"Well?" he asked, still awaiting my answer. If I said no, I might as well have destroyed my mission.

"Of course!" I said, as if I knew what I was saying. "But first, close your eyes."

Alois did as he was told, closing his eyes and waiting for me to say something. He didn't question it, thankfully. "Good, now keep them closed."

I quickly grabbed my IPhone from my pocket and pulled up YouTube. Service was slow here. I ran through songs I knew in my head that you could tango to. I typed in fervently "Dance with me by Drew Sleely" and pressed play. I played it at full blast and placed it back in my pocket. "Open!"

Alois looked around the room in awe. "Where is that coming from? Are you magical?"

I couldn't help but smirk. Alois was almost two years older than me and asking if I was magical. "No, but I have some….fairy friends."

Alois's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. "Really?! I can't believe it! I knew they were real!"

Right….. "So wanna try real Spanish dancing?"

"Oh yes! Yes!"

"Great." I said, "Now, hold me like you would in a waltz, but be more…swift with turns and move to the beat." I have no idea what I'm doing. "Try not to spin, just stay in one place and ummm dance."

Alois was soaking in every word. "Yes, Lady Nichole!" He did as instructed. He moved like he was on Dancing with the Stars.

It wasn't until I was dancing with him did I learn just how tall Alois really was. The top of my head only met his chin. I hated to have to look up just to see his icy eyes. Even without his high heeled shoes on, he'd still tower over me. To think I used to call him short. Oh, the irony.

I don't know if Alois had ever heard this song before or not, but as the chorus approached, he spun me around and dipped me like a pro. I made a small "Eep!" sound as he did and hung to his arms for what seemed to be dear life.

"Hey!' I said as I regained my balance. My heart pounded and small drips of sweat went down my neck. "I wasn't ready! Tell me next time…please." Never forget please in 1889.

Alois smirked and nodded. "As you wish…Malady."

It wasn't funny. "Good." I slipped my hand in my pocket and restarted the song. "Let's do this again, and NO spinning this time unless I say so."

…One Hour Later…

Sweat was cloaking me. I felt like I was going to fall over if I took another step.

"And 1…2….3!"

And with that, Alois turned me twice and dipped me like some pro who'd been dancing since birth. "Did I do well?" he asked excitedly. He wasn't even a little tired.

"Yeah, sure." I said, practically falling onto the couch. "Now you can practice on your own. I'm tired."

"Awwwww!" he said, sounding like a little British two year old whining. "But I need to dance with a partner!"

"Then spin around! Do something!" I whined back. "I'm exhausted."

Almost on cue, Claude came into the room, with his usual poker face on. "Excuse me you two, but dinner is ready."

Alois ran to his tall butler and hugged him "Claude! Claude! I learned to dance, just like you! Maybe we can dance together! "

Claude didn't even look at his master, let alone care at all, about what Alois said. "Malady," he said looking at me, "Those clothes you have on now aren't fit for a lady like yourself. Alois has some extra old dresses lying around. You can change into one. Shall I escort you to Master's room?"

If I hadn't know better, I'd ask the demon butler why a nearly 15 year old boy had 'extra' dresses in his closet, but I knew why and decided acted like it was totally normal. "Of course." And got up to follow him.

Alois looked himself over and smiled at Claude. "I'm fine Claude. I'll wait for Lady Nichole to change, and have dinner with her."

"Very good, your highness." Claude said, giving Alois a deep bow and then turned to me "Follow me."

I did as he asked and followed him into the main hallway and up the stairs. I kept my guard up and hoped that he couldn't hear my heart beating as loud as it sounded. This guy made me shiver.

Once up the stairs, Claude escorted me into Alois's room. Just as I had known, everything from the sheets on the bed to the curtains were a bright pink. I made a mental note to ask Alois later if he really was a boy and I was just really confused (It was that or he just hadn't gone through puberty yet. I hoped the latter).

Claude went to Alois's closet and pulled three dresses out (Along with booty shorts, but he quickly put it back). There was a white one that looked like a wedding dress gone wrong, one that shouldn't even be called a dress, one a kimono, and a red one. The red one I took interest in. It was faded red with lots of frills and an orange bow on the collar. I decided on that one.

"Can you step out please?" I asked Claude, wanting privacy.

"Yes, Malady," Claude said, leaving and closing the door. Good riddance.

It ended up taking me at least 20 minutes to get the stupid thing on. First off, it was heavy as heck, and I could barely get the frills over my head. Second, I think I was supposed to have a shift on, because it was very tight on the waist. No way was I putting a shift that hurt me on just to look cute! Once I fitted it over my upper body, I had problems finding the end of the skirt. It dragged at least two feet behind me, like a wedding dress. I wondered how girls managed to live during this time period.

When I was good and ready, I came out, feeling like an ugly Barbie doll. Claude was waiting for me, looked me over, and brought a hair tie out of his pocket.

"Here, Lady Nichole." He said and put up my hair in an unpleasant way. "So you look proper." He then leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Don't be surprised if you have trouble breathing later in the night…" and started walking away without looking back.

I admit it, I, for the first time, wanted to be in school rather than my fantasy world.

...

By the time I arrived at the dining room, Alois was playing with his food with a bored expression. As soon as he saw me, he smiled and motioned me to sit in the chair next to him. I smiled back and walked to him. I sat in the white chair to the right of Alois and looked at my plate. Oh great, fancy people food.

"You want wine? We have some from Italy, Africa and even America!" Alois said looking hopefully at me. Apparently rich kids could have wine.

"Only a little. I'll have whatever you have." I replied, beginning to eat the meat on my plate.

"Claude!" Alois snapped at the butler who wasn't even in the room, "Get the fancy wine from Greece that I love! And two small wine cups! Now!"

Within a moment, Claude was behind me, pouring purple wine into a small wine cup that was no bigger than my index finger. He poured some into Alois's cup too.

"Thank you." We both said in unison. Alois laughed at that. I was tempted to say 'jinx', but that would blow my cover.

I took my eyes off the wine and looked at the food. It was some kind of well-done meat, with a special sauce around the rim of the plate. I put a piece of it in my mouth and nodded. It was pretty good.

"What is this?" I asked Alois, after I had swallowed it down.

"Its chicken heart!" he replied, his mouth full of meat and spitting saliva all over me. "Good, isn't it?"

I wiped Alois's spit off my cheek in disgust. Some noble he was. Still, I was bent on saving his life, and it was more important than his table manners right now. There would be time for that later. Right now I just shuttered at knowing I had just eaten a once beating heart.

"Yeah…" I said pushing the plate away slowly. No way was I eating that again.

Alois finally swallowed his food and laughed at me "You're something 'ya know!" He punched me playfully, "I like you! Most girls today would eat it regardless of what it is. Try the wine!"

I nodded and watched Claude come close to Alois from the back. He then wiped the young Earl's face with a napkin he had. Alois almost giggled as Claude did it. I felt awkward watching, so I took a sip of the wine. It was doable, but tasted weirder than wine I had at Church. I quickly had gone through it all before noticing Claude had excited, leaving Alois and I once more.

My stomach made a weird noise, but I ignored it. Wine never liked me. "The wine was pretty good." I said. A sudden pain went through my stomach. I gripped it and grunted.

"You alright?" Alois asked, putting his fork down and staring at me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. The pain was rapidly growing, and really starting to hurt. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Right down the hall, let me help you!" he said, getting up and helping me out of my chair.

"No! I told you I-! "I slipped on the hem of my dress, and fell onto my face on the floor. Both my arms covered my stomach as I felt like I was on fire. The drink. Claude must have put something in it. And to think I used to always win at Clue.

I was then, to my surprise, lifted up by Alois. He threw me over his shoulder and started running down the hallway. For such a skinny kid in booty shorts, he was strong. The fire didn't leave me, and I felt my mind slipping out of consciousness. It hurt to think.

"Hannah!" Alois yelled, "Hannah help me! She's dying please help her!"

The last thing I knew was Alois giving me to a gray–haired maid, with a bandage over her eye. She said something, but the words were slurred as I closed my eyes, and let the pain take over.