Gears and Glass

Chapter 8

(I use a lot of pictures in this chapter. Again, I would like to say that none of these pictures are mine.)

I look at the man holding the door. I nod and walk into the ball room. It looks like it's takes up most of the castle. There are screens on the walls, a few tables on each wall with food and drinks, and the rest is used to hold all the girls. It is white and gold, just like the outside of the castle. I notice something next to one of the tables. It's a grandfather clock. The one I fixed! What?! Maybe my friends work for the prince?

I walk around the ballroom more. Everyone stares at my arm. Some with pity. Some with disgust. No matter how they look at me, it makes me uncomfortable.

There's a clock on the skylight window and six, windowed balconies along the walls. There's another balcony at the far end of the hall, but this one does not have a wall of windows, just a glass railing.

There aren't very many girls here. To someone who's not from our country, that would be surprising, but I don't think much of it. Most girls, once they are of age to marry, are sent to the matchmaker. The only girls that aren't, are the rich girls and the servants. I guess I fall under both categories but "rich girl" is a stretch. Our family is rich, but as you can guess, I get none of that wealth.

It's not hard to tell which of the girls here are from which category. The servant girls have on very clean, but simple dresses with little to no accessories. If they do have accessories they are cheap ones. Like flowers they picked themselves or homemade jewelry.

The rich girls however look overwhelming, with how much jewelry they have on. Their dresses are also big and sparkly. They aren't trying to hide their money, that's for sure.

I see Agatha talking to another "princess" across the ballroom. Agatha looks a little less flashy than some of the other girls. Maybe Arabella helped her with her jewelry.