaudy dress that was half black and half white with long split sleeves.
I shook my head. It was a pretty enough dress but I didn't think Christian would like it. The girl set about looking for another dress when there was a terrible crash followed by several things falling near the back of the shop. She cursed and hurried to the back. She threw a hasty apology back at me over her shoulder as she went to inspect what had caused the noise. Curious, I followed her. I was shocked by the state of the back end of the store. It was where they had lined up mannequins to display some of their more choice items. Someone had rolled one of the fabric carts into the first mannequin creating a domino effect with the others. I smiled at the prank. It was a horrible thing to do of course, but the panic it caused was quite amusing. I caught sight of a familiar red light zooming through the crowd that had gathered. I followed it to where a boy and a girl stood snickering in the corner – the perfect place to push a cart from. It was the young prince and princess. The little fairy flitted angrily in front of their faces. No doubt she was giving them a sever talking to. I decided to go over and say hello, after all they didn't cause much damage, the mannequins just had to be righted and the cart returned.
The two were no longer smiling as it seemed some invisible force was pulling on one of each of their ears. Crimson was shaking a tiny finger at them while she scolded. "I hope I'm not interrupting." I said even though I clearly was. The children's heads went back to their normal alignment as the fairy's magic was no longer in effect.
"Not interrupting at all," Prince Curtis smiled up at me while he rubbed his ear.
"Couldn't have picked a better time," His sister chimed.
Crimson put her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed that I had interrupted her punishment. "We are supposed to be buying party clothes for these two but they cannot act like civilized human beings for two moments without causing problems. Just look at what they did! I had to promise to compensate for the trouble they caused to keep them from being thrown out."
I winked at Curtis and Clover. "So you're shopping for new party clothes too? Maybe we can shop together. I can help keep an eye on these two scallywags."
The two eagerly agreed and Crimson reluctantly agreed saying that she could use another pair of hands. If I were being truthful, I wanted Curtis and Clover's help in finding something that would impress their brother. Nevertheless, shopping was more fun if one was not alone. After the trouble they caused, we had to leave that shop, but the avenue was lined with many more. I let Crimson sit on my shoulder as we walked.
"So I heard you went to the white caves with my brother yesterday," Clover smirked. "I knew you liked him."
Crimson magically tweaked Clover's ear. "Hey, I'm just stating a fact!"
"I did go to the hall of mirrors with him. He told me that you were the fastest slider ever."
Clover beamed proudly. Curtis on the other hand did not want to be forgotten. "I can slide fast too! I even beat Clover a lot of the time!"
"Do not," Clover snipped.
"Do to," Curtis retorted and the argument was underway. I laughed at the back and forth of do not and do to.
On their fifth round of their back and forth, I interrupted. "I'm sure you are both fast on the slides. Now which shop shall we go in first?"
Curtis and Clover both pointed to different shops. I sighed. These two were going to be a handful, but still preferable to Dewey. Curtis was pointing to a small shop at the end of the street and Clover pointed to the shop with the puffy dresses.
"Ew, why do you want to go there?" Curtis grumbled. "Those clothes are ugly."
"I think they are funny," Clover nodded definitively and grabbed both mine and her brother's hand and pulled us to the shop. Inside she held a large brown atrocity up to herself. It was made for a woman so the bottom of the dress lay on the floor, but Clover didn't seem to mind. She pressed her lips together in a ridiculous way and crossed her eyes. "How do I look? Like a fine lady of the court, yes?"
Curtis doubled over laughing and I couldn't help but smile at how ridiculous she looked. She put the dress back on the rack and we walked deeper into the store. Curtis was the next to pull out a dress. It was a horrid orange and trimmed in fur. Clover was already laughing when he held it up. "If I were a fine lady of the court I would wear the finest clothes all the time!" He declared in a high pitched voice.
"You look like Aunt Dalmer." Clover giggled. Crimson scolded her halfheartedly. It seemed the little fairy was content that the two were not breaking anything at the moment to really scold them.
Curtis laughed as he put up the dress. They each took turns picking out dresses and pretending to be their aunt until they could barely talk for the giggling. We were starting to attract the eyes of the other shoppers and the workers, but I didn't mind. These two were funny and I was laughing along with them. It wasn't long before they picked out a dress for me to try out. It was a massive purple thing covered in huge white bows. I held it up to myself and regally declared, "I am Queen Ebony and I demand more beautiful dresses to amaze my subjects with!"
"Those dresses would amaze your subjects, Queen Ebony," Curtis bowed as if I were a real queen. "I'm sure they would all be speechless."
"Yeah, speechless at how amazingly horrible it is!" Clover joked as she held up one outrageous sleeve.
I had gotten a pretty good idea of their Aunt Dalmer through what they said about her. She wore dresses like this and talked as much as her son. Clover said she had the most annoying way of pinching her cheeks. Curtis said he didn't like the way she reeked of perfume when she hugged him. It seemed the mother was just as ridiculous as the son. I couldn't imagine the queen having such a sister. The queen was the complete opposite of her sister, according to what I had heard. She was quiet and reserved most of the time and unfailingly kind. We spent more time in the dress shop, playing with all the silly dresses until Crimson decided it was enough. Curtis and Clover protested but I reminded them we still needed to find decent clothes for the ball. Grudgingly they listened to me and we left the shop.
I know some of you wanted to read about the stepsister's shopping adventure with the charming Dewey, but this is what I had instead. I hope it's a good enough substitute for the other shopping trip. Maybe later I will put in the one with Dewey as kind of a side thing.