Brown Eyes

Chapter 22

(Eliza's P.O.V.)

"WE'VE GOT PROOF!!" I shouted, running into the dance studio in my dance clothes with Henry trailing after me. He was holding the book.

"Of what?" Lily asked.

"Who's that?" Henry whispered to me, looking at her.

"That's Lily, the youngest of the twelve dancing princesses," I whispered.

"We've got proof of the curse," Henry told her and she smiled.

"You must be Henry," she said. "I was wondering when I'd finally meet you." They shook hands and Lily went back to warming up. There were about five other people there and they were over in the corner.

"I can do magic!" I whispered. "I'm able to do things that nobody else can; I can break magical laws, I have no limits! I can bring back the dead and give things life, things nobody has been able to do!"

"Can you show us?" Taylor asked.

I extended my index finger, and closed my eyes. That same weird feeling from before appeared in the pit of my stomach, then shot through all my nerves to the very tip of my finger. When I opened my eyes, a tiny flame was lit on the tip of my finger, like a candle.

The others gasped and gaped at the little flame and I smiled, feeling a sense of pride.

"Come on girls, we're starting!" our dance instructor Ms. Greene called over to us. "Who is that?"

Henry stood up and said, "My name's Henry, I'm a friend of Eliza's."

"He's the mayor's son," I said, putting out the flame and standing up. "Is it okay if he stays?"

"Of course!" she said. "Just be careful not to get in the way of the dancers okay Henry?"

Henry nodded and put his backpack down in the corner.

"Now, I'm going to post the casting list on the wall, right now," she said holding up a piece of paper. I got excited. What part did I get?

"What's going on?" Henry whispered.

"We're doing Cinderella!" I whispered back. "We're about to found out who got what parts!"

Ms. Greene pinned the cast list to the bulletin board in front of the room, then stepped out of the way and said, "Go ahead."

I ran forward, but everybody else got there before me. I was jumping to look at what part I got and then I saw Henry run up, get down on his hands and knee and crawl in between the dancers' legs. I waited, then he came back out with a huge grin on his face. "You got the lead!" he shouted and hugged me excitedly.

Just then all the other people in the class started turning to me and congratulating me.

Then all twelve of my friends ran up squealing and hugging me.

"You got Cinderella!" Kylie shouted and I got really excited.

"Okay, does everybody know their part now?" Ms. Greene asked. "Okay, no everybody line up at the bar to warm up, then you'll start learning your parts. Congratulations, Eliza," she added at the end with a smile at me.

~~~

After practice Henry kept telling me he wanted me to meet his mom, so he dragged me and the others to Granny's diner, still in our leotards, tutus and ballet slippers.

"I just don't know how you do it, I tried those warm ups for like six seconds and my feet are already killing me!" Henry said and we laughed. "I'm serious! Anybody who doesn't think ballet's a flippin' workout needs to try it some time, they will loose all their body weight. That's probably why you guys are so skinny."

"Thanks?" I said, unsure if that was a compliment and then I saw him waving at a blonde woman, probably mid/late twenties in a red leather jacket sitting in a booth. She saw him and waved back.

"Is that her?" I asked.

"Yup," he said. "That's Emma."

We walked over while the girls ordered food.

"Hey, kid," she said. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Eliza," I said, holding out my hand.

Emma stood up and said, "Oh yeah, Henry talks about you a lot," and shook my hand. "He says you're a big part of Operation Cobra."

"Yeah," I said. "I was the first member besides our little president," I said, patting Henry on the back. "I just got them into it," I said, pointing back at the girls.

"Who're they supposed to be?" she asked Henry.

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses," he said.

"Like the Barbie movie?" she asked.

"Their story's a bit more realistic than that movie," I said with a smile.

We talked about Operation Cobra for a while, then Henry went over to talk to Lily.

"So who does he think you are?" Emma asked me.

"You mean who does he know I am?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You don't believe him," I realized aloud.

"How can I?" she asked.

"It's a lot to take in," I said, "but it's true."

"What, you believe you're a fairytale character?" she asked with an amused smirk. I nodded.

"I'm the Lost Girl," I said. "Captain Hook's daughter before I went overboard and washed up on Neverland. Then I fell in love with Peter Pan."

"Oh, my gosh, you're serious," she said. I smiled.

"Look at what I can do," I said, and did the same fire trick I did for the girls.

"Whoa, that is cool," she said. "Is that real?"

"It's magic," I said.

"So you're a magician?" she asked.

I stared at her.

"Never mind," I said putting out the flame.

If this chick is my only hope of getting back to Peter and remembering who I am, I really have my work cut out for me.