Hailey scurried down the hallway, the floor cold beneath her feet. It was dark in the castle, but on elaborately carved sconces were spheres of magical light. The royal mages made them and sometimes had to make new ones.

She shivered. She should have thought to put on stockings but then she would probably have slipped. Besides, it wouldn’t be long before she had to dress anyway. She paused at the mirror in the hallway. She usually didn’t care to shove the other maids out of the way to look at herself, but since no one else was up yet, she watched herself.

Her hair shone in the low light. It was a tangled, blonde mess. Blue eyes stared back at her and her mouth quirked into a smile. Gradually, she began to fade until she couldn’t see at all. She skipped down the hallway until she noticed how much noise her feet made slapping on the stone like that. It was no good being invisible if you couldn’t be quiet, too. She would have to work on that.

Continuing at a slower pace, she made her way to the kitchen. Everything was in its place. The counters were clear and the dishes were all dried and put away. The kitchen seemed much larger with no-one else in it. Usually it was crowded with people, the cook yelling over the din, telling everyone what he wanted them to do. Now it was silent and still.

She jumped. Voices of guards echoed down the hallway. They clomped towards the kitchen. Probably they would make their way up the stairs to the knight’s quarters. On a set of shelves in a large bowl were all the scraps of cake that the cook didn’t need. She found a small plate below and piled as many oddly shaped pieces of cake as she could manage on it. Then she hid the cake in the far back of the pantry behind a ceramic jug of oil.

She grinned to herself. She and Margaret wouldn’t go without cake this year. Maybe they would even have extra. The soldiers paused in the doorway to the kitchen. “I can’t wait for breakfast, George.” One of them said. “I’ll just find something to eat. You go ahead.”

Hailey froze in the pantry. She had forgotten to concentrate. She wasn’t invisible anymore. Her heart thumped in her chest, but she forced herself to concentrate. Be invisible, she told herself, holding her hands out in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief as her hands disappeared. She looked down just to make sure. Yes, she was invisible again.

“Is someone in there?” The guard took a step into the pantry. He was a huge man with wide shoulders and hair so short he looked like he didn’t have any. The light of the rising sun glinted off his head. She crouched into the smallest ball she could manage and tried to maintain concentration. He scratched his head. “Thought for sure I heard someone. Then he rubbed at his face. He must have been up all night.

Go away, she thought at him. She didn’t want to be caught here with a soldier. Some of them were mean. He didn’t go away. She pretended that she was playing hide and seek with Margaret and made her breaths shallow. Finally, the man found a round of cheese and took it with him back to the kitchen.

Holding her breath, Hailey snuck past him. She had been close enough to him that she was certain he would sense her. He did. He turned with a cheese knife in his hand and she scurried passed him. A thrill ran through her as she made it out of the kitchen. She stayed invisible all the way back to her quarters. She hurried but didn’t run. Running made her feet slap. Finally, she was back in her room. It was a small room, just large enough for two beds, but she and Margaret had it all to themselves. The sun was just getting up. She pulled herself into her bed as quietly as she could manage and pulled the covers over her. Her legs were frozen. She hadn’t noticed how cold they were. The bed had gone cold, too. She lay still, pretending to be asleep until Margaret sat up. “Get up sleepy head,” she said.

Stolen story; please report.

Hailey got up and tried to look tired, but she was still excited. That soldier had looked right at her two times and still hadn’t seen her.

----------------------------------------

According to Lavina, Margaret had come to the castle soon after Hailey had. The queen had heard about children starving in the snow and had decided to rescue some of them. Hailey didn’t remember very much about those days, but she remembered the way Lavina had taken care of them and that Margaret had quickly become her best friend.

Margaret eyed her now, her hair standing up in all directions. She had dark skin that never burned no matter how long she stayed outside. Her dark eyes narrowed. “You’ve been up to something,” she said, standing in the narrow space between the two beds.

Hailey grinned. “Just a little something, not anything too big.”

Margaret rolled her eyes. She was older than Hailey and always felt like she had to remind Hailey of the rules. “You are going to get yourself in trouble one of these days sneaking around the castle.”

“Nobody saw me. Besides, it’s sort of our birthday, too.”

That got a grin. Margaret and Hailey never knew when their birthdays were and so they borrowed the princess’s. There was always cake, and excitement. She hugged her best friend. “Happy birthday. You’re fifteen.”

“And you’re fourteen, and you’re going to make us late.” Her words sounded grouchy but there was a smile in her voice. She let go of Hailey and moved to the peg where she had hung her dress, Hailey waited. If they tried to pass at the same time, there wasn’t enough space and so she waited with her feet curled up on her bed.

“It’s going to be a busy day,” Margaret said, tossing Hailey’s dress to her. It had been hanging on the peg right next to Margaret’s.

“I know,” Hailey said, catching the dress. They turned their backs on each other and pulled off their nightgowns. She pulled on the clean dress. It still smelled like the soap the laundress used. Hailey loved that smell. By the end of today it would smell like various kinds of food.

“Lavina said that some of the staff aren’t even going to be here.” Margaret’s voice was soft with worry.

“I heard that, too.” Hailey had even seen some of them leaving the castle. Some of them pretended that a relative was sick and others believed that something was going to happen to the whole castle, not just the princess on her sixteenth birthday.

“I think they’re cowards.”

Hailey turned to look at her friend. Margaret was tying a kerchief over her hair. Hailey tied back her blonde hair and then found the kerchief she used for her own hair. “I think everyone’s a little scared. Maybe nothing happens, maybe not.” Hailey felt a twinge of guilt as she said those words. She had always seen a dark aura around the princess. It was faint, but it was there. It had been there as long as she could remember, but no one ever talked about it and she hadn’t been brave enough to ask her friend if she could see it too. Margaret might think she was crazy.

The girls looked at each other. Margaret tugged Hailey’s kerchief a little lower down on her forehead and then nodded.

She pulled on her boots. “Today will be fine as long as Esmerelda leaves me alone. Maybe she’ll be too busy, like everyone else.”

Margaret gave her a pitying look. “You have to stop reacting to her so much. She picks on you because you’re always taking it so personally.”

“Thanks, mom,” Hailey said.

Margaret rolled her eyes. “I’m not your mom and you know I’m right.”

Probably she was, but Hailey didn’t have to tell her that. Margaret would get a big head and start treating her like a child even more. She smiled at her and they hurried out of the room. The hallway was beginning to fill with other maids, getting ready for their own tasks.

“Do you think we’ll get some cake?” Margaret asked.

Hailey raised an eyebrow. “I know we will.” They passed a cluster of maids all vying for a piece of the mirror Hailey had used earlier. Hailey had given up ever using that thing when the other maids were awake. Besides, it was one of Esmerelda’s favorite places to be.

Margaret laughed. “That’s what you were up to?” She shook her head.

Hailey shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe because there’s less people there will be more cake left.”

Margaret elbowed her ribs and Hailey giggled. “You hid cake somewhere. I know it.”