That Dancing Princess

Chapter Six

 Tommy's eyes snapped open at the sound of the door being unlocked. After following the princesses back to their room, he realized there was no way for him to get out of the room, so he got under one of the beds again and just fell asleep.

 He waited for all the princesses to get up and begin to file out of the room before getting up himself and hurrying out after them. Today, Roy himself stood out in the hall with the flower bouquets. No one seemed to think it strange, but as he was sneaking away, he heard Princess Kobra ask, "And where is your new assistant, the Stargazer?"

 "I'm afraid I don't know, Your Highness," he heard Roy reply. "I searched for him for hours, and have not found him yet."

 "Oh. Well, I certainly hope you do."

 With that, Tommy ran as fast he could, took the flower out of his shirt, hid the little branch, changed into clean clothes, and hurried out to the garden. When he heard Roy coming, he began to casually begin raking, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

 Roy stopped short when he saw his assistant, suddenly reappeared.

 "Good morning," Tommy said lightly, dreading the conversation they were about to have.

 "Where have you been?" Roy demanded. "Do you know how long I spent looking for you?"

 "Well, I-I'm very sorry if-"

 "Sorry? You were gone the entire night and half the morning without a word! And that's all you have to say? You're sorry."

 Tommy put down his rake. "I can't tell you where I was."

 "Why not?"

 "Because you wouldn't believe me."

 Roy scoffed. "Unbelievable. Is that all you're going to say about it?"

 "There's nothing else I can say."

 Tommy waited to see if Roy would send him away like he had the last assistant. He supposed he sort of deserved it for abandoning his place for so many hours.

 "Fine," he said. "You're new, and you're certainly strange, so I'll leave it this time. But you do anything like that again, and I expect a full explanation. Do you understand me?"

 Tommy nodded quickly. "Yes, I promise."

 "Good. Now, go back to your work, kid."

 Once Roy was out of earshot, Tommy let out a long exhale of relief. He really thought Roy was going to fire him.

 A few hours later, Tommy assumed it was Roy when he heard footsteps. But he should have known they were to light to be Roy's boots.

 "So, the gardener found you."

 It was Princess Kobra. She gave him a smile and said, "The poor man thought he lost you. I asked him where you were, and he looked worried when he said you disappeared."

 "Oh. Yes, we already spoke together," Tommy said. "I am very sorry that I worried him, and I'm grateful he didn't fire me."

 She nodded. "I'm sure. I think you have been a good assistant to him."

 He watched as she silently continued her walk through the garden. She thought he was a good assistant to Roy. It almost made him smile. But only almost; he couldn't get the memories of the night before out of his head.

 From his place, he could hear Princess Kobra asking Roy about some of the plants. He had to wait for her to be gone, and ended up waiting for quite a while. When she finally left, Tommy went to Roy and asked him, "How many suitors have disappeared?"

 "What?"

 "The princesses' suitors, the ones who have all disappeared trying to discover their secret," Tommy explained. "You told me there were only ten. Is that true?"

 "Well, why do you want to know?"

 "I-it's-can you please just tell me, sir?"

 Roy sighed. "All right, all right. I said there'd only been ten because I didn't want to scare you away on your first day. There's been at least twice that many. They all come, get locked in, and are gone in the morning."

 So, it was true. All the dancers, the ones with the princesses, they all had be cursed, or under some spell. And it didn't make a bit of difference to the princesses.

~~~~~~

 When Princess Kobra awoke the next morning, she was happy to see the Stargazer there with the flowers. Not that she didn't like Roy, but it meant the Stargazer hadn't disappeared again. She would have been disappointed if he had.

 She gave him a smile when he handed her a bouquet. But when she looked down at it, she shrieked and immediately dropped it.

 "Is something the matter, Your Highness?" the Stargazer asked.

 Kobra looked around. Everyone was now staring at her curiously. 

 "No." She picked up the bouquet again. "Thank you."

 She hurried down the hall with sisters, her bouquet in her now-trembling hand. It was a perfectly ordinary bunch of flowers, except for thing inside it.

 It was a little branch with silver leaves.