Butterflies in Gavaldon

Chapter 1

Vanessa grinned and chased Evelyn across Gavaldon, in a tight race to purchase the newest storybook from the newly built bookshop. Breathing hard, the two girls raced around a street corner to see a disappointingly long line of older children who'd arrived before them. Skidding to a stop, Vanessa groaned.

"I twod you we should've weft earwier. We'we onwy six." Vanessa began, her golden blonde hair pulled up into two ponytails.

"V, nobody can understand you but me when you don't practice your 'l's." Evelyn sighed.

"I can," came a voice behind the pair.

The two turned to see a girl of about their age, small and witchy-looking with two braids down to her mid-back. Vanessa smiled.

"Welly?" She asked?

"And you 'r's." Evelyn muttered.

The stranger nodded. "Are you twins?" she asked, "My name's Callis."

Evelyn spoke up. "We're twins, yeah. I'm Evelyn, that's Vanessa."

"Evelynnnnn," Vanessa complained, "My bow is fawing."

Callis pulled off the pink ribbon. "I don't know how to tie, sorry."

"It's okay!" Vanessa said to her new friend.

Callis yanked out the other ribbon so Vanessa's locks were even across her shoulders.

"Excuse me, little girls, could I cut you to be with my mom?" An older girl asked.

"No!" Callis and Evelyn said at the same time, "and we are NOT little."

The girls looked at each other and grinned.

Evelyn almost smiled. Here was a girl almost as mean as she was. She really did need more mean friends to hurl pies at the elders with her. It was lonely, but it was fun. Maybe this Callis also had a stupid sister that she actually liked for some reason.

Vanessa looked up to see that they were nearly at the entrance. She turned to tell Evelyn and Callis, who were throwing cockroaches at passerby. Princesses did not engage in such behavior. She smoothed her pink dress and giggled as Stefan passed by with-

"Honora!" she called.

The muddy girl raced over with Stefan and her copy of the new storybook.

"Will Evelyn read it to us? She's the only one that knows how. The pictures have a boy with a very, very long nose." Honora asked.

Vanessa turned around to see Callis and Evelyn near hysterics as an old woman tried to squash a cockroach racing around inside her shirt.

"She will, just wet us get ouw books fiwst."

Vanessa tensed as the filthy girl stood next to her. ("We'll wait with you!") She turned, desperate for Evelyn to save her.

Evelyn and Callis were now laughing so hard they were grabbing the other person for support at the elder bashed herself in the head with her handbag to get the cockroach. They'd be good friends.

A few minutes later, Evelyn rejoined the group.

"Honora." Evelyn acknowledged with a tone usually reserved for 'bat dung'.

Neither Sader girl liked the poor girl, one just happened to be much more vocal about it.

"Maybe your brother will be in this one!" Honora said.

Twin heads whipped around and glared. August was a touchy subject with the Sader girls. Their brother was kidnapped just less than a year ago; the next Thursday marked the year. Vanessa was still struggling to process the loss, whereas Evelyn was angry. She and her brother were close; he'd sworn to her he won't be taken. The Sader girls were driven much closer by the loss of August. The two had few in common, though one thing they did have in common was there passionate hatred of Honora. Nobody but August had known why Evelyn despised the girl, though. Alas.