NINE TIME MACHINES: Do you want to undo your entire life on planet earth?

CHAPTER 152

I wonder if Tessa told Matron Malika Caine. Really, Mary? At this point in the game you really think you should still be calling her that? Good point, I think to myself. I wonder if she; if Malika knows about me quitting. Of course she does, Mary. It's been two whole days. She's probably waiting for me to get back from this spa to give me the perfect birthday present, her and an army of minions marching me to the front gate. No, she isn't. That's just silly. You're never getting out of here. I can see it now; those girls, their parents too, all their friends at school, and Tessa, leading the battalion to unseat me. Then they'll throw a purple robe on my replacement.

The new girl will be the striking image of elitism. She won't walk or talk like me. And she'll never know how it feels to pass through the ground floor to get to my level. Her hair will be a bag of wool, freshly shorn to keep them warm. Never will she have to see her tattered sheet torn to shreds by brutal winds. Her breath will reek of honey so they'll hang on to her every word. And her form will be draped in all the lilies of the valley. Oh, just you wait and see. They'll savour every moment in her presence. But then she'll cast them out when she peers through their hearts, sees the wheels that turn their minds, when she realizes that they're all imposters. Afterward, she'll send soldiers to seek out my resting place, to bring me back home and adorn me with precious jewels. And I'll be restored; no, elevated.

That all sounds very nice. But you're just a beggar maid. And we never allow your kind to get that close to the queen. I ignore the voice in my head and sail away with the nylon. She's a better friend, never treats me like I'm a breathless hurricane; always encourages me to be my best. Who the hell is this uninvited guest anyway? Running through my kitchen? Shattering my good dishes? The ones I might need for Hazel-the-Angel's party? Ah, the audacity!