The new doorway opened onto a landing. Shelves of lanterns lined one wall, and a row of black cloaks lined the other. The top of a wide staircase was just visible, leading downward.
Catherine pulled a stick from the woodpile, put the end in the fire, then lit the lanterns one by one. Philippa and Elizabeth handed them out to the princesses closest to the doorway.
While this happened, Kayla surveyed my hair, found it lacking, and undid my bun. “You can’t go out like this. You look more like a trailer park princess than a real one.”
Trailer park. The word meant she had memories from the twenty-first century. I lowered my voice. “You’re from the future too, aren’t you?”
“Quiet,” she whispered. She took a section of my hair and coiled it. “I don’t want anyone to hear I’m not their real sister.”
I glanced at the BPs, all elegant copies of each other. “If they haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t think you need to worry.”
Kayla pinned the first section of my hair up, and went to work on a second, coiling it as well.
“Do you want to be here?” I asked. “Did you wish for this on purpose?”
She let out a grunt. “Of course I want to be here. I used to be an overlooked, unpopular loser. Now I’m rich, pampered, and have my own Prince Charming. What’s to miss?”
“Your family.”
Another grunt. “Trust me. There’s nothing to miss there.”
“Computers. Cars. Phones . . .”
The other princesses put on their cloaks, adjusting the hoods. Rosamund lifted the edge of her skirt so it wouldn’t trip her, then disappeared down the stairs. Beatrix followed.
Kayla worked faster, taming my long hair into an orderly row of coils. “You’ll forget about modern conveniences after awhile.” She said this as though comforting me. “Your old life will fade from your mind. That’s the best part of the magic. Penny and Darby don’t even remember the future. I find myself forgetting more each day.”
“You want that?”
“Who wants to remember the stuff I put up with in high school? Pretty soon I’ll only be Princess Kayla. Loved, revered, and admired. That’s better than a phone.”
I was so surprised, I didn’t know what to say. You didn’t have to abandon modern times in order to feel loved. Then again, what did I know about her life beforehand?
I hadn’t always thought my life was so good. Hadn’t I tried to escape high school through a rock star life just like Kayla had escaped by coming here? But still. “You don’t mind being in a fairy tale?”
“What?”
“The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” I clarified. “Or maybe it was eleven when you came.”
She tipped her head to the side, still not understanding. “You sound as though you drank some of Prince Donovan’s cider. Next you’ll be toasting cats.”
It was no use. If she’d ever known the story of the dancing princesses, she didn’t remember it now.
Kayla slid a couple pins into my coiled hair. “Listen, Sadie, you need to behave tonight. Don’t go acting strange around Queen Orlaith. If you do something that makes her cancel the balls, the rest of us will never forgive you.”
I inwardly sighed. Kayla wouldn’t be any help getting home.
She pinned up the last section of my hair, then stood back, admiring it. “Now you’re presentable.”
She went through the doorway, grabbed a cloak and lantern, and hurried down the staircase to catch up with the others.
I checked on Donovan one last time. He still sat where he had before, gently snoring. It was a low, grumbling sound.
I ducked into the magic doorway, picked up the only remaining black cloak, and put it on. If the story went the way it did in the fairy tale, Donovan would put on his invisibility cloak and follow us. I wished I could close the fireplace so it slid over the doorway, but I saw no way to do that and figured it could only be managed from the princesses’ chambers. We needed the door open to get back to our room.
I took the last lantern and turned toward the stairs. It was only then I realized what a strange place I stood in. The princesses’ chambers were on a top floor, so logically we should have descended into another room in the castle. Instead, the doorway had brought us someplace far away.
Stars spread out overhead, thick and bright. The white marble stairs stretching out below me seemed to go on and on. Even with the lanterns illuminating the way in front of me, I couldn’t make out anything below us. Blackness stretched out on either side of me. The stairs were wide enough that three people could have walked side by side. The princesses, however, went down in single file. I didn’t blame them. No railings lined the staircase, no walls either. Nothing seemed to be keeping the stairs up except magic.
I wasn’t afraid of heights, but walking down these stairs in the dark while wearing a cumbersome evening gown had “bad idea” written all over it. I’d never been graceful, and it would only take one misstep to change this story to The Eleven Dancing Princesses and Their Fatally Clumsy Sister.
Lifting my skirt with one hand and holding the lantern with the other, I took a tentative step down, and then a second. What else could I do? I needed the goblet.
The marble glowed in the spots where the light licked against its surface. The air was still and breathless with a scent of leaves drifting up from somewhere.
Kayla turned to check on me. When she saw me gingerly padding down the stairs, she motioned for me to hurry. I did. A little. I also listened for Donovan’s footsteps behind me. In the fairy tale, the soldier stepped on the hem of the youngest princess’s dress. She reported the incident to her sisters, but they didn’t believe her. No surprise there. These princesses hadn’t believed me about anything.
I could change things. If Donovan stepped on my skirt, I would turn and snatch his invisibility cloak off. Not only would this reveal him to the princesses, I could use the cloak myself to get the goblet.
I made my way downward, waiting. Donovan didn’t step on my hem. Of course he didn’t. He couldn’t be following me. He had nowhere to pour his drink, and when Rosamund took his cup, it was empty. He must have drunk it.
As I took the next step down, I was jerked backward. Donovan had stepped on my dress.
I spun around and grabbed at the air behind me, trying to catch hold of his cloak. My hand brushed against material. I tightened my fingers around it. For a moment I had the cloak, then he wrenched it from my grasp. I took a step upward, my hand making wide arcs, searching for the fabric again. I’d been so close.
“Sadie!” one of the princesses called sharply from below.
I jolted from surprise and lost my balance mid arm-swing. I hadn’t expected anyone to check on me. At that point, I probably should have let go of my lantern and used both hands to catch myself—as tumbling off the stairs was a quick way to die.
But I could think of another more painful way to die. And it involved dropping my lantern, breaking it so oil spilled over me, and then having my dress go up in flames in the ensuing fire.
I held onto the lantern, realizing too late that if I fell, the lantern would break anyway. The only thing I’d accomplished by holding onto it was that I would now be on fire as I toppled off the stairs.
An arm grabbed hold of my waist and pulled me backward, steadying me. Donovan. It had to be him. He was the only one above me. As soon as I wasn’t in danger of falling, his hand was gone.
Kayla darted up the stairs. “Are you all right? What were you doing waving your arm around?”
I put my hand to my heart, felt the pounding there. It was hard to catch my breath. “I . . . I thought someone was behind me.”
“Who? A giant fly that needed swatting? You could have fallen.”
Penny marched up the few steps separating us, lifted her lantern, and peered around. Yellow circles of lights spotted the marble. “No one followed us.”