The Lost Princess [Hamliza Anastasia AU]

Chapter Seventeen: The Music Box

Wednesday, March 9, 1927. Georgetown, New York. 

"What's that across the river?" Alex asked Beth, pointing to an imposing stone building, one of the only ones in the area taller than the theater. 

"That's the fortress," She replied instantly. Alex had taught her well, after all. 

"How many kings are buried there?" He asked her.

Beth knew, but she was tired from a day of near constant stress and didn't feel like playing trivia with Alex. "I don't want to do this tonight," she told him, yawning. 

"What do you want to do, then?" Alex asked her. Beth blushed furiously, trying to force highly inappropriate thoughts out of her mind. He did NOT mean it that way! She reprimanded herself silently. Stop thinking bad things right now and focus. This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep. 

"I want to be someone who belongs to someone," She said quietly, leaning her head on Alex's shoulder.  It was a completely platonic gesture, of course, as was him putting one arm around her. 

"Convince the Dowager Countess and you will," Alex told Beth. "Now, tell me about her little dog."

Beth let out a frustrated breath. She had already told him she didn't want to do this. Why did Alex have to keep pushing her so hard? "I'm not as strong as you think I am," She said instead of answering, hearing her voice break. Why oh why did she always have to cry when she got upset. 

Alex said nothing for a moment, and Beth lifted her head from his shoulder to wipe her eyes. As she did, he reached into his bag. "Close your eyes," Alex told her. 

"Why?" She asked, staring at him. 

"Just do it," he replied. "You'll see."

Beth let her eyes flutter closed. It was a mildly terrifying feeling to be sitting on the edge of a building with her eyes closed. There was only a thin strip of ledge between her and the open air. It was thrilling, but if that was the only reason Alex had asked her to close her eyes, she would punch him so hard he'd fall off the ledge. 

There was a soft rustling, and then Alex's voice came again. "Put your hand out."

She did, and something heavy and cold came to rest in her palm. The circular base was eerily familiar, but she didn't know where from. 

"Open," Alex directed, and Beth did so to find a music box resting in her palm. It looked to be solid gold, with delicate engraved vines swirling across the surface and what might even be real diamonds set in the lid. A fancy E was engraved on the bottom part of the box, near where a clasp might have been. Normally, Beth's first instinct would have been to ask where he got something so clearly expensive, but not this time. She just stared at the box in awe. 

"You've worked hard," Alex told her. "You've earned it."

"It's beautiful," Beth gasped, staring at the engraved E. The longer she stared at the music box, the more she was sure this was not her first encounter with it. 

"It's a music box," he told her, as if she didn't know. "And it's broken. I can't even open it. 

You will be the only person who can open it. Someone had told Beth that long ago, the same woman who had told her to "Meet me in Philadelphia".  But if she was the only person who could open it, that meant....

Almost in a trance, Beth stood and stepped away from the ledge onto the solid roof. She shed her coat, ignoring the cold night wind, and fumbled at the base of her neck until she found the golden necklace. Pulling it over her head, Beth took the golden key at the end and slid it into the keyhole on the bottom of the music box. It fit perfectly. Distantly, she was shocked, but she ignored the feeling, focusing on the memory that had just surfaced at the back of her mind, the one that had been telling her how to work the music box. She twisted the key several times, and the box snapped open. A slow, beautiful song, the kind that might accompany a lullaby, came from within, and a tiny dancer twirled round and round in the center. 

"How did you do that?" Alex asked in a shocked tone, staring at her. He too had jumped up from the ledge and was watching Beth with a mixture of awe, concern, and confusion. 

Beth was about to answer him, to say she didn't know, but as she listened to the music, a memory began to take shape, brighter and clearer than anything she had remembered before. Dimly, she heard Alex call her name, but it was too late. Beth felt herself topple backward (away from the ledge, thankfully), but there was nothing she could do. Her mind was far away, remembering a time long ago.