Princess Jewel & Shadow

Chapter 2

I woke up on my sixteenth birthday. I was ready for new adventures with my best friend Hunter. Hunter is a guy I met about three years ago at a party. By this time I am always with him and I never leave the castle without him with me. I still love spending time with him, even if he is a year older than me.

Anyway, I jumped out of bed and started getting ready. I had had one of the maids pick out a beautiful forest green dress with gold trim, it was just short enough to not touch the ground, but no one could tell. When I finished brushing my hair there was a knock on my bedroom door. I put the brush down and ran to open the door. "Happy birthday, my beautiful girl!" my mother said. She's the queen, by the way, Queen Artemis. "Thanks, mother, I was just about to meet Hunter in the forest, " I said with a smile. My mother's smile faded a little at that. I never could figure out why my parents were always so overprotective.

My mother's smile returned, "That's fine dear, but first I have brought a gift from your father and me, I think you'll like it." She gave me a small round box, like a hat box. I took the box and asked, "What' s this?" I opened the box and there on a small round pillow sat a beautiful golden tiara, with green and purple gems set in it and at the very tip, as big as a quarter, was a glowing piece of emerald.

"It's beautiful," I said with a gasp. My mother 's smile got even bigger at that. She had long blonde hair like mine and the same blue eyes. She was beautiful in a way that never made me think of her as 'old.' But the most irritating thing about the two of us is that she was still an inch taller than me. I always had the urge to stand on my toes when I was next to her.

"Your father and I have been waiting for your sixteenth birthday to give this to you." Then she added, "He also had the miners dig out that emerald, then after it was dug out, it started to glow with magic. When it was made clear you had taken a liking to the color green." She said, nodding at my dress. "We knew it was for you, so your father had the craftsmen in the armory make that for you, and since it's magic, it will protect you." I smiled at my mother "Thank you, I love it!" then I paused to think about what she had just said. Did she just say I need protection? "Although I don't think I need much protection, I can hold my own," I said with a glint in my eyes. "Yes, I know with your magic and all, but you're not the only one with magical powers in this world." I kind of just rolled my eyes a little, "I know that it's just I don't think I know anyone other than Hunter and me with magic powers."

When I was ten, I discovered my ability to talk to animals, control plants and well I'll just say my powers are all nature related. That is why I always have liked the color green, and why my time spent with Hunter was always in the forest, where my powers are the strongest. Hunter, on the other hand, can turn into any animal he wants to. This makes our adventures much more fun. He would come as a squirrel or maybe a bird and I would have to find him using my powers.

"Yes," said my mother, jarring me from my thoughts. "Well, you can never be too careful." She said as she walked into my bedroom, she opened my window curtains, which were also a leaf green. "That's better," she said, the sunlight filled the room and lit up the enchanted, purple walls. I love those walls, everything in my room, if not green, was purple. The walls were made out of pure amethyst, as were the rest of the castle walls. There were vines covering most of the walls, all of which were my own doing. There was a lot of potted plants, mostly flowers, the rest were just leaves, all of these plants I dug up myself, to my mother's great disapproval. "A princess should not play with dirt." She would always say, but I didn't care. Plus, I couldn't help it, I always felt stronger around nature, so naturally, I liked having plants near me at all times.

My mother walked over to my bed and started making it. I didn't mind this, but it did seem a little silly since one of the maids would do it anyway. My mother insisted on not having my furniture green or purple, so we made a compromise for me to have wood furniture, which was fine by me, as long as I got to decorate it the way I wanted. So my bed, dresser, the frame of my mirror, deck, and chair were all wood but had a lot of green vines that I had painted on them, and the occasional purple flower here and there.

"Honestly, why don't you clean your room more?"My mother said though she was mostly talking to herself. I look around my room, it wasn't that bad, the only things out of place were the drawings I had done in the middle of the night, after that nightmare. No, don't think about it. I told myself. For the last few nights, my dreams had been getting worse. I walked over to my desk and looked at the pictures I had drawn that night. They were pictures of a young man if I had to guess he was about my age. He had black hair, at least in my dreams it looked black. My dreams were always in a dark place. He had dark brown eyes, like chocolate, and he was tan. I couldn't explain it, but it was like the guy in my dreams and me, were connected.

My mother started looking over my shoulder, "Who is he?" she asked me. "I don't know. I had a dream about him. But I have never seen him before." I thought about saying more but decided against it. It would just worry her even more, she might not even let me see Hunter! No, I won't tell her, I decided. My mother looked at me, I could tell she knew I wasn't telling her everything, but she didn't press it. Which I was grateful for, I didn't think I could talk about it even if I wanted to. I sighed and looked away from my drawings.

"I better get going." I said, "Hunter will think something's wrong, or that I forgot." My mother nodded her head, "But first you must eat." She told me. I nodded at her to let her know that I understood. "Can I take it with me and some for Hunter too?" I asked carefully, not knowing what she would say. She sighed but nodded her head to tell me I could. I picked up my new tiara and put it on. "Thank you, see you in a bit," I said happily and hugged her. Little did I know that that would be the last time I hugged my mother for a very long time.

In the great hall, there was a long table covered in food. My parents had gone all out with the birthday cake. It was at least three layers, with green frosting, gold trim and purple flowers all over it. I looked over to see my father, smiling at me. "Do you like it?" he asked me. "It's beautiful! I love it!" I squealed.

"Your mother told me that you are going to meet Hunter in the forest." He said, still smiling. "Yeah, I was going to take some food with me on the go. I was also going to take some for Hunter too." "Alright," he said. He handed a basket and said, "Take as much as you like and make sure you take some cake, for you and Hunter. Okay." I nodded. "Good," he said as I took handfuls of bacon, a plate of eggs, four sausages, and a pile of toast and placed it all in my basket.

After I had packed my breakfast, my father gave me two slices of cake. I placed them gently in my basket, trying not to ruin the beautiful decorations, hugged my father and closed my basket. "See you later," I said as I left the castle, waving at my parents, they waved back.