Maude desperately wanted to go to the ball. She’d never wanted anything so badly in her life.

Balls at the Holloway manor were already an uncommon occasion. But this was the first ball that Callum would get to go to. Hoping that her father would finally see her as mature enough to come to the ball since Callum was, she’d asked and had still been told she didn’t “act her age” enough.

Zara had just tittered at her when she’d asked her father, as if she was some kind of airhead. Maude couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t invited to the ball because Zara didn’t want her there.

The day of the ball came, and the house was in such a rush, that the maids very nearly forgot to fetch her for breakfast after the main family had eaten. Maude couldn’t help but wonder if she flew under the radar all day that she might have an opportunity to sneak into the ball when no one was paying attention.

During her outdoor play, she daydreamed that Silas might be there, and that he might ask her to dance. Though she knew she couldn’t dance, she daydreamed about him sweeping her over the dance floor, and escaping from the Holloway manor with him as the night grew older.

Her heart soared at the thought as she ripped grass to her heart’s content. Though most of her days she spent in solitude, this particular day felt exceptionally lonely, and it dragged and dragged.

Finally, it was sun fall, and the first few carriages began arriving for the Holloway manor ball. Maude snuck inside the manor, into a busy kitchen, where the head chef was barking orders at the other staff. Amidst the chaos, she managed to sneak through, even grabbing an apple without anyone batting an eye. She slipped up the servant stairs to the third floor, then finished her way up to her attic room from the main stairs. Someone had locked the door, without checking, seeming to have been under the impression that she had been in her room for most of the day.

Thank goodness I stayed out today, she thought, quickly unlocking it and slipping inside. Now I just have to hope that no one comes and locks the door while I wait, she thought. She ripped her closet door open, rummaging through her closet, looking for a suitable dress for the ball. It had been years since Zara had purchased any new clothes for her. Most of her clothes had been patched or elongated to account for her growing body. Because of it, her clothes had become like patchwork quilts, changing materials every few inches.

Nonetheless, she ended up finding one single, cute, frilly dress that she’d had when she was a bit younger. She pulled it on over her head. It fit well enough, though, it was definitely a bit too tight.

“Good enough,” she said aloud to herself. She went over to the mirror, and began putting her hair up into pigtail braids, one of the only hairstyles she had figured out how to do.

In the mirror, she grinned at herself. “I look so pretty!” she exclaimed. “Like a true noblewoman!”

Barely able to contain her excitement, she walked over to the attic window, looking out over the front of the manor. There was carriage after carriage lined up, dropping nobles off in front of the manor.

Maude thought she tasted something sour in the back of her throat as she wished that she could have a gown like the women she saw, or be dripped in jewelry the way they were.

She rummaged around her room, trying to find anything, but she had nothing, not even a piece of jewelry from her mother. Along her journey, everything that had once been her mother’s had been confiscated, never for her to see again.

She sighed and sat down on her bed. It would probably be best if I waited until most of the nobles were here, she thought. And I’ll sneak in through a side door so I’m less likely to be seen.

She thought about the Holloway ballroom, and where the main entrance was in relation to her attic room. What would be the easiest entrance to get to? She wondered.

She looked outside again, seeing that the line of carriages was starting to get shorter. She sat back down on her bed, bouncing on it a little.

I can hardly wait! She thought. It feels like it’s taken forever just to get to this moment.

She checked the attic door to see if it was still unlocked, or if someone had come and locked her into her room. It was unlocked. She swallowed hard, a giddy smile on her face. She wasn’t typically a disobedient child, but it was giving quite a thrill. Maybe I’ll do this more often, she thought.

She snuck onto the third floor, and peeked around, seeing no one. She carefully found her way back down the servant’s stairs, until she was near the kitchen again. So far, she’d seen absolutely no one, which was causing her to feel more sparks of hope that she might be able to sneak into the ball without getting caught after all.

Maude poked her head out of the stair doors. Though the hallway the servant’s stairs fed into was most certainly a main thoroughfare, there was still no one.

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Giddily, Maude dropped out of the staircase, and rounded the corner until she was at the southeast entrance of the ball room. Much to her dismay, there were guards blocking the entrances.

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. I just confidently have to tell him that I need access to the ballroom, Maude rallied herself.

She put one foot forward, and then the other. Confidently, confidently, she encouraged herself.

“Sorry little miss,” the guard said, leering down at her. “This entrance is no admittance. You’ll have to go in the main entrance.”

Maude’s heart dropped. I still have to try, she thought, remembering her fantasy of Silas spinning her around on the dance floor.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I left through one of these side doors just a bit ago, and got lost on my way back. Are you certain you can’t let me in?”

“You’re awfully cute,” the guard smiled, still creepily gazing at Maude. She couldn’t help but shiver under it. “But no can do, little missy. Them’s the rules that Duke Holloway gave.”

Drat! She thought. Leave it to my father to be overly secure. This isn’t even that important of an event!

“Ah, I see,” she replied. “I will go in the main way then, thanks.”

Maybe another guard will let me in, she thought. She turned and spun on her heel, turning around back to going the way that she had come from. She didn’t even think about how it would also be the wrong way towards the entrance.

“Little missy!” The guard called out. “Little missy, you’re going the wrong way!” He rounded the corner behind Maude, his eyes still leering at her.

She swallowed hard. Now what? She asked herself. If I go around to the front, I will most certainly get caught.

“Don’t worry, mister,” she said. “If I go this way I can find my way back to where I was.” She tried to look cute, but wasn’t sure if she looked young enough for it to work.

Instead, the guard broke out into a large grin. “You’re Duke Holloway’s daughter, aren’t you?” he asked.

Maude felt like she was choking. “N–no,” she stuttered. “I’m Lady Savoy.”

“I don’t think so,” the guard replied, licking his lips. “The Savoys weren’t on the guest list.”

Maude’s stomach dropped. I need to get out of here, she thought. This man is dangerous.

“Ah, I see,” she said. “I must have shown up to the wrong ball then,” she stated. She quickly spun on her heel, and started running as fast as she could towards the servant’s stairs.

“Not so fast, little missy!” the guard shouted after her.

Fear surged through her, forcing her to breathe more raggedly than she meant to. She made it to the servant’s stairs, and made sure to close the door hard, so that it might be a little more tough for him to open. She started running up the stairs, and had made it to the next floor when she heard his footsteps on the wooden stairs below her.

“What are you so afraid of?” he called to her. “I won’t hurt you!”

His words only made her shudder more. She quickly decided to head up to the third floor where there were more rooms that she could hide in.

“Little missy!” the guard called out in a sing-song voice.

Panting, Maude opened the door to the third floor. She pulled it tight behind her again.

“You fucking little brat!” she heard the guard cuss as she slammed the servant’s door tight.

Where to? She thought, trying to quickly decide. She looked around at the rooms she was nearest to, and noticed the library. Perfect, she thought.

Just as she pushed her way into the library, she heard the stairwell door opening.

“You fucking little bitch!” the guard called to her. “Stop running! I just want to talk to you.”

Maude’s mouth was completely dry, as she ran, zig zagging through the stacks of books, the man cussing and crashing behind her. Much to Maude’s chagrin, her pathway had led her to the library’s balcony, alone with the guard.

She closed the door behind her, and held it shut as the guard came up and started trying to open it on her.

“Go away!” she shouted through the glass.

“Calm down, Lady Holloway,” the guard said soothingly. “I just want to talk to you.”

Maude knew with every fiber of her being, that his words were a lie.

“Go away!” she shouted again. The man was so much stronger than her. She was losing in the battle of strength.

Finally, he got the door open, causing Maude to stumble backwards into a corner of the railing. Her ears were ringing, and she could barely make out him saying, “You’re just so cute, I just want to get to know you better.”

Maude felt nauseous as he got closer, bringing the hoppy scent of beer with him. His teeth were half rotting out of his face, and he smiled at her like a wolf.

His eyes were nearly black in the moonlight, and his ashen hair glowed under the light of the moon. Maude looked at his face and could tell that he wore a look of hunger and nothing else.

I’m going to die, she thought. I should have never tried to go to the ball.

He leaned over her, leaning on the railing that her back was solidly up against. He was bringing his face closer to her with his wolfish smile, when she saw a faint glimmer of metal near her right hand.

He’s wearing a sword, she thought.

Just as he reached down and tore her dress open, she reached and grabbed the sword out of its sheath on his hip. The world exploded lime green around her, and she felt her body expanding and growing stronger, and her senses improving.

She didn’t even have much time to process what had just happened to her when she plunged the sword into the guard’s stomach, lethally wounding the man.

He spat blood at her, and it landed on her dress. “What the fuck?” he said. “Duke Holloway’s daughter is a sword saint?”

He fell backwards onto the ground, slowly bleeding out in front of Maude. She couldn’t hold her stomach any longer, and vomited off to the side. Her body was shaking in a way that made her know that if anyone ever found out what happened, she was going to be in deep shit.

The man had a pool of blood around him. Maude’s stomach rolled again. I have to get out of here, she thought. Nothing good will come out of me staying here any longer.

Her stomach lurched again and she headed into the library.

Maude wasn’t even sure how she made it back to her attic bedroom that night, only that she did. She immediately retched again in her chamber pot, and then removed her torn and bloodied dress.

No one can find this, she thought. Never. No one must ever know that killed him.

She stuffed it into a closet corner that was rarely checked, putting some other random articles of clothing on top of it.

She laid in her bed, and the tears finally came. And when she closed her eyes, there he was again, leaning over her, tearing her dress open, and laying, dying on the pavement. He was another phantom to fuel her endless nightmares.