Unlocking the Spell (15 page)

The nobleman shrugged and said, “Nothing really. It was a large family, all boys. It happened years ago. I remembered it because my barber said he was south of
the city on his way home from visiting relatives last week when he saw a pair of dwarves.”

“Really?” said Annie. “And where were they going?”

“I really couldn't say,” said Lord Camril. After giving her an odd look, he bowed again and disappeared into the crowd.

Three young men were approaching when Liam took her by the hand. “What was that about?” he asked as he led her off to another part of the dance floor.

“That man told me about some dwarves he'd met. He said that two dwarves were seen south of the city just last week.”

“It doesn't mean they were the same two dwarves,” Liam told her. “There have to be others around as well. Blast, that woman is headed this way dragging her daughter behind her. Listen, Annie, I need you to rescue me. When you left, all the matchmaking mamas descended on me, hoping I'd fall in love with one of their daughters. I've danced with far too many of them already tonight, when the only person I want to dance with is you.”

“I would love to dance with you,” said Annie.

They were wending their way through the crowd when Annie heard one mother talking to another. “I'm thinking of taking Louisa home soon. There's no point in staying when Prince Ainsley isn't going to dance with anyone but that princess and we're paying for that rented coachman and carriage by the hour.”

“I know what you mean. I was just telling Portia the same thing,” said the woman beside her.

“I can't dance with you now,” Annie whispered to Liam. “I have to go talk to Gwennie.”

“Then I'll go with you,” he said, and began to peer through the crowd at the couples on the dance floor. They found Ainsley and Gwendolyn by following everyone's eyes to the beautiful couple moving as if they were floating in a room filled with plodders. When the dance ended, Annie and Liam made their way to where Gwendolyn was laughing at something the prince had said.

“Gwennie, I have to talk to you,” said Annie.

“But I was talking to Ainsley!” Gwendolyn said, still smiling up at the prince. It wasn't until he turned a questioning gaze on Annie that Gwendolyn told him, “This is my sister, Princess Annabelle.”

“Ah, another cousin!” said the prince. “I'm delighted to meet you at long last.”

Annie was surprised when he took her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers, showing her two things that she hadn't known. First, that Ainsley hadn't heard the rumors about how touching her diminished one's magic, and secondly, that the prince would have been a pudgy young man with crooked teeth if magic hadn't made him handsome.

“I'm happy we finally met as well,” said Annie. Pulling
Liam forward, she stepped aside, saying, “And this is Prince Liam of Dorinocco. Why don't you two get acquainted while I talk to Gwennie?

“You have to leave,” Annie said in her sister's ear even as she pulled her aside. “Say you have a headache or something, and go up to your room.”

“But I don't want to!” Gwendolyn said, looking shocked. “I feel fine and I'm having such fun! Oh, Annie, everyone has been so nice to me and Prince Ainsley has danced every dance with me, but I can tell that others want to because they keep coming up and…”

“You have to, Gwennie,” Annie told her. “Ainsley is spending all his time with you when he's supposed to be dancing with these girls. If he doesn't start dancing with them, they're going to leave, then we'll never know who the girl was and we won't be able to find Moonbeam. Remember why we're here. Remember Beldegard!”

At the sound of Beldegard's name, Gwendolyn's face flushed pink and she shook her head. “You're right, Annie. I'm not here to enjoy myself. I'll go to my room while you find the girl. But please try to find her soon so I can come back to the dance?”

“I'll try,” Annie said with a laugh.

While Gwendolyn made her excuses to Prince Ainsley, Annie and Liam returned to the dance floor. She noticed that the prince looked disappointed when her
sister left, but it wasn't long before he was dancing with another young lady.

Suddenly the mood in the ballroom changed. The prince was available again; the young ladies had a chance after all. Expressions brightened, voices grew joyful, and no one left early. The dance floor became more crowded now as young men sought other partners, having given up on the idea of dancing with Gwendolyn.

After their dance, Annie and Liam separated again, Annie to mingle with the women, while Liam danced with yet another girl whose mother watched eagerly from the side. Once again Annie bumped into girls or brushed against their arms or touched them in the most inconspicuous way she could manage, but aside from the changes in their appearance that Annie had expected, nothing really happened.

Annie was sure the change had to be unusual. Daughters of the nobility and the wealthy were given magical gifts of physical beauty soon after they were born. None of them would have required help so close to the prince's ball. Whoever Moonbeam had helped would have needed assistance of another sort.

By the time Liam asked her to dance again, Annie was frustrated and ready to give up. After touching nearly every girl in the ballroom with no luck, she was afraid that she would never find the one she wanted. “I
don't know what to do,” she told Liam as they tried to find a clear space on the dance floor. “I've tested nearly every girl here.”

Liam shrugged. “I'd help you if I could but… Watch out! Ainsley isn't looking where he's going. His partner is about to…” Liam tried to maneuver Annie out of the way, but with nowhere to go she couldn't avoid the prince's partner as he twirled her around.

“Ow!” Annie cried as the girl bumped into her and stepped on her foot with a glass slipper.

“I'm so sorry!” the girl said, retracing her steps to check on Annie. “Are you all right?”

When Annie staggered as she tried to look at her foot, the girl put her hand on her arm to steady her. “Annie, look,” said Liam, and she raised her eyes.

The beautiful white gown the girl was wearing had begun to change. What had been silky white fabric embroidered with tiny silver stars became the stained and ragged gown of a servant girl from a less prosperous house. In place of glass slippers she wore scuffed brown shoes riddled with holes. The jeweled necklace at her throat turned into a dandelion chain. All the silver stars holding her hair on top of her head turned into pieces of mica that dropped to the floor, allowing her hair to fall loose around her shoulders. Somehow, even though her clothes were tattered and worn, she remained one of the prettiest girls there.

“Oh, no!” the girl exclaimed when she glanced down. “Moonbeam told me this wouldn't happen until midnight! I can't… I don't… I have to go!”

With a cry of anguish, the lovely young girl fled to the stairs, where she stumbled on the first step, losing one of her shoes. Everyone was watching as she ran up the stairs. When she'd disappeared through the door, the buzz of gossip began.

Annie and Liam followed Prince Ainsley to the stairs and watched as he picked up the shoe. He nearly dropped it when it turned back into the delicate glass slipper.

“Who was that girl?” asked Annie.

“I have no idea,” said Ainsley, “but I'm going to find out! I'll visit every cottage in the kingdom if I have to. Every girl in the land will try on this shoe until I find the right one! Even if I must—”

“We'll accompany you when you go,” said Liam. “We want to find her, too.”

“Now I feel bad,” said Annie as her cousin walked away, looking forlorn. “They were having such a good time!”

“It wasn't your fault. She was the one who bumped into you!” Liam replied.

“But if we hadn't been here, they would still be dancing.” She sighed when she saw the way Ainsley was gazing at the glass slipper in his hand. “I think he really liked her.”

“And he wouldn't have known it if you hadn't made Gwennie leave.”

Annie's gaze flickered toward the stairs. “I suppose Gwennie can return to the dance now. We did find the girl.”

“Gwennie will be happy,” said Liam.

“At least someone will,” Annie told him, glancing back at her cousin.

The next morning, Liam, Annie, and Gwendolyn were sitting in one of the lesser halls, eating a simple breakfast of fruit, dried fish, and dark bread when the fairy Moonbeam appeared beside them with a tinkling of silver bells.

“How dare you interfere with one of my ongoing projects!” she shouted at Annie and Gwendolyn, her plump cheeks quivering with rage. “Eleanor and the prince were supposed to spend the whole evening dancing in each other's arms and fall in love last night. Then you had to show up so he didn't want to dance with anyone but you!” she said, glowering at Gwendolyn. “And you,” she said, turning back to Annie, “I don't know how you managed it, but you undid everything I'd done to get her ready. Her beautiful clothes weren't supposed to revert back to their original forms until
midnight, after she'd won the prince's heart and left the castle. Now she's lost that air of mystery so essential to catching a prince, and everyone knows who she is.”

“We're sorry,” said Annie. “We just wanted to ask her how to find you, but then her clothes changed and she ran off. Believe me, not everyone knows who she is. The prince certainly doesn't, so your mystery is still intact.”

“And from what we saw after the girl left, the prince was already smitten,” said Liam.

“Really? Then perhaps we can redeem this mess. Wait, did you say you did all this just to find me? Why?” the fairy asked, narrowing her eyes at Annie.

“We're trying to help my true love find the dwarf that turned him into a bear,” said Gwendolyn. “We were told you might be able to help us.”

“Who told you that?”

“It was a bear named… What was his name? Do you remember?” Gwendolyn asked, glancing from Annie to Liam.

“It doesn't matter,” snapped Moonbeam. “I'm not answering any questions for you until you clean up the mess you made. The prince has to go find Eleanor so they can fall in love.”

“How are we supposed to make them fall in love?” Annie asked.

“Don't worry about that part,” said the fairy. “You get him there and I'll do the rest.”

Annie shrugged. “We were going to search for Eleanor today anyway. I don't suppose you could tell us where to find her?”

“No! The prince has to make some effort or the spell won't work nearly as well. Just be sure that he finds her and that you don't mess it up any more than you already have!”

Annie, Liam, and Gwendolyn were wearing their old traveling clothes when they joined the prince in his search for Eleanor. One servant went with him to carry the glass slipper on a velvet cushion, along with three guards to fend off beggars, ruffians, and the mothers of the girls he hadn't claimed as dancing partners. Annie kept her sister in the back of the group, hoping she wouldn't distract the prince again.

They started at a large house at one end of town where a guard asked the servant who answered the door if there was an Eleanor in the household who had attended the ball the night before. The servant fetched a middle-aged woman. The prince was quick to make his excuses and leave.

“Next time ask if there are any
young
ladies named Eleanor who attended the ball,” Prince Ainsley told his servant.

“Of course, Your Highness,” the servant said, his mouth twitching as he tried not to laugh.

After that they went from house to house, asking for young ladies. They were visiting houses on the second street when a serving maid with freckles and laughing eyes answered the door and told them that no one else was at home. “But maybe I can help you. Who are you looking for?” she asked.

Prince Ainsley waved forward the servant carrying the glass slipper. “We're looking for the girl who wore this last night. Do you know anyone whose foot would fit in this shoe?”

“Isn't that pretty! It doesn't look very practical, though. It might break if you stomped your foot down hard, or be slippery if the floor was wet. It doesn't look like it would bend when you walked, so it would be uncomfortable, too. I do know a couple of girls it might fit. Could you be more specific? What does this girl look like?”

“She has golden curls and deep brown eyes and is named Eleanor,” said Annie.

“I know a girl who looks like that, but they call her Cinderella. She works as a serving girl in a house near here, although her rightful place is at the table, not waiting on it. Her father was the master of the house. He died soon after he brought home a new wife who treats her daughters like royalty and makes Cinderella do all the work. The house is there,” she said, pointing
down the street. “The stone one—third house from the corner.”