Chapter 2

Austin made her way to the wall, well, a part of it. After the Evil Queen tried to keep the murderous Snow White out of the kingdom, the 7 dwarves became possessed by Snow White's beauty. They decided that using their pickaxes they would tear down the wall brick-by-brick until Snow White was able to get through. The wall remained there as a symbol that tyranny would always overcome the good through their horrible means. Those up there in the clouds owned it all. They owned the sky. Austin liked to sit on the wall though because it was the last thing she could remember of her grandmother. She wasn't there when Austin was born, but Austin felt like she was. For a little bit, Austin thought that she should maybe try to rebuild the wall. However, she knew she'd be labeled as a traitor and exiled from the kingdom if she ever did that. "Hey, Austin!"

"Hey, Naignomi." The small girl gnome stared curiously at Austin, wondering why she looked so sad today. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just royal stuff you wouldn't understand."

"I can try to understand?" Austin sighs and looks directly at Naignomi. "My mom's holding a mock ceremony for me to be queen, and I really don't want to be part of her oppressive regime."

"Then don't go!"

"I don't have that choice."

"Well you might as well make the best of it, maybe put on a pretty dress, dance in the gala, have fun!"

"I guess...my mom wants me to find a boy."

"Ah, yes, I've heard. A lot of boys are coming to meet you as well."

"What?!"

"Yes, I didn't know what they were talking about before but now I do. There were a bunch of carriages going through here and a lot of them were talking about meeting a girl. I'm sure that girl is you!"

"I don't want to meet boys! I'm not interested in boys!"

"Perhaps you're interested in girls then?"

"No! I mean, I don't have anything against that but I just don't want a relationship right now. I'm my own person, I want to live my life before meeting someone."

"They are pretty handsome, though. I saw one really cute guy. His name's Micah, I think. Son of Aurora?"

"I couldn't care less. Ugh, when will she learn to lay off me for a minute? I'm not like her and dad, fall in love at 18 and get married. That's the old days of fairytales. Now princesses get opportunities, like education, and universities, I get to travel. I don't want to get married and get locked down into the monarchy."

"Well, maybe you should talk to your dad about it. I'm sure your dad will do something."

"He already told me to enjoy myself and not focus on boys if I don't want to."

"Then go do that!" Austin looked down and saw her clothes began fading away. This was an indication that Megan was calling her to the palace to get ready. "I have to go now Naignomi. It was nice talking to you! I'll be sure to bring some leftovers for the family!"

"Bye Austin!" Austin sprinted through the leaves as her clothes began fading even more. She had 2, 3 minutes tops, to get to the palace, otherwise her heels would pop back and she would for sure fall and probably lose her way. The palace doors were within sight, just a few more steps. At that moment, Austin tripped and realized her darned high heels had come back. As she closed her eyes and braced for impact with concrete she felt strong hands holding her up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I didn't mean to trip, just these high heels..."

"I get it!" the boy laughed. "My mom hates them too." When Austin stood up she looked back at the boy and stumbled in shock. He was wearing a simple white jacket over a white cotton shirt with jeans. "Uh, are you...one of the cooks?"

"Hah! Do I look that informal? Mission accomplished."

"What?" Austin stared at the boy up and down, he had blonde hair with blue highlights and messy hair as if he hadn't combed it. He didn't seem to care that this was a formal mock ceremony, he looked like he was there for a simple jog in the park. "Are you...are you here for the ceremony?"

"Yeah. I don't like dressing formally though, so I have mirage clothes on."

"What?"

"Prissy royals will see me in a suit while sensible people will see me in regular, everyday clothing."

"So I'm not a prissy royal then?"

"You don't seem like one, you seem pretty nice actually." Austin smiled then realized the time. "Oh! I have to get ready!" She turns to run back into the palace when she's caught by the boy's hand. "Wait! What's your name?"

"Austin. Austin Rose. You?"

"Ah, the princess of this palace. Micah Moonshine. See you at your mock ceremony, princess?"

"See you." Micah bows as a form of respect and Austin runs off into the castle. She weaves in and out of the cooks rushing food around and manages to make her way to her quarters slamming the door behind her. "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Sorry, Megan. I met a boy outside..."

"What?! A boy?! You said you didn't want to get caught up in boys."

"Oh hush, Megan. I nearly trampled because you wore off your stupid spell and fell because of the sudden heels. Luckily he was there to catch me or else I surely would have looked ugly with my smashed face."

"Ohoho, perfect timing for the spell to wear off."

"Shut up. Just get me ready Megan, I want to get this over with." Megan quickly brushed out the strands of hair and put it in beautiful curls around her head. She changed the clothes to a perfect dress for dancing but just large enough to look fancy. After this, she sprayed the perfume onto Austin's clothes and sent Austin down to greet the guests. Austin managed to sneak next to her mother and begin greeting the guests with a curtsy. After looking to her left the queen noticed Austin. "Where have you been?"

"Mother, I've been here the entire time."

"Oh, my eyes must have deceived me." The queen again turned to greet the guests when she made eye contact with Micah. "Lovely suit, Prince Micah. You look stunning." He bowed graciously and after looking at Austin gave her a wink. About 10 minutes later, Austin and the queen stepped away from the door to begin the ceremony. They walked into the ballroom and almost everyone was chattering. After clearing her throat, the queen got everyone's attention. "Welcome to our mock ceremony for Princess Austin Rose." Austin curtsied and began speaking to the people in the room.

"It is an honor to have you all present for the mock ceremony."

"Hail Princess Rose!"

"Hail!" The hails continued to echo around the room and Snow White nodded curtly. "Alright everyone, please put on your masks and Princess Rose will choose her dance partner. Of course, she hasn't met anyone yet so this will be a complete surprise." Snow White came close to Austin's ear and began to whisper. "Make sure you choose a nice-looking boy."

"Yes, mother." Austin walked around the room and immediately Micah caught her eye and he gave her a wink. Austin smiled and walked over to him and gave him her hand as a gesture of asking. "Care to dance?"

"Of course, I could never refuse an offer from the princess." Austin, from the corner of her eye, saw her mother nod approvingly. It seems that mirage clothes did affect prissy royals. The music began playing and Austin and Micah began slow-dancing. "So, how does it feel to be closer to being a queen."

"To be honest, I wish I was younger so I wouldn't have to deal with this just yet. I've been putting it off for so long now and..."

"I get it. I'm closer to being a king too."

"How old are you?"

"16."

"Oh! Same as me!"

"Perfect, I'm the same age as the princess." Austin giggled and continued to dance. "Call me Austin."

"Okay, Austin. That's a pretty name."

"Thanks."

The music got dramatically slower and everyone's dancing came closer than the box step allowed them. "Oh great, the slow dance part. Blech."

"Here, put your head on my shoulder."

"What?!"

"No no! Not like that. If you put your head on my shoulder then it's less work on you and more me doing the movement." Austin hesitated for a minute but after noticing her mom staring at her quickly put her on Micah's shoulder. "Is your mom looking?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay, let me guess, your dance teacher hasn't gotten to teaching slow dancing with males yet?"

"Not really. The only males are servants and I'm not allowed to dance with them."

"Okay, I'll be your impromptu teacher then. Now that your head's on my shoulder, take your arms and wrap them around my neck."

"Micah..."

"You had to choose a guy to dance with anyway. Besides, your mom is looking and I don't want you to get in trouble." Austin, again, reluctantly wrapped her arms around Micah's neck. "You're getting the hang of this!"

"This hurts!" Austin complained.

"Okay, the last step, it won't hurt after this promise. Just put your two feet on top of mine."

"But I'm wearing heels! They'll poke you."

"It's customary for males to take all of the pain while dancing. It's fine, just do it. Trust me." Austin moved one foot on top of Micah's and then waited a few seconds. Looking at his eyes through the butterfly mask she could see tears of pain build up in his eyes. "No! I can't hurt you like that. It must hurt really bad."

"I'm fine, honestly. It'll go away after a bit." Austin reluctantly put her other foot on top of his and he gave her a reassuring smile. Austin felt much lighter and felt much freer. She felt like she wasn't moving a single muscle, it honestly felt magical. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Oh darn, people are coming out of their dance."

"So soon?!"

"Here, just take one foot off of mine and I'll do the rest." Austin used Micah's neck as a grip and while he continued to move Austin managed to touch her feet to the ground. "Now the other leg."

"You've got to be kidding. I'll fall for sure..."

"You won't, promise. I've got you." Austin let out a sigh and managed to get her other foot off. It took all of Micah's strength but he managed to keep Austin's weight dangling and not falling on the floor. "Now, just relax. Don't move a muscle." Austin closed her eyes expecting the worst. She felt a rush of air around her and opened her eyes to Micah spinning her around. By the time she stopped both her hands were being held steady by Micah and they were out of the dance formation. "How...how...what..."

"Just a bit of practice," Micah winked at Austin. The entire gala erupted into applause at the sight. "Princess Rose is so advanced in dance, as well as her partner, it's so perfect." Whispers began arising among the crowd and Austin felt a bit uncomfortable. "Ignore them. Let them think what they want." Micah gave Austin a goofy smile and she giggled a bit. They both made themselves over to the table where meat entrees were being served as well as flower appetizers. Micah immediately went for the meat and began tasting its delicacies. "This is the fine meat I deserve in my life." Austin laughed as he stared in awe at the hunk of meat on his plate. "What magic is this?"

"It's called tiger meat."

"Tiger meat? How exotic. But where's the venison, the bird meat, doesn't that come from the forest as well?"

"Well, uh, my mom's kinda friends with them being Snow White and all."

"...oh yeah...she didn't hear me did she?"

"Hopefully not." Austin began hearing voices behind her talking about her grandmother. "Yes, the Evil Queen would never have brought us here. She was such a bad person." Austin felt angry, she tried to control herself to make sure not to make a scene, that is until they made another comment. "She wasn't fit to be queen." Austin turned around in anger and raised her fist. She never planned on attacking them, she hoped threatening had been enough, but her mom was beginning to walk angrily toward her as the two ill-talking females stepped back in fear. Micah grabbed Austin, spun her around, lowered her hand, and then kissed it. "It was a pleasure dancing with you, princess."

Austin opened her mouth to speak but no words were able to come out of her mouth. Micah continued to talk, "My apologies, ladies, the princess had been lowering her hand and I must have startled her causing her to turn around. I assure you she never meant to raise her hand upon such fine royals."

The two speakers smiled at the two and nodded in approval. They fell for the lie and Austin's mom stopped. Though she kept the angry look on her face, she was no longer making her way to Austin. Micah gave an apologetic smile to Austin and once again grabbed her hand. "Are you going to make a habit of that?" Austin giggled.

"Sorry, just that normally this isn't allowed here but I think we both bend the rules quite a bit." Micah bent close to the arm and whispered some incantation and stood back up poised and ready. "If you ever want to uh, talk or something, just bend down to your arm and whisper my name. I'll get a tingling sensation on my arm and when I touch it we can mind-communicate from there."

"Mind-communicate?"

"You'll see when you call me."

"Hey, thanks for covering for me."

"Of course! Trust me, I know the true intentions of the past Evil Queen." Micah gave a wink to Austin and walked to his mother standing in front of the carriage waiting to take him back to his kingdom. The ceremony had ended.