Netherling

Chapter One

                                                Dedicated to the girls of YGW, for bringing me to life.

"What now?" Viviana asked, looking at the stores surrounding us.

I stared at her. "We go SHOPPING!!!!!!" I twirled around, arms out, hair flying, shedding sparkles everywhere.

Juliet stared at me like I was insane. This bothered me, though I wasn't sure why. It was a completely fair accusation. I'm a Netherling and Netherlings are mad. It's in our blood. It's who we are.

"Shopping?!" Viviana repeated incredulously.

I nodded. "She said she'll give it to us tonight at the party. That means we have to be at the party. To be at the party, we need to have clothes. To find the right clothes-"

"Okay, I get it." Viviana held up her hands in a gesture of surrender and I laughed.

"Come!" I lead them down the street, past the cheap stores around us, past the big square in almost the center of Wonderland, to a maze of shops. I walked into the closest one and posed in the doorway. "I'm back!" I trilled.

Arabella, the store owner, flew over and enveloped me in a hug. I breathed in her perfume, jasmine, and sighed. This was one of my favorite places in Wonderland.

"You need something to wear for tonight?" Arabella asked, surveying us critically.

I nodded.

"Any requests?"

"I want a dress that just barely covers my butt and flares out on the bottom. It needs to be really tight on top, then have a belt line right here-" I held my hand to my ribcage-" and immediately be really loose and twirly."

Juliet and Viviana looked startled by my list of demands, but Arabella was used to me.'Wouldn't be you without them,' she always said. "What about you two?" She asked Juliet and Viviana.

Juliet thought for a minute, then said, " Mid-thigh, but otherwise I don't care."

Arabella nodded. "And you?" She asked Viviana.

"I don't care."

Arabella looked back at me. "I have the perfect dress for you. Be right back." She dissapeared down an aisle of dresses.

"Are you always so demanding?" Viviana asked.

I shrugged. "Basically."

"You thought that was demanding?" Arabella asked, coming back with a dress draped over her arm. "You should see her when it's not me."

I laughed. "Arabella, stop! You'll make me sound spoiled."

"Honey, I love you to death, but you are the most spoiled girl I have ever met, and I've met a lot of very spoiled girls." She held up the dress. "What do you think?"

I barely glanced at it, knowing it would be perfect. Arabella had a knack for matching people to their perfect dress on her first try. I held out my hand and she tossed it to me, then turned, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be back in a second."

I shrugged out of my clothes and pulled on the dress. I looked at Juliet and Viviana. "So?"

Their awed expressions told me everything I needed to know, but I entered the hall of mirrors anyway. In Wonderland, a hall of mirrors is a gigantic room made of mirrors, so you can see yourself from every angle. 

The dress Arabella had picked for me was midnight blue and -of course- sparkly. It fit my demands perfectly, as if she had made it based on my list. 

I twirled, and the dress flared out around me, engulfing me in sparkles. I smiled and ran out to show Arabella.

When I got back, Juliet and Viviana were wearing dresses of their own. Juliet's was rose pink, perfectly contrasting her dark complexion, and Viviana's was red and tight, making her curls look sexy instead of crazy.

I hugged Arabella. "It's perfect!"

"I knew it would be." She seperated from me, keeping her hands on my waist so she could see. "Spin."

I spun.

Arabella nodded approvingly. "Gorgeous." 

I turned back to Juliet and Viviana. "Ready?"

"Don't we have to pay?" Asked Juliet.

I laughed and shook my head. "You're with me," I replied, as if that explained everything. 

And, though they didn't know it, it did.