The Cursed Princess Club fanfic: The Secret of The Plaid Family

Ch. 11

Ch.10

(I'm back! Whooo, midterms were..... bloody insane. I appreciate everyone's patience and comments while I was on hiatus. Enjoy!)

 Wet morning dew dampened the hemlines and pant cuffs of villagers as they walked to work. The farmers went to feed their livestock and others went to their shops to open for the daily rush of shoppers. Unbeknownst to these sleepy eyed birds, a plethora of scritches and scratches came from the shadowed ally. Frederick watched the passer byes from his hiding place behind some waste sacks, memorizing their faces and storing them into his memory banks. Each time he saw a new face he closed his eyes, focused on their features, and his face would shift into a perfect copy. This was a practice that Frederick had adopted after discovering his new skill; He even found out that he could change into the opposite sex. The catch was that while he could look like a woman, he still had his.... man berries.  As his face went from an old woman's to a young man within the blink of an eye, Frederick wrote down all the little kinks and nuances of the town with great zeal.

Mornings are so quiet and everyone looks like their still trying to wake up. It looks easy but I can't risk working then. Its best to work in crowds. Oh, yeah... I should also work on my female voices. I think I might be able to nail it with some practice.

No one knew this, but Frederick had a knack for imitations. On his 6th birthday his parents hired a comedic performer. Since he was confined to bed, the man only could preform outside his window from the palace courtyard. The funniest part of his act was when he did a humorous impression of his father causing the boy to laugh till he wheezed. From then on, Frederick studied and practiced imitating the voices of his family, the servants, and his classmates; Even learning some ventriloquism, which he found in a book. His favorite voice to do was Blaine's or the king's. He chuckled quietly as he remembered using Blaine's voice to trick his fan club into believing that he wanted to give each member one of his socks as a present. He felt a brief twinge of sadness before quickly brushing it away.

*No time for memory lane. Lets see what I have here.*

He flipped back a few pages, brushing his lengthy bangs from his eyes.

*Wow, I've got a lot of entries. Has it already been two months? Here we are!*

He read the entry he wrote on the wealthier patrons. For weeks, Frederick had to watch Whitney get constantly turned away any time he tried to talk to anyone or even ask for a job. Sometimes they were lucky and a fearful market seller would give them what they wanted out of pure terror. But when it came to work no one wanted to hire Whitney; His imposing demeanor and menacing aura made everyone wary and terrified of his intentions. They even tried to get work as farm hands but the barn animals broke out of their pens when they got close. Whitney said it didn't bother him but Frederick would see glints of sadness and frustration when people distanced themselves.

*He's done so much for me when he doesn't have to. I'm just some stupid kid that showed up in his life and made it harder. He's trying so hard..... But its obvious that we can't do this the easy way. Lets see..... The ladies carry their money and valuables in purses that they leave open, especially when they're out shopping like mad. The men are a little bit more weary. They keep their goods in their jackets or trousers. The wiser old men keep their valuables on tucked into their shirts. I'll have to come up with a real good strategy for that. Or maybe, I should just take the jewelry on their fingers. No, that's too risky,

He studied his hands. They used to be the hands of someone that lived comfortably but now they had been callused by the harshness of the woods. They needed to be quick and nimble as they slipped into satin pockets and snatched away coins and notes.