The Lady-in-Waiting

Chapter 1

Lucinda

Zora has been gone for many years before she shows up at the palace again. She's a human now (fairies can also live as humans in addition to their responsibilities as a fairy), but I recognize her. Her dark brown hair is almost chin-length and she's wearing a knee-length purple dress and some matching ballet flats. She applies for the job as my lady-in-waiting, so I decide to speak to my father. I find him in the throne room working on some important-looking paperwork.

"Father!" I shout. "Zora's back and she wants the job as my lady-in-waiting!"

Father looks surprised, then sighs deeply. "It has been six and a half years," says Father. "Maybe we should give her a second chance and look into it."

"Father, are you serious about giving her a try?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes!" snaps Father. "It's just that we've been looking for years now and there's no one even close to what we want in a lady-in-waiting. We've checked all of the neighboring kingdoms, and by the time we get someone from another kingdom, your wedding might have already happened and you need a lady-in-waiting for that."

"I guess we can hire her just until after my wedding," I say.

I'm skeptical. Zora seems nice now, but this is the same lady who cursed my best friend, along with many others throughout the land. Arnold was an orphan who was raised by one of the maids and her husband, a small business owner. We grew up together. I had requested that he be at Snow's Christening, and he was turned into a talking horse. We then started calling him Adventurous because he had always been just that. We will always remain friends rather than romantic interests because my parents chose who I would marry when I was young, plus he has a crush on my sister Millicent. He's my horse, so we can still be friends.

I decide to hire Zora, and she seems to have changed, so I don't worry as much anymore. I don't have time to worry right now because my wedding is in a week and a half, and I have to journey out to the faraway kingdom where my fiance lives to get married. I'll do it all with just my lady-in-waiting and our horses for company. It's an old "heir to the throne" tradition. My dad took a trip when he was my age and so did my grandmother. My mother's preparing me for it, so I'm staying at her castle in the kingdom of Perneete where she now rules alongside my stepfather (my parents are divorced) for a few months before I leave.

"How about this one?" Mother says. "Your hair is long enough."

"It wouldn't work because of my curls," I reply.

We're sorting through pictures to find the perfect wedding hairstyle. Many of the styles are only for straight hair or my hair isn't long enough, and I don't like having my hair straightened.

"We might just have to leave it down," says Mother, smoothing my curls as we gaze into the mirror on my vanity.

"I guess," I say, not too disappointed since I don't typically like up-dos anyway.

"We could at least use your gem as a hair clip."

Magical royal gems can turn into any form of jewelry. My gem is light pink and has wind power.

"Yeah..." I pause as I look at a picture. "This one could work!"

The model has her shoulder-length curly hair in a fancy half-up/half-down style.

"It probably would!" exclaims Mother. "Do you want it for your wedding?"

"Yes, since it would also go well with my dress," I say.

"Lulu, what makeup do you want to wear with that?"

"Mother, it's 1:45 a.m! We've been talking about this forever!" I cry. "Can we talk about it after we get some sleep?"

"Ok," she agrees. "But first thing after we wake up."

This sounded alright when I went to bed, but at 6 a.m, she woke me up again to talk about makeup. After that, we started to pack for my trip. I only need clothes while I'm traveling because the rest will be taken there while I'm away.

"Do you want to take your green dress with the ruffles?" asks Mother.

"I don't think I can fit it in my suitcase," I say, looking at how full it is already.

"I hope you can take one more small thing with you," Mother takes out a small box. "This contains a small camera. Because I don't trust Zora, I want you to wear it at all times so I can check in."

"Yes, Mother," I say. While I'm starting to trust Zora, there is still the possibility that she would try to hurt me.

Zora

I heard it all in the hallway. Did Queen Cecelia think she could stop me from harming Lucina with a tiny camera? She's way too vulnerable. Lucinda, too, though I think she would at least try to fight back. Cecelia isn't completely dumb because she's on to me. That's why I have to play nice until Lucinda takes the camera off. Or breaks it. I don't think it's easily breakable because it appears to be magical. If I froze it with my ice magic, it would still probably be able to film, so Lucinda would have to take it off for it to not be useful.

So, that's what I'll do. I'll trick Lucinda into taking off and losing the camera. But what will I do after that? What could I do to take away the pampered, spoiled, life she has where she has more than she needs and can get a lot of things just by asking? That's it! I just have to become her and turn her into me. She can have all that comes with it too, like being a servant. The kingdom of Perneete would think she was me. I (as Lucinda) could give her a terrible job there because they would think I was her.

But how will I shapeshift us? I'm not very good at doing shapeshifting spells yet. My wand is an ice wand, but I could steal a shapeshifting gem. Stealing one in use is hard. But King Peter and Queen Kara's baby is due early in May and May gems are shapeshifting gems. They're supposed to have the gem somewhere safe, but accessible in case of an emergency, so I'm guessing that they've already done that. It's December second now. So I have to sneak in and steal it. I'll give it back as Lucinda when I'm done using it. I can attach it to my wand so I can cast a spell that will make us remain switched all day, every day unless the spell is reversed. I need to focus the wand on us for twenty-four seconds (one for each hour of the day). Now that I have a plan, I should get back to pretending to be nice.

Lucinda finishes packing and we put it all in the trunk of the car. At least we wouldn't be camping during the trip. Queen Cecelia got us villas at really nice hotels. Maybe the villas would distract Lucinda long enough to cast the spell.

Lucinda says goodbye to her mom, and we leave the castle in the car.