Chương 6: I Can Change Things.

Ugh, it's so hot. I peeled the blanket off, grimacing as the fabric clung to my sticky legs. My hair's a mess, my skin's all sweaty, and dull throb pulses behind the eyes. And what with that horrible skeleton nightmare I had? I remembered it and shivered. What a horrid dream it was! Then I heard a voice from behind the door. It was Cinderella's voice. I froze.

"I'm sorry if Your Highness objects to an early breakfast," she said.

"It's certainly not my idea to feed you first. It's orders." Cinderella isn't here! She couldn't be! She is with the prince, getting married and such! And Lucifer? I glanced at the corner of the room, where the dying Lucifer had lain. Nothing. Not the cat, not the blankets, and not even the shattered mirror I broke yesterday! But how could it be? Did someone come to my room at night and clean it!? No… the mirror was still on the wall. And whole! Did someone clean it, AND replace it with an exact copy?

It couldn't be possible! But the weirdest thing of all was Cinderella. What is she doing here?! She… I don't understand! I walked out of my room and saw Cinderella with Lucifer in the corridor.

"Why are you here?!" I yelped at her, panic in my voice.

"You are not supposed to be!"

"Quiet," she shushed me, and whispered, "You will wake Stepmother. I'm to call Lucifer for an early meal! Stepmother's orders."

"Lucifer!" I repeated, and looked at him.

"You are alive and well!" I felt him, his head, his stomach. He hissed at me.

"But how?! I don't understand! What is this!?" I turned to Cinderella and snapped, "Why aren't you with the prince!?"

"Drizella," Cinderella turned to look at me angrily, "Is this some joke you find funny? I have many chores to attend to, please leave me be." She turned to walk away, but I caught her hand, turning her back to me.

"The Ball!" I said.

"The prince, you…"

"Let me go!" She pulled her hand free.

"Have you gone mad!?" And she just walked off, Lucifer trailing closely at her heels.

"Just tell me this," I shouted after her, "have you been cleaning my room? At night?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Drizella," said Cinderella in annoyance.

"Why should I do that, exactly? Am I wanting more chores on my plate!?" That was… so weird. Like she didn't remember anything that happened. Was she lying about cleaning my room? Why would she clean it at night anyway? And how did Lucifer miraculously look so well? It was like everything from yesterday didn't happen at all! I then went to Anastasia's room. I shook her up as she snored healthily in her bed.

"Wake up, Anastasia!" I shook her some more.

"Wake up, you dork."

"Wha… what time is it?"

"It's morning!" I said.

"Now wake up, I must speak with you."

"What do you want?" she yawned, then added more angrily, "Leave me alone!"

"Wake up now!" I shook and rattled her like crazy until she sat up!

"Tell me, what do you remember from yesterday? What happened? And the day before?"

"Nothing happened," she groaned.

"Like always. Boring. Curtsy lessons with Mother, we met our friend Josephine? Or was it three days ago?" She yawned again.

"Now let go of me already, you monster!"

"No ball? No prince? No… glass slippers?"

"Have you gone completely mad?" Anastasia asked.

"You just dreamed something, you stupid! Now go, or I'll call Mother!"

"Wait! You said curtsy lessons with Mother yesterday!" I said.

"But… today… today is Friday!"

"Today is Wednesday!" replied an angry Anastasia.

"Today is our stupid music lesson! I'm gonna scream for Mother now!"

"Fine, you cow," I snapped at her and went back to my room. Was I going crazy? Was it just a dream? Could today actually be Wednesday? It was crazy enough. But what was for sure was that I still felt horrible, just like the day before. That didn't change. Dream or not, the most horrible thing wasn't about Cinderella. It was how it all made me feel about myself. I still hated my life. I remembered that my only relief was that at least Cinderella was gone and I wouldn't have to see her again. But now she was here!

Now every time I look at her, I won't see the lowly servant girl she is, but I will see a beautiful princess, and me as a frog in comparison! So even if I imagined it all, I was still miserable. I went to my bed to cry. It didn't even help me feel any better! Then a shout: "CINDERELLA!!!" It was Anastasia, calling for breakfast.

"CINDERELLA!" Mother's voice joined in.

"CINDERELLA!" I wasn't shouting. I wasn't hungry at all.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" I heard her voice.

"Oh, my heavens. Morning, noon, and night." I was still in bed, lost in thought. Then my door opened, and Cinderella stepped in. No… I didn't want to see her. But I looked anyway. The window light shone upon her beautiful figure. I averted my gaze, getting back into bed and covering myself with the blanket.

"Good morning, Drizella," Cinderella asked.

"Have you calmed down?"

"I didn't ask for breakfast," I said from beneath my blanket.

"Now go away!"

"I bring you breakfast every day!" said Cinderella.

"And what's this, aren't you going to ask for anything to be ironed today?" Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"JUST GO!" I screamed at her.

"Fine!" She practically slammed the tray onto my nightstand and marched out the door.

"Good morning, Anastasia," I heard Cinderella say from the adjoining room.

"Well, it's about time!" I heard Anastasia's squeaky voice.

"Don't forget the mending. And don't be all day getting it done, either!"

"Yes, Anastasia." Now she was probably entering Mother's room. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then…

"UUAUAAA!!" It was Mother's voice! What was happening?

"CINDERELLA!" Mother screamed at the top of her lungs.

"CINDERELLA!" I got up from the bed and stepped out of the room. I wanted to see what that was about, too. It reminded me... Cinderella hurried up the stairs back to Mother's room, Anastasia hurrying right behind her.

"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Mother barked at Cinderella. Anastasia, left outside, tried to peek through the keyhole. I didn't bother.

"A mouse in my teacup!" I heard Mother's voice from behind the door. Her tone was icy and livid.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly know," said Cinderella.

"This is…"

"Do you find this funny?" asked Mother.

"Oh, please, you don't think that I—" Cinderella started.

"Hold your tongue!" Mother cut her off.

"After all I have done for you, you find it funny to play dirty tricks on me! Your own stepmother!"

"But I was only trying to—""Silence! It seems you have a lot of free time for vicious practical jokes," Mother continued.

"Perhaps we can put it to better use. Now, let me see... There's the large carpet in the main hall. Clean it!" Mother kept on going, almost exactly like last time. The same punishment! Although maybe this time she added cleaning the large vase, which was an extremely hard feat, I knew.

"And if you ever try to pull a thing like that again!" Mother threatened with her icy tone.

"You're out! In the street! Begging for food and shelter!"

"Yes, Stepmother." Cinderella stormed out of the room, almost hitting Anastasia when she opened the door. Then she kept walking angrily downstairs to start the endless chore list Mother had just given her. Anastasia came to me and giggled.

"Could you believe her?" she said, sounding almost gleeful "A mouse! In Mother's teacup! She has completely lost her mind!" It seemed Anastasia took the mouse prank a lot better when she wasn't the victim.

"Oh, but what if it was done to one of us?" said Anastasia, horrified by the sudden idea.

"Maybe she planned to do it to us, too! If she did..." I was tired of listening to my sister, so I went to my room to think. If yesterday, and the day before it, were a dream, how could the mouse-in-the-cup stunt happen again? But it didn't exactly happen like before... I didn't understand that at all. My mind was working fast now. Will things be the same now? Like they were two days ago? It didn't make sense, but... if something that happened on Wednesday—like, in the Wednesday I remembered—happened again today…

then that would mean I'm not crazy! That it really did happen to me, and for some crazy reason, it was happening again! But it needed to be something different, not just something that normally happens. I know! The ball! Of course! If we get the ball invitation today, it means it's the same Wednesday! That the day is repeating! But... Cinderella was the one who got us the ball invitation. It was when we were at our music lesson. She said it was a letter from the palace...

Probably a courier came, and Cinderella took the letter, then went to inform us at the lesson. The wheels in my brain turned slowly. If I don't go to the music lesson, and just wait for that courier... I will know if the day is repeating or not! Suddenly, I felt a bright light go off in my head. It was an idea. A good one! That didn't happen a lot. I went to the main stairs in the main hall and heard it again: that beautiful voice of an angel.

"♪ Oh, sing sweet nightingale. Sing sweet nightingale.... ♪ " she sang. And again, I closed my eyes. I was immersed in that song. Again, I could not help but wonder: how can she sing like that? Oh God, why was it so darn beautiful?

"Drizella!" I heard Mother's voice.

"Come here!" Oh right, the music lesson. I hurried to our music room. Anastasia and Mother were already waiting, Lucifer sleeping lazily on the couch.

"MBRODDERR," Cough! Cough!

"MRA VOUSS! BR CANT SBINGGG." I put on the most super hoarse voice I could manage.

"Oh dear!" Mother said.

"But this morning you sounded fine! What happened to you?"

"BRA BRO BROW," I said, coughing violently.

"Go get some water," Mother said.

"You will skip today's lesson!"

"BRAAA," I growled, smiling to myself as I went back to the staircase. Cinderella kept up her singing, enjoying herself while cleaning. She looked totally immersed; I didn't even need to hide myself. How could she enjoy washing the floor so much? Something was definitely wrong with her. Then I saw Lucifer. Apparently, he'd had it with Anastasia's off-key playing and decided to come out here. Then he did something weird.

He purposely stepped into the dustpan full of soot, and then paraded around, intentionally leaving dirty paw prints all over the floor Cinderella had just scrubbed clean! This cat was... a genius!

"Oh, Lucifer!" Cinderella was so immersed in her singing and cleaning that by the time she noticed, the whole room was full of cat prints.

"You mean old thing!" she said angrily. I couldn't hold it in; I gave a loud chuckle. Cinderella noticed me.

"Well, I'm glad you find it funny!" she glared at me.

"Come here!" she said to Lucifer, grabbing her broom.

"I will just have to teach you a lesson!" KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"Open in the name of the King!" shouted a messenger outside. Cinderella went to open the door.

"STOP!" I shouted, and hurried up to the door myself.

"I will get it," I snapped at her.

"You will just get the letter dirty!" I opened the door and saw the short, useless messenger. The who had tried to force the glass shoe upon my delicate feet.

"An urgent message from His Imperial Majesty," he said. I snatched the letter from his hand and closed the door in his face. It did… It did happen again! I'm sure it's the ball invitation, too! I was… excited. I didn't know why, but it was like… I knew things I wasn't supposed to! Now that I, and not Cinderella, had taken the letter, I could just take it to Mother and my sister myself. Then Cinderella wouldn't come to the ball! She... she wouldn't even know about it!

Well, obviously Mother and Anastasia would not shut up about it, but if they didn't tell her that 'every eligible maiden is invited,' she wouldn't even think about coming! I hurried back to the music room and threw open the door.

"Mother! Mother!" I called to her.

"YES!?" Mother said in annoyance. Then she looked at me suspiciously.

"Your voice. It seems you've suddenly been cured. What a... mysterious condition you had."

"Never mind that," I told her.

"I have a letter here from the palace!"

"From the palace!?" Anastasia said in surprise. Then she came over and tried to snatch it from my hand. Since I knew she would do that, I had already stepped onto a small stool; now I held it too high for the jumpy degenerate to reach.

"Give me the letter," Mother said, holding out her hand. I stepped down and gave it to her.

"But even before you break the seal," I said smugly, "I already know what's written in there!" Mother opened the letter and started working through the lines.

"It's an invitation to a ball," I said, smiling.

"In honor of His Highness, the Prince!"

"The Prince!" Anastasia squealed. Mother read more, then gave me a look.

"The letter was sealed. How... could you possibly know that?"

"It's... just something I can do," I said simply. Mother gave me another calculating look, and then simply ignored the issue.

"And, by royal command, every eligible maiden is to attend," Mother finished.

"And I'm so eligible!" Anastasia sighed dramatically.

"But Mother, sister, listen to me," I told them seriously.

"If Cinderella hears that every eligible maiden is to attend, she will want to go, too. I know she secretly possesses some fine dress hidden somewhere, and she will go even on foot if she hears about it."

"Hmm, I see," considered Mother, turning to Anastasia.

"Did you hear that? Keep your mouth shut about it."

"Y-yes, Mother," nodded Anastasia.

"Now," said Mother, "since Drizella here has miraculously healed from her bad throat condition, will you honor us by participating in the music lesson?"

"Uh… yes, Mother," I said, resigned. We continued the lesson, and I was thinking: not only do I know what will happen, but I can... change things. Control things. These horrible two days that seem to be repeating might... could actually be a good thing. Like a special gift, like I'm a sorcery user, or... have a power like the ancient gods, or... a witch? No, not a witch. Goddess is just fine. So now, I would change the future. Cinderella won't meet the prince. The prince won't fall for her. But…

with or without Cinderella, I knew that I probably didn't have a chance with the prince, not really. There were too many pretty ladies with fancy titles. And the prince himself looked so bored. He had yawned and rolled his eyes at us. It was so humiliating. Yeah, to be honest, the ball was horrible even without Cinderella. Well, at least this time I know what to expect. And I won't be crushed by unrealistic expectations. Oh, and one more small change.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Drizella."

"I would rather die than wear that horrible cage dress," I said, looking her straight in the eyes.

"I will choose my own dress for the ball."