Twisted Tales

A Fashion Faux Pas

I drew my hands away, getting ready to grab the hem of De Leon's skirt.

But she had the point of the wand dig into her rib when I put pressure on it, and before I could make my move, she suddenly drew away from me, fear and suspicion flashing in her eyes.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Just getting this side," I insisted, scooting closer to her on my knees, my heart beating a little faster.

"There's no stain on that side, there was no reason to be touching me there!"
I kept a smile on my face, but I could feel it growing more forced. "I'm just trying to help. Look how much better the stain already is, I just need to get a little more—"
"I don't need your help, I can do it myself now." Lady De Leon swept past me, giving me a wide berth, and she began backing away towards the door, without taking her eyes off of me. Her hand flew to her left side, almost unconsciously, and rested against her waist. "Thank you for your help," she said stiffly. "I hope—for your sake—that our paths do not cross again."
And then she pushed the door open, hurrying back out into the ballroom even as I struggled to my feet.
She was already out of sight by the time I followed her into the ballroom and I swore, spinning on the spot, searching in vain for a glimpse of her through the throng.
Erik caught me by the arm, his brow furrowed in concern. "What happened? I was nearly knocked flat when that door was thrown open, and the next thing I know, I see De Leon rushing off. Did you get it? Did you get the wand?"
I groaned. "No, I didn't get it! But I felt it, I know she has it on her. It's under her dress, on her left side. She got spooked when I touched it and took off. Damn, damn, damn! She's not going to let me get close to her again!"

"Jack or I could—" Erik began, but I shook my head before he even finished.

"She knows you're with me, remember? She'll be just as suspicious of either of you approach her."
Jack had noticed that neither Erik nor I had gone sprinting for the castle doors as had been the plan, and he came over find us.

"What's going on? Did it not work?"

"No."
"What now, then?"

"We could tell one of a guards she has a weapon, that she was making threats to the prince because he refused to chose her daughters," I suggested tentatively. "They might frisk her, take the wand, and then—"

"And then we'd have to find a way to get the wand from a bunch of armed guard instead of an unarmed middle aged lady," Erik finished for me. "And she might decided to use the wand against them, if she felt like she was in danger of losing it. God knows what damage she'd do."

"Well, what else then?" I demanded.

"Plan C?" Erik suggested, hopefully. "Jump them in the garden?"
"Too risky," I replied. "We'll never get one of the stepdaughters to come with us now that they've seen us, and the gardens aren't as deserted as we'd thought they'd be. If someone sees us..."
"Uh, guys?" Jack interrupted us, and we both turned to look at him. He was frowning up at the huge, ornate cuckoo (a classy one with little people that came out and rang bells with hammers, not the cheesy kind with the bird) clock that hung above the royal thrones, and our gazes followed his.
"What?" My mouth dropped open. "What the hell?! It's already eleven? When did that happen! I swear to God, it was only nine-thirty like, ten minutes ago!"
"This is taking longer than we thought it would," Erik said grimly. "We don't have time to try a half a dozen random plans in the hopes that we'll get lucky with one. We need to act, now."
"Maybe we could just grab the stepmother, hold her down, take the wand, and run?" Jack suggested, but without much conviction.
"And get ourselves arrested? There's a dozen guards stationed all over this room, no way."

"We don't even know where she went, and I doubt she'd let us get close to her again."

"It doesn't matter—we have to find her, we don't have any other choice." I started looking around, hoping to spot her somewhere in the crowd.