"CAPTAIN, my horse." Kit stood on the staircase, watching the golden carriage ride off. The Grand Duke and Captain took their places beside him.
"No, this may be some trick to lure you from the palace. Your father needs you here." The Grand Duke said. Kit tried to hide his disappointment, but the Captain saw the little frown he had as he watched the Grand Duke walk off.
"Captain!" The Grand Duke called, but the Captain lingered.
"I was having a fine old time, and you had to go and choose that one, didn't you?" The Captain said, sarcasm in his voice, before following the Grand Duke.
Kit smiled to himself, watching the golden carriage grow smaller and smaller.
"Yes, I did."
♚
Bea sighed, resting her head on the carriage wall, two glass slippers in her grasp. The silence was broken by the rumble of the carriage wheels running over the ground, but yet it was still miserable.
The two glass slippers did anything but reassure her. It was a pointless souvenir now. And Bea regretted not leaving one for Kit.
But maybe he should forget her. Would that be what was best? Bea closed her eyes, listening to her beating heart and soaking in her memories with Kit.
However, the silence was interrupted. There was a stampede of hooves behind her. And then the twelve chimes of midnight started.
Bea gasped, poking her head out the window to see an army of men on horses pursuing her, Grand Duke leading. The white horses whined in protest, and Bea turned her head towards the front.
"Please hurry! We haven't got much time Mr. Goose!" Bea pleaded, the wind whipping her hair back.
In return, Mr. Goose whipped the rains, shouting at the horses. They whined in protest, the sound of hooves quicker against the damp earth. They had to escape as quickly as possible. The second toll warning that midnight was about to come rang out, and so quickly came the third.
The carriage neared a cliff, the ocean slamming against the rocks. The horses raced with all their might, yet the army of men never got smaller.
Bea had her head out the window, watching them. It made her nauseous of what would happen if they caught her. An army of soldiers to see the mystery princess had been a servant all along.
Bea closed her eyes, hoping a breathe of fresh air would help her. Then they neared the cliff, and the carriage tipped slightly.
Bea slammed into the carriage doors, her eyes snapping open to see the carriage hanging over the ocean. A yelp escaped her lips. The water sprouted as it slammed against the rocks. Bea wondered if that was what awaited her.
The carriage tipped back. Bea was thrown back into the carriage, back on the yellow velvet seat, gasping. The fourth toll of midnight rang out.
As they neared the clock tower, time became quicker than ever. The fifth strike of midnight rang out, followed quickly by the sixth and the seventh. Bea gasped for air, the carriage seemingly smaller.
"You there! Stop in the name of the King!" The Grand Duke called out. Bea panicked, poking her head out of the carriage window to see the soldiers still in pursuit. She had thought that they lost them, turns out that wasn't the case. The eighth toll of midnight rang out.
"Such bad timing." Bea groaned, looking out the window once more. Time was against them now, and there was nothing magic could do now. Yells came from the army of men as the golden carriage didn't stop, so they kept pursuing. The ninth toll of midnight rang out.
The magic started to fade.
Mr. Lizard's coat turned back into a tail, panic evident on his features. Yet as time was against them, magic seemed to help. The tenth toll of midnight rang out as Mr. Lizard stretched his tail out towards the lever that drew the iron fence, pulling it down at the last second.
The eleventh toll of midnight rang out, and the Grand Duke and his soldiers was stopped by a big iron gate.
Bea sighed in relief, having escaped the army. The final strike of midnight rang out, signaling the end of the magic.
Bea had her head out the window, looking at the army become smaller and smaller, till they were nowhere in sight. A wide smile grew on her face.
She turned to look ahead, shocked when she saw horses with large, mouse ears. The smile was wiped off her face. A gasp escaped her lips, and she then realized with horror that her magical night had to end.
"Oh dear!" Mr. Goose cried. Bea turned to look at him, horrified when his feet had turned to those of his true form, a goose, and his nose had turned into a beak.
Then she saw Mr. Lizard's hat fall off, revealing a scaly scalp with no hair and a tail reaching out to catch the hat. They were changing back to their true form.
She turned to Mr. Goose to see if he was still in control of the carriage. He was, yet his mouth and nose were gone, a beak in it's place. Mr. Goose let out a confused honk.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lizard was already gone, in his place a large lizard, bigger than the normal size, with Mr. Lizards coat on.
"Oh no." Bea gasped, feeling her hair-do unfurl, revealing the messy curls she had. Her heart was beating as fast as the carriage wheels turned and her breaths were more of gasps.
Bea turned to see one of the lizards clinging on to the carriage window, back to it's normal size. The oversized clothes flew off of the lizard, gone with the wind.
Former Mr. Lizard jumped into the carriage. Sir Lizard was on the other carriage window, a small hat flying off his head.
Bea scrambled over to the carriage window. What she saw was the beautiful, golden wheels had turned into bright green vines in the shape of wheels, leaves sprouting from them. Other vines replaced the gold details that Bea loved, leaves covering the surface of the golden carriage.
"No, no, no." Bea said as the carriage's, now vine, wheels disappeared, making the carriage hit a bump. The bump threw Bea back into the carriage against the seat.
Yet the carriage wasn't a carriage anymore. It was the inside of a pumpkin, seeds lining the walls. The carriage, more of a pumpkin, rocked again, making Bea inside it bounce around.
She heard the two neighs from horses outside the carriage stop, and Bea knew that those weren't horses anymore. They were mice again. The former horses, now mice, clung to the two horses in the front, who hadn't transformed yet.
The pumpkin grew smaller, the walls closing in on Bea. She let out a yelp. Then propped her arms on the walls of the pumpkin, trying to stop it from growing smaller and smaller with no luck.
The honk of a goose sounded outside, and Bea realized with horror that Mr. Goose was no more. He had turned back into a goose, which meant that no one was in control of the carriage.
The carriage swerved, Bea swaying in the pumpkin. The walls were growing smaller and smaller by the second. She still had her arms propped up against the walls to stop herself from getting thrown around.
The remaining horses turned back into mice, leaving a pumpkin on wheels. Vine wheels could only run so long. And eventually, the wheels broke, leaving only a tumbling pumpkin with Bea in it.
She was thrown around, hearing the large thuds everytime the pumpkin hit the ground. As if it wasn't enough, the pumpkin broke, shattering into pieces.
Bea screamed as she was launched into the air, falling on her belly with a gasp. She was met with cold damp ground, giving her an unpleasant shock.
The first priority was the glass slipper. Bea scrambled up, her feet sinking into the dirt on the side of road. Her beautiful dress had disappeared, leaving a dirtied, torn up, version of her mother's dress. A goose, two lizards, and four mice surrounded her, along with the pieces of the broken up pumpkin.
She let out a relieved laugh when she saw that both slippers were intact. Even if her dress, her carriage, and magic was gone, she was still glad to have a memory of Kit.
The girl set off towards the castle with a torn, dirtied up dress, no riches at all. Yet she had the most precious thing in her heart, happiness. Even the rain that started to fall couldn't faze her. She had danced with Kit, lived a dream.
So as she walked back towards the palace, her feet were in tune with the music that had played while she and Kit danced.
Getting back to the palace was easier than expected. She slipped past the royal guards, who had no doubt that she was a servant, considering what she was wearing. However, they seemed shocked by the smile on her face, and her small laughs as she twirled.
She hurried down the very steps she had made her grand entrance down, blending in with the crowd of assistants as they cleaned up the ballroom. No one seemed to notice the familiar face that had danced with the Prince. Perhaps it was the magic of the moment.
Bea gasped when shes saw Kit standing in the middle of the ballroom, a look of confusion and sadness on his face. It pained her to leave so soon, but she had to...right? Then Kit started to make his way towards her. Beas eyes widened in panic.
She whipped around, hiding her face. The suspense killed her. She heard the sound of his boots as he walked up the steps, towards his room perhaps. She watched him out of the corner of her eye with sadness. She wanted to run up to him, to look into his bright blue eyes and tell him that she was the mystery princess.
Except she wasn't. She was a poor, servant girl who shouldn't even be associating with the Prince. She should let him move on, find someone better than her.
Bea hurried down the steps, running off to the servant quarters. She had tucked the glass slippers in her hands, hiding them in the folds of her dress.
She hid them in the safest place she knew, the wardrobe where her mother's dress had been. The wardrobe looked lonely without it.
She spent all night mending it. And as it was done, she tucked in her wardrobe too. Now it held the memories of her night with the Prince.
She went to sleep with a haze of bliss, her moments with the Prince on repeat. She would have thought it was a dream, but was reminded of her wardrobe, and what lay in it.
Her dreams were filled with a flurry of color, the laughter and chatter of guests, a Prince Charming, and a dress made of magic.