Steal the Stars [REWRITING]

Annabelle - Time to Try Not to Get Arrested

Before James could dump ice water on my head, I bolted out of bed and ripped open the curtains, not bothering to check the clock. It was only when Nicole mumbled, "What are you doing?" that I bothered to. It was three o' clock in the morning. The sun wouldn't rise for hours yet, and silence still fell over the majority of the city.

"Sorry." I pulled the curtains shut again, but couldn't sleep. It was today. And, though I would never admit it, because James' teasing would be relentless, I had missed all the balls and parties that I had used to attend. There certainly weren't any here. But now I had my chance, and, sure, we were pretending to kidnap the queen and stealing the contrys' most prized possession, but that was all part of the fun.

Finally, five o' clock arrived, and Nicole got up. She'd always been a light sleeper, and I knew she often got up in the night, but only if she mentioned something she'd done the next day. She had always been up before me, and I'd never made any attempts to get up with her. Eight o' clock was usually the latest they'd let me sleep in, even though I protested for more time. But today, I was up as soon as I heard Nicole.

She stared at me in surprise. "Are you okay?"

"Better than okay. I'm excited! Aren't you excited? I'm excited!" I bounced over to the dresser we shared. "Do you think I can pour ice water on James?"

"No."

"I think I will," I said cheerfully.

"Don't," Nicole protested, but I ignored her.

Twenty minutes later, we sat in the inn's dining room, James sopping wet and very angry. He kept shooting me dirty looks across the table (where he had chosen to sit, as far away from me as possible), but I ignored them. The pancakes here were excellent, and much more interesting than James.

"Are you all ready?" Leo asked. "James, do you have those papers? And that bomb built?" He nodded, and Leo turned to me. "You're confident in your spells?" I pulled a cloaking spell over Nicole, turning her invisible. He sighed. "I'll take that as a yes."

I removed the spell, and Nicole became visible once more, slowly taking tiny bites of oatmeal (boring). "I can make us visible to each other, too," I said. "I think. It's trickier, but I practised it a little bit and I think I've got it."

I'd spent most of my night practising it, using Nicole and myself as test subjects. The mirror in our room let me see if we were still visible or not, and, by the end of the night, I'd held it easily for thirty minutes–long enough to run out of the castle, most likely, or at least get somewhere safe. And, if that failed, I could always just use a regular invisibility spell, though then we'd have to make noise to communicate, which was risky. But it would work. Probably.

It was good enough.

"James, do you have those bombs?"

"Mhm," this was through a mouthful of bacon, and I rolled my eyes. He didn't even try to act like he'd been raised with manners. He swallowed. "Yep. All good."

"And you made more than one, in case something goes wrong?"

"Yep."

"And you have the papers?"

"Yep." He pulled them out from his bag, laying them across the table. "All here."

"And you didn't name Annabelle something ridiculous?"

"Thought about it. But no."

I peeked over. I didn't trust James not to name me 'Lady Moron of Stupidville' or something equally idiotic. He hadn't–surprisingly. Instead, I was Lady Faelyn Leianna Bishop, visiting from Whitfel. "Not bad," I grudgingly admitted. "Couldn't you have given me a better title, though?"