“What?” Laura burst out, her eyes widening in panic.

“Y-you have wings,” Austin managed to stammer out again as he took in his friend's appearance.

Her light brown hair seemed to have become longer and healthier looking, her face was glowing if he had to use a word to describe it. And attached to her back was a pair of beautiful purple and blue neon wings. She looked ethereal, like a queen.

Laura strained her neck to look at her back but it seemed she was unable to see anything. “Can you take a picture, idiot?” she asked, her words slightly forced.

“Uh yea,” Austin snapped back to reality and grabbed his phone from his pocket  quickly taking the picture he showed it to Laura whose face paled almost instantly.

“Take it away, take it off,” Laura ordered as she began frantically clawing at her back in panic.

“Laura, hey look at me, Laura,” Austin grabbed her shoulders and forced her to sit on the lip of the fountain before he knelt in front of her.

“Breathe, inhale, exhale, hold, inhale…” Austin told her and surprisingly she didn't fight against him and just did as he asked her to. Once she was calmed down enough to be able to talk Austin let go of her shoulders and grabbed her trembling hands instead.

“Ok, tell me, what happened?” he whispered softly.

“I-i only t-touched the statue-e,” Laura stuttered and tears started trickling down her face.

Oh boy. Austin thought and awkwardly handed Laura a tissue that he had found in his jeans pocket.

“This is crazy though, why do you have wings when fairies are clearly not real,” Austin said with a frown as he glanced up at Laura who now seemed to be in a much calmer state of mind.

“I don't know,” Laura visibly forced the words from her mouth as she placed her head between her hands.

“This is so weird,” Austin murmured as he glanced up at the slowly darkening sky and now empty playground.

“Thank you for that, genius,” Laura told him.

Austin looked back down at Laura and gasped out loud, “OK wow…”

“What? Don't tell me, I've grown vampire fangs too?” Laura glared at him.

“Actually,” Austin swallowed, “your wings are gone.”

“You're kidding?” Laura asked incredulously.

“Nope,” Austin replied quickly, taking another picture with his cellphone and showing it to Laura who looked like she was about to literally jump with joy.

“Oh lord! ” Laura suddenly exclaimed before softly pressing the tips of her fingers to her forehead before she fell backwards into the fountain.

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Isabella

Leaving Max outside her bedroom Isabella opened the doors and walked in, her mind wandering and not really paying attention so that she didn't realise anything was wrong with her room until a big poofy rose gold dress was shoved in front of her face and she was greeted with an enthusiastic "HI!" which came from her two identical maids.

"Oh wow ok, first of all hey, second, what's going on?” Isabella asked as she walked past them and set on the edge of her canopy bed.

“You're going to be introduced to the whole kingdom in just a little over 24 hours, we obviously have to prepare your wardrobe,” the maid laughed.

Just then another maid came bustling into the room, the name tag on her grey uniform red 'Tatiana' she was in her late 40's and had cared for Isabella since she was a baby, so much so that she was more of a mother to Isabella than the actual queen. “Hello darling, are you excited?” she smiled at Isabella ,the edges of her eyes crinkling.

Isabella smiled up at her, "a little bit," she lied.

“So obviously, your mother had told us about the ball a while ago already, so we had a dress made, but we need you to try it on and see if the fit is correct,” Tatiana told Isabella briskly and took the rosegold dress from the hands of the young maids behind her, their name tags read 'Aliyana' and 'Ranaya'.

"Oh OK,” Isabella forced herself to smile, as she got up from the bed and took the dress from Tatiana's hands. When the twins begun to follow her to her bathroom she held up a hand, “I can wear it myself, thank you.”

Once in the bathroom, Isabella closed the door and then leaned her forehead against the cool mosaic tiles on the wall. She needed to get them out of her room, and quickly.

Taking off her current dress Isabella slipped the new ballgown on, tying the ribbon at the waist she walked back out into the bedroom.

She was immediately greeted with compliments from the three ladies in the room. “Oh, it looks perfect,” Ranaya breathed out, a happy smile on her face.

“I want to see how it looks properly,” Isabella told them as she strode to the mirror to look at herself. Isabella frowned as she looked at the mirror, it clung to her body, showing its whole shape in ways that she hated. “I think… maybe you should get it to be made looser for me,” Isabella suggested, as a plan formed in her head.

“Yes of course,” Aliyana curtsied, and Isabella went back into the bathroom to change out of the dress

༄  ·  ·  ·  · ✦

Once the servants were out of her room, Isabella walked over to her moving bookshelf and nudged it forward - when they were 12 years old she and Max had discovered the secret passage by accident during a pillow fight - Isabella smiled at the memory before she shook her head and walked down the tunnel.

Over the years she and Max had explored all the many forks and passages and where they led to, so now Isabella had entryway to almost every room in the palace, including the two places she needed to visit now.

First stop. The guards training room, Isabella often snuck here at nights - and sometimes during the day to watch Max train - but when she came at nights, it was quite and she could practice and exercise to her hearts content without any judgement from anyone.

Much to Isabella's happiness the training room was empty, silently Isabella made her way to the wall filled with weapons. After careful consideration she chose a flower hilted dagger, a silver handled sword with a bronze sheath and a matching silver bow and arrow with a sheath. She then opened one of the drawers in the corner of the room and grabbed maps of the Kingdom and it's underground tunnels.

Second stop. The kitchens. Isabella climbed down the steep steps in the tunnel and pushed a brick in the wall slightly, allowing the wall to move slightly forward like a door. Isabella peaked around the door and was greeted with a very busy kitchen and delicious smells of different food dishes. 'This is going to be slightly more difficult,' she thought to herself.

Suddenly Isabella spied a petite girl with flaming red hair pulled back into a bun, Ensia, she was the head cooks daughter, even though she was only 15 she happened to be one of the best bakers in all of 9 Kingdoms of Meneria.

“Hey, Ensia, over here,” Isabella whispered and silently prayed that no one else heard her, or she'd really be in trouble.

The girl glanced around in confusion before her eyes landed on Isabella, and she raised an eyebrow at the princess. But when Isabella gestured for her to come into the passage she quickly took her gloves off, discarding them in the trash can joining Isabella in the passage.

“Princess?” Ensia questioned, her smooth Elovan accent making the words sound like a whispered secret.

“Could you do me a favour please, you have to promise on your life that you won't tell anyone about this though,” Isabella whispered back to her.

Ensia layed her hand over her heart, “I swear on my life, and all that is close to me that I Ensia will keep the princess 's secret no matter how dangerous it is,” she told Isabella, steel in her eyes and Isabella believed her. Ensia was an Elovan girl first and Elovan' s were known for their loyalty.

“I'm leaving the palace, however I need you to get me food, you know how to reach my bedroom through the secret passage right?” at Ensia's nod she carried on talking, “get me foods that will last me at least a week, and leave it just outside the entryway to my room, get it there before midnight tonight,” Isabella ordered before turning around and hurrying back to her room.

As Isabella entered her room she jumped almost a foot into the air as she took in Max's expression, stern face, mouth in a thin light, arms crossed tightly over his torso. He glared at her. “Where the hell were you?” he grited out, eyes flashing.

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