“You and that princess must really be close for you to let your food get cold. I couldn’t imagine doing that myself.”

“Yeah, we were talking for a while.”

The feelings of hostility from earlier had boiled away, leaving only guilt and resentment in their wake. Lucy had prodded at her food, taking the occasional bite; to her surprise, the food was still warm.

"This food isn't cold."

"May have been exagerating a tiny bit. Just a tiny bit." Clyde's face scrunched up, eyes darting back and forth.

“Ahem,” Xandir forced a dry cough, “as much as it displeases me to announce, your bed is taking longer than expected to craft. It will be done on the morrow!”

“If I could craft a bed, it would be done in mere hours.”

“Well you can’t, so you have no room to judge.”

The tallest and shortest members had kicked up dirt, leaving the remaining sins to flee. This time, Dustin had signaled Lucy outside.

“You look sad. Wanna talk about it?”

“I messed up.”

“We all messed up, what makes you any different?”

“The princess almost escaped, but I stopped her and sent her back to the fourth floor.”

“I guess that’s good. Why do we even have her up there?”

“Jade had me help kidnap her. I still don’t know why he wanted her though; since Xandir said he’s like family, I figured I couldn’t let Jade down and have her escape.”

“Between a rock and a hard place it seems. If I were you, I would have let her leave. Haven’t seen Jade in months, probably won’t see him in several more. I can’t even remember if I saw him after I got here.”

“I just didn’t want to hurt her, I didn’t want things to come to this.”

“Well you did it and it’s done. Don’t worry about it, just wait for her to calm down and say you’re sorry.”

“And if that doesn’t work.”

The man simply shrugged.

“Come with me.”

Lucy repeatedly tapped a finger on her crossed legs as she stared at the sky. For over an hour, the two had simply sat on top of the mountain overlooking much of Lumina, drinking in the rich environment sprawled out before them.

“Is this what you do all day?”

“Not everyday. Whenever I do come out here, I stare at certain places and imagine what goes on there. Or there. Or there.”

Dustin hadn’t been pointing anywhere, there wasn’t even an attempt to budge his boney fingers, but she didn’t need a guide.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Are you, nervous?” Dustin was memorized by the rhythmic tapping, the musician seemingly zoned out, preoccupied by the view.

“How is this supposed to help?”

“Clear your mind. Forget about what happened and think about what you’re going to do next.”

“I can’t. I keep thinking about how I messed up. I just wanted to be stronger without hurting her.”

“Well if you can’t clear your conscious, clear your guilt.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Should I just let her go then?”

“I mean I couldn’t be bothered, but I am me and you are you. Don’t worry about Jade, worry about yourself. That’s what I do and I’m pretty content.”

“Alright, if she’s willing to talk-“

“Do it anyways. If all she wants is to be free, I doubt any anger or hate will make her stay.”

“Thanks Dustin.”

“If you need anything else, just ask someone. If Xandir was right about anything, it’s that we’re family.”

Before heading back to the tower, Lucy turned her head to get one last glance at the sunset, her gaze homing in on where she assumed Lumina was.

“Yeah, family.”

Walking by the first floor, the girl realized how dark and dismal the tower was as the sun had began to set. There were no internal lights as far as she could see, which wasn’t surprising given the darkness of the dining room. The door to the tailor room was open, Hailey hard at work while Westin organized the fabrics strewn about.

As she ascended, she stopped at the second floor, catching a glimpse of a scuffle between Xandir and Clyde. Despite his size, the cowboy had moved with grace, wielding a spatula to fend off his opponent's sword. The girl pulled her head back and chided herself for dawdling.

“Lucy?”

Lucy stopped on her way to the jail to approach the observer leaning against the wall opposite of the dining room. Analyzing her senior for the first time, she was surprised by the beauty of the flowing black hair, yet calmed by the girl’s lackadaisical posture.

“Yes?”

“Why are you back here?”

“I was going to set my friend free.”

“Does this friend care about you?”

“I-I don’t know. She used to, I think.”

“You sound hesitant. Why?”

“Well, she used to play pranks on me. Scare me, throw dirt at me.”

“You say she was a princess? Did she have any other friends?”

“No, just me.”

“Maybe she was never your friend by choice. Maybe if she had the opportunity, she would have befriended everyone except you.”

Silence pervaded the room, thoughts had bombarded the younger girl despite her best efforts to suppress them.

“Sorry, I’ll just leave you to…” Alex’s voice trailed off before she followed.

It hadn’t occurred to her prior, but now Lucy cursed the strange design philosophy behind having two spiral staircases separated by a long hall on the third floor.

Elizabeth peered up from her bed to see her former friend was approaching the cell. Instead of giving the girl hope to reconcile, the princess simply stared at the ground once more, attempting to find entertainment in tracing the creases in the floor. When she heard the door creak, she couldn’t help but turn her head back up in anticipation of food. There was no food, instead her capturer had been leaving the room while the door was ajar.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re free to go.”

“Don’t mess with me!”

She caught herself too late, now fearing what the violent kidnapper might retaliate with. However, Lucy kept walking, unperturbed by her words. It had seemed too good to be truth, too soon to be possible.

“Wait!”

The brunette spun around, confused and curious what the monarch wanted.

“You’re seriously just letting me go? After everything that happened?”

“I only needed to take you here so Jade would give me these powers. I was worried about what the others would say or do if you got out, but they don’t care. Just go.”

“Will you take me home?”

“Why?”

“I can’t go alone, there are probably monsters running all around.”

“Find someone who can fend off the monsters. I can’t take you home, those people will kill me if they saw me.”

“Please, I have to go home, my mom probably misses me and there’s nothing for me to do here.”

“About that.”

Lucy escorted the girl to the floor above, recalling the night she arrived and the morning after being surrounded by a luxurious garden. Despite being unattended, the flora had retained the same lush colors as the she remembered.

Vivid green danced alongside a metal fence that guarded the edge of the roof, a rainbow of colors dotting the walls of green, and water protected a small square of the roof with four bridges connecting it to the mainland.

“This is beautiful, but I should still go home. I might come back someday.”

“Do as you wish.”

“Lu…Lucy, before I go, I have to know something: why did you become a girl?”

“Well, the night I got here, some guy who came with Jade suggested it and I went with it. I was really sleepy at the time and I thought I could just wish myself back.”

“But you can’t?”

“No,” she summoned the spear, pointing to the bush below the head, “I think this thing originally had flowers on it. Without them, I don’t think it can grant a wish.”

“Well, give it to me and I can make it bloom again. It might take a while, but I promise I'll give it back and you can wish yourself to normal.”

“No.”

“No?” Elizabeth was confused and a touch worried.

“I, I like this.”

“You like what?!”

“I like being” her cheeks flared up, her heart began to pace, and her head felt as if it were a thunderstorm, “a girl.”

Elizabeth marched passed her former friend before stopping, her fists clenched and her anger boiling.

“You know Luke, I used to think I knew you. I used to think we were friends; I thought we could even be married one day! But you know what? I’m glad I didn’t, because I didn’t know what a freak you were!”

As the princess stomped off in a huff, Lucy was left to wallow in pity. She felt guilt and frustration overtake her. Shame had drowned her heart, embarrassment and disappointment had devoured her, and an intense wall of anxiety buried her.

Just as she was beginning to lose herself to a flurry of self-hate, Lucy was harshly awoken to a sudden sinking feeling, realizing too late she was being swallowed by a dark pit under her. Despite her shock, the girl couldn’t muster the strength to escape or even scream for help.