This is Ours

Chapter 19

It had been so tense since Marlee and Natalie left. Elise never seemed to stop reading enough to engage in a conversation. Ashley seemed to always be staring out some window or chilling in her rooms. She's always stayed to herself but it had become too much lately. And Kriss...my old friend Kriss... We don't even speak anymore. Sometimes I try to say hi or wave or something, but she just looks away. Sometimes I catch her look guilty about it afterwards or see her send me a pleading glance, but she doesn't change anything. It's finally a competition and I'm starting to realize it. Unlike each other we can't ignore the fact that someone's going to win this any day now. And it can only be one of us.

Today is like...the final evaluation. It all comes down to this moment. They'll announce any day now who made it to the final 2. And then they'll be 1 last test and a choosing ceremony.

I knew there was no particular way for me to prepare myself for the tests. The Queen and Silvia always had completely bizarre tests that I could never seem to figure out how they were even tests. A lot of the time she didn't even tell us it was a test. It could become utterly confusing but I always seemed to do...okay. So I  wasn't worried. Kind of.

Today we were all gathered in the women's room sporting matching dresses. Simple knee length day dresses, each in a different color. Elise in preppy red. Ashley in a soft lavender. Kriss in a vibrant yellow. And me in a baby blue.

Queen Amberley and Silvia were no where to be found. The only thing in the room was a table with a stack of papers on it. Kriss slowly approached the table and hesitantly picked up one of the papers.

"It's directions!" She exclaimed, clearing her throat. "We've been asked to participate in a.......scavenger hunt! A list of items has been Provided. There are 2 copies each of 2 different lists. 1 list will go to two of the girls and the other will go to the others." I picked up the rest of the stack and handed a list to each person. "You can use any means necessary to find the items. All resources available at the palace are fair game, including maids and guards! Go!"

The girls each sprinted from the room already having looked at the list. I looked down at the first item expecting it to be some royal jewel that I could never find. But I was surprised.

It was a loaf of bread.

My brain immediately went into autopilot. My hands felt around the walls of the women's room until I came across the elevated part. I pressed it and the passage way opened. My maids had shown me them once. Each room of the palace had a secret passageway with two staircases. One lead to the royal safe room and the other was a short cut to the maids quarters and kitchen.

My heels clicked against cold stone as I dismounted the long staircase. For a place with so many floors you would think they'd have at least 1 elevator. But no. Just lots and lots of stairs. I reached the bottom quickly and followed the smell of food. It lead me to the empty kitchen.

My mind traveled to the bread recipe I used to use with my family and my hands followed dutifully, grabbing yeast and flower and all types of ingredients off the shelves. I noticed there were no actual loaves of bread on the shelves. I was mixing and tossing ingredients in a bowl a couple of minutes later when Kriss entered with a maid following behind her. She gave me a small smile before sitting down while the maid got to work. They did say you could use maids but I thought that was mean. Just because they were there didn't mean they were our personal servants.

I stuck the dough in the fridge to rise and looked for the next item. A basket for putting our findings in.

I rushed back up the way I came and into the women's room. Set up we're the 4 baskets. I grabbed the one with the blue ribbon inside it and rushed back down the stairs. I prepped the bread and shoved it into the oven, setting a mental clock for the correct time. I snatched the list from where I hid it in the Basket just in time to see a maid pull out the bread for Kriss. Kriss rushed I'm smiling.