Chapter Two

Perhaps saying the window opened wasn't right. Exploded was much more accurate.

Aleana sat up, her reddened face turning towards her window as glass fell like rain. She rubbed at her blurry eyes frantically, trying to see what or who it was that had burst their way into her room.

Whatever it was, it had to be powerful. She knew from personal experience. She'd tried to escape hundreds of times but was never able to.

Aleana wasn't sure what she expected. A handsome rescuer, maybe a magic carpet? Instead, a small girl of about nine slipped through the now empty stone window frame, carefully avoiding the splinters of glass that littered the floor like autumn leaves.

The girl pranced around the glass as if she remembered the parts of a choreographed dance, but she froze as she met Aleana's startled eyes.

One second passed, then another, and another. Aleana didn't breathe, and the girl didn't move. All Aleana could do was stare.

In the morning sunlight, the girl's silver hair shone, reminding Aleana of stars, full moons, and night-time wishes. Her dark skin glistened. What Aleana at first thought was sweat, revealed itself to be specks of gold dust that were mirrored in the child's brown eyes and in the threads of gold that were embedded in the girl's green clothes.

Said clothes didn't look like the usual kind. They seemed to be made of leaves, stitched together with golden thread and emerald vines.

Everything about her screamed of an other-worldliness that at once made Aleana feel both wary and right at home.

"How did you get in here?" Aleana asked, her voice faint as it portrayed her awe. The small girl quirked her head to the side.

"The window," she stated simply, a smirk playing on her lips and her brown eyes glittering with mischief. The tips of sharp teeth peeked out from under the girl's top lip.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know, but I'm not going to tell you," the girl said, her lightly accented voice making the words come out like they were supposed to be a part of some kind of song. They were hypnotizing. Aleana shook her head, trying to clear it.

"But why are you here?" Aleana pressed, getting up from her bed, despite the fact her eyes were a bit blurred from tears and a flush covered her face. "You can't be here. I'll be executed soon and they can't find you in my room when they come to get me."

"They won't, now come on." The girl motioned towards the window with her hand, her delicate fingers wiggling in the empty air between them.

"But who are you? And you didn't answer my question." Aleana held fast, ignoring the sudden urge in her mind that wanted her to follow the girl, no questions asked. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't trust the feeling.

"Zola, and why do you think I'm here? Your godmother sent me to get you out." Aleana gaped at Zola.

"My godmother sent a nine-year-old to save me?"

Zola huffed, crossing her arms and stomping one of her bare feet. A scowl plastered itself on Zola's face as the girl glared at Aleana and then spun around and stomped her way over to the ruined window.

"I'm not nine! I'm three-hundred-and-twenty-seven! And there's much more to me than meets the eye." Zola's eyes narrowed into slits and Aleana's jaw dropped.

"Three-hundred-"

"And-twenty-seven, yes. Now, are you coming or not? Because you're right, I do not want to be here when the guards come to get you. Or when your mother sends her minions to investigate what the loud noise was."

"Why would my godmother send you? Why can't she save me?" Aleana cut in, stepping closer to Zola. None of it made sense.

She'd only ever met her godmother on a handful of occasions, but she'd always got the impression that her godmother didn't like dealing with other people much. Or rather, other magical beings much, and magic definitely ran through Zola's veins.

"Because she doesn't have time to save princesses that can't save themselves. So she sent me instead. She trusts me."

"But how-"

"For the love of- stop questioning and come on!" Aleana still stayed where she was. She did not trust this girl- woman- at all. Even if her godmother supposedly did. "Stop dilly-dallying and trust me. Unless you want to die?"

That broke Aleana from her hesitation, forcing her into action. With her face still sticky from her tears, and her eyes burning, Aleana darted forward, moving to stand beside Zola at the window. Far below, in the cobblestone courtyard, Aleana could see the passersby staring up at them.

In the shrubbery at the base of the tower the gilded bars, that previously locked her in, sat, and people crowded around their spot in the dewy leaves. For a moment, Aleana swore she could hear the whispers, the gossip, but then Zola grabbed her hand and it all faded away. She didn't care anymore.

"Ready, princess?"

"For what?" Aleana answered, feeling as if she was speaking through cotton, or moving through fog. Dimly, she was aware of Zola's smirk, but in the next moment, that too disappeared as Zola prodded and pulled her to stand on the very edge of the windowsill.

A gust of wind flung her faded, blue dress around her legs, and a shiver made its way up her spine. The dizzying sight before her made her clutch with her free hand to the side of the stone windowsill. The ground was so far away...

One step and she'd fall to her death.

The sensation of only a slim hand and less than an inch of stone protecting her from a messy fall thrust Aleana back into partial awareness.

"Wait, are we going to ju-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Zola pushed her out of the window.