The Unexpected Princess

“Snow, it’s almost time for breakfast.” I opened my eyes and Marie was standing beside my bed. I groaned and rolled over to face the wall. I snuggled closer into my blanket. I felt tugging on my blanket and it was ripped away from me. “Marie, it’s cold.” I whined. I heard her laugh,

“Come now, it is time for you to get dressed. The queen has brought a dress for you.” I sat up and looked at her confused. “The queen?” Marie nodded and pointed the desk, the was a bag lying over the chair. Curious I walked over to the desk and picked up the bag, I zipped it open and pulled out the dress. The dress itself was beautiful, it was black underneath the black was layer of red. There was rips on the chest part of the dress that showed off the red fabric, as the dress went down the fabric turned to lace, the lace had holes in it, showing off more of the red. A ribbon was attached to the top, I guess that’s what you tie around your neck. On the floor by the chair was a pair of shoes, they were black high tops and had white skulls on them. I happily danced into the bathroom and slipped into the dress. It was comfortable and fit as if it was made for me. I decided to go with a simple look for my makeup and just did a double wing with my eye liner. I kept in my piercings and walked out of the bathroom.

“Why, you look beautiful.” Marie said. I smiled and sat on my bed “Thanks, I love this dress, and I hate all dresses.” I laughed, I slipped on the shoes and stood up again. Suddenly my door burst open and Chloe and Jade rushed into the room. Chloe tackled me into a hug.

“Oh my gosh you’re awake!!” She shouted. “No I’m a ghost come to haunt you.” I joked. She let go of me and laughed. Jade came up to us. “So, wanna walk to breakfast together?” She asked. I nodded and we all left the room walking to the grand hall. When we walked in I sat down between the two of them. When everyone arrived and finished eating the king stood up. “Welcome ladies. I’d like to welcome back Snow as she awoke from saving Chloe at training.” He looked at me and smiled. “I’d like to say that your training will continue today, today will be a test of the swiftest. A race with obstacles. Meet us at the garden in one hour.” Everyone stood and went to their rooms to prepare for the race. The queen came up to me.

“That dress looks lovely.” She said. “Thank you, where did you get it?” I asked “Well I thought the dresses we had didn’t really suit you, so I had my personal tailor make some dresses for you.” She said. I smiled, “Thank you so much.” She laughed lightly. “You’re very welcome, no go get ready.” She said. I nodded and followed the rest of the girls. We passed by the door to the garden and I stopped. I snuck out of the group and pushed open the door. Astra was gently stroking the petals of white roses. She lifted her head and smiled when I reached her.

“Snow, it’s nice to see you.” I smiled up at her. ’It’s nice to see you to Astra.” I said. I walked over to the flowers she was petting a moment ago, “The roses are sick.” She said. I bent down, “Sick? Flowers get sick?” I asked. She nodded, ’Yes, you may not know it, but flowers are just like people, that have feelings and then can get sick.” She said. I stroked one of the flowers with my finger. The flower shivered and wrapped itself around my finger. Astra gasped, “You have healed them.” She whispered. “What? Me? How?” I asked. She smiled. “You are very special, the flowers really like you.” She said. I then remembered about the race. I shot up, “Oh my gosh, I have to go get ready. I’ll see you soon Astra.” I called. She waved goodbye as I ran out of the garden.When turning the corner, I slammed hard into someone. I fell on my butt really hard. “Ow.” I mumbled. I looked up and saw Dominick standing over me.

“Well someone’s in a hurry.′ He joked. He held out his hand and pulled me to my feet. “Yes I am, I have a race to prepare for.” I said. He nodded his head in understand. “Ah yes the royal race, you should do great, I mean you did save Chloe from the Chimera.” He said. “Yeah well, I must be going. Later Dominick.” I ran away from him. There’s something off about him, I’m not sure what it is though. I just shook off the feeling and entered my room. Marie was there putting some things into a bag.

“Hi Marie.” I said. She turned to me and smiled. “Ready for the race?” She asked. I sat on my bed. ’I hope they don’t expect me to race in this dress.” I said. Marie laughed. “No of course not, you will be running in any animal of your choice.” She said. I sighed happily and Marie handed me the black bag.

“What’s in it?” I asked. “Just some things you’ll need for the race today.” She said. I nodded and set the bag on my bed. “What is the whole point of this race?” I asked. She sat next me. “This race is more than what it sounds like. Unlike the maze the tasks won’t be brutal, they’ll be based on your heart, and how your personality is.” I thought about the race. Am I really ready?

We all met in the garden, the royal family standing in front of us. The king took a step forward, “This race, is based off of not your strength on the outside, but on the inside.” He took a step back and in four spots there were shimmering lights and four pedistols took place where the lights were.

“You may have your pick of one of these items. Don’t not worry, once one thing is taken another will appear until you all have an item.” He said. On the first pedestal there was a worn brown bag, next to the bag was a bright red ruby, a green emerald and the last was an oval shaped jewels. The jewel seemed to glow, I was unaware of the name. On the second one there was a long clear crystal, it almost looked like a horn of some kind. The third item was was a black pendent with silver engravings on it. And the final item was a blue scarf. Natalie grabbed the bag and the gems. Chloe grabbed the horn shaped object and came back and stood by me.

“What is that thing?” I asked. “It’s a unicorn horn.” She said. Kathy walked up and grabbed the scarf and walked over to Natalie. And finally Alex grabbed the pendent. She smirked at me and walked over to Natalie. I rolled my eyes. I can’t believe I’m stuck with these people.

The pedastols glowed again and were replaced with new objects. On the first, a red bottle labeled fairy dust. The second a small dagger with the engraving of a white wolf on the handle. On the third was a three glass balls, one clear with a gold around the center with engravings on it, The second was blue with the print of water and the third was a light green color and had grass painted onto it. The last object is what caught my attention. It was a pure white rose. I walked up to the pedostal and gingerly picked up the delicate flower. It shivered at my touched and glowed slightly. I smiled and stepped back into the line. I heard a tiny voice in my head,

“Hello princess.′ Confused I looked around to see if anyone else had heard it. ’Snow, it’s me, Astra.” The voice rang in my head again. I gasped and whispered. “Astra?” Chloe looked at me. “What?” I shook my head and we turned back. I noticed that Jade took the three glass balls, Elisabeth had the fairy dust and Nicole took the dagger.

“Now that all of you have an item the race will now begin.” We all turned to face to woods behind us. I looked at Chloe and Jade. “Ready?” I asked. They both nodded and we took off into the trees. “What is it with this family and woods?” Chloe muttered. I laughed and we kept running.

“Snow, you must be weary, the trees, they will try to trick you.” Astra’s worried voice said. “Trick me? What do you mean?” I asked. “It’s like I when, how plant are like people, they can also be devious and misleading.” She said. “Right, I’ll do my best not to let it distract me.” I continued to run until I broke through the trees and was standing in front of a lake. I looked and noticed that Jade and Chloe were no longer with me. I heard the laughter of a small child, I turned to face the lake and saw a child playing on a dock in the middle of the water.

“Be careful!” I called to the boy. He turned to me. When he did his foot slipped and he fell into the water. I gasped, dropped my bag and quickly ran into the water. I swam to where the boy fell in. I dived into the water and looked around. I saw the boy struggling trying to swim. I swam to him and wrapped my arms around him. I pulled him to the surface and he started to cough violently. I swam back to the shore and laid him on the ground. He was barley breathing. I placed both my hands on his chest and concentrated. I retracted the water from his lungs and he was breathing again. He opened his eyes and looked up at me. “Thank you miss.” He said. “You need to be more careful.” I said. He nodded. “Right, thanks again!” He stood up and ran into the woods. “Wait you have to be careful in there!” I called. I picked up my bag and the flower and followed the boy. I couldn’t see him but I could hear his laughter. I tried to follow him but his laughter was growing quiet.

“Where the hell am I?!” I shouted. I sighed and leaned against a tree. “Lost little girl?” A voice said. I looked around but there was nothing around me. Then I heard it again. “I asked if you were lost.” I stood up and looked around again. I shook my head and began to walk away from the tree. That was really weird. I broke the trees again and noticed I was in a town. I walked through the busy streets, people giving me strange looks and whispering. I noticed a woman standing off to the side, I walked up to her,

“Excuse me miss, where am I?” I asked. She turned to me and gave me a horrified look, “Please don’t hurt me.” She cried. “Hurt you? Why would I do that?” I asked. “Because another girl like you, she came here and started to torment us. It was horrible.” The woman turned, “There she is!” She ran away. I turned and saw Natalie striding passed everyone. I growled and walked up to her.

“Natalie!” I shouted. She looked at me and smirked. “What’s up girly?” She asked. “What the hell is your problem?! Why are you tormenting these people?” I asked. “Well I thought, since you have Ethan I wanted something of my own. So I took this town as my own.” She laughed. I growled then remembered what Astra told me, ‘the trees, they will try to trick you.’. I closed my eyes and started to focus, to focus on what was real. When I opened my eyes again I was standing in the middle of the woods again.

“Help! Someone help me!” I heard Natalie’s voice. I ran to where I heard it, she was covered in vines and couldn’t get them off of her. “Oh my gosh Snow, please help me.” She said when she saw me. I put down my bag and ran over to her. “What happened?” I asked.

“I was walking by when I saw something moving. When this vine grabbed my leg and pulled my into it.” She said. I walked over to my bag and saw that there was a small dagger inside of it. I grabbed the dagger and began to cut the vines. When she was free she shook herself out of the vines. She breathed a sigh of relief and fell to the ground. I put the dagger back into my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I began to walk away when Natalie stopped me,

“Wait, please let me go with you.” She begged. I scoffed and turned to her. “As if! You think I’d help you after the way you’ve been treating me.” I spat. She looked at the ground in shame. I sighed, “Fine, get up.” She looked up at me happily and shot up. I started to walk at a face pace. My dress kept getting caught by trees.

“Gah, I hate this damn dress!” I grabbed the dagger from my bag and began to cut up the dress. I cut it to about the middle of my thigh. I tore a piece of the fabric and used it to put my hair into a pony tail. I hated tearing up this dress, especially after the queen had it specially made for me, but it was getting hard to deal with it. “Where are we going?” Natalie asked. “Right now? I’m trying to get out of these woods.” I said. I stopped hearing her footsteps behind me and I turned around. She stopped walking and was staring at the ground.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “I’m not moving until you stop giving me that attitude!” She snapped. I scoffed, “Right, as if, you have no right to make me apologize!” I yelled back. Suddenly I heard almost like a groaning sound. “What’s that?” Natalie asked. She took a step forward and suddenly the ground crumbled beneath us. I let out a scream. I slammed onto hard ground, my head bounced off the ground. That last thing I remember was a dark figure standing over me, then my vision faded into blackness and as I passed out.