Sacrifice for a Wish

Chapter 8

Wonderland Castle looked like something out of a fairy tale. Guards stood tall at the gate. There was a small man with cotton candy pink hair and mustache and beard, he was about 4 foot eight or nine.

"Invitation, please, madame," he spoke, and I could detect a thick Scottish accent.

"Are you a leprechaun?" The words burst from my mouth before I could pull them back, but I was incredibly intrigued, something about him just screamed leprechaun.

"Well, that is what my mother and father were, and my grandparents. So yes, I'm a leprechaun. It's not like you haven't met one of my kind before," he winked at me.

"We're not from around here," I told him. With these words he looked down at the invitation and scanned it. His eyes came up slowly and his eyes grew bigger than his face.

The leprechaun waved over a young man who wore a green tunic with a bow and quiver strapped to his back. He had some hairy pants on, and instead of shoes he wore these contraptions that made him look like he was wearing hooves. The leprechaun whispered something in his ear and the young man glanced up shocked. He trotted off to do the bidding of the leprechaun and I realized that they weren't contraptions on his feet, they were his feet.

My mouth dropped open, and Phoenix leaned over and whispered, "you should close your mouth, something might fly in!"

The line was starting to grow behind us, and the people in the line started to grumble, wondering what the holdup was. The leprechaun paid it no attention.

"Your highness, I am Sir Rupert Sweeny Brew-Stout," the short of stature man said as he bowed to our group. A few others in ear shot also bowed. I was starting to get nervous, and my hands started to flap.

My mom took a step up to me, and whispered in my ear, "Wren take a deep breath, you got this."

I took a deep breath; I practiced my breathing the way Fala and I did in my room with just the two of us. A calmness washed over me, and I put my hands back down.

"It's very nice to meet you Mr. Brew Stout," I told the leprechaun and gave him a small smile.

"Please your highness, you may call me Rupert," he said softly. There was a warm look on his face that I was not prepared for. It was almost like he thought of me as a great friend.

"Rupert, thank you, my name is Wren. These are my parents, Anne, and Coach," I stuttered. What if he thought it was weird that I called my father Coach? "I mean Drake. And these are my friends, Phoenix, Stone, Saint and the twins Luck and Legend. Thank you for the invitation."

I had no idea what to call the Lost Boys besides friends, it felt a bit off since that's not all they were. They were so much more to me then friends but now was not the time to be asking what they wanted as their title to our relationship, we had much bigger things on our plates.

"Her majesty will be delighted to meet you. You may follow Buttercup inside, and you will be announced," Sir Rupert smiled. His smile was so big you could even see several teeth that had gold caps on them. I attempted to curtsey the way Mika had shown me, to Rupert, and turned to follow Buttercup.

At first, I thought Buttercup was a young woman in a fairy costume for the ball until I realized that not only did her green and gold wings move of their own accord but that she was also floating a few inches off the ground. She was quite lovely with pale blonde hair that looked like it had strands of gold thread woven into it. She wore a green and gold ball gown that sparkled when she moved.

"Do you see that?" I whispered to Stone who stood on my left while Phoenix occupied my right side.

"I'm not sure what I'm seeing to be honest, Little Bird," Stone whispered back to me, but he didn't take his eyes off the slender fairy in front of us. A bite of jealousy sunk it's teeth into me and I concentrated on my breathing.

We entered the main hall that was decorated for the ball. There were flowers everywhere and small twinkling lights hovered in the air, when I tried to touch one it moved from my finger. It startled me so much that I jumped back and bumped into a tall man with long green hair. He was slender and strong.

"Excuse me," he said as he caught me from falling. His eyes met mine, and I could see they were green but not like any green I had ever seen before. They were a bright emerald green; it wasn't the color that fascinated me but the fact that they looked like they were on fire from the inside.

Stone was by my sides in moments and pulling me from the green haired man.

"I meant no disrespect, I will see you inside Princess," he laughed and then sauntered into the room and up to the dais where four other men stood and talked, sipping from glass flutes filled with some bubbly beverage.

As we walked in, a tall thin man with this wacky mega horn around his neck would politely ask your name, he would then call it out for everyone to hear. It seemed like an exhausting way to learn people's names, but it wasn't my party. Coach escorted my mom inside as they called their names, "Lady Anne Blake of Weverland, escorted by Sir Drake Brigand of Weverland."

People continued to talk and sip champagne. A few people stopped and turned towards my parents, bowing their heads in respect.

Our turn was next and when I told him my name, he bowed to me, and called me 'your highness.' I was very confused why these people thought I was royalty. When they called our names, he used the name on the invitation instead of the one I gave him, "Her highness Princess Wren Opal Morgana, escorted by Sir Phoenix Wild, Sir Stone Brady, Sir Sebastian Roman, Sir Luck and Sir Legend Riley."

Everything in the room stopped. Every head turned to see the Princess Wren Opal Morgana. Except there was no Princess Wren Opal Morgana, there was just me. I did the only thing I could think of, I held my head up high and walked into the room full of strangers to get the answers that I was searching for.

Clapping started and it grew until the room roared with it. I wanted to put my hands over my ears, but I also didn't want to embarrass my family. The noise grew and grew, once we were at the bottom of the steps we were surrounded. People came up and introduced themselves, executing small bows and curtseys. A few young men started to get more presumptuous, and the Lost Boys were soon pushed out of the way. A man touched my arm and I let out a yelp, almost jumped out of my skin.

Thinking I was hurt, another man, put his hand on my arm to lend comfort or support and that was it. My hands came up and started flapping. My body rocked back and forth, and tears streamed down my face ruining all the hard work that Mika had put into my hair, make up and costume. The noises that were coming out of my mouth sounded like a small bird that was dying.

I heard shouting coming from all around me, and before I started screaming my Lost Boys were standing around me. They created a barrier so that these people I didn't know would stop touching me. Stone lifted me in his large arms and whisked out of the great hall. When I opened my eyes, I realized we were following the strange green haired man we had spoken to earlier.

The green haired man opened French doors and we filed into the room. A woman sat with her back to us at a large ornate white vanity and applied powder to her nose while checking her progress in the mirror attached to the vanity.

I glanced at the mirror to see the face of the woman sitting there and the breath in my lungs got stuck. The woman sitting at the vanity, in front of me, was me. The more I stared the harder it was for me to breathe. My breathing finally resumed but it came faster then it should have. Without even realizing I had started, I was hyperventilating.