But first, the Pitch:
Maggie learns the true story of The Princess and the Pea when a 400-year-old curse claims her friend. To save her, Maggie must: Research lock-picking techniques; Steal life-sucking emerald; Avoid becoming the Pea’s next victim.
Or, if you want to be more concise:
A semi-reformed stalker and a down-and-out princess team up to stop an enchanted, power-hungry emerald.
Excerpt:
A
part of me died long ago.
It
was the part of me that feels, and it
was Calista’s fault.
What
happened tonight was nothing new—innocent victims welcomed into our home, not
knowing they would never leave. I learned long ago I could not help them, so I
stopped trying.
But
this time something was different. This time I was awake, burning with a
gut-wrenching guilt, as the next victims slept downstairs. This time I knew the
victims. And they didn’t deserve what was coming.
It
had always been hard for me to make friends. I’d been called loner, loser,
outcast, and freak. Even still, I remembered Maggie offering to show me around
when I first transferred to their school. Through her, I met Kate and Piper.
The three of them were always nice to me, while other kids kept their distance
and spread rumors behind my back. I told myself I didn’t care—I wasn’t like
them.
But
being a loner was lonely.
So
tonight when I saw Maggie and her friends here, something inside me snapped.
Or, perhaps it was the dead piece of me coming back to life. Now I cared
desperately about what was happening in the room below mine.
But
there was still nothing I could do.
Calista
usually lured in victims from out of town to avoid arousing suspicion. Pregnant
ones were a particular favorite—easy prey, she called them. But Maggie and her
friends came here all on their own. The opportunity was too good for Calista to
pass up.
Everyone
thought Calista was my mother, but she wasn’t.
Back
in my day, almost four centuries ago, Calista had an alternate method of luring
in victims. She and her husband, Theodore, advertised for hired help with their
inn. The number of parents willing to sell their daughters into a life of
servitude in exchange for a forgiven debt or a clean slate was staggering.
My
father was one of them.
By
the time my mother found out what he’d done, it was too late. There was no
escape. I was bound.
My
story was well known in this land, whispered as a bedtime tale to ease children
into sleep. But, just like any other story passed down through time by rumors
and idle gossip, the fragment that survived was woefully incomplete. It began
something like this:
There
is rumored to have been (once upon a time, of course) a princess, a pea,
and a tower of mattresses.
That
much was true, though in actuality it was only one mattress, not twenty. The
pea was also real, though most would call it a precious stone—an emerald, to be
precise.
The
gem that sealed my fate was now in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in
Washington D.C. Calista was furious when she found it missing. She thought I’d
stolen it until she remembered my limits. The identity of the true thief remains
unknown.
Even
though the emerald is no longer in our possession, we are still bound to it, as
it is bound to us. Admirers of the opulent necklace where it rests don’t
understand it. Like me, the gem is a prisoner, struggling against its fate.
Even
now, centuries later, I don’t understand all the details of what happened to me
that night. But it began with a troubled slumber on a bed of enchanted
emeralds.
Emerald Bound
Chapter 1--Maggie
Chapter 1--Maggie
It began like any other stakeout, or spy-by, as we used to
call our combination drive-by and spying sessions: with Red Vines, Dr. Pepper,
and my two best friends—and, of course, a little game of Truth or Dare.
We shouldn’t have been playing at all because, one, we were
way too old and two, we were supposed to be studying for the SATs. But the word
shouldn’t has a way of losing
relevance when it’s after midnight and your head is spinning with words that
serve no purpose other than to torment you on a test.
It was the perfect storm, really; stress, mind-numbing
exhaustion, and a massive caffeine high. That perfect storm led to the game of
Truth or Dare, which led to us standing on my front lawn, arguing over what to
do next.
“Guys, this is stupid,” Kate complained, her breath puffing
around her in the night air. Barns, dotting the Virginia hills, winked in and
out of view as clouds scattered the moonlight. “Let’s go back inside.”
“No way. Maggie chose Dare and now she has to do it.”
Piper’s silver nose ring and dyed-red hair didn’t match the giddiness in her
voice. She stood in the driveway next to my crappy beater car with one hand on
her hip, waiting for us to catch up.
Kate raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You sound like you’re
ten right now.” The hint of a grin cracked through on the last word. “Let’s go
inside. We can binge-watch Alias.”
My gaze shifted
between the two of them. I had a dare to do, courtesy of Piper, and at this
point, anything was better than studying. No one would notice us gone—my brother
was away at a two-day swim meet and my dad was working the graveyard shift.
But it was cold outside. And Alias was the best discovery
we’d made on Netflix, ever. I’d be perfectly happy going back inside as well.
Piper hadn’t said yet who I’d be spying on. Our last spy-by was
on Wyn Tucker, almost five years ago, at the end of sixth grade. That spy-by ended
when Piper fell out of the tree in Wyn’s front yard and broke her leg right
before summer vacation. The plastic binoculars we’d used all that year went
into hibernation, and by the time Piper was better, spying no longer seemed
worth the effort.
Our old binoculars were long gone, so I’d borrowed my
brother’s expensive hunting ones for tonight. Illicitly (SAT points!).
Piper’s hands flew up in a gesture of exasperation. “Come
on, Kate. Aren’t you tired of it all? Being responsible sucks, let’s be kids
again. Anyway, I think we got in enough studying tonight. You’ve made sure we
all sound like mobile dictionaries.” Piper straightened her spine and pulled
out her British accent. “I adjure you to cease vacillating and embrace this
clandestine operation. Forthwith!”
I grinned. “Your accent is crap!”
“It really is,” Kate added, giggling.
Piper huffed, a sound both familiar and aggravating at the same
time. “Whatever. Just, are we doing this or not?”
Kate’s lips pressed together and her nose twitched. Her
thinking face.
Piper tapped a foot on the ground and crossed her arms,
making an exaggerated show of annoyance. Her clunky combat boots made the
display a little bit ridiculous, but we got the point.
Kate’s lips turned up at the edges and she broke into a
grin. She nodded, her annoyingly perfect blonde curls bouncing across her
shoulders. “Fine. Okay, Maggie. Time for some spying.” She raised her hand like
she was holding a glass, her fingers curling around what was actually just her
cell phone. “In memory of our former selves.”
I let Kate pull me to the car. Once inside, I cranked up the
heat and put on some music. Taylor Swift.
“Ugh,” Piper groaned when the opening chords struck.
“Really?”
“Come on, it’ll get me in the mood.” I turned it up. “Who am
I spying on, anyway?”
In the rearview mirror, I saw Piper’s lips pull into a
devilish grin. “Marshall Parker.”
“What?” I screeched. “Lindy’s brother? No way. Someone
else.”
“Oooh, yeah.” Kate joined in, her eyes lighting up. “Let’s
spy on Marshall.”
I pointed an accusing finger at her. “Oh, so now you’re on board?”
“What better way to forget about the SATs than with a little
danger?”
“Try a lot of
danger. We’ll totally get caught! Their dad works for the FBI.”
“He does not work
for the FBI,” Piper interjected. “That’s just a rumor. Anyway, who cares what
their dad does?” Piper rolled up a Red Vine and stuffed it in her mouth. “We
aren’t little girls anymore. Drive, Maggie!”
“Yeah, drive, Mags!” Kate was grinning exactly like a little
girl. “Marshall’s hot.”
“And stupid, and mean, and full of himself,” I reminded her.
“And did I say stupid?”
“So? Since when did any of that matter on a spy-by?”
I tried to come up with a good reason why we should pick
someone else, but I couldn’t think anymore. I’d used up my days’ worth of brain
power several hours ago. Piper reclined in the back seat of my car, kicking her
legs up and resting her feet on the center console. She pulled out another Red
Vine and bit off the end.
Kate sat beside me in the passenger seat, her back straight
and her legs crossed at the ankles. The perfect posture of a dancer. Her eyes
shone with a light that hadn’t been there when she was drilling us on our
vocab. In fact, it’d been a while since I’d seen evidence of Kate’s infectious
love of life—she’d been so stressed lately.
Maybe she needed this. Maybe we all did.
I sighed and buckled my seatbelt. “I should have picked Truth,”
I muttered, putting the car in gear. My clunker lurched into drive and soon we
were speeding toward the Parker mansion.
Fifteen minutes later, we sat gawking up at Marshall and
Lindy’s house—if you could call the gigantic Victorian structure a house. It
was really more of a manor. Or a small castle, minus the moat. Leading up to
the house was a long, gated driveway. At the top of the hill, a stone wall
stood guard around the house. We parked at the bottom of the driveway and got
out.
I kept a firm grip on my brother’s binoculars. If I didn’t
have them back on his bookshelf in perfect condition when he got back from his
swim meet tomorrow, I would pay. Big time. My nosy older brother could get me
grounded for life if he wanted to.
We crept toward the gated driveway and found that the gate
did not extend all the way around the property. On either side of the driveway,
it was replaced by a row of tall shrubs.
Piper grinned, then pushed her way through the prickly trees
clearly meant to keep people out. Kate and I followed. The grass crunched
beneath our feet as we emerged on the other side. I made a fist and blew warm
air into my hands.
The hill leading up to the house was steep and the wall at
the top was going to be a problem. “How am I gonna to get over that?” I said,
pointing up at it.
Piper waved a hand, shooing away the question like she would
a fly. “We’ll figure it out.”
Kate looped an arm through mine, with an exuberance that left
no doubt she was enjoying herself immensely. “Let’s go.”
By the time we reached the top, my thighs were burning, and
the stone wall surrounding the house was a lot taller than it had looked from
below. We walked around it once and found three iron gates—all locked—and not a
single conveniently-located tree we could climb. We retreated to a spot on the
darkest side of the house.
“I changed my mind, I pick Truth,” I said.
“Ha! Nice try, but no way,” Piper said. “You are not getting
out of this.”
Kate nodded her agreement.
“Piper, I’m never going to be able to get up there. Plus, it’s
way too late for a normal spy-by. Everyone’s probably already in bed.”
“Yeah, well, you should have thought of that before you
picked Dare. Are you really so worried about telling me your deepest, darkest
secrets?”
“Like I have any secrets from you guys. I picked Dare ‘cause
Truth would have been boring.”
“Exactly! So get up there, and be not boring. Come on, I’ll
give you a boost.” Piper locked her fingers together and held them out for me
to step into.
I scowled at her, but the effect was lost in the dark. “I’m
never playing Truth or Dare with you again.”
I stretched onto my toes and set Tanner’s binoculars on top
of the wall, then stepped into Piper’s outstretched hands. She boosted me up
too fast and I almost lost my balance. My fingers curled around the top edge of
the wall and I attempted to pull myself up. My toes searched for footholds in
the smooth stone, while my arms strained against the weight of my body. I’d
never had to scale an eight-foot wall before.
When I finally reached the top, my arms were throbbing, my
fingers numb, and one of my knees stung where I’d scraped it through my jeans. The
space at the top was about two feet wide. It was big enough to balance on but I
still felt jittery.
I made the mistake of looking down at my friends. My stomach
swooped sickeningly and my arms shot out as I struggled to regain my balance.
The ground was very far away. I knelt there for a moment, catching my breath.
Then I gazed up at the house.
There were so many windows. How was I going to figure out
which one was Marshall’s bedroom? Most of the windows were dark but, to my
surprise, a handful were still lit. Through one, I glimpsed a large dining room
table and through another, a twisting marble staircase. Maybe rich people left
lights on all the time, just to discourage burglars.
My eyes searched the house for signs of movement while I
groped around for the binoculars with my cold-stiffened fingers. But instead of
grabbing hold of them, I knocked them off the wall. Branches snapped and leaves
rustled as Tanner’s binoculars fell into the bushes below.
“Crap!” I said, too loudly.
“Maggie!” Kate’s disembodied voice hissed up at me. “Can you
see him?”
I heard Piper hopping around in her combat boots. “Yeah,
come on, Mags,” she added. “It’s freezing down here!”
“It’s not any warmer up here, dork.” I gripped the edge of
the wall and peeked my head over so they could see me. “I dropped the nocs into
the garden—I have to get them or Tanner will kill me. Piper, get up here so you
can pull me out.”
I turned away and focused on easing myself into the garden
without landing directly on top of a rose bush. My landing was significantly
un-graceful—I fell backward onto my butt—but luckily, there were no roses. Or,
at least, none that stabbed me. There was just a bush with soft, overgrown
leaves. The ground was wet, and smelled of…. well… something blooming. Which
was weird. It was mid-March—technically still winter.
I wiped my hands on my jeans and got to work pawing through
the bushes where I thought the nocs had fallen. That’s when I heard the low
hum.
I froze and cocked my head, listening. The noise was so
faint that, in the light of day I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything. But the
tinny mechanical buzz was unmistakable now that I’d heard it. And it was all
wrong—not a normal night sound.
A decorative garden gnome stood a few feet from the bush I
was scrounging around in. Was it buzzing at me?
I stepped toward it.
The gnome’s head was tilted at an unnatural angle. A tiny
red light blinked on and off behind his eyes. Then, as I watched, the head
swiveled until it faced me. Something focused. I was staring into a camera.
My mouth went dry.
The thought of being caught snooping around Marshall Parker’s enormous
house was mortifying. Though we weren’t at the top of the school social chain,
we’d managed to stay above average so far, and being banished to the bottom so
close to senior year was not part of the plan.
Heart thumping, I jumped from the ground and rushed over to
the wall, abandoning the binoculars. I’d make it up to Tanner somehow.
“Piper!” I hissed. “Someone knows we’re here, pull me out!”
I reached up, waiting for her hands to wrap around my wrists.
They didn’t come.
My skin tingled as I waited. My fingers groped around in the
dark, feeling only cold, hard stone.
“Piper? Kate?” I called out. My voice came louder than I’d
intended.
The creepy gnome hummed on.
I glanced back at him, my throat threatening to close up.
Was it my imagination or were shadows descending on me? I clawed at the wall,
searching for a handhold in the smooth stone. My heart pounded so hard I could
almost hear it, throbbing angrily in my head.
The top of the wall lay just above my fingertips.
I jumped, grasping for the edge, and came down with two
scraped palms. I tried again, this time hanging on to the top while my feet
scrambled against the wall, trying to gain traction.
My fingers throbbed. My forearms burned. And my feet
slipped.
I let go and thudded to the ground, landing in the same bush
I’d been searching in before. I closed my eyes and pressed my stinging hands
together. I counted to ten in my mind.
The thumping in my head slowed. This was silly—it was just a
stupid statue. With a camera inside, but still. The statue wasn’t going to hurt
me. I needed to focus on getting out of the garden before an actual person found
me.
I’d have to find one of those gates and let myself out from
there. Before standing up, I dug through the bush in a final effort to avoid my
brother’s wrath. When my fingers grazed the cold surface of his binoculars, I
was so surprised I actually laughed. To find them now, after all that.
My hand closed around them and I rose.
A shadow stood before me.
I jumped, letting out a strangled scream, and dropped the
nocs back into the bushes.
“Welcome to our home,” the shadow said in a gravelly male
voice—a most-definitely-not-Marshall voice. “Won’t you come in?”
Umm, no thanks. I tensed to run, wondering what my
odds were of outrunning the FBI. Since, clearly, the rumors about Marshall’s
dad were true.
But then the voice said the only thing that could have
stopped me.
“Your friends are inside.”
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