Glass Slippers [1st Draft]

4. Pranks (Part Two)

Chapter Four (Part Two)

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"Get them off, get them off, get them off!" The Corden family awoke early the next morning to the sound of screeching and unbearably high-pitched yelps. Dashing into the upstairs hallway, Clara was dismayed to see Estella and Edina both covered from head to foot in tiny black bugs.

The dread she'd felt the day before resurfaced.

"What are they? How did they get in their beds?" Linette asked, her voice panicked as she tried to get them off of her daughters, only succeeding in giving them unhelpful slaps that didn't really help at all.

"They look like some kind of ant . . ." Clara's father said, trailing off.

"But where did they come from?" Linette demanded, but Clara's father just looked at her helplessly.

"I'm not sure; I've never seen any inside before! Though it has been an unusually warm summer," he said by way of explanation. "Perhaps they flew in through the window?" But while her father had no idea how the bugs found themselves in Estella and Edina's room, Clara had a hunch. A hunch that turned to a certainty when she saw two pairs of small feet, both barefoot and dirt-covered, peeking out from under some of the window curtains in the hallway.

Clara's eyes widened. Oh no.

"Flew in? They don't have wings, Samuel! Surely, they couldn't have crawled!" Linette's protests served as an adequate distraction, allowing Clara to walk closer to the curtains. She put a hand out, smoothing the white fabric over the feet, hiding them from sight.

The curtains trembled, and Clara pushed away a glare. If her step-family saw her glaring at the curtains, they might just out two and two together and discover why. She moved away from her sisters' hiding place and joined the conversation.

"Maybe they'd been living in the walls?" Clara suggested, coming up to her two step-sisters. She brushed some of the bugs off of them, ignoring the scowl she got from Edina and the thankful glance she got from Estella. The former jerked away from her, while the latter let her help. "I've never seen such bugs before, not even in the garden."

That was a lie. She'd seen them in the garden just two days ago, but Linette didn't need to know that.

"I suppose it's possible," Linette bit out, her jaw clenched. Clara nodded, continuing with helping Estella. The other girl smiled at her gratefully, and even assisted Clara with shaking some of the bugs out of Clara's nightgown as some of them had crawled to her.

"It could be," Clara agreed, all the while praying that no one would look further into the matter. As long as nothing else happened, maybe this would blow over. "At least they don't bite."

That was the wrong thing to say. Edina and Linette gasped and Estella frowned and began shaking the bugs off of herself faster.

"Mother, what if they give us diseases? What if the diseases make us ugly?" Edina's voice cracked at the end, and Clara contained the urge to roll her eyes.

Thankfully, at that moment, Mrs. Landon came and ushered the two other maids into Edina and Estella's rooms while patiently comforting Edina, and Clara made her excuses.

Once most of her family left to either get rid of the bugs or comfort the still squawking Edina, she walked towards the curtains and threw them open with a swish. Behind the curtains stood two wide-eyed girls, both covered from head to foot in dirt.

"Really, Harriet, really? Did you have to torment your new sisters?" Clara said, ushering them quickly into her own room.

"How did you know it was me who came up with the idea?" Harriet asked, looking annoyed.

"You made the face."

"What face? I didn't make a face!"

"Yes, you did,"Clara said, standing them in front of her wardrobe. She motioned for them to sit on the blanket she was laying down. "I am going to go get some water and a cloth to clean you two up. Do not move an inch until I come back. I expect an explanation," she said, and both girls nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Once she returned with the bowl of water and a couple of washrags, Clara set to work, cleaning them up as best as possible. It was very quiet in the room, and she had a feeling that the girls at least accepted that what they did wasn't the right way to go about it.

"Harriet," she said, finally putting the last washcloth back into the bowl now filled with murky water. "Did you put bugs in their beds to get back at them for their comments?"

"Yes."

"You are not denying it?"

"Would there be a point?" Harriet asked while Clara stared at her in shock. Harriet had often been blunt but she'd never so readily accepted the blame for something, even if she did do it.

"No, I suppose not," Clara replied. "But it was still wrong to do. Their comments were mean, but that doesn't mean they deserved this." Harriet scowled in answer. "Please don't do this again. I might not be able to help you next time."

Harriet nodded once before getting up from the floor and heading towards the door with an angered flounce of her red curls.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed," Harriet answered, leaving Clara's room with a snap of the door and a very confused older sister behind with her younger one.

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6/24/17: For those of you wondering why there was an update, I broke chapter four into three separate parts and then added more to them. It just felt like they could be on their own since each part depicts a different prank. In the original draft they were all put together into one chapter, making for some awkward time jumps.

About half of this chapter is new material with descriptions and added details that I'll be continuing to add to in order to make certain things more believable in the future of the book.

Which is nice, because that means one of the plot holes will be fixed. Yay!