Rose Bloom

Chapter 4: A Fairytale Land

When Mary finally managed to open her eyes after inhaling the toxic rose scent, she found herself sitting in the grass. But where in the world was she? She had fallen for Marissa’s plan. How stupid of her! She felt so ashamed! Somehow she knew this would happen! Mary tried to think clearly. What could that scent have done? Well, it certainly had sent her somewhere else, but where? She decided the only way to figure that out was exploring.

She was in a meadow, on a hill. She looked down. There was a small town. It seemed pretty normal, but there was something about it that made it… different. Mary got down from the hill, and wandered through the main square of that city.

Everything there seemed so medieval! She felt exposed, but fortunately she was still wearing the costume from the play, so she fit in with the crowd. But it wasn’t going to hold for long.  She began looking for a way out, but you couldn’t get out of there. It was a whole different world. Mary fought despair as she went on and on.

What she did notice was the beauty of that small city: the houses were painted rich colors, the nature was so green, no pollution, no cars… no technology at all! The pureness of the air made you want to daydream! Everything felt so… unreal! Like in a fairytale! Maybe it was a fairytale, nothing was impossible now; maybe she could find out more! Then she noticed something. It was a palace! One like in the books her mother had read to her when she was little.

Mary cautiously approached the palace staying well out of sight. She could hear voices coming from the back gate, but she couldn’t see anyone, unless she revealed herself. So she decided to stay and listen.

“Mom, why can’t I just have my own little party like last year? Nothing went wrong then! I hate this whole royal procedure, what is it for anyway? Besides, I could mess it all up!”

“Sweetie, I promise you can have your party afterwards, but right now you have to do your duty. That’s the rule.”

“I hate that rule. Why can’t Trudy go? She’s the older one. Plus, she enjoys it.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t going. Just that you have to be there earlier, because you’re the more powerful one. Then you can have your not-exactly-royal party if your father lets you. I know you like spending time with ordinary people and being yourself, and it’s good, but you’re a princess and you have your duties to fulfill. Now go to put on your dress, and we’ll meet in the ballroom.”

Princess? So this was a kingdom after all? And it could also be a fairyland kingdom! Mary continued spying around the palace. Being stuck in a different world could also be interesting… as long as she didn’t get caught.

After trying to convince her mother she didn’t want to have the fancy party that had been already planed and failing, Princess Tracy walked up to the dressing room where the maid began combing her hair. Tracy wasn’t exactly what you’d call the typical princess type. She was different. She was friends with ordinary people and she didn’t act… royal. She wanted to be herself, without tiaras, fancy gowns and irritating attitude-unlike her twin sister Trudy. Even if they were twins, they were complete contrasts in absolutely everything. Tracy was known as ‘the good princess’, everyone was her friend. Except Trudy, she was jealous of her sister.

Trudy was the older one. But here, it didn’t matter who was older, it mattered who was more powerful. Everyone living here had a special power, but the royal family was more powerful than the ordinary people. So only they could have a chance to practice their magic (Tracy thought this was the stupidest rule of the kingdom). The others just did their best to figure out how to use the powers or they hired a professor to teach them. There were lots of different powers and each had to be used for the good of the kingdom. So the prince or princess who was more powerful would inherit the throne. Age didn’t matter.