A Blossom's Thorn

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 11 (Part 2)
She dropped the man on the ground and sprinted towards the exit. She ran outside and into the cool night air. Pansy couldn’t have gone too far, right? It had only been about twenty minutes since Arabella had lost sight of her. But where had she gone?

KoolDown was on a busy road, in the industrial district of Petal City. All around her were rich businesses: bakeries, restaurants, designer stores. Arabella was unsure of where they would’ve headed. The city around them was pretty empty, as it was getting close to one in the morning. Only a few cars could be seen around. But there were no tiny princesses anywhere.

This couldn’t be happening. How was Arabella supposed to find her? If they had taken a car, they would’ve been long gone by now. She hoped they hadn’t, but there was no way to tell.

She walked over to the guards that were standing by the entrance. They were, fortunately, the same two from earlier.

“Um, excuse me?” she said, and they looked over at her.

“Aren’t you Princess Pansy’s bodyguard?” the woman asked.

“Yeah, where is the princess?” the man asked.

“That’s what I’m wondering! She ran off and I lost track of her. I heard she left with a group of people, but I’m not sure where to. I was wondering if you saw them?”

The guards looked at each other and shrugged.

“I didn’t see the princess leave,” the woman said. “But we’ve seen a lot of people leave. Do you know who she left with?”

“I know she left with two men and a woman. So there would’ve been four in their group.”

“I did see one group of four leave a little while ago,” the man said.

“How long ago?” Arabella prompted.

“About ten minutes ago?” he offered.

"Perfect. That was probably them. Did you see where she went?”

“They went to Reymond’s Bakery,” the man gestured to the blue and white striped bakery down the street.

“That’s still open?” Arabella asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“They stay open all night for the crowds coming in from the party,” he shrugged. “Don’t ask me why. But I know they went there. Don’t know if they left or not, but you could always go see.”

Arabella nodded. “Thank you!” Then she booked it to the bakery.

The bakery was mostly empty when Arabella got there. Only a couple, who had presumably come from the party, were sitting at a corner table. She cursed when she realized Pansy wasn’t there anymore. The couple looked up and gave her a dirty look. She glared at them before walking up to the counter.

The bakery was warm and smelled of bread. There was one person working the counter: a groggy middle-aged man. He had his chin resting on his hand as he flipped through a magazine. Arabella made her way through the maze of fancy tables and walked up to him.

“What can I get ya?” the man asked, stifling a yawn. He didn’t even look up.

“I need information,” Arabella said. “A group of four walked into here about ten minutes ago. Among them was a tiny girl with a lot of energy who looked to be about twelve. Where did they go?”

The man looked up and glared at her. Then he slowly closed his magazine. “Who are you? They told me the princess didn’t have any escorts. They said she had come by herself.”

Arabella cracked her knuckles. “So she’s here, then? Just what are you playing at, huh? You kidnapped the princess. You knew you kidnapped the princess. Why?”

As far as Arabella knew, this wasn’t a rebel hideout. Neither was KoolDown. Was there more than one rebellion in Virelia that Arabella didn’t know about?

The man picked up a knife. “I’ll give you five seconds to leave and pretend you never stepped foot in here.”

“Why would you do that? Amateur move. Obviously I’d just come back with help if you let me out.” She rolled her eyes. If these guys were a new rebel faction, they were terribly trained.

“Yeah, well, I-” he sputtered, but Arabella beat him to it. She jumped onto the counter and grabbed the cash register, then hit it over the man’s head. He fell to the ground, completely out. The cash register opened and dumped its contents on the man. Then Arabella dropped it on him, a loud thud coming from where it had fallen onto his arm. Not where she had hoped it would drop, but he was already out, so she let it go.

She jumped off the counter and grabbed his knife from him. She was terrible at hand-to-hand combat, but this was her only weapon at the moment. She wished she had something else, though. Her slingshot, or a gun, or even a bow and arrow. She was amazing with the long distance weapons.

She headed to the doors that led to the back and kicked them open. Surprisingly, no one was in the kitchen. It was dark and completely empty. Which meant that somewhere, there was a secret place where they were keeping Pansy.

She walked around the kitchen, trying to find a place where they might have hidden her. Spice cabinet? Nope. Secret door on the floor? Nope. On the ceiling? No.

She eventually turned her attention to a row of cupboards at the end of the room. She began opening the doors, unsure of what she would find. Surprisingly, the entrance was hard to find. But she eventually found the switch, hidden behind a bunch of pans. She flipped it, and a section of the floor opened.

“I already checked the floor,” she grumbled, but headed into the dark anyway. If Pansy were down there, then it would all be worth it.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 12 (Part 1)
Nicky stood in front of Pansy’s bedroom door and sighed softly. He regretted getting angry at her earlier. So he had talked to her mum about letting her attend the ball, and she had agreed it was probably time for them to start getting Pansy ready for her to become queen.

He knocked softly on the door. No response immediately came, which was odd. Usually Pansy was quick to answer when someone knocked. She loved getting visitors. She didn’t like being cooped up in her room when she was alone.

He knocked again, louder this time. Still no response. He bit his lip, unsure if she was avoiding him because she was mad, or if there was something else going on. Had Arabella betrayed them and kidnapped her?

Panic flared in his chest. He opened the door, which was rarely ever locked. Inside he found nothing but an empty room. Dresses laid scattered on the ground, along with various types of heeled shoes.

They’d snuck into the ball. Of course they had. He sighed and shook his head. Well, maybe not snuck, as they were actually allowed to be there now. At least, Pansy was. Arabella wasn’t. If she had gone to the ball, there was a chance that she would be caught. That would lead to trouble for all three of them.

Nicky turned around and made his way down to the dance without a second thought.

The ballroom was on the bottom floor of the castle. Nicky stepped into the giant, golden room. All around him were the elite people of Virelia. Dancing, chatting, daintily munching on pastries. At the front of the room, an orchestra played a slow song that the people in the middle of the floor were doing a waltz to.

He stepped into the dance, recognizing several famous faces. He walked by the governor of Velmire, the head of the Nyxvale rebel faction and the owner of a famous fashion brand in Hollisca. But none of them were Pansy. He didn’t see her or Arabella anywhere.

“Hey, Nicky!” a voice called, and he turned to see Sunny. He walked over to her, still scanning for Pansy. “What are you doing here? I thought Pansy wasn’t coming this year,” Sunny said as he walked over. She was standing by a few members of her royal council, holding a drink in her hand and looking very uncomfortable. Sunny was never one for crowded places.

“I got permission to bring her, actually,” Nicky said. “But she wasn’t in her room, so I thought she had snuck into here.”

Sunny frowned. “I haven’t seen her. She’s good at hiding, but not that good. If she were here, there would be no more pastries left.”

"That’s what I was thinking. She’s not here. But she’s gone,” Nicky sighed. Where had Arabella taken Pansy, if it wasn’t for the dance? He didn’t want to jump to conclusions and guess that she had kidnapped her, but it was starting to feel that way.

Something didn’t add up, though. Why had all those clothes been on the floor? If they hadn’t gone to the ball, why else would they have needed to ransack Pansy’s party dresses? Unless Pansy had tried to use those as a last line of defense against Arabella…

“Have you seen her all day?” Nicky asked her.

Sunny shook her head. “Nope. I’ve been busy all day. Balls are very time consuming to plan, you know.”

“I’m worried about her. She seemed upset earlier, when I told her that she couldn’t go to the ball.”

“I thought mum had agreed to let her go?”

“I got her permission after I originally told Pansy she couldn’t go. Now I can’t find her anywhere. What if I was too harsh on her?”

Nicky couldn’t stop worrying. What if she had run away? Then it would be his fault. But would Arabella have gone with her if she had run away? No, Pansy running away didn’t make sense. Arabella had something to do with this. Whether it was for a bad intention or not, she’d still taken the princess out into danger.

“Do you think she’s hiding somewhere in the castle?” Sunny asked. “Have you checked her usual moping spots? The kitchen, maid’s closet, storage room, mum’s office?”

Nicky thought about it, then nodded. “You’re right. She’s probably somewhere, pouting about the fact I wouldn’t let her come to the ball tonight. I’ll go look for her.”

He left the ballroom, then set off in search of Pansy.

Thirty minutes later, after checking all Pansy’s usual moping places, Nicky stood back outside Pansy’s room, empty handed. She’d been nowhere.

He walked back into her room, studying the space for clues. Dresses were all over, piled on the floor and on her bed. Her entire closet had been ransacked, it seemed. The shoes were the same story. The shoe closet was empty, shoes were everywhere else. Wherever they went, it seemed they needed to be dressed fancy for it. It also didn’t seem like they had time to clean up after their mess. Why did girls insist on throwing their clothes everywhere, anyways? Wasn’t it easier to just put it back in the closet nicely after deciding you didn’t want it?

He sighed and started cleaning up the mess, hoping some idea of where they might have gone would hit him as he cleaned.

Halfway through the mess, an idea didn’t hit him, but he found a clue instead. After clearing off her desk, he found a note she’d left for him. Then had decided to bury it under a bunch of dresses, apparently.

He picked up the notepad and read over the note.

Nicky-
Bella’s taking me to a party! It’s going to be super fun, way better than the ball! She said we’ll be back later, so I’ll see you then!
-Pansy

Nicky threw the pad onto the floor and huffed. Pansy had left him the most useless note in the history of notes. Three sentences. The only clue he had about where they were at was that they were going to a party.

Which explained the dresses, but what if Arabella had been using that as a cover to take Pansy away to her rebel friends?

Would she really do that?

But he knew the answer. Of course she would. She was a rebel, whether Pansy liked her or not. Nicky didn’t know why he’d ever trusted the girl.

He ripped the page out of the notepad and ran off, determined to save Pansy from whatever fate Arabella had in store for her.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 12 (Part 2)
~~~
There was a long, steep staircase that led down into the darkness. There was also no light in the tunnel, so Arabella had to keep one hand on the wall and carefully make her way down. It had started out small and narrow, but it eventually widened out. Arabella was able to stop crouching and was actually able to stand up straight as she made her way into the unknown ahead of her.

The tunnel was nothing but silence. If Pansy was down here, there was no sign of it. No matter how much Arabella strained to hear something, it was just as quiet as it was dark. As a hater of both, she decided she didn’t like the tunnel. She was excited to grab Pansy and go. But she kept making her way down anyway, hoping they hadn’t hurt her. She figured Nicky would have her head if Pansy came back with so much as a bruise.

Some light started beginning to shine through the tunnel, and Arabella quickened her pace. She still went slow enough that she wouldn’t slip and fall down the stairs, but she didn’t need to worry about not knowing where the stairs were as the light got brighter.

She made it to the bottom of the stairs and stepped into a brightly lit concrete hallway. In front of her were three doors.

“Joy,” she muttered. No windows on each of them, which meant she didn’t know which one held Pansy in it. And anything could be in the other two.

There were also still no sounds. She guessed it was because of the concrete, which was probably their way of making the rooms soundproof.

Which meant she really had no hints of what was in each room.

The last time she had been faced with this choice… She winced, not wanting to remember the room in the Gray Mile. That room haunted her. The little boy’s face was always chasing her. She saw it whenever she closed her eyes, along with the faces of Mila and Toby. Just another person she couldn’t save.

And Pansy would become her fourth if she couldn’t choose a room.

She held her breath and closed her eyes, then walked over to a random door. When she opened her eyes, she saw she had chosen the door on the left. This might not have been the best way to choose a room, but Arabella had no other ideas. So she opened the door.

Except it wouldn’t open. It was locked.

She cursed and kicked the door. Which didn’t do anything to the concrete door. Instead, it hurt her foot.

More curses followed as she bounced around on one foot, trying to shake out her hurt foot to get the pain to stop. After a few seconds of this, she leaned against the wall and devised another strategy. She went to the right door and tried that one. It opened, but inside was a storage room for the bakery.

She went inside and threw one of the flour bags onto the floor. Watching it explode and engulf the room in its fine white powder made her feel a lot better. Until the dust got into her mouth and she began to cough. She went back outside and closed the door.

Which left only the center room. Pansy had to be inside that room. If she was inside the left room, Arabella was screwed. She didn’t even know where to begin to look for a key to open it.

She stood in front of the center door and took a breath. “Please let Pansy be in here…” she muttered. She felt like fighting. Her only weapon was a knife, and she was covered in flour, but this search had made her angry. She wanted to beat up the rebels and get Pansy as far away from this place as she could. She’d probably be hated by Nicky for forever when she got back, but at least Pansy would be safe.

That’s all that mattered.

She put her hand on the doorknob, then paused. There were three of these guys, and one of her. Even if she freed Pansy to help her, she’d be at a major disadvantage. These guys were probably better at hand-to-hand combat than she was, and the element of surprise would only last for a little while. She needed something more.

She went back into the storage room and grabbed a few sacks of flour. She used the knife to slit them open. She wasn’t entirely sure how to do it, but she figured that if one bag was enough to make her start choking, three bags should cover an entire room full of rebels and distract them enough for her to grab Pansy and get out.

So she picked up the three bags and opened the door.

Inside the room, as she’d guessed, stood the three rebel members. Tied to a chair was an alive, but badly beaten, Pansy. She looked up at Arabella with hope in her eyes.

“Bella!” she cheered. The rebels, who had been turned away from her, looked over at her. The girl bared her teeth and growled.

“Who are you?” she hissed. “We were told she didn’t have any security with her!”

“Oh, I’m worse than security,” Arabella tossed the bags into the center of the room. Sure enough, they all exploded, making a layer of dust coat everything. Which also meant no one could see anything in the room, but that was fine. Arabella already knew where Pansy was.

"I’m a fellow rebel!”

Then she barreled into the room, heart set on destroying this new faction of rebels.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 13 (Part 1)
“Who are you?!?”

“Where’d she go?”

“Is this poison?”

“No, it’s flour! Find her!”

“I can’t see anything!”

“Keep her away from the princess!”

Screams echoed around the room as chaos erupted. Arabella smiled at her handiwork. She made her way over to where she had seen Pansy and untied her. The girl looked up at her, terror in her eyes.

“They said they were friends with you…” she whispered. Arabella shook her head.

“I’ve never met these idiots in my life.”

She finished untying Pansy as the flour finished settling. Pansy stood up, and they turned towards the exit. But the confusion had begun to die down, and the three rebels stood guarding the door.

There were three of them, all about Arabella’s age. She couldn’t make out many of their features from the layer of flour that was covering them, but she could make out a few details. They seemed about sixteen, her age, maybe a bit older. Seventeen, perhaps. They were also angry. Furious. Livid. Every other word for angry that Arabella could think of.

Which made her smile.

“Run!” she yelled at Pansy, then ran at the door. One of the boys jumped out of the way, but the girl caught Arabella. The two fell to the ground. Arabella gasped as the fall made her breath get knocked out. The other girl looked just as shocked, not expecting them to both fall over. Arabella regained her composure to try and stand up, but the girl was fast. She grabbed Arabella’s hair and pulled. She was yanked downwards with the pressure, but Pansy came to her rescue.

Pansy had run a few seconds after Arabella. The second boy had tried to grab her, but she’d slid under his legs. Now she was at Arabella’s side. She poked the rebel girl in the eye. The girl howled in pain, loosening her grasp on Arabella. She stood up as the boys came running at them. Arabella flung out one of her legs and tripped one of them, sending them flying. Pansy wasn’t as lucky. She had zero combat experience, so she had no idea what to do with this guy who was running towards her.

The girl sat up and tackled Arabella back onto the ground, leaving Pansy completely defenseless when the boy came and scooped her up.

“I’ve got the princess, boss!” the boy grinned down at the girl, who was now under Arabella. Arabella was doing all she could to harm the girl, kicking and biting and clawing. The girl didn’t have time to hold back on her attacks or make any of her own, she was too busy trying to ward off Arabella.

Pansy kicked her legs, which were about a foot off the ground. “Let go of me, weirdo!” she yelled, and the boy just laughed.

“No, I don’t think so!” he laughed.

The other boy grabbed Arabella and yanked her off his leader. The girl staggered to her feet and snarled at Arabella.

Pansy kicked her feet some more, then snapped her head back, smacking her captor in the nose. His nose made a loud cracking sound, and blood spurted out. He dropped Pansy onto the ground and held a hand up to his nose, which was now crooked.

Pansy rubbed the back of her head and glared up at the boy. “Your nose hurts.”

Arabella was about to do the same thing to her captor, but the girl had grabbed the chair Pansy had been tied to from the room and was pointing it at Arabella threateningly. “Don’t move, or I’ll hurt her.”

“Oh, wow, a chair, how threatening,” Arabella said sarcastically. “Don’t you guys have real weapons?” Once she said that, she remembered the weapon she had. She twisted her hand away from her captor’s and grabbed the knife from her pocket. Her knife skills were a joke, but she hoped she could bluff for long enough to get Pansy out.

She swiped at the boy who had been holding her, but he dodged out of the way. Pansy stood up and ran to her side. The girl glared at her, then looked down at the chair in her hand.

“Who are you guys?” Arabella asked, shifting around to try and keep all three of them in her sight, so they wouldn’t try anything.

The girl laughed. “Oh, you wouldn’t know, Arabella Draper.”

“How-”

“We’re a secret force the rebellion put in place, right in the heart of Petal City. So secret that even you don’t know about it,” she grinned. “This way, we could kill the government from its heart without anyone suspecting.” She pointed the chair at Pansy. “Starting with her!”

“You aren’t going to touch her!” Arabella snarled.

“Your father isn’t going to be happy to learn you’re helping her,” the girl said. “Why are you playing these games? You’re one of us!”

Arabella scoffed. “Why do you believe everything the rebellion tells you? I’ve been living with Pansy for a while now, and half the things I’ve been told all my life aren’t even true!”

The girl glared at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! They’re liars! All of them!”

“You’re the liars!” Pansy shouted. “You said we were friends!”

“Lying is just a part of the world, sweetie,” the boy who didn’t have a broken nose said.

“You, shut it!” Arabella snapped at him, then turned back to the girl. “You think I’m stupid enough to believe this ‘secret team’ lie? You guys are all idiots! Your guard upstairs was going to let me go, after I’d found your hideout. Like, can you tell me ‘bring back some reinforcements to bust us’ more clearly?”

The girl cursed. “Johnny was never that smart.”

“And you’re using a chair as a weapon. Where are your knives? Guns? Even a little stapler would do! But a chair?”

“This was the closest thing I could get to!” the girl whined.

“You guys are trained assassins, and you can’t even keep a simple knife on you? What’s wrong with you guys?”

“We didn’t think she had a bodyguard with her, so Izzy told us we could relax!” the boy without the broken nose said. The girl, Izzy, shot him a glare.

“Shut up, Samuel!” she hissed.

“Wow, very smart group,” Arabella said sarcastically. “Relax means put your weapons in a spot where you can’t get to them easily? Seriously?”

“Well, we have this really cute holder-” Samuel began, but Izzy shot him another glare.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 13 (Part 2)
Out of the corner of her eye, Arabella spotted a flash of movement. Broken nosed boy had bolted for the room. She threw her knife at him and hit his arm. He fell to the ground with a scream.

Izzy and Samuel both watched him fall, then rushed at Arabella, since she had just thrown her only weapon.

Stupid Arabella, she cursed. You’re just as bad as them!

Izzy broke the chair over her head, and everything went dark.

~~~

Pansy stared down at her friend, completely frozen. Arabella was facedown on the floor, wood shards all around her, blood beginning to drip from a wound in her head.

Her best friend had been hurt, and Pansy had been powerless to stop it.

“Wow, who’s the stupid one now?” Izzy mocked, kicking Arabella’s body, which made Pansy even angrier.

“Grab the girl, let’s take her straight to headquarters!” Samuel huffed. “No more of this nonsense. Arabella probably has backup coming as we speak.”

Pansy stood there, listening to them insult her friend, her blood boiling. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes. Was Arabella dead? Had they just killed her best friend?

If they had, then it would be her fault. She was the one who had followed these people into their hideout. If she hadn’t left Arabella, if she had listened to her about the party…

She should have left when she had the chance. Before Arabella had gotten hurt.

Pansy let out a scream and opened her eyes. The world now had a weird pink hue around it. She wondered if she’d started bleeding somehow, and the blood was dripping into her eyes, but at the moment, she didn’t care. She just wanted to get Arabella back home alive. If she could protect her friend, then that was all that mattered.

The rebels had frozen when Pansy screamed. After the initial shock, however, they burst into laughter.

“Oh no, I’m so scared!” Samuel laughed.

“What’s she going to do, burst our eardrums?” Izzy giggled.

Even the boy whose nose Pansy had broken was laughing.

But Pansy wasn’t laughing.

There was nothing funny about this.

She stepped over Arabella’s unconscious body and held out her hands at Izzy. She didn’t touch the girl, but she went flying into the other room, anyway. She smashed against the wall and fell to the floor. To Pansy’s disappointment, she stood up and glowered at Pansy.

“Woah, look at her eyes-” Samuel began, but Pansy turned her attention to him next. She ran up to him and grabbed his arm, then flipped him over her and onto the floor. He landed with a thud and a groan.

She turned to the boy whose nose she had broken. He took one look at her, then booked it up the stairs. She shot out a hand, causing him to fly back down the stairs and crash at the bottom.

Izzy ran back into the room and helped Samuel up. “Get her!” she roared at her comrades, who both looked at her, then Pansy, then decided they’d much rather deal with their boss than the crazy girl with glowing pink eyes. So they both sprinted into the room Pansy had been locked in and slammed the door shut behind them.

“Cowards!” Izzy roared after them. Pansy used the distraction to throw her hands out at Izzy again. The girl shot into the air, screaming. Pansy stopped her before she could hit the ceiling.

“Who are you? How are you doing this?” the girl yelled, terrified. “Are you people secretly magicians? Magic doesn’t exist!”

Pansy threw her hands again and smashed Izzy into a wall. “I’m Pansy! That’s all I am!”

In truth, she wasn’t sure how she was doing this. All she knew was that it felt good. She gave Izzy another smash, then let the girl drop to the floor. She landed on the ground with a grunt, but wasn’t out yet. Her face and body were beaten up, bruised and bloodied, but she still had enough energy to look up and glare at Pansy.

“You… People are all evil…” she muttered. Pansy walked over to her and glared down at her.

“You hurt my friend,” she said. “I don’t like people who hurt my friends.”

Izzy laughed and shook her head. “She’s not your friend, princess. She’s a rebel. Sooner or later, she’s going to betray you. I don’t know what she’s currently playing at, I don’t know why you trust her, but trust me, it’s not going to end well for you. And when she betrays you, you’ll regret not letting me finish her for you!”

Pansy growled and reached out her hand one last time. One scream, then silence. She turned to Arabella and grabbed her friend off from the floor and began the trek up the steep stairs to freedom.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 14 (Part 1)
Nicky stood outside Petal Palace, unsure of where to start searching. Pansy had said they were going to a party, so he figured he just needed to find a party.

Which was hard, because there were a lot of parties going on in Virelia. Virelians loved their parties, so there were always multiple every night.

Nicky sighed and went back inside, deciding he needed to do some research before heading out to look for her.

He went up to his office and sat down in his chair, then picked up his Posted! Cube and looked up parties that were going on in Petal City. After a brief search, he came up with three that were scheduled to be held that night: the ball, of course, a party at KoolDown Entertainment, and a small house party.

He already knew Pansy wasn’t at the ball, which left the house party and the KoolDown party. He figured Pansy would have an easier time getting into the entertainment agency party, as she was the literal princess of Virelia. As long as you had some kind of fame, these people weren’t picky about who they let into their parties.

But he also thought Arabella seemed the type to be a crasher of house parties. If that were the case, then they would have gone to the house party, which was on the opposite side of town than the KoolDown party.

So he had to figure out which party they had gone to. If he chose the wrong one, then he’d have to backtrack, and by then Arabella could’ve done anything to Pansy.

If they were actually going to a party at all. If his guess was right, then Arabella hadn’t taken Pansy to a party at all and had instead kidnapped her and taken to the rebels. If that were the case, then that meant Nicky had a long job ahead of him.

But for the moment, he trusted Pansy’s note. He knew her. She seemed like she would be trusting of complete strangers for no reason, but she had the best character intuition Nicky had ever seen. She knew when someone couldn’t be trusted. Which was the only reason he had let Arabella out of the Gray Mile in the first place. Pansy trusted her, and if she trusted her, then Arabella must have more to her than it seemed.

But he wasn’t so sure now. He trusted Pansy, sure, but he didn’t trust Arabella. If the temptation to take Pansy back as a gift to the rebels as a way to get them to take her back, would she do it? Nicky didn’t know. He also didn’t want to find out.

He’d seen enough of what Pansy to do to trust her gut. She’d put several rebels behind bars, just because of her initial feeling about them. Whenever she felt uneasy about someone, Nicky would do an investigation, and she was always right. Just like last year, when a new governor for Nyxvale had been voted into office. He had routinely visited the palace to finish the election process, and he had met Pansy along the way. Seconds later, Pansy was in Nicky’s office, telling him all about this “shady guy who looks like he wants to kill me”. At first, he’d just rolled his eyes and shooed her out of his office. But as he began to think about it, he started questioning the guy. His road to power had been a bit questionable. So Nicky ran an investigation on him, and sure enough, he was a pawn put in by the rebels.

Pansy loved Arabella. That much was true. Even if Nicky didn’t like how Arabella had gained Pansy’s loyalty so quickly, he had to admit that Pansy was never wrong. If she liked Arabella, then there was probably nothing to worry about.

But he wanted to worry. He didn’t like that his best friend was being stolen by a rebel who worked for people who wanted her dead. As his bodyguard, he knew it was risky to put Arabella in with Pansy.

He rubbed his head, tired of the back and forth. He knew he was wasting time. He just needed to decide where he thought Pansy would be, then head there. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think. House party or entertainment agency party?

Then he remembered what Pansy had said earlier.

“But I don’t want to become queen! I want to be a musician!”

Pansy wanted to be a musician.

She would have gone to the entertainment agency’s party. That was the only logical conclusion. Pansy would love to rub elbows with people who could help her achieve her goal of stardom.

Nicky stood up and rushed out of the castle. He thought about taking a hovercar, but starting those up took a while. The technology rarely worked, and even when it did, it often took people to the wrong destinations. Why people thought a completely robotic car was a good idea, Nicky wasn’t sure.

Walking was definitely the better option.

He headed out of the palace bounds and towards the city. Security getting out of the castle was always lax, so Nicky had no trouble leaving. Especially since he was a high ranking officer and had the cloak to prove it.

Once he was outside, he started off towards the KoolDown building. It wasn’t too far, only a few blocks away from the castle. Which was another reason why he thought Pansy and Arabella would have gone there. It was easy to get to and wouldn’t take them that long.

As he walked, he saw two people wobbling along the sidewalk. One had their arms around the other and was holding them up. By the way they walked, he wondered if they were drunk.

They were too far away for him to make out their faces, but he noticed that the one carrying the wobbly one was way shorter than their friend.

He wondered if they were coming from the agency’s party. That would definitely describe the tipsiness of the one.

He started towards them, wondering if he could gather any intel on them. See if they had spotted the girls at the party or had heard a rumor of the princess being at the party.

As he made his way closer, he was finally able to make out who they were, and he stopped.

It was Pansy and Arabella.

Pansy was dragging along a bleeding and staggering Arabella. As she looked up, she saw him, and he noticed something.

Pansy’s eyes were blue. Her eyes were currently pink. He wasn’t sure if the lights were playing tricks on him, or if she had put in colored contacts for the party, or what, but that gave him a moment of confusion.

The confusion was quickly gone when he realized what was going on. He quickly ran over to Pansy and looped his arm around Arabella’s other arm.

“Pansy, what happened?” he demanded. His friend looked up at him with terrified eyes.

“We went to a party but there were mean people and they hurt Arabella and I think she’s dead!” Pansy began sobbing.

Nicky wasn’t sure what to make out of that explanation. But he shoved the ‘how’ to the back of his mind and focused his energy on comforting Pansy.

“Arabella’s not dead, Pansy. She’s semi-awake right now, she just has a bit of a concussion,” he looked at the girl in between them. She was awake but didn’t seem present. She was stumbling along, growing more pale by the minute. “But we need to get her to the castle fast, or she’ll likely pass out from blood loss.”

Pansy nodded and kept walking. Nicky wanted to give her a hug, or do something to comfort her, but he knew they needed to hurry and get Arabella to the castle. He wasn’t sure how they were going to explain her existence to the healers, but he was sure he could come up with something by the time they got to the castle.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 14 (Part 2)
He turned to Pansy, wanting the full story of what happened before they got back as well. “Pansy, can you tell me what happened? Slowly, this time?”

Pansy nodded. “Bella took me to a party, because you wouldn’t let me go to the ball and she said I shouldn’t be shielded anymore.”

Of course she had. Nicky clenched his teeth, slightly mad at Arabella. Who was she to decide what was good for Pansy? She’d only known her for a few months, and now she was overruling his decisions. Great. He wanted nothing more than to kick her out of the castle once she woke up, but he knew Pansy would never allow it. She loved the girl.

“We went to the party, and it was great!” Pansy continued. “I met a singer who said she would let me audition for her company so I could become a musician-”

Nicky shot a glare at her. “What? Pansy, what have I told you? You’re not going to become a musician, you need to be queen!”

Pansy made a face. “That’s what Bella said, but I don’t want to be queen! I want to be a musician! I want to sing and dance and perform on stage! Why doesn’t anyone get that?”

Nicky sighed. He could deal with Pansy’s rebelliousness later. “And then what happened?”

"Bella said she didn’t trust Serena, and she wanted to go home. But I wanted to stay, so I left…” Pansy paused, and Nicky could sense she was about to get lost in hysterics again. “I lost Bella in the crowd. But I didn’t want to party alone. I didn’t like being alone and everyone at the party was starting to scare me. So I tried to find her, but I couldn’t. Then mean people came and said they had seen Arabella leave, and they would take me to her. I knew I shouldn’t have believed them, I didn’t trust them, but I didn’t know where else to go, so I went with them.”

“Were they working with Arabella?” Nicky asked, casting a glance at the girl. Was this all part of her plan? Send her rebellion friends after Pansy while she watched and congratulated herself on her genius plan? Was that what Arabella had done?

But a shake of Pansy’s head knocked him out of this idea. “No, they didn’t take me to her. They took me in a basement and locked me inside a room. It was scary. They were mean to me and hurt me…”

Pansy reached up to touch a bruise on her cheek she had gotten, but was surprised to find it gone. Nicky watched this action with confusion.

“Where did they hurt you?” he asked.

Pansy held out an arm, which had gotten a few bruises on it as well. “Here, and my face, but they’re all gone…”

He raised an eyebrow. That left him with a lot of questions. He knew Pansy wasn’t lying about getting hurt, but it was odd. Evidence of a beating didn’t disappear in a day.

He looked back up at her eyes, which were still glowing pink. He wondered if that had something to do with it. He’d seen her do weird stuff before, unexplainable things. Disappear from one place and reappear in another place that was further away, move things with her mind, guess what people were thinking, and she always knew who had bad intentions. Was this another one of those quirks? Could she now heal herself? How?

He shook his head, deciding he would figure it out later. He needed the rest of the story right now.

“And then what happened?” he asked Pansy, who had gone silent. Which was uncommon for her. She was the chattiest person ever, which was one thing Nicky liked about her. He was always quiet himself, but he was always able to open up around her. She was never quiet. Seeing her like that made him angry. Whoever had hurt her was going to pay for it.

“Bella came. She freed me, but the mean people attacked her. They hit her over the head with a chair, and I thought she was dead!” Pansy began to sob again.

Nicky reached his hand over Arabella and put it on Pansy’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Pans. She’ll be okay…”

So Arabella had saved Pansy. Was it a front, or was she actually trying to protect Pansy? She looked over at the girl, who was running a hand through her bloody blonde hair. Was she not as bad as Nicky thought she had been?

Nicky sighed and looked away. He still didn’t trust her, but for the moment, he could give her a chance. He could get her treated, anyways, as a thank you for saving his friend. But he wasn’t ready to trust her quite yet. She had still placed Pansy in danger by taking her out of the castle.

"Will she really be okay?” Pansy whispered as they made their way up to the gates of the palace. The guards who were posted at the gate ran over to them.

“Princess Pansy! Where have you been? The queen has been looking all over for you!” the first one who reached them said. The second one eyed Arabella.

“Who’s this?” he looked up at Nicky, hoping for some kind of explanation of what happened.

Pansy snuck out of the castle and was kidnapped by rebels. This girl saved her. See to it that she has proper medical care.”

The guards nodded and the first one picked Arabella up and carried her inside, and the second one escorted Pansy and Nicky.

“Don’t worry, Pansy, we’ll go after the rebels who hurt you,” Nicky said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She hugged him, stopping him in his tracks. He hugged her back and just held her for a moment. He knew she needed all the comfort she could get, after what she had just been through.

After a moment, she pulled away. He was about to lead her inside when her eyes crossed, her knees buckled, and she collapsed. He caught her, then rushed her into the castle after the guard carrying Arabella.

For now, the rebels could wait, but he was going to find them and make them regret hurting Pansy. That was a promise.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 15 (Part 1)
Arabella opened her eyes to find herself lying on a hard wood floor. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then winced as a wave of pain shot through her head. She couldn’t remember what had happened, or how she had got here. All the events from the past few days were completely muddied. She remembered arriving at the castle, but not much else.

She touched the back of her head, wincing as she touched a sensitive spot and another wave of pain crashed through her mind. She wasn’t sure if she had a headache or a cut on her head or both, but whatever it was, it hurt.

She brought her hand away and looked around the room. She was lying on the hard floor of a long hallway. All around her were photographs of people, although she couldn’t make out any of their faces. The photos were so blurry that all she could make out were smudges of color. She blinked a few times, hoping that would help, but they remained blurry. They were the only blurry things about the room, though. She could see the floor, every piece of decoration, and the walls just fine.

She stood up and stepped towards one of the photographs, sitting in between two statues of armor. She could make every intricate piece of the statue, from a dent in the helmet to the random shiny spot on its leg. But the photograph remained blurry. It was nothing but smudges of yellow, pink and white.

Below the photograph was a plaque that had something written on it. Arabella crouched down to read it, having to lean in close because whatever was bugging her head was making it hard to read its tiny print.

She made out the first few words, which were the biggest. The tinier print underneath it, though, she couldn’t see. The large print read:

Queen Azalea Miyakawa
2269-2304
​

Queen Azalea had been the queen before Queen Sunny. Arabella didn’t know much about her other than that. She knew that she had disappeared the year before Sunny was coronated, and so Sunny was coronated early. The castle had tried to hide Azalea’s disappearance from the public, but, naturally, the resistance figured it out. So, naturally, Arabella knew about it. But that was all she knew.

She stood up and made her way down the hallway. It was long, and seemed like it never ended. If she looked in any direction, all she saw was more hallway, more pictures and more wooden floor.

She stopped at another picture, this one a blur of brown, green and blue. She looked down at the plaque, but the name on this one had been blurred. All she could see was the “Queen” “Miyakawa” and the birth to death dates. She sighed and kept walking.

After stopping at a few more photographs, she found a similar thing at each of them. Blurred picture, blurred name. It was like her brain didn’t want her to know who these people were, other than the fact they were old queens of Virelia.

Except Azalea. For some reason, her name had been unblurred. Why? Her picture was still blurry, so why was it just her name that was immune to whatever injury Arabella had given herself.

She sat down by a wall and tried to think. Questions were running through her mind a hundred miles an hour.

Where was she?

How had she gotten here?

Why was the hallway so long?

What was wrong with her head?

Why couldn’t she remember anything?

Why were only certain things blurring out?

It was like her eyes had gotten a filter, and she didn’t like it. Whenever she looked at a photograph and it blurred, a searing pain went through her head and she wanted to tear her eyes out. It was a half-annoying, half-painful feeling, and something she didn’t appreciate.

She rubbed her head, hoping that would fix anything. But when she looked up again, everything was still blurry.

“Stupid photographs,” she huffed, going back to the one of Azalea.

But it was gone. In its place stood two new photographs, these two completely unblurred. Arabella recognized both of them, without needing the blurred plaques beneath them.

The first one was Queen Sunny.

The second one was Pansy.

Arabella stepped back and fell to the ground as a memory tried to make its way out of her mind. She had a feeling more time had passed than her brain was trying to make it seem. She remembered being rescued from the Gray Mile, going to Petal Palace with Pansy and Nicky, then… Nothing. But she must’ve gone to sleep somewhere in there, right? She also must have found her way into a weird, unnerving hallway.

None of this was making sense, and it just made Arabella’s head hurt even more.

She stood up again, looking up at the picture of Pansy. It was a cute picture, really. It showed Pansy sitting on Sunny’s throne, a giant grin on her face as she held up a sleeping hedgehog to the camera.

Arabella smiled as she noticed the hedgehog.

Spindle, she thought, unsure of how she had known that. She’d just met Pansy a few hours ago and remembered nothing about a hedgehog, so how had she known his name?

“She’s such a cutie, isn’t she?” came an older, feminine voice from behind Arabella. She yelped and turned around, trying to find something, anything, to attack this new person with. She yanked a spear that had been mounted on the wall and pointed it at the woman, who sniffed in disdain. “You rebels and your need for weapons. It’s not going to do anything to me, you know.”

The woman took a step closer, and Arabella took a step back. The woman looked oddly familiar, in a vague way. The way her long, sleek black hair fell over her shoulder, the bright blue eyes, the youthful yet old way she carried herself. She wore a long, purple dress with gold trim and had a blank expression on her face. A face that looked just like Pansy’s.

Arabella lowered the spear slightly, taken by surprise. She knew where she’d seen this woman before. Well, she’d seen her lots of places before. Her photograph was everywhere, in schools, stores, and government offices. She had several statues around Virelia as well. She looked the same in each photo, each statue, and now here. Somehow, she hadn’t aged in hundreds of years.

“Lola Miyakawa,” Arabella said, unsure whether to be shocked or terrified.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 15 (Part 2)
So the rebellion was right. Somehow, this woman was alive. She had figured out a way to become immortal and was living the high life behind the scenes of the politics of Virelia.

“How are you still alive?” Arabella blurted, trying to wrap her head around everything. Was everything the rebellion had told her true? About Lola, at least. Which meant that the resistance was telling the truth about some things. Other things, she wasn’t so sure. Pansy didn’t seem like the serial killer they made her out to be, but then again, Arabella wouldn’t be surprised with that girl.

Lola stood there for a few seconds, then smirked. “Oh, how smart! You’re asking the correct questions already. How am I still alive? Well, it isn’t any flower voodoo, as you rebels seem to believe.”

“If it’s not ‘flower voodoo’, then what is it? Dead people aren’t supposed to walk around and hang out in absurdly long hallways!”

“My curse of immortality… That magic has since been forgotten. It was ancient, dark magic that only a select few knew about. The person who cursed me was one of these people. But unfortunately, everyone who once knew how to use this type of magic is long gone.”

“So the one who cursed you is dead?”

"Yes.”

“Did you kill her?” Arabella raised up the spear again. She wouldn’t be surprised if Lola turned out to be a crazed killer. That definitely seemed like something this crazy, immortal woman would do. Even more so than Pansy.

But Lola just laughed. “Oh, no, dear, I did not kill her. I had enacted my revenge on her in a different way, one that did not involve merciless slaughter.”

Arabella stood there for a minute, trying to wrap her head around Lola’s riddles. “Lady, nothing you say makes sense.”

“That may be the concussion you’re currently dealing with,” Lola said, walking over to Arabella.

“No, stay away!” she raised her spear at Lola. “Don’t come any closer!”

“Oh, hush, child,” Lola sighed. “Must you be so dramatic? I’m just trying to make this seem less confusing for you.”

“How so?”

“You’re missing a few memories, no? I can return them to you.”

Arabella paused for a moment, and during her hesitation, Lola reached out and touched her hand. She flung the spear at Lola, who merely dodged it. But suddenly, Arabella remembered everything. The party, the other resistance members, then it all went blank as the chair got crushed over her head.

“Is that why my head hurts so bad?” Arabella muttered to herself, but Lola answered.

“Yes. It’s also why I brought you here. I figured you couldn’t be kept in the dark any longer. You see, I know my castle. I know who enters and who leaves. I saw you, right when you walked in.”

“Uh, creepy much?” Arabella raised an eyebrow at the woman, who just chuckled.

“It may be creepy for you, but it’s just simple security. Now, isn’t the bigger question why I didn’t do anything about it? I mean, you are an intruder who entered my castle. Your parentage is shady and you work for a group who’s openly against me. For all I know, you could be here to harm my daughters.”

“So it’s true? All the queens are your kids?” Arabella had thought that had just been another stupid rumor, but nope, that was true as well.

“Yes. They all are, more or less.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s not important. What is important right now is that I brought you here to give you a warning,” Lola’s voice was suddenly firm. It had been light, airy, and a bit playful before, but now she was serious. Arabella looked up at her, unsure how she should react to this change. “I won’t try to stop you if you wish to join me and my staff in the castle. In fact, I’d be more than happy to welcome you. You do have important ties here, after all.”

"Ties?” Arabella raised an eyebrow. “What ties? Other than I was born and raised in the group that openly hates you?”

Another laugh. Arabella was getting a bit sick of this lady’s cheeriness. Lola pointed behind Arabella, who turned around. Behind her, the pictures of Sunny and Pansy had turned back into the one of Queen Azalea.

And Queen Azalea looked just like Arabella. Same blonde hair, same brown eyes, same upturned nose. Lola walked up to Arabella and stood right by her.

“My warning is this: Do not cross me, Arabella. If you wish to join me, I can tell you all the secrets you wish to know about your family. But if not…” Lola reached a hand up to the picture, which burst into flames. The flames spread quickly to the other photos, and in a matter of seconds, the entire hall was bathed in flames. Strangely, Arabella didn’t feel anything. She didn’t smell any smoke, or feel the heat. It was like the fire didn’t actually exist. Only her and Lola, standing next to each other. “If not, then I destroyed your mother. I can destroy you, too.”

Lola disappeared, and in her place stood the photographs of Sunny and Pansy. Arabella watched them burn with nothing but fear in her heart.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 16 (Part 1)
The world fell apart, then quickly organized itself again. Arabella sat up and realized it had all been a dream. A really weird, creepy dream.

She looked around the unfamiliar room she was in, trying to figure out where she was. She was lying on a slightly uncomfortable cot that was covered in white sheets. All around her were medical tools and more cots, some with patients, some not. Some curtains were drawn around a few of the cots. Arabella wished she had the privilege to get a curtain. She didn’t like the way some of the other patients were looking at her.

Now that she remembered what had happened, she figured she was in some kind of hospital. Where, she wasn’t sure. But it was evident from the medical equipment lying around and the nurses that were checking up on patients that she was in some hospital somewhere.

She lifted a hand up and felt the back of her head, where the chair had cracked open her skull. She wasn’t sure what exactly the chair had done to her, but it was obvious from the pain in her head and the slightly wet bandage on her head that she was bleeding and probably concussed.

She laid back down and rubbed her eyes, trying to make sense of what had just happened. It had all been a dream, but it was a very vivid dream. She could still remember every detail of what had gone down in that hallway. Which never happened to her. Most of the time, she never remembered anything from her dreams. Only vague parts. But she could recall every detail of the hallway, every word spoken between her and Lola.

Speaking of Lola, why the heck was she suddenly in Arabella’s dreams?

She’d been frightened when she thought Lola had somehow been alive. But no, it must’ve been the years of rebel gossip that made her concussed brain dream that. That was all it was, her brain just reacting to what she’d been told her entire life. That didn’t mean it was fact.

Arabella sat up again and studied the room. There had been a nurse in the room a moment ago, talking to another patient. She had left, leaving Arabella and the two other known patients alone.

The one the nurse had been talking to was a guard who had been in some kind of fight. He was still in uniform, but his arm was in a sling and he was staring straight at Arabella. She rolled her eyes at him, then turned to study the other person. This one was a plump old lady who had a bandaged hand. When she caught Arabella looking at her, she held up her hand.

"I burned myself cookin’. You can never be too careful when dealing with a hot stove!” she grinned.

“Where are we?” Arabella asked her, hoping the woman would have some useful intel for her.

“Oh, we’re at the Petal Palace infirmary. I’m not surprised you don’t know where you are, you were completely out of it when the guards brought you in. They say you helped save the princess from a kidnapping. Is that true?”

The woman had said everything within a span of five seconds, leaving Arabella reeling in all the new information.

“So Pansy’s okay?” Arabella asked, wondering how they had gotten out of the situation. Things had looked kind of bleak before she got knocked out.

“Yes, the princess is alright. She came in knocked out as well, but they said it was just from exhaustion. Seems she took out the kidnappers herself after you got knocked out. That princess is extraordinary! A small girl, fighting a bunch of big, bad rebels! My, that poor thing is probably terrified right now! But she has you to thank for helping her out!”

“Okay, wait, slow down…” Arabella put a hand to her head, which had begun to ache from all the new information this woman was throwing at her. Pansy had fought off the rebels herself? Arabella couldn’t quite believe that, but how else had they gotten there? Maybe Nicky had shown up last second to save them? But how had he known where to find them?

She stood up and yanked the IV needles from her arms.

“Hey, where ya goin’?” the woman asked her as she crossed the room.

"I need to make sure Pansy’s okay,” Arabella said.

“Oh, don’t worry about her. Her bodyguard is with her. I’m sure he’ll take good care of her! But you need to rest up, that’s an ugly wound you’ve got yourself. The doctor said you’d need at least another day of rest before he would allow you to be off bed rest. Our technology is great, but it only goes so far-”

Arabella opened the door and left the infirmary. For a castle medical site, it was surely poorly guarded. No one in the room or outside of it. The nurse that had been in there was long gone as well.

She walked down the hallway, not wanting to try going into the tunnels with her concussion. At least now, people wouldn’t treat her like an imposter if they saw her wandering around. It seemed like the people in the castle knew about her “saving Pansy” or whatever that lady in the infirmary had been talking about.

She went to the elevator and pressed the call button, then stood next to it and waited. She figured she’d go up to Pansy’s room and make sure she was okay, then do a little sleuthing. The dream had been confusing, terrifying, and didn’t make a lot of sense, but it did raise some questions. What had Queen Azalea really looked like? Why had she suddenly appeared in her dream? She was also curious about the backstory of this queen, as Lola had seemed insistent that Arabella knew it.

The elevator opened, and Arabella stepped inside with two guards and a maid. The maid paid her no mind, but the guards kept their eyes on her. Probably wondering who this crazy lady was and who let her into the castle. At one point, the taller of the guards turned to Arabella.

“Are you the one that rescued the princess?”

“Yep.”

No other questions followed.

Arabella found it funny how loose of a leash the personnel of the castle gave you if you saved their princess. All she did was fight off some rebels, and no one was questioning her wandering around the castle.

She wondered if they would stop her when she stepped onto the floor of Pansy’s room, but they didn’t. She shrugged and continued walking, until she was standing in front of the door to the bedroom. She was about to knock when she heard voices coming from inside. She put her hand down, unsure of what to do, when she heard her name.

“-Then they knocked out Bella,” Pansy said.

“But how did you escape?” came a voice that Arabella placed as Nicky’s.

“I told you, I grabbed her and ran off.”

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 16 (Part 2)
Arabella raised an eyebrow and put an ear to the door. It sounded like Nicky was questioning Pansy on the same thing she had been wondering since she’d woken up. How had Pansy gotten away from the rebels after Arabella had been knocked out by them? She didn’t believe Pansy’s answer of ‘I picked Arabella up and carried her out’, and neither did Nicky.

“I know you’re fast, but you’re not that fast while carrying a girl half your size who’s knocked out behind you. Why didn’t the rebels chase you? There’s no way they would’ve just let you go.”

There was silence for a moment. Arabella strained to hear if Pansy was saying anything, but she wasn’t. After a moment, she gave a response.

"They… They decided that they didn’t want to compete with my amazing running skills!” Pansy said.

Arabella wanted to laugh at that, but she didn’t want to give herself away. It was obvious Pansy was terrible at lying, but now Arabella knew she was hiding something. Why didn’t she want to tell Nicky of all people how she had gotten away from the people who had kidnapped her?

“Pansy, this isn’t a game. Did someone else show up and rescue you two?”

“Nope!” Pansy’s voice cracked in the middle of her happy denial.

“Then how did you get out?”

More silence. Arabella wondered what had happened in there to make Pansy lie like that. Had someone shown up to save her? That wasn’t Nicky? If so, then who? And why? Was there some kind of secret police force that was meant to keep Pansy out of trouble? Arabella didn’t doubt that there was, but even Nicky seemed befuddled on how she’d gotten out. If anyone would know about a secret police force, he would. So obviously, Pansy hadn’t gotten help from anyone in the castle.

So who else was there who would rescue her? And why was she keeping it such a big secret?

“Pansy, can’t you just cooperate for once? Please?” came Nicky’s exasperated voice from the other side of the wall. “I’m just trying to help you.”

“You sound like mum!” Pansy whined. “I told you, there was no one who got me out! It was me! All me! I rescued us!”

“I find that hard to believe,” Nicky said, and Arabella barely had time to jump out of the way before the door burst open. Pansy stormed out of the room and onto the elevator. Luckily, she didn’t notice Arabella.

“I’m not lying!” Pansy screamed as she ran onto the elevator. “Stop treating me like a baby, I’m not one! I’m sixteen! I’m not a baby!”

Then the elevator closed, and Nicky stepped out of the room. He groaned, then looked over at Arabella.

“Have fun eavesdropping?”

“What- I wasn’t-” Arabella tried to lie, but Nicky just rolled his eyes.

“I saw your shadow under the door. You aren’t sneaky.”

She sighed. She really wasn’t. “You think she’s lying.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he looked at her. “Did you get knocked out before or after escaping?”

“Before. We were surrounded when was knocked out…” she rubbed the back of her head, where her injury was. “I don’t know any more about this than you do.”

“I know Pansy. She doesn’t have the skills it takes to get out of a kidnapping like that by herself. It just doesn’t make any sense. Although…” he looked over at Arabella. “She somehow got enough strength to carry you halfway through town. So maybe she’s been secretly training and hasn’t told anyone…?” he mused, now speaking more to himself than Arabella.

“You think she saved herself? The girl who looks twelve and acts six?” Arabella raised an eyebrow, but he nodded.

"There’s no other explanation for it. You were knocked out, who else could’ve come to her aid?”

Arabella shrugged. “Maybe she has been. But before I was knocked out, she seemed to have no idea what she was doing. I don’t think she knows how to fight well enough to defeat three rebels half her size.”

Nicky sighed. “Well, maybe you can talk to her? She seems to like you a lot more than me right now…”

“I can try,” Arabella said, then began to follow Pansy. But Nicky grabbed her arm to stop her.

“But don’t think I forgot about you taking Pansy out of the safety of the castle for some party. You put her in danger, so this is your fault.”

She yanked her hand away from him. “Pansy needs to experience life outside the castle. I agree with the rebellion on one thing, and that is that we can’t have a queen who knows nothing about Virelia. I’ll stick to that fact as long as I have to. She can’t be shielded forever, Nicky.”

He sighed. “I know. Next time… Just tell me where you’re going, okay?”

She looked back at him, a bit surprised. He suddenly seemed really tired and stressed. She felt a bit bad, realizing that Pansy running off probably brought a lot of stress on him. She was his charge, but she knew they had a bigger bond than that.

She nodded. “Alright. Next time, I’ll tell you.”

Then she stepped onto the elevator.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 17
As Arabella got onto the elevator, she quickly realized she actually had no idea where Pansy had gone. The elevator was empty, and Pansy could’ve gotten off on any floor.

She groaned, trying to figure out where Pansy might have gone. She didn’t know the castle well enough to know if she had a secret hideout anywhere or not. If she did, well, Arabella could be searching all day for her.

She pressed a floor at random, floor #12. She figured she should start somewhere.

She leaned against the wall as the elevator went down. Arabella had always hated elevators. She’d always been a bit claustrophobic, and had been scared that the elevator would break down on her and make her fall to her death. But after being stuck in a tiny cell for months, her claustrophobia was gone. She’d gotten used to being cramped in tiny spaces. But it didn’t erase the fear that someone was going to cut the wire and let the elevator fall hundreds of feet to the ground.

She shuddered, now wondering if that was going to happen. She stepped off the elevator as soon as it opened, glad to be off it.

She stepped off into a large, glass lobby. A lobby to what, she wasn’t sure. But all around her were glass statues of various animals: swans, dogs, bears, even a tiny hedgehog that resembled Pansy’s pet hedgehog, Spindle. She knelt down and examined it and saw a tiny collar on the ice sculpture that read Spindle. She chuckled, realizing that the glass statue had been modeled after Pansy's little pet.

She stood up and surveyed the rest of the room. There were two doors on either side of her, both were plain, white and boring, just like the rest of the room. The walls, carpet, furniture, everything was white. Directly in front of her sat a tiny lobby area. Which, to no one’s surprise, was nothing but white. White chairs, white coffee table, painting on the walls with nothing but the colors white, gray and black. Whoever decorated this room really liked their neutral colors, she decided.

She walked into the sitting room and looked out the large windows that faced downtown Petal City. She put her hands on the glass, staring out at the tall buildings, roads blocked by traffic, and pedestrians trying to hurry to wherever it was they were going.

She looked back at the room, realizing that it reminded her of something. The hallways that had been in her dream had been completely white as well. White walls, white wood floors, white picture frames. All of it white.

She walked up to one of the blank doors and wondered what was behind it. Was it the same hallway that had been in her dream? A hallway filled with photographs of old queens, of one who resembled her in a very creepy way?

She put a hand to the door handle, wondering if she should go in. She hadn’t explored most of the castle yet, because she was slightly terrified. She still had nightmares about the last time she had opened random doors, and she didn’t want another room full of dying boys.

Now that her mind was on the room, she wondered something: Did the castle know about that? They had to, right? The Gray Mile was under their control. Did they have a file somewhere about the room, saying what it was for? Did they know what happened in the room? That half the boys in there were sick or dying? Had they ever removed the boy that had died in front of her?

She put her hand on the doorknob and twisted it. This castle had secrets, and she needed to figure them out. She needed to know if the rebellion had been right all along. Because at the moment, she didn’t know who was in the right. The rebellion seemed shady and they definitely told a lot of lies. They were nothing but murderers and got their way by hurting others. But after spending a few months at the castle, she knew she couldn’t peg them as innocent. They had killed her team with no actual reason to. They hadn’t been close to the courthouse before the guards attacked them. For all the guards knew, they could’ve backed off and retreated before going into the courthouse, which was what Arabella had been considering before they were attacked.

Then there was the problem of Pansy. Not with Pansy herself. But with whatever was going on with the people around Pansy. During her entire time at the castle, she hadn’t seen Queen Sunny once. Sure, she could’ve been hiding anywhere in the huge castle, but it seemed oddly suspicious. Even when Arabella had peeked into the throne room, Sunny hadn’t been there. Instead, there had been a bunch of other politicians debating an issue. Which showed that Sunny either wasn’t at the forefront of politics, or someone else was at the wheel. Someone like Lola Miyakawa

Who was supposed to be dead, but after her dream, Arabella wasn’t sure if that story was true.

She knew she had to get answers to these questions eventually. After her dream, she had realized that she knew nothing about the royalty of Virelia. She could name Sunny and Pansy, but there had been queens before them. Who were they? If the resistance was so intent on beating the government, why didn’t they teach more about the government? Arabella had learned more about the royal family being in the castle than the resistance had ever taught her. She wondered if anyone knew anything about the royal family, or if they were just another mystery in the archives of Virelia.

She opened the door and stepped inside. Sure enough, before her stood the hallway from her dream.

This castle had secrets, but they were going to crumble before her.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 18 (Part 1)
Arabella stepped inside the hallway, then jumped as the doors banged shut behind her. She turned around and tried to get them to open, but they were locked tight.

She cursed, wondering how she was going to get out. The castle was huge, and she had no idea who used this floor and when they were going to pay it a visit next.

She sighed and faced the hallway, deciding she could do what she had come into the hallway to do. She had nothing better to do.

She looked around the hallway, then froze when she realized it was the exact same hallway from her dream. Same wooden floors, walls, decorations, even the pictures. On either side of her were the pictures of the past queens of Virelia.

Questions arose in her mind, but one was louder than the others: How had she seen this hallway in her dream when she’d never been into it? Down to the exact detail. It was completely the same hallway.

Which made her wonder if that meant there really was a queen that looked just like her, somewhere in this hallway. Or had her dream made that part up? If the hallway was real, what else was real? Surely the part about Lola wasn’t. Lola was dead. Gone. The castle and stress from the last few days, plus the concussion, had caused her to dream about Lola.

That was probably the reason for the photograph with her face as well.

But Arabella couldn’t stop her feet from beginning to move down the hallway of their own accord. She looked at each of the paintings she passed, inspecting each detail. Each queen looked just like Pansy, more or less. Some had different hair colors, eye colors, face shapes, little details, like freckles or skin color, but they all shared a similar quality with her somewhere. But they also all differed from each other wildly.

The queens of Virelia never married. It was forbidden, for some reason Arabella had never learned to care about. She knew they had taught it in her Virelian history class, but she never paid attention in any of her classes, much less that one. But she knew that each queen had a daughter genetically engineered for them, using their DNA. But if that was the case, wouldn’t each queen look like the next? That wasn’t the case for any of these queens. Each one differed so much from the last. They looked like siblings, not carbon copies for each other.

Arabella stopped in front of three pictures, each with a different looking girl. The first one, Queen Tylie, had red hair, a thin face, pale skin and freckles. The next girl, supposedly her daughter, Queen Cherry, had brown hair, a round face and dimples. The last girl was Queen Poppy, who had blonde hair and green eyes. The only trait that had carried to the next was the nose and part of the jaw structure. Maybe they had more similarities, but Arabella only had a painted headshot to work with. But she didn’t think that if a redhead was cloned, her clone would have brown hair.

People in the rebellion had been noticing this trend for years, and it was one of their biggest questions. Arabella hadn’t cared much, but after standing in front of the pictures, she began wondering. The rebels said that each queen was actually Lola’s daughters, who had been genetically engineered from her DNA. But Arabella didn’t believe that theory, either. Again, there was the problem of the clone thing. If they were all clones of Lola, then they would all look like Lola.

From what Arabella could tell, none of them had any similarities whatsoever to Lola. She was a very tall, elegant woman with jet black hair, a piercing gaze and a face that reminded Arabella of cranky grandmas. Not wrinkly, but just done with life. These girls didn’t strike Arabella as having come from Lola.

No, there had to be some other explanation.

Arabella leaned against the wall and sat down on the ground, in between the photos of Queen Tylie and Queen Cherry. She began brainstorming possible reasons for these differences, sure that the answer the rebels had given and the answer the government had given were both false. There was no cloning involved in this, or whatever the explanation for these girl’s existence were.

Maybe there was a secret king involved in each of these? Arabella couldn’t remember the reason why no kings were allowed, but maybe they had all broken that rule? Each queen slightly resembled the other. It was loose, but it was possible that they could be the daughters of the previous queen, if there was another set of DNA involved.

Or they could be adopting them from somewhere. There could be another room like the one Arabella had found in the Gray Mile, which had been filled with little, dying boys. Maybe there was another one in the Gray Mile or somewhere else, filled with little, dying girls who would grow up to become queen?

Which didn’t help Arabella with trying to figure out why the room with the little boys existed. Why did they need all those boys locked in a basement, anyways? It didn’t make any sense.

Arabella shoved the thought of the gruesome room to the back of her mind. She couldn’t dwell on the thought of the room forever, or it would drive her insane. For now, she needed to focus on the mystery of the hallway.

She stood up and left Tylie, Cherry and Poppy behind. She walked for a bit longer, then found the photo she had been looking for.

In front of her was the exact same photo she had seen in her dream. The photograph of the queen who looked just like her. Same blonde hair, cut to her shoulders and curled into tight ringlets. A fancy crown on her head, a large grin on her round face. Light brown eyes, the exact same shade as Arabella’s. The only difference was that she didn’t have dimples. Arabella had dimples, which she had gotten from her father. But everything else was the same. The upturn of the eyebrows, shape of the nose, even the lopsided earlobes.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 18 (Part 2)
Arabella walked up to the photo and put a hand next to it, then noticed the plaque under it, which read Queen Azalea.

Azalea.

Was this her mother? Aunt? Grandmother? This was the queen right before Sunny. From the years that were mentioned on her plaque, it seemed she ended her rule a year early. Why? What happened to her? Arabella had never heard of a Queen Azalea before. Sure, she didn’t know half these queens existed. She didn’t care enough to memorize all the queen’s names. But she was sure she had never heard anything about this woman.

Could this be her mother? She looked up at the picture again, trying to find answers within the eyes of this woman painted onto a blank canvas. The eyes revealed nothing, which made Arabella frustrated. She wasn’t sure why, as the painting couldn’t come alive and talk, but she wanted answers. She wanted to march up to her father and demand he tell her everything about her mother. She’d never pried about her mother before, always just accepted what her father had told her.

“Your mother was a good woman. She hated the government. She was never a part of the resistance, but she believed that we needed a change. You look just like her, Ara.”

“But daddy, how did she die?”

“She died giving birth to you.”

Her mother had hated the government. Had she hated it because she was a part of it? Because she had been in charge and something caused her to change her mind? Run away? Get with her father and have her?

She felt something wet touch her cheek, and she realized she had started crying. She sat down on the ground, in front of Azalea’s painting, and just cried. She had no idea if this woman was her mother or not, but just the idea that she might be in the same place her mother was raised made her want to tear something to shreds. Maybe starting with her photograph. The longer she looked at it, the angrier she got. At herself, at her father, at the entire world.

Had her mother really died giving birth to her, or had she died from something else? Had she run away and then was tracked down and shot, right then and there? Like her friends? No remorse, no mercy, just a cold, hard kill?

Suddenly, the mystery of her missing mother took the forefront of the mysteries she had to solve. She had to know. Was she part of the royal bloodline? Was that why her dad hated the government so much? Because he had a firsthand account of what they did?

Arabella didn’t even know what they did. But she wanted to know everything about this woman’s life, whether she was Arabella’s mother or not.

She took a breath and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the palm of her hand. She stood up shakily and gave one last look at the painting, then turned around and headed towards the entrance of the hallway.

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing, but she had gotten sidetracked from her main goal: finding Pansy.

She’d find Pansy, then deal with the rest later. For the moment, she needed a break from crazy surprises.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 19
“Pansy!” Arabella called as she stepped onto the next floor. She had been going to every floor, looking for Pansy. Now she was at floor number 56 and had about 150 more to go, and was really starting to get burned out. Her throat was also sore from all the screaming she had been doing.

She looked around the floor, sure she wasn’t going to find anything. It was the castle’s mini greenhouse. All around Arabella were flowers of every kind. Not much else, just flowers. An artificial stream flowed through the middle of the room, and a dirt path led through the flowers. The windows were large, providing the flowers with the sunlight that they needed to survive.

Arabella closed her eyes and took a breath, letting the scent of flowers envelope her. It smelled like a spring day after a rainstorm, the smells of wet soil and perfumed flowers heavy in the air.

It reminded her of a simpler time, before her father had been a huge part of the resistance. They had been a happy family then. Sure, things hadn’t been perfect. She constantly felt the lack of a mother in her life, but her father tried his best to make up for it. Even though work took a lot out of him, he always had time for her. He’d play with her, cook for her, tuck her into bed. On sunny days they would go into a flowery meadow behind their house and have picnics. He’d make her flower crowns as she rolled around in the grass. The greenhouse smelled just like that meadow, the one she stopped visiting after things changed.

After his promotion, he stopped being less of a dad and became more of a tyrant, at that point. He threw Arabella onto the backburner and stopped caring. When she talked to him about it, and told him how she felt, he sent her on the mission that cost her everything, saying that she needed to learn just how evil the government was for herself.

All she learned was how evil her father was.

“Hey, why are you crying?” a high-pitched voice asked from behind Arabella, and she screamed.

She jumped and whirled around, heart thudding as she saw Pansy standing there.

“Don’t sneak up on me!” Arabella hissed, but was more mad at herself for getting so emotional. Picnics on spring days with her happy father were over. Now all she had was unhappy memories of him betraying her to the people he hated most.

Pansy tilted her head, looking up at Arabella with bright blue eyes. “You look sad. Why? This room is supposed to be happy.”

Arabella wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m not sad! I’m fine!” she turned away from Pansy and crossed her arms.

“Do you not like flowers? I didn’t know someone couldn’t like flowers. They always make me happy. This is the room I come to when I’m sad, because it always cheers me up.”

Arabella looked down at the tiny girl. She seemed so innocent, happy, but Arabella wasn’t sure how true that was. The girl seemed to know a lot more than what she was letting on. How could she be so calm after she had been kidnapped? Yet here she was, grinning like there was nothing in the world that wanted to kill her. It was unnerving.

“Flowers used to make me happy,” Arabella finally said, sighing and putting down her arms. There was something about Pansy that made her not able to lie. She sat down on the dirt path, beside a bed of daisies. Pansy sat down next to her and picked one, twirling it between her thumb and forefinger.

"Why don’t they anymore?” Pansy tilted her head.

Arabella sat there silently for a moment. She couldn’t figure out how to tell Pansy everything without telling her who she really was.

As Arabella thought, Pansy began tearing the petals off the daisy. Each petal fell to the ground around her, and she picked them up and placed them onto the skirt of her blue dress.

“It’s not important,” Arabella finally said, shaking her head. She didn’t want to tell Pansy about her past, she didn’t think she had it in her to be able to tell the story without breaking apart.

“But it’s making you sad, and I don’t want you to be sad. You’re my best friend. So if something is making you sad, then it’s important to me,” Pansy stated, picking another daisy.

“Pansy, how much do you know about the castle?” Arabella finally asked.

Pansy had been picking more daisies, but stopped when Arabella asked her question. “Huh?”

Arabella rephrased the question, deciding she wanted to know something different. “Did you ever know the queen before Queen Sunny? Queen Azalea?”

Pansy sat back and studied the flowers in her hands. “No.”

“I saw a photograph of her, as I was looking for you. She only ruled for seventeen years, when queens usually rule for eighteen. Do you know why?”

Arabella wasn’t sure why she was asking Pansy this, but she needed answers. Pansy was the princess, so she figured she was the best person to tell her.

The girl had gone silent, weaving the daisies together into a chain. Arabella watched her, knowing that it must be bad if Pansy wasn’t talking at all. That was new, as normally no one could get Pansy to stop talking.

Finally, she spoke up. “She had a best friend. Like Nicky. A best friend who stood by her as she grew up and became queen. His name was Jett. Jett and Azalea. Best friends forever. Nothing more, nothing less. Except they broke the rules. Sunny said that they started secretly dating. We aren’t allowed to date, we’ve known that since day one. But she broke that rule. Sunny said that she had a baby and then disappeared. She never saw her again.”

Arabella sat there for a minute, the pieces connecting in her mind. Jett was her father’s name. The year Azalea disappeared was the year before Arabella was born.

She still didn’t know what had happened to make her father hate the government so much, but things were beginning to make sense. If he had been close to one of the queens, then had fallen in love with her but had been banned from loving her because of a stupid law, it made sense that he would be a bit mad. But something else must have happened. Something to make her father truly hate the government. But what? And why?

“Do you know what happened to them after they ran away?”

Pansy placed her daisy chain in her lap. “Sunny says I shouldn’t know, but she told me anyway. Azalea and Jett went to Caulden Reach and had a baby girl. I don’t remember her name, but Sunny told me. Sunny knew all about her. She knew that mum sent the guards that night and brought Azalea back, but not Jett or the baby. Then Azalea disappeared. Sunny has never seen her sister since.”

Arabella turned to Pansy. “Azalea is Sunny’s sister? Not mother?”

Pansy put a hand to her mouth. “I’m not supposed to tell people that!”

“Why not?” Arabella stood up, feeling like she was close to a breakthrough. “Who’s your mother, Pansy?”

“I can’t tell you!” Pansy put her other hand over her mouth and clamped both hands tight.

“It’s Lola Miyakawa, isn’t it? She is alive, like the rebels say!”

If her father had grown up in the castle, then he must know all its secrets. The things he said, even if they were all crazy, most of them had to be true, then. Right?

Pansy looked up at Arabella, then removed her hands from her mouth. “Yes. Lola is my mum.”

“How is she still alive? She died hundreds of years ago!” Arabella started pacing. “And how has she managed to have so many kids?”

“I don’t know,” Pansy said. “But, Bella?”

Arabella stopped pacing and sighed. “What?”

“Are you Azalea’s baby? You look just like her.”

She looked at the princess, then nodded. “I… I think I am.”

Pansy stood up and sat her daisy crown on Arabella’s head. “Then you’re my niece. And as my niece, I say that you should take the throne instead of me!”

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 20
Arabella swiped her hand away. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I don’t want to be queen!” Pansy whined. “If I don’t want to be queen, then you’d be next in line!”

“How about no? Politics aren’t my thing,” Arabella crossed her arms and looked down at the little girl, who pouted again.

“Please, Bella? You’d be perfect for it!” Pansy pleaded.

“No. That’s final. Also, don’t call me Bella!”

Pansy huffed and crossed her arms, but didn’t say anything else. Arabella used the silence to think for a moment, trying to figure out how to take the news that she was related to Pansy. Her life in the rebellion suddenly made a lot of sense, which was saying a lot, as it had never made much sense before.

As she thought, Pansy grabbed Arabella’s hand. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Go where?” Arabella yelped as Pansy began pulling her to the elevator.

“You need to meet mum!”

Arabella stopped and yanked Pansy back. “No. No way. I am not going to talk to Lola.”

Pansy turned back to Arabella, confused. “Why not?”

Arabella stood there, unsure of what to say. Her dream flashed in her mind, and she winced. How much of that had been real, and how much had been fake? The part about Queen Azalea was real, apparently. So what else was real? If Lola was anything like how she had been in her dream, Arabella wasn’t sure if she really wanted to meet the lady.

“I don’t think your mum wants to meet me,” Arabella finally said. “She’s probably the one who made my mum disappear. If she knows I’m here, then she’ll make me disappear, too.”

Pansy shook her head. “Mum wouldn’t do that!”

“She killed my mum, Pansy. I’m sure of it,” Arabella growled. Her mum hadn’t died from childbirth, she’d been murdered. By Lola. Which made Arabella wonder why her dad had always lied about that. He used every other thing the castle did to make Arabella hate them, but the one thing that could actually make her hate them for, he kept a secret.

“Mum wouldn’t do that!” Pansy protested. “She probably just ran off again and, um…”

“Then got recaptured by Lola and killed. Pansy, I’m not sure if your mum’s a good person.”

Pansy shook her head. “No, that’s just the bad resistance side of you talking. Mum is amazing, she’d never hurt anyone!”

“And you’re sure about this?”

She nodded.

Arabella groaned. She knew Pansy wasn’t going to give up until Arabella went with her, but she had no desire to meet this lady.

“I’m sure mum can tell you where your mum went,” Pansy said.

“Psh, yeah, right,” Arabella rolled her eyes. “She won’t admit to murdering my mum.”

“Please? Just meet her, and you’ll know everything that everyone has said about her is a lie!” Pansy looked up at Arabella with big puppy-dog eyes.

“Do you even know what people say about her?”

Pansy shook her head.

“Well, they say all sorts of things about her,” Arabella held out a hand and began listing off and counting the things on her fingers. “They say she was a terrible person when she was ‘still alive’, or I guess before they faked her death. The details are vague, but they say she stripped a winged flower of her wings, killed her husband, then came into power by betrayal and treachery.”

Pansy shook her head. “Mum was never married. And she was next in line to the throne. Her mum had been queen as well.”

“I still don’t wish to talk to her.”

Pansy thought for a moment, then gasped. “Oh! Then I’ll bring her here!”

“Wait, no, that’s a worse idea!” Arabella yelped, but it was too late. Pansy had already gotten onto the elevator and was heading down to retrieve her mum.

Arabella bounced on her feet, not happy about this. She had no desire to meet Lola. But what choice did she have? She could run, but where would she go? She had nowhere to go. She could hide in the castle, but Lola would find her sooner or later, especially since she knew she was now here.

So Arabella sat down on the bench, crossed her arms, and pouted. While she waited, she tried to devise a plan for revenge on Pansy. Which was hard, because she knew anything she tried to do would result in Pansy crying. Which would then make Nicky mad at her, and she didn’t wish to know what happened after that.

A few minutes later, the elevator dinged and opened. Arabella’s heart sped up and she looked away. She tucked her hands in between her legs to keep them from shaking, but they still did. Then her legs followed. She glared up at Pansy, who was standing next to the tall, black haired woman from Arabella’s dream.

Pansy ran over to Arabella and sat down next to her. “I’m back.”

Arabella glared at Pansy, hoping she got the message. But Pansy’s grin said she hadn’t.

The woman sat on the other side of Arabella. “Hello, darling. It’s nice to see you again.”

Arabella turned her glare to Lola, who looked exactly the same as she had in her dream.

“I’ve never met you before in my life.”

The woman laughed. “Oh, but you have. Don’t you remember that vision I sent you a few nights ago?”

“That was a dream, nothing more,” Arabella growled. Lola shrugged.

“Believe what you want, darling, but we both know it was more than a simple dream.”

Arabella scooted away from the former queen, almost pushing Pansy off the bench. Pansy grabbed onto Arabella’s arm so she wouldn’t fall.

“So, I assume Pansy told you all about me,” Arabella said, skipping straight to the point.

“Oh, she didn’t have to tell me anything. I already know all about you, dear. I’ve watched you since you stepped foot into this castle,” her voice hardened, and she glared down at Arabella. “Nothing here goes unnoticed by me.”

Arabella shuddered. Pansy giggled.

“She’s just kidding.”

Arabella glared at her.

Lola chuckled and shook her head. “Ignore Pansy. She’s a darling, but she’s a bit, how do you say? Immature.”

Pansy huffed and crossed her arms. “I am not!”

Lola giggled lightly and shook her head and Arabella scooted away, not trusting Lola’s carefree and kind attitude. She didn’t trust anything about the woman.

“Oh, Pansy, dear, can you give us a moment, please?” Lola asked.

Pansy looked up, shocked. “But-”

“No buts, darling. I need a moment with my long-lost granddaughter.”

Pansy pouted and walked off. Lola waited until she was out of earshot to speak, her voice changing from the airy tone she’d had with Pansy to a serious one.

“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Pansy’s not fit to become queen.”

"Because you guys-” Arabella began, but Lola cut her off.

“I think you are better suited to take Sunny’s place as queen.”

Arabella stood up. “No. I already told Pansy, I’m not becoming queen. Never in a million years would I want to be queen of this place.”

“But dear, think about it. You grew up in the rebellion, correct? So you know everything there is to fix. You could fix it all, Arabella.”

“No, I couldn’t.”

“Why not?” Lola tilted her head, studying Arabella.

“Because Sunny is just a puppet. She doesn’t do anything. I won’t be anything different. I’ll be a doll to sit on a throne and look pretty. I won’t be making any decisions, it will all be you.”

“Yes, it’s true that I do have a lot of say in what goes on around her, but Sunny makes a lot of those important decisions as well. It’s not just me running the show. It takes a whole lot of people to make laws.”

“Then make me, like, an advisor or something! Or some anonymous tipper! But I don’t want to be queen. Never.”

Lola raised an eyebrow. “What part of being queen is unappealing to you?”

“I want to be a normal girl with a normal life! I don’t want to be locked in a palace and left to rot like Pansy! I want normal friends and a normal family! I want my own life! I don’t want any part of the rebellion, or the government, or any of it! Both options suck! Why can’t anyone ever respect my wishes? I don’t want the stress of being in charge. I want to enjoy hanging out with my friends, and going to school, and not being a puppet for anybody! I want to make my own decisions!” Arabella stopped and took a breath, realizing she had been yelling. But it felt good. All the things she had always wanted to say to her dad but had never been able to were finally out there. To the wrong person, sure, but it was still refreshing to not have this weight on her chest anymore.

Lola just sat there, a blank expression on her face. After a few seconds, she finally spoke. “You sound just like Pansy. Not to worry, that can be fixed.”

Arabella took a step back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, don’t worry dear, the process will be relatively painless.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t want you to do any of your ‘magic’ on me.”

Lola stood up. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll thank me later.”

“No,” she backed up to the elevator. “I’m not doing anything you want me to.”

Lola walked towards her. “Please stay, darling. We still have much to discuss.”

Arabella pounded on the elevator buttons until it opened. She rushed inside and pressed on the close door button until the doors were finally shut. Lola just stood there and watched as the elevator went down.

"Where’d Bella go?” Pansy asked as she walked up to her mum. Lola turned to Pansy, a smile back on her face.

“She needed some time to think. But it’ll be okay, she’ll come back later.”

One way or another.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 21
“Bella!” Pansy called out as she walked through the halls of the castle. No reply came, although Pansy was starting to expect that. She had searched all over for her friend, but she hadn’t been able to find her anywhere. Not in the tunnels, not anywhere else where Pansy would expect to find her. Lola had told Pansy not to worry about it, that she would come back when she was ready, but Pansy wasn’t so sure.

What if Bella never came back? Pansy couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her friend again. It made her too sad to think that the last time she saw Arabella, they had an argument.

What if she had run off because of the argument?

Pansy shook her head, trying to think positively. She would find her friend and then they’d be happy again. Bella would take her place on the throne and she would become a musician. It would be perfect.

Except Bella didn’t want the throne, she said so herself.

And Pansy had forced her into it.

Maybe she was a bad friend, after all. Immature and the reason Arabella had run off. Maybe her mum had been right about her, after all.

Pansy wasn’t ready to give up, though. She could sort through things with Arabella later. For now, she just had to find her. Luckily for her, she knew the perfect person to help with that.

~~~

Nicky was in his office, going through a pile of mail he had just received from the Gray Mile. From what he had gone through so far, he understood that Troy had been sacked and they were looking for someone else to take his place. What Nicky wasn’t sure about was whether they wanted him to be Troy’s replacement or if they wanted him to find the replacement. Each letter said a vaguely different thing concerning this, so he had no idea what they wanted.

He sighed and began to open the next letter when the door burst open. He yelped and dropped the letter, looking up to see Pansy. Of course it was Pansy. It was always Pansy.

“What have I told you about knocking?” Nicky hissed, shoving the letters aside. Although he was mad at Pansy for barging in, her presence gave him a much needed distraction from sorting through his pile of confusing mail.

Pansy ran over and slammed her hands down on his desk. “Nicky! Bella ran away and it’s all my fault and we have to find her!”

Nicky sighed and shook his head. “Pansy, I don’t think it’s your fault Arabella ran away. I’m surprised she didn’t run sooner. I can tell she’s been looking for a chance to escape for a while.”

Pansy sniffed and shook her head. “No, it was my fault! I chased her away. I wanted her to become queen instead of me, but she didn’t want to, so she ran away!”

Nicky groaned. “Pansy, Arabella can’t become queen. You’re the next in line-”

"Bella is Azalea’s daughter!”

Nicky stopped and stared at Pansy. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Bella is Azalea’s daughter. She’s the reason Azalea ran away, and she’s the baby Azalea had after she ran away!”

“No, Pansy, that’s not possible…” Nicky muttered, but he knew it was possible. Azalea’s husband, Jett, had disappeared shortly after Azalea had been taken. No one had figured out where he had gone, but it made sense that he would’ve gone to the resistance.

“So you figured out that she was Azalea’s daughter and asked her to take your spot at the throne? Pansy, that wasn’t a smart idea-”

"But I don’t want to be queen!” Pansy yelled.

“Yes, I know, but you have too! Arabella is a rebel, Pansy! She can’t be at the throne, she’ll burn everything to the ground!”

“Why not? Mum said she’d be perfect! She even tried to get Bella to take the throne, but Bella didn’t and she ran away!”

“Lola was a part of this? Pansy, you weren’t supposed to tell her anything about Arabella!” Nicky groaned. “That was our agreement, remember?”

Nicky was supposed to be the one making sure that the rebels didn’t get into the castle or anywhere where they could hurt Pansy. But he’d brought in Arabella and had put her in the perfect position to harm Pansy, even though it had been a stupid idea.

“Mum already knew about Bella,” Pansy said, hopping up onto the desk. Nicky looked up at her, confused.

“She did? How?”

“Mum knows everything, remember?”

Nicky hadn’t thought it had gone that deep. How had she known about Arabella? He’d made sure to keep her as well hidden as possible.

“But she wasn’t mad. She was glad we had found her, because she’s a part of the family! And she also said that Bella would be a better queen than me because she still thinks I’m immature and Bella’s not immature, so she would be able to rule better than me.”

Pansy crossed her arms and pouted. She was glad that she didn’t have to be queen anymore, but at the same time, it was because she was immature. She didn’t want to be immature anymore, she wanted to prove that she could be mature! Like Nicky and like Bella. But she wasn’t. Now they weren’t going to have any queens because she was immature and Bella had run away.

“We have to find her, Nicky. Please?” Pansy looked over at him and pouted.

"I’m not sure she wants to be found, Pansy,” Nicky sighed. “She ran away for a reason, and I don’t think forcing her to come back is the answer.”

Pansy looked up and pouted. “But, Nicky-”

“But, nothing. If she ran away, she did it for a reason. She never belonged here, Pansy. She’s a rebel. If she ran away, then I say she can stay wherever she ran to.”

Pansy jumped off the table and glared at him. “But Nicky, she needs our help!”

“Uh, no, she doesn’t! She can take care of herself, Pansy!”

“You’re a bad friend!” Pansy pouted and crossed her arms.

“To you or her? I was never friends with Arabella, Pansy. I kept her around because… Well…” Because she meant something to Pansy, and Nicky couldn’t bear to let Pansy down. That was why.

“Because why, Nicky?” Pansy looked over at him, tears in her eyes. “Why help her then, but not now?”

“Because she’s not helpless anymore, Pansy. She didn’t do anything to warrant being in jail, so I gave her a different option. I helped her, like you said. But she ran away, and that’s her choice. I’m not going to hunt her down, not when she doesn’t want to be found.”

“Fine then, I’ll go find her on my own!” Pansy shouted, running from the room. Nicky stood up and called out after her.

“No, wait, Pansy, it’s too dangerous for you out there! You can’t go alone! Pansy, get back here!”

But she was already gone.

Nicky cursed and took off after her. She made it three feet away from his office before he caught up to her and grabbed her arm. “Pansy, no. You’re not going out after yourself.”

Pansy looked up at him, then pulled her arm away and huffed. “I’m going to look for her, and that’s that.”

“No, Pansy, wait…” Nicky thought for a moment, trying to figure out a way that would get her to see reason. Then he figured something out, and turned to her. “Lola knows about her, right? She wants her to become queen instead of you, right?”

Pansy nodded a bit hesitantly. She wasn’t sure where Nicky was going with this, and that confused her.

“So ask Lola for help! She can send her guards out and find Arabella a lot easier than you can.”

Pansy thought for a moment, and Nicky hoped she would consider it. He didn’t want to risk her going out and getting hurt, or lost, or something else that was inevitable. Even if he was with her, there was a huge chance of her getting hurt.

“Alright,” Pansy nodded eventually. “I’ll ask mum. But if she says no, then I’m going after her.”

Nicky let out a breath of relief and nodded. “Deal.”

He figured he wouldn’t have to worry about Lola. If she wanted Arabella, she would find her. If she was as serious about this as Pansy had said, then she would find her and Pansy wouldn’t have to put herself in any danger.

 

[mynewestobsessionisnthealthy]

Chapter 22
“Mum!” Pansy called, stepping off onto the floor of Lola’s office. She faced the familiar sitting room with the large windows and the two doors on either side of her. She went to the door on the right, which was her mum’s office. The door on the left was the hall of fame. Pansy didn’t like that room, it made her sad to think of all her sisters she never got to meet.

She knocked on the door, then waited for a reply. She never barged into her mum’s room, she knew that would just get her in trouble. But she knew her mum wouldn’t appreciate her barging in on her. So she kept waiting, but no response came.

Pansy groaned, unsure of where else her mum would be. She could be anywhere, but if she wasn’t in her office then it was really hard to find her.

“Mum!” she yelled, hoping that would make her spawn in front of her.

It didn’t, and Pansy went to the other side of the room and stood in front of the door leading to the hall of fame. If her mum wasn’t in there, then she was going to give up. Searching the big castle for someone was useless, as you would probably never find them.

She opened the door and stepped inside the hall. The faces of her older sisters looked down at her, and she shuddered. She didn’t like looking at pictures of the dead, either. That freaked her out, and was another reason she didn’t like the hall of fame.

She looked at the ground and made her way down the hall. She’d occasionally glance up to see if her mum was anywhere, but when the attempt failed, she’d look back down.

She got to the end of the hallway and stopped at the last photograph, which was of her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about being the one who took up the last space for photos. It felt like a bad omen.

She was about to turn around and go back when something caught her eye. A glint of gold, out of the corner of her eye. She flipped around to where she had seen it, but saw nothing but the blank wall, signaling the end of the hall.

She sighed and turned around when she saw the glint again. This time, she knew it was coming from that wall at the end of the hall. She walked up to it and studied it, unsure of what she was looking for. She didn’t even know if she had truly seen something, or if it had been an act of her imagination.

She touched the wall, unsurprised when it felt like a normal wall. There was nothing special about it. It was just a wall.

But she had nothing better to do than investigate a wall, so she knocked on it, surprised when it sounded hollow. She put her ear to it and knocked again. Sure enough, it was hollow.

She stepped away from it and stared at it, unsure of how to feel about that. Was there something hidden behind it? If so, what?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that it was logical that something would be back there. After all, this was one of the largest floors of the castle and there was no way all that space had been used up by a small office, sitting room and a long hallway.

There was a room behind the hallway.

Pansy kicked at the wall with all her might, hoping to break it open and get into whatever was on the other side. Instead, all she did was stub her toe.

“Ow!” she shook her foot, hoping that would make the pain go away. It didn’t, but she didn’t have time to dwell on a hurt foot. She needed to find Arabella. Which meant she needed to find some way to get behind the wall.

She thought about the glint of gold she’d seen earlier, wondering if that had been real. Was it some kind of hidden lever? Door handle? Latch? Something that could help her get to the other side of the wall?

She sat down and studied the room around her, looking for anything gold. Finally, she spotted it: a gold smudge on the wall, right by her head. It was tiny, but it was bright when the light hit it just right.

She rubbed at the spot, then started peeling off the paint on it. After a few minutes of working, she revealed a small, smooth gold plate with the imprint of a hand on it.

She stood up and studied the small square, then put her hand on the imprint. Her hand was half the size of the print, but as soon as her hand touched the thing it glowed green. She yelped and stepped backwards, watching as a section of the wall slid open to reveal another hallway that led to the area next to the hallway. The one that was hidden from the public.

Lola’s secret room.

Pansy held her breath as she walked into the hallway. It was a nice hallway, with enough lanterns to illuminate the path forward, a wallpaper with flower patterns and a soft carpet on the floor. Although it was devoid of decorations beyond that, it led straight to the room Pansy was looking for.

The door slid shut behind her, and she jumped. But when she saw the glint of the gold plate, she relaxed. If that was there, then she had a way out.

So with that thought in mind, she made her way forward, towards the secret room.

There was no door. The hallway led right to a large room. It was a very open, bright room with light purple walls and marble floors. But it was without windows, which was the first startling thing about it. The second was what was inside of it.

Long, black tables held piles of books, papers and pens. Under the tables were lots of pots with several types of flowers in them. Each flower had an unnatural glow to them, and they all swayed in rhythm to a melody only they could hear.

At the end of the room was a giant mirror, with more of these flowers wrapped around it. On either side of the mirror were two photographs. On the right was a man who had probably been very handsome at some point, but his eyes had been crossed out with two large Xs and he had faded to an ugly blue and gray color scheme.

The second photo on the left had the same creepy qualities of the first. Xed out eyes, faded, dull colors. The only difference was that this photo was of a woman.

Standing in front of the mirror was Lola and Sunny, having some sort of heated discussion. Neither of them saw Pansy enter the room, so she quickly dove behind a table and hid there to watch them converse.

“Mum, she’s not ready yet!” Sunny said, waving her hands around to try and prove her point. “She’s barely sixteen. Every other queen had to be eighteen before they were crowned. Even then, I doubt Pansy would be any more ready at eighteen than she is now.”

Pansy froze as she watched them. Were they talking about her? Were they going to crown her now? Why? Sunny still had two years left on the throne! Pansy wasn’t ready to give up her chance at freedom. And what had happened to Arabella taking the throne instead?

She huffed and crossed her arms as she listened to them talk.

“No, I don’t think Pansy will ever be ready,” Lola said. “I’ve had a change of plans. I found someone new to take the throne.”

“What? Who?” Sunny ran a hand through her hair. “I thought you said that only-”

“Someone of our bloodline could take the throne,” Lola finished. “Yes, I did. And I found one.”

“Who?”

"Azalea’s daughter.”

Sunny gasped and stepped backwards. “No, mum. Don’t drag her into this. You have no idea what her father will do-”

“Oh, I know exactly what her father will do. And I will use that against him. I bet that 24 hours after the coronation, the resistance will be no more.”

Pansy scrunched her nose, wondering how they were going to do that. Destroy the resistance in the day, using only Arabella? Did she have some sort of secret weapon or something that could destroy people at will?

“If you do that, you’ll only prove him right,” Sunny warned.

“Please. He’s leading a resistance against my government. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Negotiate?” Sunny offered. Lola just laughed.

“Oh, darling, that’s never going to work! Jett is too much of a wild card. We take him out, we take out everyone underneath him.”

Pansy’s eyes widened. She had merely thought Arabella had been a regular member of the resistance. But she was the daughter of the rebel’s leader. She wondered if Nicky knew, but decided he didn’t. If he had known, he’d never have let Arabella into the castle.

“And what about me? If you put her on the throne, what will I do?” Sunny asked, fidgeting with her yellow dress. Lola turned to her and thought for a moment.

“What will you do? Well, you will do absolutely nothing. Your time to be queen has ended early, my darling girl. By tomorrow, we’ll have Azalea’s daughter. Her coronation will be held next week. So, I don’t think I need you anymore, do I?”

Still hiding under the table, Pansy grinned. She was already looking for Bella! That was amazing! Then her grin fell. Bella hadn’t wanted to be queen, yet they were coronating her anyway? Why?

Then she realized what Lola had just said. ‘I don’t think I need you anymore, do I?’

She was talking about Sunny.

Pansy looked up in time to see Lola jab Sunny in the neck with a needle. She injected Sunny with a green liquid, though Pansy wasn’t sure what it was. Then Sunny fell to the ground, but before she hit it, she turned into a sunflower.

Lola picked it up and tied it to the mirror, next to the other flowers.

Flowers that had belonged to every other queen of Virelia, Pansy realized. She studied the mirror, realizing that it went in a circle. A violet, rose and petunia for the first three queens, starting at the bottom of the mirror. Then a sunflower, tiger lily and poppy closed it. There was only room for one more flower.

Enough room for a pansy.

She gasped and stood up, knocking over the table. Lola turned around, eyes wide as she watched Pansy run off.

“I was hoping to keep you for a little longer, too…” she sighed and shook her head, then grabbed another needle. But Pansy was long gone. She sat down and smiled, holding the needle in front of her. “Oh, dear, you can run and hide, but I’ll always find you.”