I was sick to my stomach as I continued to read the letter Lupo had given Mia. I should have known he would do something like this if he grew any suspicion that she might not arrive back. He was playing with her emotions so, even if I tried to take her away, she would find a way for them to reunite; that conniving little bastard. I heard her thinking ‘Mrs. Povlo’ I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and want to beat that ass hole up. But then I heard her subconsciously thinking ‘Mrs. Shrock’ I was surprised. Wasn’t that that kid on earth’s name? I pulled out the drawing while she was sleeping and looked at it. That defiantly looked like the legendary Sky Parson, the divine being that fought hundreds of thousands of wars including the legendary war of Doklock; not some teenage boy from earth. I continued to stare at it for a while until Mia woke up. She yawned like a puppy dog and stared at me with bleary eyes “Jessica… Are we there yet?” I looked outside the window and saw the gates of that retched place coming closer and closer into view, sighed and nodded ‘Yes Mi-err-’ I wasn’t sure if she liked being called her human name or her real name; so I went with the one she knew longest. ‘Audrey. You can see the gates from here.’ She looked at the gates and immediately woke up, smiling, ready to see her home. I just hoped she knew what she was getting herself into. The subtrain stopped at the usual place, I nodded my thanks, while Mia exclaimed “Thank you so much sir.” Bowed to him then ran to catch up with me. We walked in, looking casual. I smiled at Mia running to every shop and talking to all of the people there. They, of course, bowed to me, which always pissed me off, even when I was little. They should not have to bow to me. Mia thought ‘Jessica, I cannot believe this place; it’s like nothing I have ever seen before!’ I could tell she was happy but I saw that everyone was thinking ‘There’s the… weird princess.’ ‘Who’s the girl with the princess?’ ‘Is the poor thing her servant?’ I tried to keep my temper down but hearing them think she was a servant was annoying me. I always enjoyed walking downtown, where all of the ‘crime’ slept. There isn’t really any crime down here besides graffiti, a few eggings, and some theft, it’s nothing like most planets because only the idiots or desperate people do these, and 99% of the crimes are thefts. I smiled as I saw, Antonio Sarglet, he was one of the few people here I did not hate in this planet. He came out smiling “Hello Madam. It is good to see you again. And who is this sweet little lady?” Mia blushed bright red and bowed to him “I-I’m Au-err- Mia sir.” He gaped at me “Holy shit. You actually found her.” He bowed to her “My highness, it is an honor to be in your presence.” She had no idea what to do, I could tell. Being the polite girl she is, she said “Oh! Thanks, I-” before she could finish I slapped his chest into the upright position. “Don’t. Draw attention to her. I’m keeping her under wraps.” He stared at her, eyes shining; He has been praying for me to find her every day and now he got his wish and was meeting her in person. For him, this was the best day ever. He kissed her hands, I looked and to my surprise she was not wearing the ring Lupo gave her. She smiled, dainty and gentle, like the perfect princess. This is going to be much harder than I thought. I looked at the palace, dreading that we had to eventually go visit. They talked about her past life for a little while before she bowed to him again “Well sir, I think Jessica wants to go.” He bowed to her and shook my hand “Well you’re in safe hands Madam Mia. Stick close to her, she’ll always protect you. I know it.” She smiled “I defiantly will sir!” grabbed my hand and drug me away. She was so excited to see everything but after an hour, her stomach roared. Mia blushed and I took her up to the castle. We couldn’t put off going to the hell on Mishnia any longer. I drug her to the castle, and she gasped; I heard her say to me ‘Jess… this place is… home?’ I nodded ‘Unfortunately.’ She frowned at my ‘pessimistic attitude’ but I shrugged ‘you’ll see what I mean Mia.’ Damn it. I called her Mia again. Captain William Eastcote I hopped down from his post and halted us at the gate; his chestnut colored hair shining in the sunlight, his arrogant smirk where it usually resided, his black eyes, cold and heartless. Willy looked down on us, as he always did to everyone, excluding the ‘real royalty’ which did not include me and spoke as though we were deaf slaves “Name and reason for being here.” I rolled my eyes and yelled, pretending he was deaf as well “I am Princess Jessica and I am here to visit my damned family.” Mia jabbed her elbow into my side and pointed to the little boy following his father. He was a sweet little boy, looked exactly like his father except he always had a sweet little smile on his face and his eyes were the color of honey, he was about seven years old and was smarter than his father. Willy yelled at his son “William! Come to my side.” Mia frowned as the Willian Eastcote II ran to his father’s side. I continued to yell at the boy’s father “Let me in Willy!” I hit a nerve. He hated being called ‘Willy’ and since he was an arrogant prick, I thought why not piss him off every opportunity I get. “My name is not ‘Willy’! It is Captain William James Eastcote the first!” William spoke up “I don’t mind being called ‘Willy’ Your highness.” And he bowed to me. His father slapped the back of his head “William! You do not let anyone call you ‘Willy’ ever.” He shook “Y-y-yes s-sir.” Mia walked up to the Captain and slapped him across the face. “You should be a role model to your son; not a disgrace!” I smiled; Mia had a clear head on her shoulders. She was giving him a glare that scared even me. He spoke down to her “Who do you think you are, slapping the Captain of the Mistnian Guards?!” she spoke, royalty flowing in her voice “I am your Princess, Mia Audreya Malloy.” He shook and bowed at her feet and started to kiss her shoes. I was torn between being horrified, that she was telling everyone that she was the missing Princess and entertained, that she was making that moron wallow in the mud kissing her feet. I could not help but laugh, seeing him suck up to her. Little Willy went to do the same but she shook her head. He smiled at her and she grinned at him. Mia then removed her shoes from the captain’s mouth and ‘accidently’ let his face fall into the mud. I busted out laughing. She apologized, sarcasm hidden in her voice “I am terribly sorry; but if you do not mind, would you open the gate and allow me entrance.” He scrambled up and opened the gate for us. I couldn’t help but smirk that he was getting a taste of his own medicine.
As we walked through the gates Mia was blabbering about how amazing everything looked, to me, this was the palace. We entered the hedge maze, which was there for security as well as beauty. I thought it was pointless to make it a security feature because; any divine being can use their powers to either figure out where the right exit was or slice through the maze, but it was beautiful none the less. The maze is thirty feet tall, covered in all sorts of flowers of every shape and color, was narrow, had many sharp turns, and forks in the road. I lead Mia through it, scanning the area for anyone else there. I stopped turned to Mia and asked ‘Can you change into your normal form?’ She blinked, perplexed ‘Normal… form…?’ I sighed. Great, she doesn’t even know how to change. I changed back her myself. Her hair shortened now hitting the middle of her back, now blood red, her eyes now sea blue, she grew slightly taller, her chest grew, and she apparently had perfect sight now because she took those things humans use to see with, I think they are called contacts, out of her eyes. She looked at herself, surprised ‘Woah. That’s strange; I never knew I had a disguise on.’ I smiled and continued to lead her out of the maze when I heard… her thoughts. ‘Ugh, so much to do, so little time. I wonder if I can get a pedicure in today. If I ever see Jessica again, I swear, I will kill her with my-’ She turned the corner and it was her… Sarah Alina Malloy. She is my littler sister. She is twenty-six years old and obsessed with our family being respected, pristine royalty, and the color pink. She is 5’6”, has bright pink hair, pulled into a bun, her eyes bright yellow, she was wearing all pink as usual. She looked up from her pink clipboard and seemed very scared and annoyed to see me. She spoke, venom weaved throughout her words; sounding pristine as usual “Jessica.” I replied, with the same venom in my voice “Sarah.” She stared at Mia and nodded towards her “Who is this? Humans are not allowed in the vicinity.” I scoffed, figuring screw it, she might as well know since everyone else was being told. “This is Mia, not some human.” Sarah was genuinely shocked. “W-what?!” Mia slid slightly closer to me, scared. Honestly I do not blame her; even though Sarah is the most social and controls light, she is still the scariest of us all. She walk towards Mia and stared her in the eyes “Mia… It’s Sarah! It’s great to see you again! Do you remember me? Your favorite sister?” Mia blinked, not knowing what to say. I cut in “That’s bull. You know damned well she would scream in your face every time you got close to her. She liked me better than any of you people. That’s why we bonded as one.” Sarah glared at me, a glare that made everyone else in the palace shut up and follow her every command, but made me laugh. Mia said, voice shaking “I am sorry but I don’t remember you.” She hit a nerve. I laughed even harder, tears welling in my eyes. Sarah stood right in front of me then slapped my face. That was it. I was going to castrate that bitch. We started to fight then Annabelle and Fern came running towards us screaming in unison “Stop, stop, stop! You are ruining the flowers!” They always did that, they had a bond and were twins. I pinned Sarah to the ground with my powers and muttered “Sorry about that.” They smiled, pretending to be happy to see me, while they were really terrified. “Jessica! It’s great to see you again. We’ve missed you.” I rolled my eyes and replied “Good to see you too.” I looked around at the flowers, some of them wilted and others were black and lifeless from our fight. “Nice flowers.” They frowned seeing what happened to them. Annabelle tried to revive the wilted ones while Fern removed the dead ones, replacing them with new sprouts. They glared at Sarah and me and said in unison “Next time you want to fight, please don’t do it in our garden.” Annabelle had long dark sky blue wavy hair that hit her thighs, powder blue eyes, and was wearing a blue sun dress and was wearing a sun hat with a blue ribbon tied to the base; she was about 5’4”. Fern was her exact copy except she had forest green hair, it was pulled into a ponytail, lime green eyes. Fern was wearing almost the exact same outfit except her sun dress was green and her sun hat had a green ribbon wrapped around the base of it instead of a blue one. They never wore shoes, anything artificial and rarely ate any animals, wanting to be one with the earth, claiming the earth would care for them. Mia smiled at them “That is so amazing. You care for this garden your selves?” they nodded “Yes ma’m. This is our pride and joy.” Annabelle said “I am Princess Annabelle-” Fern continued “and I am Princess Fern!” then in unison they continued “It’s nice to meet you; what’s your name?” She smiled “My name is Mia. It’s nice to meet you both.” They looked at each other then back at her then tackled her saying “Mia! We missed you!” This time they meant it. I smiled at the three laughing. Sarah shrieked “Someone get me out of this bitch’s possession!” I rolled my eyes and let her go. Sarah scrambled up and ran; trying to get out of the maze as fast as she could. I rolled my eyes then continued to lead Mia to the castle. Of course Fern and Annabelle followed close behind, watering and caring for the flowers. We reached the doors; I opened them, and walked through the main hall, ignoring everyone trying to talk to me. I walked to the kitchen and the cook, whom hated me as well, looked into my eyes and pulled on his best fake smile, which might have fooled me if I didn’t know better. “Princess Jessica; it’s wonderful to see you again.” I heard his thoughts ‘I bet the little leach is back so the king and queen will give her more money to waste on-’ I stopped reading his mind, not wanting to listen to him bitching about something that was not true. I spoke, voice silk “Would you mind making two more plates for food? My friend and I are famished.” He sighed “Very well Princess Jessica.” “Thank you.” I turned to leave then said, voice calm and silky “Oh and by the way… I have never asked my parents for money. You are mistaking me for my sister Sarah. Goodbye.” And with that, I closed the door behind me. Mia looked at me. I smiled “We’ll be eating soon.” All of the girls grinned and Mia’s stomach growled it’s approval. With that we walked to the dining room.