The Last Princess

Chapter 83

Some elf was shaking me.

I bolted upright. Maple lifted her finger to her lips urgently. Oh, right, we had to meet the boys. I eased out of bed and stood up as quietly as I could. Maple gestured for me to follow her, and we tiptoed out, leaving the others sleeping calmly.

Once out, it would be a problem getting past the guards. Luckily, Maple knew the place (including the secret passages) like the back of her hand. And...so did I. Pretty much the only part of the palace I knew thoroughly. We had made good use of those passages. Some of them even my mother didn't know about.

And Maple was taking one of them. We snuck through the shadows, avoiding the guards, until we reach a handle in the wall. I had no idea what it was for, but Maple pulled it, and quietly, a passage opened up in the wall. We crept into it, and once inside, I pulled another handle in the wall there.

We walked through in the darkness, some twists and turns in the way, and ended up in front of another door. Maple pulled the lever, and the door slid open. Right in front of us was a hallway, a door directly opposite us. Maple pointed at it. She exchanged a nervous glance with me, and we silently climbed out. I pulled the lever outside and the door shut as silently as it had opened.

Maple flashed numbers at me with her fingers. Three. Two. One- we lightly ran across the hallway to the door. I grabbed the handle and turned it downwards carefully, not making any noise. I pushed open the door, went in, waited for Maple to come in, and on her doing so, pushed the door shut silently and let go of the handle.

Someone lit a torch and light spilled across the room, lighting up two silhouettes. We came closer and I saw Aiden and Arden, the light casting shadows on their disguised faces. They looked tired, but I tried not to worry. "Everything okay?" Arden/Cullen Amaranth  whispered. We nodded.

"We got in as maids. We work in the West Wing, in the library." I said. It felt good to talk after so long of being silent. Aiden looked at me funnily. "Are you okay? Your voice sounds different?" Of course it did. Maple clarified. "Calla here is mute."

Both boys looked at me, confused. I tried to explain. "There was this test, and I couldn't say something. So Maple- Tulip- said I was mute." Aiden arched an eyebrow. "Was it the one where you had to say that Prince Forreston was the King?"

I nodded. His face turned red. "Elvina, how could you not say it? You risked this whole thing!" "Well, don't blame me! There is no way I'm ever saying Forreston is the King!" I shot back. "What if someone hears you talk?" He pointed out.

"That won't happen! I'm careful!" I hissed. "Okay! Guys, that's enough. We can't do anything about it. Let's just...move on." Arden interceded. Aiden looked irritated. So did I. But neither of us said anything. We were being too loud. Him too. And he was talking about rising our mission.

"So, what about you guys? Where are you working? We didn't see you." Maple said quickly. Arden sighed. He looked embarrassed. "Well, we got through as servants, but some general caught sight of us and...put us into the army." This last bit came out very quietly.

"What?" Maple and I whispered in unison. "They put us into the army. They're having a shortage of soldiers, so..." Arden trailed off. Aiden picked up. "So we're fighting against our own cause. Maybe our family and friends."

"Aid, that's not happening. You know we're not actually going to fight with them. We're just staying to learn their strategies, and possibly make them like the rebels more." Arden said. Aiden huffed. I looked at him. He was actually pretending to be the enemy of the rebels, and hadn't given anything away, like I had been so close to doing. No wonder he was irritated with me.

"Are we done?" Arden said. We looked at him. "Well, it's risky, being here too long. We should get back. " Maple shrugged. "You're right. Come on, El." I glanced at them, half-smiling at Aiden, kind of as an apology. He didn't smile back until I almost had turned away and was thinking he was still mad at me. But he did smile, albeit somewhat grudgingly.

One of them blew out the torch, and Maple and I sneaked back to our room through the passage, leaving them behind.

We pushed open the door. The other girls were still asleep. A loud, rumbling noise came. We jumped, startled. The noise came again. Snoring? It wasn't any of the girls. Then I realized it was coming from behind the door. Mrs. Anise snored. I looked at Maple, biting back a smile. She smirked back, and we silently climbed into bed, trying not to disturb anyone. Finally, I fell asleep.

Ice-cold water splashed onto my face. I sat up, coughing and spluttering, and was about to say something, when I saw everyone else. They were all watching me with pity. Maple's face and part of her dress was wet, too.

I looked to the side and saw Mrs. Anise gazing down at me with displeasure. Then she went to the bed next to mine. Our beds were arranged in a circle around the room, so I saw Tansy, sleeping on her side, the sheet pulled over her. Linnea was also asleep, on the bed after Tansy's. I felt sympathy for their plights.

I climbed out, water dripping onto the floor. Well, it certainly had made me feel awake. Jessamine squeezed my hand, but no one dared to say anything. Mrs. Anise poured water out of a bucket first on Tansy, then Linnea.

 Tansy fell out of bed, landing with a hard thump on the floor. She sat up straight, looking at us with bleary eyes. She yawned, and her eyes focused. She stood up straight immediately. Linnea gasped and said, "What in the-" Then she saw Mrs. Anise, and, looking sheepish, climbed out of bed.

Mrs. Anise looked at us sternly and said. "Get to work fast." Then she disappeared through the door. A moment, later, the tension went out of the room, like the girls were just waiting for her to be out of earshot. Then they all spoke.

"We forgot to warn you-" "Is she-" "You'll have to-" "This is absolutely-" "Did you ever-" "I know-" "Always-" "Sorry-" "Come on-" "Everyone, be quiet!" Sakura said, which was a relief, because I hadn't been able to make out a thing in the chatter.

She turned to us. "I'm sorry, we weren't able to warn you about this. Try to wake up early. Otherwise...well, you saw what'll happen. Girls, change fast. Who's turn is it today?" "Mine." Poppy said.

There was a general feel of amusement immediately. Most of them were smiling. "Try not to leave our uniforms too dirty, Popp." Tansy said. Poppy grinned good-naturedly. Leilani saw my confused look and explained. "We get only two pairs of uniforms, so we wash them every day. Sometimes we come late, so we can't do it. So we have a cycle. On person washes them all per day. Today's Poppy's turn."

"And I don't wash clothes all too well." Poppy said, smiling. "We can work you into the rotation next week, and give you some time to settle in for this week." Sakura said. "Thank you." Maple said, and I smiled gratefully.

"And if the elf who's turn it is is late, whoever's after them takes that day's turn, and they take the next day's uniforms." Jessamine added. "Okay, girls, go freshen up." Sakura said.

It turned out that Sakura, Leilani, Vanilla and Jessamine had woken up early and were already washed, so only Poppy, Tansy, Linnea, Maple and I had to. They let us go first, so we could go to work, which was good of them.

After washing and wearing my clean uniform, I felt refreshed. We gave our dirty ones to Poppy. I felt sorry for her, having nine uniforms to wash, but she seemed quite alright with it. She was obviously used to it.

Maple and I left with Vanilla and Jessamine, after saying goodbye to the others, to another day of work.