Crisanta Knight: Protagonist Bound E-Book

Geanna Culbertson

• Herausgeber: BQB Publishing
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

GLASS SLIPPERS MEET COMBAT BOOTS

Join the kids and siblings of fairytale characters in the magical world of “Book,” where citizens train to be the next generation of main characters in stories. In this nine-book series, Cinderella’s daughter and friends challenge their realm’s “Author” and powerful villains across epic worlds to write their own destinies. Sassiness, action-adventure, and plot twists abound!

ABOUT BOOK ONE:

I was going to be a great protagonist. At least that’s what my mom, Cinderella, kept telling me. I, however, had my doubts.

Unlike most main characters at Lady Agnue’s School for Princesses & Other Female Protagonists, I was opinionated, bold, and headstrong. Moreover, for a princess, I had a lot of issues. I’m talking vicious nightmares about people I’ve never met, a total stalker prince, and a Fairy Godmother for an enemy.

But I digress. Because here’s the thing about living in an enchanted realm of fairytale characters, crazy junk you never planned on happens all the time. One minute you could be practicing fainting exercises in Damsels in Distress class, sword fighting in a field, or flying on a Pegasus, and the next, BAM! Your book has begun and you’re saddled with a prophecy that changes everything.

I still don’t know if I will be a great protagonist one day. But I do know one thing about my fate, for certain. Despite what The Author and the antagonists have in store for me, whatever it costs . . . I’ll be the one taking charge of my own story.

READERS LOVE CRISANTA KNIGHT:

“Crisanta Knight: Protagonist Bound is an outstanding book the writing, pace and premise are very well done the story keeps you turning the page in anticipation of what will happen next.” - Books in Brogan

“There is so much intrigue sprinkled throughout the book that has the reader wanting to know more! The author does an amazing job at setting up the series in this book along with seamlessly tying parts of this book into later books. A must read!” - Amazon

“Tween Gold - Should be a movie series. If you read this book, you will see that not only is it EASILY as good as anything Rowling delivered, but offers more realistic inner dialogue and better imagery (more visceral, less whimsy).” - BookBub

“I loved this book, mainly because it was so much fun, but also because it was well written, richly developed, and exciting. Fans of reading and fantasy, particularly those with a fondness in their hearts for fairy tale princesses, will likely enjoy this book. The youthful tone will likely appeal to both young adults and the young at heart.” - NetGalley



THE CRISANTA KNIGHT SERIES:
Book 1 - Protagonist Bound
Book 2 - The Severance Game
Book 3 - Inherent Fate
Book 4 - The Liar, The Witch, & The Wormhole
Book 5 - To Death & Back
Book 6 - The Lost King
Book 7 - Into The Gray
Book 8 - Midnight Law
Book 9 - Eternity's End

Leseprobe

Crisanta Knight: Protagonist Bound © 2016 Geanna Culbertson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopying, or recording, except for the inclusion in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Published in the United States by BQB Publishing

(Boutique of Quality Books Publishing Company)

www.bqbpublishing.com

978-1-60808-154-7 (p)

978-1-60808-155-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016933377

Book design by Robin Krauss, www.bookformatters.com

Cover concept by Geanna Culbertson

Cover design by Ellis Dixon, www.ellisdixon.com

Other upcoming books in the Crisanta Knight series

Crisanta Knight: The Severance Game

Coming December, 2016

Crisanta Knight: Inherent Fate

Coming Spring, 2017

Dedicated To:

This book, like everything I shall ever accomplish, is dedicated to my mom and dad. You are my heroes, my coaches, my best friends, and I am thankful for you every day for more reasons than there are words in this book.

Special Thanks To:

Alexa Harzan Carter

Dear friend and big sister, it means a lot to know I can always count on you. You were one of the first people to read this, and for good reason. I am grateful to have you in my life.

Terri Leidich & BQB Publishing

Thank you for this (for all of this). Thank you for believing in me, and Crisanta Knight. And thank you for being the Fairy Godmother that made it so this protagonist’s wishes could come to life.

Alex Padalka & Pearlie Tan

I am eternally grateful to you for all of the hard work you have put in to make this book the best it can be. Whenever I describe my experience working with you both, I always say, “They pushed me to be better,” because I know it is the truth.

Gallien Culbertson

Brother, I appreciate your tough love, shrewd opinions, and the insult-laden banter that is our way of talking. Thanks for keeping me sharp.

I also want to thank Elise Fabbro, Claira Dieda, Erica Fine, Mary Roberts, John Daly, Ian Culbertson, & Kat Galindo/Paul Cassidy of Kinkos for their support of this project.

Bonus Dedication:

Since this is going to be an eight-book series, each book will issue a bonus dedication to individuals who have significantly impacted my life or this series in some way.

For this first book, I want to thank two of the greatest professors I ever had at USC—Aimee Bender and Geoffrey Middlebrook. Professor Bender, I loved learning from you. The work you exposed us to in our “Classic & Contemporary Fairytales” class inspired me tremendously, as did you. Professor Middlebrook, your Writing 340 course is one of the best classes I have ever taken. You helped me develop my own voice and ideas—you didn’t force anyone else’s on me. The work you allowed me to produce on “The Hero-Princess” archetype went on to be the foundation of my USC Discovery Scholar distinction, and enhanced my understanding of the characters and world I was already in the midst of creating.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1 ONCE UPON A . . . WELL, YOU KNOW THE REST

CHAPTER 2 WE Meet Again

CHAPTER 3 THE PITS (PRINCESSES-IN-TRAINING)

CHAPTER 4 UNEXPECTED UNPLEASANTRIES

CHAPTER 5 THE PRINCE & THE HERO

CHAPTER 6 THE CHANGE

CHAPTER 7 SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN-MINUTE STUDY BREAK

CHAPTER 8 SOMETHING FISHY

CHAPTER 9 MERMAIDS LIKE TAFFETA

CHAPTER 10 TWENTY-THREE SKIDD

CHAPTER 11 I’M DOOMED

CHAPTER 12 I HITCH A RIDE ON A MAGIC MUSHROOM

CHAPTER 13 PAY ATTENTION: THIS CHAPTER’S IMPORTANT

CHAPTER 14 PEARL OF WISDOM

CHAPTER 15 FRAME JOB

CHAPTER 16 RAPUNZELED

CHAPTER 17 THE ART OF GOING AWOL

CHAPTER 18 MY RELUCTANT TRUTH

CHAPTER 19 EMMA

CHAPTER 20 AN HOUR IN CENTURY CITY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PROLOGUE

What most people think of when they hear the phrase “Happily Ever After” is the romance, excitement, and adventure that led up to it. Very few people think too much about the “after.”

That’s me by the way . . . I’m the “after.”

My name is Crisanta Knight, but I go by Crisa. You probably haven’t heard of me, but I’d bet anything you’ve heard of my mother. She goes by Cinderella.

Okay, don’t freak out.

The back-story is that I live in a world called “Book.” Book is an enchanted realm, and certain stories about the lives of the people here filter into our neighboring realms, like Earth, in the form of “fairytales.”

One year in my home world is equal to, like, twenty years on Earth, though. So, while you may know Prince Charming and Cinderella as characters in a four-hundred-year-old story, we know them as the current king and queen of Midveil, a.k.a. my mom and dad.

The thing is, not everyone in Book is what you might call the “main character” of his or her own fairytale. My parents and teachers tell me this just makes sense. Not every person is meant to be an epic-worthy protagonist, they claim, because the world needs supporting characters, and love interests, and antagonists too. Personally, I think it’s a pretty messed-up system. I mean, the idea that we can only live up to whatever archetype is assigned to us—never able to aspire to be something more or even something else—just feels wrong.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.

Anyways, as the daughter of Queen Cinderella and King Jeremiah Knight (Midveil’s former Prince Charming turned King Charisma), I am a princess. So, unlike many other people in Book, I’m actually guaranteed to be the main character of my own story one day.

As a result, I attend a special, extra-snooty private school for girls who are destined to be the next generation of female protagonists. My school, Lady Agnue’s, and the school equivalent to it for future male protagonists, Lord Channing’s, are geared toward grooming and preparing students for their impending fairytale fates.

Just so we’re clear though, the children who are chosen to attend these academies are not all royals like me. Nevertheless, they all do know for certain that they are going to have their own stories.

How, you may ask?

Good question.

A portal is said to appear in an area of the Forbidden Forest near the kingdom of Harzana. It is guarded by a group of Book’s most powerful Fairy Godmothers known as the Scribes.

Every so often this one-way portal regurgitates an actual “book.” And each of these volumes, though initially blank on the inside, always has the title of the story—the name of a citizen of Book—engraved on its cover (e.g., Snow White, Sleeping Beauty—you get the gist). Ergo, that is how each school knows which children of the realm to take in.

Talk about living life paying attention to the fine print, am I right?

If you’re having trouble processing all of this, by the way, don’t worry. We ourselves do not even really understand the higher power that decides who we are. All we know is that somewhere in the off-limits part of Book, the Indexlands, a sort of prophet who has never been seen is responsible. We call her the Author, because it is said that she spends her life writing and nothing else. The words her enchanted quill pen into parchment become the realities that Book’s people live by. And bing, bam, boom, our fates are assigned and our identities are cast. We’re put into these perfectly neat little boxes of character development that the Author has picked out for us and the world goes on ticking to its succinct rhythm of calm and tidy conformity—tradition (tick), order (tock), convention (tick), sedation (tock).

The Author works on the original copies of our books wherever she is, and then a twin of each one appears in the Forbidden Forest for the Scribes to share with the schools.

However, since these books begin blank, chosen protagonists, such as myself, must train and prepare for indefinite fates at the academies. We are cursed to wake up each morning not knowing when the Author intends to set our stories in motion, and, more importantly, not knowing what those stories will be.

Given that they have no control over what the Author writes or when it will be written, the people of Book have completely embraced the idea that who they are is not something they can decide for themselves. Those roles, it would seem, have already been cast . . .

On that note, I believe that’s just about everything you need to know about my home world before you endeavor into it.

Wait; hold on a second. There’s something else I should mention, something important that I’ve left out about my realm’s rules, my princess-ness, my school, and so on.

I can break it down for you in five words.

I absolutely can’t stand it.

CHAPTER 1

Once Upon A . . . Well, You Know the Rest

was going to be a great protagonist; at least that’s what my mom, Cinderella, kept telling me. She assured me of this that sunny morning in September as she did every day. I, however, continued to have my doubts. Honestly, I was as much princess material as a wolf was grandmother material.

Alas, my mother did not find this fairytale comparison witty or amusing. Instead, she was convinced that someday all of my training and breeding would kick in and I would become the pinnacle of poised princess perfection.

A lot of alliteration and expectations for one girl and one sentence, I know.

But, well, them’s the breaks.

Anyways, my complete lack of appropriate princess demeanor was only one of my problems. The other was that I really hated the whole “pre-chosen protagonist” idea. While everyone else in Book might have accepted the notion that they had no say in who they would be in life, I did not. It infuriated me to know that at some point the things I would do or say were inevitably not going to be my doing or saying; they’d be the Author’s.

The icing on the cake, of course, was Lady Agnue’s. As if having the Author’s will to constantly worry about wasn’t enough, I had to live at a pretentious boarding school that reminded me every day of the lack of control I had over my life, and that reinforced my celebrity-child syndrome.

I supposed I would have to try harder to get used to it this semester. Mind you, I’d been trying to get used to it for the last six years, since I’d started attending Lady Agnue’s at the age of ten. But maybe my mom was right. Maybe one day I would wake up feeling totally content with the invisible shackles on my life.

Cue eye roll.

For now, all I knew for certain was that I was dreading where this carriage was taking us, and that my feet hurt. My mother had insisted that I wear heels, despite my protests about their discomfort and the short presentation I’d given her on the benefits of orthopedic footwear. Of course, neither of these efforts convinced my mother—the queen—that a princess should be allowed to wear combat boots on her first day of school.

“Mom, these shoes are killing me,” I complained yet again as I examined the glittering pumps.

“They are supposed to, Crisanta dear. The pain reassures us of how lovely they look,” my mom said as she patted my hair affectionately. “Trust me, Pumpkin, I speak from experience. The prettier the shoe, the more painful.”

I sighed and decided to abandon the argument and my hopes for proper blood circulation in my toes. I would never be able to convince a woman who once waltzed in glass stilettos that my three-inch heels were unbearable. I turned my attention back to the window and watched the green blur of trees that continued to whizz past us.

We were getting closer.

My staring match with the local foliage was interrupted by the abrupt stop of the carriage. Several plainly dressed kids ran across the road in front of us. When they got to the other side, they took off toward a nearby field and continued whatever game of tag and chase they’d been playing. I observed them through the vehicle’s rear window as we started to move forward once more.

It must be nice, I imagined, to not be assigned a role. To not have to worry about being a “main character” and just be. I wonder if—

“Dear, put on some lip gloss. Your lips look dry,” my mom nagged, disrupting my train of thought.

“Mom,” I huffed. “I’m fine.”

“Crisanta,” she said evenly.

“What?”

“What does Lady Agnue say is princess rule number twelve?”

I groaned. “Never leave the house without applying lip gloss?”

“No, dear. That is rule fifteen. Rule twelve is never use contractions, and you know how your headmistress feels about that rule in particular. So please, tell me you will try harder to work on that this year?”

“I can’t make any promises.” I smirked deviously.

My mother smiled, but shook her head. She handed me a tube of wild-orchid lip gloss that I begrudgingly took and applied.

“I am helping, not hurting, sweetie,” Mom chirped.

Suddenly, our carriage made a right turn and entered a driveway. The hedges began to stretch higher and higher around us, progressively blocking the outer world the further we proceeded down the path.

Savoring my last few moments of peace, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. A mere minute later, my Zen was lost as our carriage approached the gates of the institution we’d been journeying toward for the last several days.

We’d arrived.

Guards minding the gates opened them inwards. They made it look effortless, but it took three men on each side to get the job done. The gates were massive, after all—constructed from a combination of iron and bronze, and measuring at least fifteen feet in height. They must have weighed a ton. In truth, the only thing about them that didn’t exude a sense of heftiness was the light-hearted nature of the golden leaf design, which decorated their exterior.

As we drove across the threshold, I couldn’t help but cringe in anxious anticipation.

Sensing my stress, my mom took my hand and squeezed it.

I really had to give her credit. She did hassle me a lot, but she knew how difficult this was for me. And I guess it must’ve been rough on her too––having a daughter who was so different from her and all.

The carriage came to a sudden halt and I grabbed the velvet seat cushion as if bracing for impact.

We were parked among a wave of other carriages and a sea of girls in chiffon and lace being pursued by attendants carrying their designer luggage. Our carriage doors were opened from the outside and a large, white-gloved hand offered me assistance out of the vehicle. I took the hand and was pulled into the sunshine.

The day was perfect (atmospherically at least). Blue birds were singing in anticipation of our arrival, and the sun was reflecting light off every bejeweled bobble in the crowd.

I gazed at the building before me. It was crème colored, covered with purple flowering vines that climbed its walls. On the balconies a selection of silk, violet, and mauve curtains caught on the breeze, fluttering above like giant butterfly wings. The richly shaded purple flags with our school’s golden crest emblazoned on them flew proudly overhead from tightly twisted bronze turrets.

From an architect or a tourist’s perspective, I imagined the sight might’ve been quite beautiful. But to me, it was just daunting. For I knew that each of the majestic compound’s tall ivory towers came with the price of equally tall expectations.

“Your Highness . . .”

I winced at the irritating title.

Why couldn’t our staff ever just call me Crisa? “Your Highness” was such a precocious term. The only way I remotely associated with it at this point in life was in relation to the height I’d achieved with the pumps my mother was making me wear.

“Would you like me to carry your bags to your room, or would you prefer to check them in with the school’s regular staff?”

I forced the annoyance down and plastered a pleasant smile across my face before turning around to address Jacque, one of our family’s long-time attendants. After all, it wasn’t his fault that I felt disconnected from the title. He didn’t know he had the wrong girl.

“You can take them, Jacque,” I said. “But I’ll carry the satchel myself, like always.”

Jacque nodded and went off to the trunk of the carriage. He reached inside and presented me with the bag in question. I grasped it protectively and thanked him just as my mom came over to join me.

She looked perfect today, just like she always did. Her soft peach sundress glittered, matching her strappy satin heels. Her short, strawberry-blonde hair bounced off her shoulders as she walked.

“Come on, Pumpkin,” she said. “Time to go.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

My mom brushed a loose strand of hair from my face. “Yes, Crisanta. Please try to remember that a princess always says ‘yes’ and not ‘yeah.’ I cannot . . .”

She cleared her throat slightly—swallowing down the unqueenly public display of emotion I could hear in her voice.

“I am not going to be with you for some time to remind you.”

I gave her a big hug. “I’ll miss you too, Mom.”

She hugged me tightly and warmly for a moment, in the worried way that only mothers could. Then she recomposed herself, sucked in her concern (the way she so often reminded me to suck in my stomach at royal functions), and sent me off.

I turned my attention back to the building ahead—the building that would be my home (or prison, depending on your outlook) until the summer returned. With a deep breath, I reluctantly proceeded through its arched entrance under a great, gold-encrusted sign that read:

Lady Agnue’s School for Princesses & Other Female Protagonists

CHAPTER 2

We Meet Again

lowery perfume and giggles filled the air, and the combined clicking of a hundred high-heeled shoes against the marble floor resembled a sound that was best described as a fancy stampede.

Lady Agnue’s foyer swarmed with girls. Like the others, I found myself awkwardly trying to navigate my way through the crowd to get to the sign-in area to no avail. We all just kept bumping into one another like semi-formally dressed croquet balls.

“Crisa!” someone yelled from the other side of the room.

I spun around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“Crisa!”

There it was again—closer this time, but still muffled in the crowd.

“Crisa!”

I whirled around and saw my best friend squeeze past a disoriented Princess Marie Sinclaire to reach me.

“SJ!” I shouted happily.

The two of us embraced as if we hadn’t seen each other in ages. It’d only been a few months since we were last together—since Lady Agnue’s had let out for the summer. However, a few months apart from my best friend SJ Kaplan might as well have been an eternity.

“Come on!” SJ said as she linked her arm with mine and motioned toward the stairs.

“I still have to check in,” I protested.

“I signed us both in. Thank me later!” she replied with a wink.

We made our way over to the grand staircase at the far end of the chaotic room. Thankfully, the sea of girls thinned as we ascended the stairs to the sixth floor.

First-year students at Lady Agnue’s had their roommates assigned, but after that we were free to pick our own. SJ and I met when we were assigned to Suite 608 during our first year, along with Mauvrey Weatherall, another princess.

As far as roommates went, I was pretty lucky to get SJ. She was uncommonly kind, always calm and rational, and a rock-solid person to turn to when times were tough. Mauvrey, on the other hand, well . . . there were a lot of words to describe a girl like her. Unfortunately, none of those words were considered very ladylike, so I kept them to myself when in mixed company.

Mauvrey was the daughter of the world’s most famous coma patient, Sleeping Beauty. The three of us were initially matched as roommates because we were all considered “Legacies.”

In other words, our parents were both royalty and the main characters of their own stories so we, being their offspring, were expected to live up to their preset standards of greatness.

In an attempt to help us—and all other Legacies—cope with our celebrity-child woes, (a.k.a. the “our parents were awesome, so now the world expects us to be awesome” woes), we were bunked together our first year at Lady Agnue’s. As a result, some girls like SJ and myself formed strong bonds and became the best of friends. Others, like Mauvrey and me, became the opposite. Needless to say the girl couldn’t change roommates fast enough the following September when we returned for our second term.

But, you know, that’s enough on Mauvrey for now.

Especially since there’ll definitely be more on her later.

It’s inevitable.

SJ and I arrived at the familiar door of Suite 608. She pulled out an unnecessarily ornate silver key from her purse and slid it into the lock.

“Home again,” she practically sang as she opened the door.

The room was exactly as I remembered; after six years of living here I even had the smell memorized. Mandarins and freshly washed sheets were the room’s natural scent. But, a few years ago SJ had added a third element to the aroma when she’d insisted that we keep lavender incense in our suite so as to try and help me with my unusual sleeping problems.

Don’t worry; I’ll tell you more about that later too. For now, though, back to the room.

After all, what’s a story without a proper setting?

Suite 608’s floors were wooden and its walls were the palest mauve. The edges of both the floor and ceiling were encrusted with a thin gold design that mirrored the vines climbing our balcony outside. The gold edging also matched the frames of the three identical canopy beds spread out across the room. Each one was decorated in various shades of maroon and purple and had corresponding desks and nightstands constructed of richly dark mahogany on each side.

SJ opened the doors that led to the balcony, which we always kept open during the school year. Meanwhile, my first priority was to kick off the demon heels that had been crushing my poor feet. Thankfully, the blood flow started to return to my toes.

I sauntered over to my bed and set my precious satchel down next to the rest of my luggage, which, somehow, had managed to beat me here.

I opened the largest of the suitcases and dug around inside in search of one of my many pairs of beloved combat boots. But, just as I was elbow-deep in miscellaneous clothing, I stopped short. My hands suddenly felt like they were burning, as if I had stuck them in a lit fireplace. They appeared fine, but my palms were inexplicably pulsing with pain and felt like they were getting hotter.

“Oh no,” SJ gasped from outside.

I tore my attention away from my painful problem at hand (no pun intended) and hastily made my way onto the balcony. SJ was standing at the railing with her shoulders stooped and her head down. When I got closer, I saw why she was upset. The lush green vines that normally decorated our balcony had all died. They were now brown, dry, and in desperate need of some serious mercy from Mother Nature.

“I hope they grow back.” SJ sighed as she held one of the withered blossoms.

“Don’t worry,” I said as I rubbed my hands against my dress, trying to keep calm and keep the escalating burning sensation under control. “All they need is a little water and a little motivation.”

“You think?”

“Definitely,” I assured her. “Watch, I’ll even get ’em started.”

I cleared my throat, ignoring the fire-like pain emanating from my fingertips, and forced a smile as I held one of the dangling blossoms.

“Come on, flower! Live, darn you! Live!” I shouted overdramatically.

My theatricality having successfully pulled SJ out of her funk, she turned her attention back to the reason she’d come outside in the first place. She sang a happy melody and in seconds several blue birds flew over to us and joyfully finished the tune with her. SJ hadn’t seen these birds since we’d left for summer vacation, and they seemed extremely delighted to harmonize with one another again. I, however, did not join in so as to spare the birds the agony of witnessing my inability to sing in key. While SJ’s voice could’ve hypnotized a siren, mine could’ve easily driven a canary to commit suicide.

SJ stood for Snow Jr. by the way. As in, Snow White Jr.

Unlike in my family, the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree in SJ’s family. Or maybe in this case it was the poisoned apple that didn’t fall too far from the tree.

Ha-ha, fairytale humor.

Seriously though, SJ was the spitting image of her mother. For starters there was her appearance: skin as white as snow, hair as black as night, blah, blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera. The only notable physical differences between the two were their eyes; SJ had massive dark gray eyes while her mother had dark brown ones. SJ also preferred to keep her long black hair in a tight French braid, as compared to her mother’s chic, shoulder-length bob.

In temperament my dear friend was also very similar to her mother. She was graceful, poised, polite, and had great vocal chords and a natural bond with animals. SJ Kaplan, in short, was everything I was not—a proper princess.

Once in a while I would get a little jealous. Having a best friend who embodied princess perfection was a constant reminder that I was nothing like I was supposed to be. It usually didn’t bother me all that much that I was nothing like SJ, or my mom, or any of the other princesses at this school. I was just me. No matter how hard I tried, I could never seem to be anything but. And someday I would have to try to make peace and make sense of that.

After being sufficiently reacquainted with her winged friends, SJ waved good-bye and we returned inside. As I approached my desk I realized that my hands had stopped burning.

Weird, I thought, as I examined them. They seemed completely normal—no burning sensations, no pain. Whatever had been causing the problem had been taken care of, it seemed. So I brushed off the odd experience as SJ and I continued with our unpacking.

While my bed and desk occupied the center of the long room, SJ’s inhabited the left side. There were dozens of glass animal figurines perched on her desk, which she’d been collecting for years now. Mounted on the wall behind her desk was a rendering of an old woman in a checkered apron.

Originally, I’d assumed the picture was of one of SJ’s relatives. Although the elderly woman did bear a striking resemblance to the lady who sold churros two blocks away from our castle back home. They were really good ones, too—crispy, always fresh, and covered in enough sugar to make your teeth hurt . . .

Dang, now I want churros. Why didn’t Mom and I stop there on our way over here?

That’s a seriously major oversight on my part.

But I digress, as that is so not the point right now.

The poster lady was neither a relative of SJ’s nor a local churro vendor. She was actually Madame Curio, the realm’s most famous potions master and SJ’s total hero. You see, SJ was an amateur potionist herself. Well, she would say amateur to be modest. The truth was, she had a gift for it and had been at the top of every potions class we’d ever taken. It was, without a doubt, her favorite and best subject.

Our third roommate, Blue, had her desk and bed on the right side of the room. To my surprise, a super girly unicorn poster with a rainbow was taped on the wall just above her desk. I was about to point this peculiarity out to SJ when a large hunting knife suddenly flew across the room and nailed the unicorn poster dead center.

Blue.

Our dear friend Blue Dieda stomped into the room and headed straight toward the poster.

“Ugh!” she groaned. “They can never leave up my normal stuff, can they?”

Blue proceeded to remove her knife, which was firmly indented into the wall from the force of the throw, and take down the unicorn poster. Then she reached into her duffle bag, pulled out a folded-up poster, and taped it to the wall in its place. This one had a picture of a knight mercilessly stabbing a giant black dragon.

She sighed with relief. “That’s better.”

At that, Blue whirled around and gave us one of her classic, giant grins.

“Hi guys!” she said, the annoyance in her voice replaced with happiness.

“Hi, Blue,” I said as we gave each other a huge hug.

“Blue,” SJ lectured, “I know I cannot stop you from throwing knives in our room, but a warning would be nice. You gave me a small heart attack.”

“Nice to see you too, SJ,” Blue responded as the two exchanged hugs.

Blue’s book had appeared courtesy of the Author almost four years ago, but at the time it was already the middle of the school year. With few free spaces available, SJ and I had subsequently volunteered to let her have the empty bed in our room. A fateful and rewarding choice since it wasn’t long before she became a true best friend to both of us.

To put it in its simplest terms, I totally loved her.

For starters, it was refreshing to meet someone at Lady Agnue’s, or anywhere really, who wasn’t afraid to be completely frank about their strengths and weaknesses.

A second admirable quality of Blue’s was the way she carried herself. She walked around every day with complete confidence. She never doubted herself, never hesitated, and never cared about what anyone else thought of her.

I glanced at my friend as she started to unpack the suitcase she’d dragged in. Unlike us, Blue was not a princess. Even so, she was still a Half-Legacy because someone in her family had experienced a fairytale and protagonist journey of their own. Blue’s older sister, Rachel Dieda, was the main character in question, though most people probably knew her as “Red” from Little Red Riding Hood.

Blue was just a baby when the whole thing with the wolf and trip to Grandma’s went down, but she had grown up with the story at the forefront of her mind. Not in the sense that she aspired to be like Red. Actually, it was the opposite. She absolutely hated the story that made her sister famous.

It wasn’t that Blue didn’t love Red, because she did. But the way Red had been so easily tricked, so gullible and defenseless, and so in need of someone to save her, sickened Blue. And I totally understood why.

I mean, come on, anybody who would mistake a talking wolf for his or her grandmother seriously needs to get it together.

Because of Red’s weakness and lack of admirable protagonist qualities, Blue spent her life striving to achieve something quite different. She wanted to be nothing like her sister—nothing like a damsel in distress. She wanted to be a hero.

This, sadly, was a dream that most of our teachers (particularly our headmistress, Lady Agnue) regularly tried to discourage.

Our school broke down its students into two separate categories: princesses and common female protagonists. The princesses were supposed to be princesses and nothing more. Meanwhile, the common protagonists had the option of either being damsels who got themselves into perilous situations that heroes had to save them from, serving as feisty sidekicks to boy protagonists, or winning the heart of a prince or other male main character. Being a hero, in short, was not even up for discussion. It was a career opportunity reserved for the male protagonists in our land. And the matter was sternly, cold-heartedly non-negotiable.

I have a few thousand things to say about that, but I’ll keep it to five words:

What a bunch of malarkey.

Blue’s feelings on the subject were equal to my own and, ever the gutsy one, she spent every day trying to defy the restrictions that people like her sister had always been bound by.

In my opinion, thus far she had been truly successful. She was one hundred percent nothing like Red. Honestly, the only thing the two had remotely in common was the fact that they were both nicknamed after the color of cloaks they constantly wore. Other than when she was asleep or at one of our school balls, Blue was never spotted without the powder-blue cloak that hung from her shoulders like a fashionable security blanket.

That, however, was where the sibling similarity ended.

Unlike Red, Blue was fearless, bold, and rebellious. She loved taking risks just to test her strength, which both physically and emotionally was unyielding. Above all else, she had devoted her life to becoming the fiercest of fighters. A big believer in the importance of warrior versatility, through a combination of her own self-teachings and the athletic electives our school offered its common protagonists, like Runaway Carriages 101 and Charm and Death, she’d become skilled in a myriad of combat forms. Sword fighting, archery, hand-to-hand combat, jousting—you name it, she’d mastered it.

But Blue’s favorite form of kick-buttery, by far, was her knife. Rather, her hunting knife. She usually kept several tiny throwing knives on her at all times, but the hunting knife she’d been given when she was eight years old was like an inanimate best friend. She almost always kept it in a sheath that hung from her belt. And she polished it constantly; despite how frequently she practiced with the weapon, it gleamed like new silver.

That was the knife we’d seen sail across the room minutes ago. And, as per usual, Blue was now wiping it off against her pants leg in preparation for returning it to its sheath.

SJ was not as fond of it—or the various other weapons Blue utilized—as I was. In her opinion, ladies did not play with knives, especially not in such close quarters. But this was precisely another reason why I loved having Blue around. While SJ’s princess decorum was habitually my norm fifty percent of the time, Blue’s warrior persona impacted my other half. The most obvious way she influenced me being in the area of combat.

I loved the challenge of combat practice as much as Blue did; however, before she’d come along, it had been quite difficult for me to find anybody to train with. None of the other princesses would’ve ever been caught near the practice fields where many of the common protagonists worked on their fighting skills. And even though they were usually very nice and relished any opportunity to practice, the common protagonists typically felt awkward fighting me because of my princess-ness.

Basically, it was a lose-lose situation no matter how you spun it.

That was why it worked out so well that Blue was probably the most skilled fighter in school, and that she did not feel awkward in the least coming at me with a knife . . . so as to push me to improve my skills, I mean.

Blue unpacked several new long blades and a fresh set of throwing knives. I grinned at the prospect of the training-related fun that awaited us in the days to come. Although Lady Agnue’s was far from my favorite place in the world, I felt happy to be back in this familiar room with my two very different, very best friends.

It was funny how well we worked together—them being so dissimilar and all. I mean, one aspired to be the model princess and the other to be a scrappy female hero. But, personality contrasts aside, it just felt right when we were together. We were like the Three Musketeers—the beauty, the brawn, and the—

Wait. What was I exactly?

Time passed quickly that first afternoon.

We spent most of it lounging around telling stories of our summer ventures. SJ gushed about the various upper level potions she’d successfully brewed in the basement of her castle without getting caught by her parents. And Blue was excited to talk about how she’d joined a pub fight club in her village and emerged as its summer champion.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much to tell when my time for sharing came along. My mother had kept me pretty close by her side all summer in the hopes that her example would rub off on me. And, truly, she also hadn’t wanted me to waste my days getting into mischief as SJ had predicted and as Blue had, well, suggested.

The sun finally began to set as half past five approached. We all knew what that meant—time to get ready for dinner.

Evening meals at this school were never anything but formal. Like, so formal that a normal utensil would have imploded self-consciously around the stunning silverware that set our tables.

The reason for this was that Lady Agnue’s used dinnertime as an unofficial class period to test its students. At the beginning of the meal, Lady Agnue would give announcements and usually some sort of little lecture. Then, throughout the meal, we were reminded and expected to employ formal eating etiquette (lest we want to be deducted marks from our overall class standing).

It made it a bit stressful to be honest, trying to remember what fork to use and which direction to pass the bread when your stomach was growling and your teachers were hovering over you like vultures with lipstick.

But I digress.

At least the food was something to look forward to, even if all the table-manners rubbish prevented me from eating as much of it as I would have liked. Furthermore, I did keep in mind that I had it pretty easy in comparison to Blue. We princesses were trained in this stuff since our sippy-cup days. So, even for a princess like me, having been raised around this royal, fancy-shmancy nonsense allowed me to adjust a lot quicker than the common protagonists who weren’t as accustomed to it.

My friends and I changed speedily and headed down the grand staircase toward the win-lose feeding situation.

When we arrived in the foyer I was struck by how quiet it was. The grand marble-tiled foyer, which had been bustling with activity just hours before, was now empty. The only sounds were my boots pounding against the floor and the subsequent echo they caused to bounce around the room’s redwood-sized pillars.

The three of us headed down the hall. Chatter and clinking glasses became more audible as we walked on. Soon enough, we reached the entrance to the dining room where the sounds were coming from.

Describing it as a dining room was a bit of an understatement. It was more of a massive banquet hall—five long tables on the right, and one long table on the far left elevated atop a stage for the teachers to watch and judge us from.

Tonight all the tables were draped in raspberry-colored silk tablecloths with sparkling silver runners down their centers. Interspersed across the tables were crystal candlesticks and bunches of white lilies that sat in tall, slender vases.

A warm glow from the dozens of candlestick chandeliers filled the air, their light reflecting off the flatware, glasses, and impeccable china. I practically had to squint in order to adjust to the shimmering light.

I didn’t know what the school staff planned on serving in the hall that evening, but food around here was usually fairly fantastic. And they typically went all out for the first dinner of the semester. Accordingly, thoughts of prime cuts of meat and freshly baked pies filled my head like glorious, hopeful daydreams. It seemed my stomach got overly excited by the imaginings though, because it growled super-loudly.

“Classy as ever, Crisa. Did you spend your summer with trolls?”

Perfect timing as always.

I turned around to address the source of the familiar venomous voice. Mauvrey Weatherall was standing behind me in a magenta peplum dress with black, sharp shoulder pads that matched her glittering dragon-scale necklace and equally harsh stilettos. Her arms were crossed, and her pale blue eyes were fixed in judgmental amusement.

“Or maybe you just spent your summer with Blue.” She smirked as she looked my friend up and down. “Same difference I suppose.”

Mauvrey’s usual posse stood behind her. This group consisted of two girls. First, there was Princess Jade—the oldest and least favorite daughter of, ironically, one of our realm’s most favorite underdog protagonists, Aladdin.

Jade’s younger brother and sister (twins Eva and Lawrence) were the sweetest and most humble kids, so I could never quite figure out why their so-thin-she-vanished-when-she-turned-sideways older sister was such a self-absorbed, self-entitled beauty queen. Nor could I figure out why in all the years I’d known her I had never given in to the urge to smack her across the face like she so justly deserved.

To sum up, Miss Jade was a shallow, conniving priss. And I (like so many other girls at school who she regularly tried to make feel inferior) really hated her. Even so, I still preferred her to the second member of Mauvrey’s entourage: Girtha Bobunk, the little sister of Hansel and Gretel Bobunk.

Little was a relative term by the way, considering that Big Girtha was massive. Like, seriously. Unlike her older siblings, I gathered starving to death was never an issue that she’d had to face growing up in the forest.

I rolled my eyes at my nemesis. “Very funny, Mauvrey. At least I eat like a normal person. Unlike Miss Size Negative-Four on your left.” I gestured to Jade. “And the teenage mountain range on your right.” I gestured at Girtha.

Blue snorted, trying to hold back a laugh.

Girtha’s dense forehead creased beneath her crooked, mud-colored bangs. She took a step toward me, but Mauvrey held up her hand and the lackey restrained herself obediently.

“Bold move insulting my friends considering the company you keep,” Mauvrey replied. “Really, Crisa. Even you could do better than the she-man with knife-throwing action”—she nodded toward Blue, then angled on SJ—“and the daughter of the most gullible princess in fairytale history. I mean honestly, SJ, I have always wanted to ask, did no one ever warn your mother not to take food from strangers? Any fool with half a brain knows that. It is practically rule one.”

“Oh, and I guess only a genius would willingly stab her finger on a clearly poisoned spinning wheel spindle?” Blue snapped in SJ’s defense.

“Blue,” SJ said calmly, putting her hand on Blue’s shoulder. “Calm down.”

Blue was clearly annoyed that SJ was taking such an insult in stride, as was I. Mauvrey was such a . . . witch. (More than that really. But no one ever taught us any curse words around here so witch was about all we had to work with.)

I didn’t care what Mauvrey said about me, but harassing my friends was crossing the line. SJ was too nice a person to deserve insults like that, and Blue was still on probation for punching a classmate last semester. If Mauvrey pushed her too far, Blue would surely knock the princess’s pearly teeth in and might well be expelled for doing so. I had to direct Mauvrey’s venom back in my direction to protect them both.

“Leave SJ and Blue alone, Mauvrey. What’s the matter, run out of insults about me all of a sudden?”

“Never,” Mauvrey scoffed, easily taking the bait. “How could I when you provide so much material?” My nemesis gave me one of her signature golden-blonde hair tosses, and she and her entourage pushed their way past us into the banquet hall.

Ah, nothing says, “Welcome back to school” like a toxic exchange with an archenemy, am I right?

“You did not have to do that, Crisa,” SJ said when the prissy posse was out of earshot. “I appreciate the sentiment behind it, but Mauvrey already has it out for you. I can handle myself.”

“Really?” Blue countered. “Well, if you can handle yourself then why don’t you ever get upset when Mauvrey insults you?”

“Mauvrey is an unkind girl; it is true. But the best way to deal with such a person is to remain even-tempered and be the bigger person by still showing kindness. After all, you catch more flies with honey.”

Blue rolled her eyes. “That’s a horrible saying. People don’t want to catch flies; they want to swat them down dead.”

“I agree with Blue,” I added. “You really should react more to stuff like that, SJ.”

“And you, my friends, need to react less,” SJ chided. “You cannot allow your tempers to control you like this. You have to evaluate the situation carefully so as not to cause further damage or escalate a situation unnecessarily.”

The princess part of my subconscious knew she was right, but that didn’t make Mauvrey or the advice any less irritating.

Maybe I really should listen to SJ and learn to—

The scent of turkey wafted up my nostrils. I started walking in the direction of the banquet hall, my friends in tow. Most of the students had already taken their seats, so we scuttled to a few available chairs in the back. A couple more girls who’d arrived even later than us trailed behind.

“Hi!” Princess Marie Sinclaire said as she approached an empty seat across from SJ.

“Hi, Marie,” we all responded in unison.

Our friend Marie tucked a strand of long, platinum hair behind her ear before thoroughly brushing a hand over her chair and checking the seat before sitting down. Watching her, I concealed a small smile. This tendency of hers was funny to observe. But it was a natural habit, I supposed, when your grandmother’s fairytale was about the intense injuries received from lying down on a bed with a magic pea hidden underneath a hundred mattresses.

The enormous doors to the banquet hall closed then, signaling that dinner was about to begin. A tiny glass bell on the stage rang and we immediately quieted down like well-trained show dogs.

From behind her tall-backed chair at the teacher’s table, Lady Agnue rose. She was wearing a fuchsia dress with a high collar. Her brown hair was pulled back tightly in a regal bun. Her copper eyes shone like the ring around a solar eclipse and the sequined pretense around our place settings.

“Welcome back, ladies,” our headmistress cooed in a honey-coated voice. “I hope you are all as excited about this new school year as I am. Just a few reminders before we begin dinner this evening. The In and Out Spell will go up around the school tonight at ten o’clock sharp. From then on, the campus will once again be concealed within its wonderful, protective barrier that shall only be lowered for field trips and preapproved events with the boys from Lord Channing’s. On that note, this month’s ball will be on Saturday night. But, as a special treat, the In and Out Spell will be lowered during the afternoon so you can socialize with the boys for a majority of the day beforehand. I trust you will all behave accordingly.”

This announcement sent up a flare of animated whispers among my classmates. Usually we only socialized with the boys from our sister school, or rather, our brother school, Lord Channing’s School for Princes and Other Young Heroes, at our monthly balls or occasional tournaments. A fact, by the way, I was totally okay with. Most princes and assumed heroes tended to act like invincible idiots, so the less time I spent having to make uncomfortable small talk with them the better.

There were of course some boys who were semi-interesting to talk to. Like our friend Jason and his roommate Mark, for example. Jason was a Half-Legacy—the younger brother of the famous Jack who once climbed that overgrown beanstalk. Mark, on the other hand, was the prince of Dolohaunty and a full Legacy like me and SJ. They were both good guys—two of the few good guys out there—and I didn’t mind considering them my friends.

Thus, I conceded that this Saturday might actually be fun. Blue, Jason, and I would spend the day battle-royaling in the practice fields, and SJ and Mark would probably sit and watch us while discussing boring prince/princess stuff like the economy or trade routes.

I drifted out of my mental tangent then to discover Lady Agnue was still talking. She addressed each table in turn. When she glanced over at our table, I thought she shot me a slight glare. It might’ve just been my eyes playing tricks on me, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if she did.

To put it simply, Lady Agnue did not like me. It was no mystery why. After all, she was traditional, proper, and all about the rules, while I was a bold smart-mouth who enjoyed breaking said rules. Her loathing of me was no skin off my nose though, given that the feelings of animosity between us were fairly mutual.

Eventually, and not a moment too soon, our headmistress finished her speech and the much-awaited food was finally served.

Speaking candidly, it was probably for my own good that proper dinner etiquette kept me from eating as much or as fast as I would’ve liked to. Because I seriously love food. And tonight’s meal was definitely something to write home about. The main course was turkey, and the aroma of the roast and all its side dishes could’ve turned a vegetarian into a carnivore on the spot.

Needless to say that while catching up with the other girls around the table throughout dinner was great, what was really satisfying was shoveling way-too-large amounts of food in my mouth when my teachers weren’t looking.

Mmmm . . . mashed potatoes!

Hours later, SJ, Blue, and I were standing on the balcony of Suite 608 in our pajamas.

Supper had ended long ago and it was nearly ten o’clock, but the air was still warm with the remains of summertime. We waited in silence—SJ brushing her hair calmly, Blue munching on a roll she had stashed in her cloak from dinner, and me just staring out into the dark quietude that felt like it would last forever.

Then, right on cue, the clock struck ten and our school’s shield came down without hesitation.

The purple force field descended from the sky and encased the property like a giant snow globe. When it reached the earth, silver sparks splashed upwards from the ground like sea-spray. The dome’s erratic, quilt-like patchwork of light flashed in clusters as the magic settled, glinting between different shades of indigo and translucent white. Then, after a minute, its color gradually fizzled. The whole dome faded to a paler shade of lavender until it blended in with the night completely. As the final sparks dissipated into the air, the entire thing turned invisible—out of sight, but most certainly not out of mind.

In and Out Spells did exactly what their titles suggested. They kept anyone from going in or out of the locations they protected.

Created by the combined magic of dozens of Fairy Godmothers, these were the most powerful spells that could be cast. Moreover, they had proven to be impervious to any attempts at breaking them in recorded history.

As far as we knew, there were four continuously active In and Out Spells in Book. One was around the entire realm and had been cast in the before times. This enchanted barrier protected our realm from the others—keeping us safe and completely separate from the various worlds that existed beyond Book.

The second spell was around the Indexlands (the forest where the Author was said to live). Meanwhile the third spell encased the kingdom of Alderon.

We didn’t talk about Alderon much—not here or anywhere. Lying on the eastern outskirts of the realm between the Indexlands and the Valley of Strife, it was the kind of place people feared. And, as with anything they feared, instead of facing the issue head on, people tried to push thoughts of it back to the farthest corners of their minds.

Unlike the other versions of the enchantment, Alderon’s version of the In and Out Spell was unique in that it was only designed to work at half capacity. Meaning that people could go in, but no one could ever get out. The reason for this was that, while our realm’s rulers did not want any of the kingdom’s residents to escape, they also wanted the freedom to regularly add to its population if need be.

See, most of the monsters and antagonists in our realm used to come from Alderon. So, long ago, Book’s Godmothers decided to block it off from the rest of the realm preemptively and use it as a vast prison. This way all newly captured villains, monsters, witches, magic hunters, etc. could be sentenced to one place from which they could not escape. And the rest of us were proactively protected from them, as well as from the horrible people and creatures that were said to be born there every day.

Talk about nipping a problem in the bud.

The last In and Out Spell in Book was the one around Lady Agnue’s. It was a full version of the spell like the others, but it was also a bit more basic. Not needing to be as strong, it only prevented people (and the occasional detrimental flux of weather) from penetrating its borders, while animals like birds, frogs, and deer could pass through at will.

Personally, I thought it was both stupid and insulting to have such an intense form of protection surrounding our school. Because, first of all, I highly doubted any of us actually needed to worry about threats coming to eliminate us. We were princesses, for goodness’ sake. As much as it pained me to admit it, the closest we ever came to mortal peril around here was when we wore heels on the lawn just after it’d been watered.

Furthermore, if we actually were in the amount of constant danger our severe security system warranted, Lady Agnue’s should’ve been teaching us how to protect ourselves against it, not hiding us from it like children in a lightning storm. We were princesses, not daisies. Just because we often came wrapped in gowns and glitter didn’t mean we couldn’t pack a punch. Frankly, I believed that we all had the potential to. That underneath the tiaras and the makeup, we could be just like the diamonds so many of us wore around our necks—a rare combination of shining and hard to break.

Alas, the school’s staff evidently disagreed with that sentiment and felt its “defenseless damsel” students needed to be constantly guarded from the threatening folks of the outside world.

Meanwhile, the boys’ school had no such magical prison around it because, unlike us, they were trained to fend for themselves.

Cue second major eye roll for the day.

The spell around Lady Agnue’s was activated when each school year began. Once it was, no human being could leave or enter the school grounds unless the barrier was lowered by a team of Fairy Godmothers. And that only happened for our monthly balls, other social events with Lord Channing’s, such as tournaments or similarly competitive sporting events, and the occasional heavily guarded field trip to somewhere off campus.

I watched the force field’s last spark merge into the night and wondered what my friends were thinking. It was impossible to tell. They both gazed out at the cloudless sky with blank expressions that made them appear much more solemn than teenage girls ever should.

After some time, the wind began to pick up and the three of us returned inside to prepare for bed.

SJ combed out the last few waves in her long black hair. Blue gently tucked her hunting knife into its sheath like a young girl tucking a precious doll into its bassinet. And I took off the pumpkin-shaped earrings I wore each day—a special gift from my mother that I’d worn since I was young.

The earrings were tiny and silver, and consistently reminded me of her. “Pumpkin” being what she’d always called me.

It was a cute pet name. Once, when I’d asked her why she’d selected it, she told me that it was because pumpkins, like so many things in life, could become more than people give them credit for. An idea she believed she’d learned from personal experience.

I didn’t argue that this was a nice thought. However, it was also one that perplexed me. After all, the people in our land submissively lived by the oppressive mandate that they couldn’t be anything besides what the Author had chosen. Ideas like change were beaten out of us from the very beginning. Example: in preschool I once told a teacher that when I grew up I was going to be a swordsmith who made blades by day and fought crime by night. And she’d responded by making me sit in the corner in a tiny throne facing the wall for the rest of the day—no recess, no talking, and tiara on at all times.

That was just one of the more mild forms of punishment I’d endured over the years for my resistance to the norm. Everywhere I’d gone in life the idea of a static existence had been banged into me. Our rulers had perfected a world of safe, stable, tried and true standards of conduct. Thus, they insisted that change was a concept we should never humor, much less believe in.

Still . . .

Despite all of this, and the backlash I’d gotten over the years, I held on to the hopeful idea proposed by mother’s nickname just as firmly as I did the notion that it might well be false. Both thoughts hung from my head on a daily basis, just like the very earrings that represented their duality. And I concurrently dreaded and looked forward to the day when one of the two sentiments would reveal itself as truth.

Placing the earrings on my nightstand, I kicked off my slippers as I hopped into bed.

“Well, here comes another exciting school year,” Blue said sarcastically from across the room. She proceeded to bury herself under her comforter like an animal burrowing into its den. A moment later, SJ turned out the last light illuminating our room.

“Sleep well, all,” she added.

As if, I thought in response to both their statements. With that, I closed my eyes and wished for some peace of mind that I knew would never come.