Pumpkin Patch Princess

CHAPTER TWELVE: Did He Just Call Us Boulders?

I went over to my bag and pulled out my magic wand. "Want me to practice breaking us out?"

"Certainly, if we had more time," Maud said. "But I'm sure King Frederick has provided Peter with keys to our room, as well as to the princesses' quarters."

"Could they be any more obvious?" I scoffed. "And I can't believe Sloane didn't warn Jessaline about the food."

"It does seem to have slipped her mind, doesn't it? At least we can be sure that our efforts will be uninterrupted tonight." Maud laid Muffet's limp body beside Alfonso, then went over to the fire to stir the draught.

We heard someone unlocking the door and Peter entered. "Are you ready?"

"Come in and close the door," Maud told him. "Everyone needs to take three sips of this." She poured the draught into a glass and handed it him. He winced as he drank and then handed it to me.

It smelled sweet and flowery, but tasted bitter. Throat burning, I passed it to Maud, who took her sips and discarded the rest.

"So this will keep us awake?" Peter asked.

"Not just that. Look at yourself," Maud said with a grin.

He gasped. The draught had made him into a human chameleon in that his skin and clothing matched whatever background he stood against. It was eerie seeing his vague outline in the same pattern as the bed-curtains.

I glanced down, feeling giddy at not being able to see most of my body.

The outline of Maud was moving toward the door, an unsettling sight like watching a stream of smoke glide through the air. "Okay, I don't want any of us to get lost, so we'll need to hold hands. Peter, you lead the way."

He locked our bedroom door again at Maud's suggestion and then, joining hands, we glided down the corridor like a freakish three-headed specter.

We wandered through endless hallways, doorways, and stairwells, and I was beginning to wonder whether we were lost when Peter gave a hushed cry of triumph. We had arrived at a wing tucked into the lowest bowels of the castle, and I knew we had come to the right place because of all the shrieking and giggling going on behind the door. It definitely sounded like a dozen girls getting ready for a party.

"Peter, open the door slowly," Maud instructed the prince. "They won't hear you with all that racket."

In the dim torchlight, I saw the outline of Peter's hand reaching for the knob. There was an almost indiscernible click, and the door opened onto a richly furnished parlor. The voices were coming from a door on the other side of the room.

"Are they decent?" Peter quavered. I grinned, imagining the look on his face.

Maud went to check. "They're all dressed."

The princesses looked like a flock of colorful birds, decked out in the finest silk and jewels. Being my mother's daughter, I peeked at their shoes, which shimmered with newness beneath their gowns. I could tell their local shoemaker knew how to put together some decent footwear. Maybe not as well-made as Mom's, but a close second.

"Are we all ready?" Rosamond asked. "You two can do the honors tonight." She nodded at a pair of twins, who approached the largest of a set of frilly canopied beds lining the circular room. They each pressed one of the bedposts and the bed began to descend beneath the floor, moving aside to reveal a set of spiraling stone steps flickering with torchlight.

"So that's how they do it," Peter whispered.

"Hush," Maud warned. We waited for the last girl to climb down the winding stair before we followed.