Steal the Stars [REWRITING]

Nicole - We're Not Dead (Yet)

Annabelle hadn't over-exaggerated the traffic. Our carriage crawled slowly forward. It was hired, but we were hoping the guards were too tired to care to check for any sort of crest. Besides, it wasn't like the guards bothered to keep a list of families and their crests on hand, simply because of the amount of people who came to Koyia for the Festival.

But I still dug my fingernails into my palm when we rolled up to the window. James handed our papers through, giving the guard a brief nod. "Busy night, eh?"

The guard snorted. "Tell me about it." He quickly pressed his lips together, remembering he was supposed to be professional. "Pardon me. Yes, sir–the Festival always keeps us busy. Lots of visitors."

He passed us the papers back. "Everything looks to be in order. Enjoy your night."

"Thank you," Leo said, taking the papers. The driver (who was much better than whoever James had hired last time), pulled ahead.

We were in. We hadn't been stopped.

But I still couldn't breathe.

Leo set his hand on my arm. "We're fine," he murmured. "See? We got through easily enough. So far, we're okay."

I nodded, but my chest still felt tight. We're okay, we're okay, we're okay, we're okay, we're okay, we're okay. I repeated it over and over, trying to collect myself. Annabelle and James were oblivious, engaged in kicking each other as hard in the shins as they could. Only Leo had, and it wasn't like he was holding up signs that said, "NICOLE IS FREAKING OUT" even though I was. And I didn't like the lack of control I felt. How so many things were out of my control–especially myself recently, it seemed like. And that was the worst.

A guard rapped on the window, and James opened it. "What's–"

Annabelle kicked him in the shin, and, just loud enough for only us to hear, muttered, "If you say 'what's up' to a guard at the palace, on your way into one of the biggest balls of the year, I will end you."

The guard, oblivious, nodded to us. "Good evening. I've instructed your driver to park on the right. There will be people to direct you if need be. Please have your papers out for inspection at the door."

"Thank you," Leo said. The guard walked away to the next carriage, and James pulled the window back down.

Immediately, he turned and snapped at Annabelle, "What the–"

"Language," she reprimanded him, smiling sweetly.

"You sound like Nicole. I was just giving a nice friendly greeting, because that's what people do, Annabelle. They don't kick other people in the shins!"

"You've been to these! You know people here don't just go 'what's up'! You've been to a million things just like this–now is not the time to start acting like a fool!" Annabelle snapped. Clearly, the stress wasn't just getting to me.

"Chill," James muttered, but he sat up straighter.

We step out of the carriage, Leo offering me his hand, and all turn to look at the palace before us. It almost glitters, looming above us like it's something out of a fairytale. I used to think that if I could just live in the palace, everything would be better, because I would be a princess. That ended after my mother died, and my father took to telling me that I would never amount to anything, and certainly not a princess. But standing here, I can almost see little Nicole, wide-eyed and practically bouncing.

Of course, my younger self wouldn't exactly have expected me to be trying to steal something from the palace.

"I guess we should get moving," Leo said softly, breaking the hush that had fallen over us. "James, they're going to check us for any sort of weapons." He pointed towards one of the towers. "That's empty, right?" Annabelle nodded, and Leo looked back at James. "Can you make it up there?"