Steal the Stars [REWRITING]

Nicole - Fear

The Festival began tomorrow, which is why everyone is screaming, except Leo and I. Which means just James and Annabelle, who are arguing. Apparently, Annabelle's hairbrush went missing (nevermind that she has two, plus several combs) and she insisted James took it. James wouldn't want anything to do with her hairbrush, but neither of them were paying attention to that fact, and James wasn't helping the situation–in fact, he was making himself look guilty. After he told her that 'if he had her hairbrush, he would have dumped it in the river', there was pretty much no saving him. Annabelle had taken that as a confession.

"Hey." Leo came up into the doorway behind me, and I dropped the newspaper I was holding. He bent to help me pick it up, along with the cards that had fallen out of it.

"Sorry," I muttered. "You scared me."

"No, I'm sorry." He picked up one of the cards and looked at it. "What's this?"

I took it back and slipped it in my pocket. "For Annabelle. It's sort of...private. Sorry. From...Nevermind. You'll have to ask her."

"Anything in the paper?"

"The queen's going to the ball." I held it up for him to see. "The streets are packed; worse than they have been. It was almost impossible to get a newspaper."

He skimmed the story. "Annabelle'll be happy, then. Do you think it'll stop her from murdering James?"

"Debatable."

He smiled at me. "Before we go and try and prevent James' murder, can I ask you something?"

"What's up?"

"Um...well, I was wondering..." His face was bright red. "Well, if...you can say no!" he added hurriedly.

"You haven't asked me anything yet."

"Right. Well, I'm just saying you can say no. You don't have to, and if you don't want to I completely understand..." He trailed off.

"Leo."

"I was wondering," he began again, after a moment. "If you would come to the ball with me. You can say no! And, I know we'll be working, but I thought...I mean, Annabelle will want to dance, right? Not that you have to dance! I just meant..." He trailed off again, his face bright red as he stared at his shoes.

I blinked. And then swallowed the word what and refrained from asking him if he'd made some kind of mistake.

"I..." I dug my fingernails into my palm. What was supposed to say?

"You can say no," he repeated, for the third time.

"Yes."

"What?"

"I said yes."

He smiled then, his face lighting up. "Really?"

I smiled back at him. "Really." Leo leaned forward and hugged me, and I immediately stiffened. I pulled away from him, staring at my boots. "Sorry, I–"

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He met my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Just...a warning next time, maybe? I don't know." I went back to staring at my boots. The toes were scuffed.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry. I didn't think."

A beat of silence passed between us, but it wasn't uncomfortable. For just a moment, the world felt right.

...

"I'm scared."

Annabelle and James had both gone to bed, probably tired after a long day of fighting with one another (Annabelle's hairbrush had turned up, in her room). But tomorrow, we broke into the palace. Or would try to, anyway. And while I knew it was a good idea to go to bed, I couldn't sleep. Leo sat up with me, insisting he wasn't tired either. I was done arguing with him about it. I was tempted to fake tiredness and go to bed just so he would, too, but I didn't want to be alone.

"Of what?" The fire made strange shadows dart about the room, illuminating the wall behind his back as he leaned against the mantle.

"This plan. It feels...dangerous.I mean, obviously, it is. But unnecessarily dangerous. I don't like it." I picked at my fingernail. "I don't know. It's just...I don't like you, or Annabelle, executing this plan. I'm...worried."

Leo paused for a moment, staring into the flames. "I know. But it'll work. It has to work, because we don't have another choice. James' distraction will only help so much; we need something bigger. And this is definitely bigger." He crossed the room to sit next to me on the couch, and I pulled my knees to my chest. "The plan's good, Nicole. Now, you just have to trust us.

"I don't want to let you go up in that tower alone. I know you're more than capable, but I still wish I could send James with you, or, better yet, go myself. But I can't, and as much as I hate that, I have to let you go." He looked over at me. "This is going to get the attention off that tower, and as risky as it is, it's good. And it'll work. I'd love to lie to you, and tell you everything will be fine, that it's not risky, that nothing will go wrong. But you'd never believe me, anyway."

"No. I wouldn't."

"So I'm not going to. Yes, there are risks, and there is a chance this could fall apart. But we have to try. Because, if we don't, what was the point in coming here at all?"

He made a good point. Which irritated me.

"We came here to prove ourselves," Leo continued. "And that's what we're going to do. James' plan isn't necessarily brillant, but it's just crazy enough to work. And Annabelle and I will be fine–I'm not saying there's not a chance, but we're well-prepared. Annabelle knows that cloaking spell well. I'll get her to practise tomorrow, just in case, but I think she's got it down."

She'd cloaked us all except James this morning, just to irritate him, and had held it for a good ten minutes–until James threw a butter knife dangerously close to her head. If he hadn't, I doubt she would have let it up so soon. And two people would be easier. She'd also shot spells at James' head, to practise her 'combat skills' until Leo had made her stop. She'd certainly proved she was capable, at any rate.

I smiled faintly. "Yeah. She does."

"See? If anything does go wrong, we'll most likely be able to get out of it."

"Most likely."

"I said I wouldn't lie to you. I wish I could, but I haven't. And I'm not going to," he said. "I know you're scared. I am, too. But, whatever happens, at least we'll be going out gloriously, right? Maybe not to other people, but to ourselves. And at least we're doing something–making ourselves something. And, generally, this is better than what we came from, right? Not for me. But...this will help my mom and Clara."

"You sound like James. Except for the last part."

"Fair enough. But we've at least got to try with this, right? Maybe we're just crossing our fingers and hoping–it feels like that sometimes. But, hey, we're pretty good at that."

I laughed. "I guess we are."

Still, worry ate through me like some sort of unrelenting parasite. As much as I tried, I couldn't ease the feeling that something was going to go wrong. That something bad was going to happen.

Word count: 1,218

My word count on google docs is saying something different than my word count on wattpad, and I'm so confused. I also don't want to count, so we're going with google docs.

Things are happening soon :D 

I know I said that, but, like, really soon now.