Did this lady just happen to also be called Sophie? That's kind of weird...
"What? Your name's Sophie too?" She raised on eyebrow.
"I don't know what you mean..." She let out an awkward laugh.
"That Asian chick who was just screaming down this palace? Remember her?"
She shook her head.
"I'm sorry dear, I have no idea what you're talking about. Why don't I get you some tea and you can go have a seat." Before I could interject she'd already opened the door and gone through it. What the hell was happening? I examined my dress for the shards of mirror, but there were none.
How the hell did they pull this off? I rubbed my eyes and took a seat in front of my mirror. That was still cracked... What the hell?
"Here you go dear." I turned around to see Sophie holding a piping hot cup of black tea. She was very quick. She sighed as she put the tea down on the little trolley.
"I don't want the stupid tea. I want to know why the mirror is still cracked." I gestured to the mirror behind me. she gave me a weird look.
"I don't know what you mean Beth... The mirror looks fine to me." I spun around to inspect it myself. It was fixed. Claudius had to be messing with me.
"What?! It was broken just a second ago." Sophie laughed.
"Are you sure you're well Miss Main? I'm sure they would excuse you from the ball and you could just go to you room instead." She suggested.
"No, I'm fine thank you very much!" I said a bit more aggressively than I thought. She was silenced by my loud reply.
"Oh, very well then." She said with an awkward smile."Now, as for your hair," she said in relation to the three dummies, "which style would you prefer?"
I really couldn't care less right now to be honest, so I just pointed to the one in the middle which was a sort of beehive thing with lots of little bobby pins that had amethysts on the ends. She must have liked my choice because she smiled when I pointed to it.
"Very well then." She smiled at me again. Gosh did she ever stop smiling? She grabbed my hair and twisted it into a bun on top my head and smoothed out the hair around it.
"Aren't you going to do my hair in that style?" I asked, curious to what she was doing.
"Oh, no I'll just use the wig. It's ok, no one will be able tell that it's a wig. They were developed so they looked like real hair. Of course, they're not real hair, but the detail that has gone into them to make them look realistic is astounding." She smiled at her knowledge of wigs and I just breathed out a small 'ok' as she placed a hair net over my real hair.
She picked up the large wig and plopped it on my head. It was much lighter than I thought it would be.
"Why is it so light?" I asked Sophie, wondering whether it was a good idea to question her about her wig knowledge.
"Well, basically the wig is hollow. It's just a wire mesh frame on the inside and a bunch of the fake hair wrapped around it on the outside."
"So, I could like hide stuff in there if I wanted?" I asked knowing I would get a weird response from her.
"Oh, uh, yeah I suppose you could..." She said as she awkwardly laughed.
Once Sophie had applied the wig 'properly', she made me look away from the mirror as she started applying my makeup.
Just as she put down the lip stick and picked up the eye liner, a woman walked into the bathroom and announced that the ball was starting in ten minutes. I wondered where Lili was. Obviously she was still in the bathroom, but once she'd told me about the dress behind my door, she disappeared. Maybe she was on the other side of the circle...
***
"And... done!" I opened my eyes after having kept them closed for what seemed like half an hour, even though it was only like five minutes or something.
"What do you think?" Sophie asked. I actually looked pretty good.
"Uhh, yeah. I like it," I gave her a small smile. She smiled back. So much smiling, my face was gonna hurt tomorrow, "thanks." She gave another smile.
It was perfect timing when the same lady as before came in then and told us that the ball was starting. All of the ladies stood up in their beautiful dresses and the room got several decibels louder. It was very echoey.
Lili some how found me and grabbed me by the arm as she steered me out the bath room and back into the large hall. I looked her up and down like the first time I'd met her and she looked gorgeous. She wore her hair in an organised tumble down her right shoulder and her dress was a very pale yellow, creamy sort of colour. I wondered if the hair was a wig lie mine. Her dress had little vine sort of patterns going along it and she definitely suited it.
We all walked down the hallway, towards the ball room, until we banked up against a door that wasn't there before. That must've closed it for a grand reveal or something.
"Beth!" I heard a someone say behind me. I spun around to see Sophie holding my cup of tea.
"Here you go, you forgot your tea!" She shoved it into my hand and I didn't get a good grip on it. The hot liquid spilt out onto my right hand and it hurt like hell. It was definitely burnt.
Everyone stopped talking as I shouted some profanities.
Whoops.
Of course, that's also when the doors opened. Such great timing.
*Authors Note*
Hi readers,
wow, I actually got another chapter done! It wasn't as long as the previous one, but hopefully you enjoy it still the same :)
Thanks so much to the few people who read and comment and vote for my story. It means a lot to me.
So keep at it!
Any questions, comments, queries or concerns? Feel free to leave them in the comment section :)
P.S. what a great way to celebrate a new cover!
-Ed
YOU ARE READING
The Ringmaster's Keeper
Fantasy"This year's challenge," Claudius said as the medieval bridge lowered behind him, "is them." He took a step to the side and gestured towards him. Austin. When Beth is sent to a magician's mind to retrieve her boyfriend's memory of her, she finds o...
