The Lady-in-Waiting

Chapter 9

Lucinda

Entering the Norillian palace for the first time in months is comforting. I had been living in my mom's kingdom for a while before I went to Lopegin. I had had quite a few crazy weeks in Lopegin what with me now being Zora most of the time, but I finally get to enjoy the holidays in my kingdom. Due to the trip, Zora and I had been forced to briefly discuss what to do since not even she seemed to know how to switch us back. I found a way to have her go to Norillia for Christmas as well, having Sadie host so we don't always have to teleport, and we agreed to take the trip at the same time, with Zora's parents and Colette as well. George would have come, but since we're not married yet, he chose to stay in Lopegin. The flight wasn't that bad and I wish I had gotten to fly to Lopegin, but that old tradition made me drive instead. Before we left, Colette taught me a teleportation spell so I'll be able to go to Sadie's house at one pm. I will miss my family though, as I haven't spent much time with them in the past few months.

"Lucinda!"
As I walk into the palace, Father and Kara greet me. Father hugs me. While he may be the king, he's still my dad. Kara offers me a hug and I hug her back. I wish my parents were still together, but Kara's nice and I love my half-sisters. Speaking of which, Snow, Rose, and Jemima run down the hallway, most likely to greet me, but it could also be because of the presents my butlers are holding for me.

"Did I miss a birthday or two?" I joke. "I've been gone for so long!"

"No, you didn't," says Jemima in her little three-year-old voice. "I'm still three!"

I pick her up. The little girls like it when I do that. Father says they like me, but don't several other little Norillian girls? I guess their love is more unconditional.

"How come you left?" asks Snow.

"Well, I have to get ready to get married," I answer. "I'm getting married next summer and you'll all be my flower girls."

"Flowers?" asks Rose. "Like roses?"

"Maybe," I say. "I'll make sure to get one for you."

I look back at Father.

"Where are the other girls?" I ask.

"Elsewhere in the palace," says Father. "You'll see them all by dinner."

I put Jemima down.

"Speaking of sisters," says Kara. "I don't think we told you before you left. And it's been so hard keeping this from the press, too."

"Keeping what from the press?" I ask.

"We're having twin girls!" exclaims Kara.

"More sisters?" I ask. "That's...twelve of us. I'm going to have eleven little sisters!"

"Exactly my reaction," says Father.

"Peter, you're funny," says Kara. "What's another girl or two? Who knows, maybe you'll have a daughter in another couple of years, Lucinda."

"Or a son," adds Father.

I know I'm getting married, but I didn't think I get the whole "have an heir" talk yet.

"Possibly," I say. "But I'm not married yet, so I don't want to think much on that for a bit. Will you need any help with the girls once the twins are born? I could look after them for a couple of hours here and there and give the nanny more time off."

"You'll need to stay in Lopegin," says Father. "Besides, soon you won't be needed much here anymore. Anyway, you said you wanted to see your other sisters. I think some are nearby. Why don't you find them."

"Okay," I agree, walking away.

The way Father said the second sentence was a little suspicious. He said it so seriously. Why wouldn't I be needed here? I'm the heir to the throne. Someday, I'll be the queen. I need to be here to learn how to be a good one or Norillia could be doomed! Okay, maybe not doomed, but things could go badly if I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe I could ask Mother for help. She's also a monarch. Huh, am I the heir to two kingdoms? Weird, I haven't thought about that much, despite going back and forth between both countries. What would happen if both my parents died? Would I be the one queen of two countries? Would they become one country? I snap out of it as I turn into Zora.

Zora

I teleport to the Norillian palace as soon as I turn into Lucinda. I can't stand being alone here with my family. With the image Lucinda's given me, I feel like my personality is a lie. As soon as I get to the palace, a sudden memory comes into my head. A fairy is alone, standing in front of a big fancy room. She flips through a spell book and reads a spell carefully, but it doesn't go as she wanted it to. The guests are no longer human. They're animals. Suddenly, the king comes back in and before the fairy knows it, she's in handcuffs.

It's just my luck I'd end up here, right in front of these doors, right where it happens. I open the doors and walk down the aisle to the stage, standing right where I did in the past. I wonder what would happen if I was able to relive that moment. I'd ace the spell. I'd never be banished. I'd never been here, in Lucinda's body, my past and future mistakes almost haunting me upon this stage.

My stomach starts to hurt and I leave the room. What should I do now? I'm in the Norillian palace after all. I'm sure there's a productive way to use my time here. I remember one of my professors in magic school telling me about Norillia's great collection of spellbooks and gems. If only I knew where to find them. I'm sure King Peter keeps them in a less public part of the palace. Disappointing, I'm in a more public place so it'll take me a while to get wherever they are.

He wouldn't put them anywhere near the princesses. They're too young to understand magic. Even the older ones, like Lucinda, are not smart enough to know how to use magic. Lucinda may have found out how to access my wings, but that doesn't make her good at magic. Plenty of fairies know how to use that spell. I look around for a map of the palace. I should have made more of a plan for this. My grandmother probably knows where the spellbooks and gems are. For all I know, she could have access to the room with the gems. These places have to be somewhere away from everyone else. If I recall from my tour here, the seventh and top floor is uninhabited. It's probably there. I find an elevator and go to the seventh floor. When the elevator doors open, it almost looks like I'm in a different palace. The colors and color tones are a lot darker and there's less light. It looks like it hasn't been renovated in a while. I walk down the hallway. There aren't many doors and the first few I find are bathrooms and closets. I find one small living room with no tv and plenty of books, but they don't look like spellbooks.

I search the floor for something more exclusive, something that was mainly meant for the king. After looking through a few more rooms, I find a scratched-up brown door with a design on it. I turn the handle, but it's locked. I turn my wand, which is a ring, back into a wand, and I hold it up to my face, moving it down slowly and keeping the rest of my body as still as I can. Ubicacion transporte. I teleport to the other side of teh door. The room is dusty and full of books. It's like a library, but if no one entered it for like, half a century. I've never seen any of these spellbooks before and I buy every spellbook I can find. Either these books are old or they're exclusive. Maybe both. I wonder if any previous monarchs were good at magic. This has to be here for a reason, right?

Now, what do I do now that I'm here? I can only take so many spellbooks without dropping some or looking suspicious. I search through the library, browsing books and opening some. Eventually, I find the books I want. I chose one from Glacies, one on improving ice magic, and one on advanced spells. Hopefully, these will all be of use to me. At least now I know where this is so I can go back. I leave the room, making sure it's locked so it's princess-proof (I'm not counting myself). All of a sudden, my purse vibrates. I check my phone. I have a text from Milicent asking why I'm not downstairs. I guess I should go downstairs before someone starts to wonder what I'm doing or worse if someone wonders if I'm not Lucinda. I walk back to the elevator and press a button, going to the first floor. While I may not have had many plans for how to get here, I have many a plan of what to do with these spellbooks.