Embellished With Lies

Chapter Twenty-One

"Get a move on, Matthew," Lady Tremaine declared and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms in the process of doing so. "We do not have all of the time in the world, you know."

I finished pulling on the black leather boots that they had given me a couple minutes ago and laced them up before standing up to my full stature and cocking my brows. "I get it, I get it. Molly isn't even over here yet!"

Lady Tremaine waved her hand in the air, dismissing my counter. "That is definitely no excuse for you to move as slowly as you can, now is it?"

Luckily my parents had raised me to respect my elders; otherwise I would have muttered some smart or disrespectful phrase and really have gotten myself into some serious trouble with Lady Tremaine.

I grabbed the set of knives that were laying beside me and glanced behind, where Tessa was spinning around in circles in the snow, her slingshot in hand.

"What are you doing, Tess?" I asked, scratching the top of my head.

"Twirling," she replied nonchalantly, continuing to do so without a care in the world.

"Well, I can see that." I saw Molly exit the small farmhouse out of the corner of my eye. "Why, though? We've gotta get going, Patootie."

She groaned. "But can't you see that I'm in the middle of something?"

I rolled my eyes. Little sisters were such a pain in the neck sometimes. And by sometimes, I meant the majority of the time. "Tessa, we have to go."

"No..."

"Come on, Tessa," Anastasia cut in. "I beg of you, please. Just get in the carriage, and then you can sing lullabies or whatever you choose to."

My baby sister crossed her arms and gave Anastasia the stink eye. "I don't sing lullabies." She held up five fingers. "I'm this many."

"Impressive," Anastasia murmured, obviously annoyed a tad bit.

Lady Tremaine brought her hand to her chin, her eyes sweeping over us. She mouthed our names as she counted us off. "Tessa, Matthew, Anastasia, Molly..." She paused, her facial expression growing more and more impatient as the seconds ticked by. "Where on earth is Drizella?"

"I don't know," Molly responded, shrugging her shoulders as she climbed into the horse-drawn carriage. "Last time I saw her, she was deciding which pair of shoes to wear."

Lady Tremaine rolled her eyes, and I couldn't help but laugh a little. "Anastasia, would you be a dear and go fetch your sister?"

The young woman shrugged. "Why not?"

Anastasia disappeared into the house and emerged minutes later with a shoeless Drizella trailing behind her.

"Mother," the eldest whined, stomping her bare feet. "You have to be joshing around with me. I am not able to complete our goal like this!"

"Please fetch a pair of shoes then; any pair will do."

She chose a pair of light brown boots.

We were able to get going five minutes later. Molly, Tessa, and I were sitting in one seat of the carriage, and Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and Anastasia were in the other. During the three hour ride to the Queen's palace, Anastasia and Drizella were completely transformed. They looked nothing like themselves: their hair was styled differently, makeup was applied to make them appear tan-skinned, and their clothes were changed into something that only the poorest of people seemed to wear.

When I asked why they had to be disguised, Lady Tremaine started to go over our game plan. "Now, when we get there, we will not begin our plan right away. It will be mid-afternoon when we arrive, and we will wait promptly until nightfall. Then, exactly at midnight, Anastasia and Drizella will be the distraction. They will go to the front door and beg to stay there as if they were lost and cold and desperate. Now, Matthew, Tessa, and Molly will sneak around the back. There should be two guards there, and you may have to exterminate them-"

"You mean kill them?" Tessa asked, leaning in, her expression horrified.

"...yes." Lady Tremaine continued, "After you sneak inside, you will pass the library and take a left, then follow that hallway to the second door on the right, then take that hallway to the fourth door on the right, and then you should be there. I'm not positive how many guards there will be, however my best suggestion would be to get rid of them all as soon as possible. That causes less trouble for all of us."

"I thought you said that you didn't want us to kill anyone," I brought up, a curious expression written on my face.

"Never mind what I said," she urged. "Listen to what I'm telling you now. When you arrive upon the showcase room - that's where she keeps the diamond necklace - it will be in a large pedestal in the center of the rooms; there will be a glass case over the necklace as well. However, your job is to get the necklace out of that case and out of the castle."

By that time, the carriage came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the woods; the sun was high in the sky, signaling that it was at least noon.

"Why are we stopping, again?" Molly inquired while standing up to stretch her legs. "How far away is the castle?"

"Presumably a mile or so," Lady Tremaine replied. "We can't risk anyone of high authority see us. Any suspicious activity will be reported to the Queen herself, and that would not be beneficial for us."

"You said that the Queen knew where we were," I began slowly, the words playing on the tip of my tongue. "Does she really? Doesn't she already suspect this to happen?"

"She does not know the exact coordinates of our whereabouts, no," she started, "but she knows that we want to overthrow her. We have to be extremely careful because of this and -"

She stopped abruptly, putting her forefinger to her lips.

I was confused at first, but then I heard a loud, masculine, and unknown voice.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

-----

Hey! What's up? I know I haven't updated in forever (I had debate when I wrote this 9-27-16) and I just have been dragging this book on... I don't know.

I apologize for it being so bad, but I tried my best.

What did you think? Who is at the forest? Is it anyone you know? Let me know your thoughts

Also vote and comment please! It means so much to me and I've not been in a good mood lately and could use your encouraging words!

Love you all!