"Oh, my gosh! I wonder if I'll see him again tonight too!!!" Eris shouted in pure excitement. Abby covered her ears to protect them from her loud friend.

"Careful, this guy seems to be quite the charmer... Such a shame, he's only part of a dream. I would've liked to meet the creature that actually swept you off your feet, especially, since you go on and on about him. With your description, I can close my eyes and see him myself." She grinned slightly.

"Keep your hands off my dream; and what do you mean by creature?" She growled under her breath. Abby laughed a bit and looked down. Her smile was instantly replaced with a queasy grimace. Seeing her feet freely dangle off the edge of the tower didn't help. Eris laughed, balancing herself on the small wall separating the roof of the tower and a long and deadly plummet to the ground.

"Oh, the trees are quite lovely this time of year, so many vividly brilliant colors of reds and golds. My birthday is coming soon too." Eris jumped down to a safer area. Abby slid off the wall and onto her feet as a gust of wind blew by.

"If only it wasn't getting so cold..." She complained under her breath. Eris laughed and dragged her to the door, back into the tower. "So, what's the outlook of your night gonna be like?" Eris shot her a look.

She stood up straight and began her speech with a holier than thou attitude. "Today we are 'graced' with the presences of the archduke of the Lanthe de Marsh. And he can kiss my happy-go-lucky-"

"Eris!" Helen called at the girl from the bottom of the tower stairs. The princess sighed and peered down at the old croon.

"What is it, now!" She called back.

"Mind your tone, young lady." Eris rolled her eyes and glided down to her maid. Abby hesitantly followed and stopped right before the old lady. Eris frowned waiting for Helen to continue to scold her about how un-princess-like her behavior was.

"You are a princess, you should be focused on your future by minding how others view you; not prancing around with a kitchen drudge," Helen quickly turned to Abby with an apology. "Not that it’s a bad thing, Abigail. You are probably the only one who keeps her feet on the ground.”

She sharply turned on Eris again, “you should be sitting with the royal ladies drinking tea and attending formal events. Now stop this nonsense and get changed for tonight’s dinner."

"Bye, Abby! I have to go and be showcased for another lame, inconsiderate, hopeful my father found for me." Eris waved, letting the old lady drag her away. She laughed as Helen rolled her eyes and towed the girl down the hall.

They walked into the room and prepared Eris for another fancy dinner, of which she could care less. She glared as her hair was brushed, face cleaned, and body stuffed into, yet another, dress that was suggestive and revealing.

After a few hours at the banquet, she was finished and excused herself. The fellow couldn't even look in her direction, much less talk to her directly. She did try to be nice to the poor soul. He didn't look happy to be there, as much, as she didn't want to be there.

Eris ran to the armory and pulled her bow from the shelf and began to practice her aim. She practiced for a good two hours. She was glad for the time alone. No one came looking for her. She didn't hear the quickened pacing steps of a search party either. There was a strange calmness that she never experienced before. The silence almost bothered her, but she refocused on the target and fired two more arrows. They plunged into the hay stacks leaving her with a satisfied feeling. She then removed the quiver and unstrung the bow.

A throbbing pain seared in her eyes, causing her to drop the bow and quiver. She pressed her hands against them and stood there until the pain died down. She carefully removed her hands and blinked a few times. She glanced around cautiously, and saw the light from a lantern. She winced at the harsh flame. She quickly blew it out, letting the darkness of the night surround her.

She picked up the bow and quiver and went to put it away. She hesitated and with a sly smile grabbed Abby's bow and quiver off the rack also. She decided that they were going to sneak out to a secluded place to practice. She also decided, she wanted to find the spot now with Abby, so it would be easy to find tomorrow.

Eris snuck over to the kitchen area and skillfully opened the wooden door in silence. She tiptoed across the room to the sleeping area of the cooks. She spotted Abby leaning against the wall, head tilted down, and lips moving slightly. Eris snickered at her friend’s habit of sleep talking.

"Abby..." Eris softly spoke, "Abby, it's time to wake up!"

"Is it really time already?" Abby answered still asleep.

"Yes, Abby. It is time."

"I don't... believe you, mother..." She whimpered. She rolled over and Eris held back a laugh. She leaned down close to her face. Eris brushed the hair out of Abby’s ear and whispered, “but if you don’t get up, then you won’t have any buttercream soup!”

Abby shot right up! “Where?” She yelled in a frantic hurry, searching for the soup. Eris tried to contain her laughter unsuccessfully.

Abby saw Eris and the lights shot out of her eyes. Her shoulders slumped and heaved a saddened sigh. “I was sleep talking again, wasn’t I?” Eris smiled and nodded rapidly. “And there is no buttercream soup either,” she sat down depressed. Eris came up to her and lifted her to her feet.

“Abby, cheer up! Nothing to be so glum about! You want to know why?” Abby looked at the princess. “Because I am Princess Eris, and I can order a great bowl of buttercream soup up into my room!” Abby smiled a bit at that. She stood up and eyed the bows and arrows.

“Let me guess, you want to spend the whole day tomorrow practicing archery, but you want to go where no one else can find us.” She was a little put out by her rambunctious friend.

Eris replied, “You’re so bright, Abby! Now let’s get to it!” The girls tiptoed out of the kitchen with haste and started searching for a suitable place that is not likely to draw any attention.

“You are going to order me some buttercream soup, right?” Abby asked while crossing off a list of places.

“Of course I am, I keep my word you know that,” Eris replied. “What’s left?” She referred to the list.

Abby glanced at it. With a bit of distaste she replied, “Well, we can either go outside of the first wall, or we can go into the crypts...”

Eris’s eyes lit up with excitement. “What do you prefer?”

“Neither, you’re not allowed to venture beyond the walls, my lady. And the crypts... Are full of corpses.”

“You’re afraid of the dead?” Eris mocked her friend, “the worst that can happen is if we get caught down there or out there. If you keep your mouth shut, we can see the world outside, and no one will know.”

Abby stood in silence, the idea still displeased her. She kept silent, however, because she knew better than to go against the wishes of the princess. She followed her to the crypts, where they left their equipment for tomorrow.

“I am a girl of my word, off to my room now!” Eris proclaimed. She dragged Abby into the castle, not noticing how empty it seemed. No guards patrolled the halls, nor did any servants scurry by to do their jobs. Eris expected at least Helen to be stalking the halls to find her. No matter, if no one is there then no one will know about her and Abby's secret friendship.

The two girls crept down each hall with skills that would impress a ninja. They were probably the best spies in the kingdom with everything they get away with; even the king's best spies couldn’t track down the elusive girls. If only Eris's father would let her be a castle spy, it’d be perfect since hardly anyone knows she is here. She wasn’t happy about the scolding she got from the king when she pitched the idea to him.

They reached the door to Eris's room and they stifled their giggles, thinking they outsmarted the royal guard again.

"So let me flag down some servant for your soup. You wait here in my room," Eris instructed and ran off down the hall.

Abby waved and whispered, "Hurry back!" Eris disappeared around the corner and ran down the halls. She skidded to a halt outside one of the servant's quarters and burst through the door with a loud bang. It startled some of the servants awake and others poked their heads up, saw Eris, and then plopped their heads back down.

"You, I need you to bring me some buttercream soup brought to my room, no questions," she told one meek, and skinny looking boy. "Make that two," she corrected looking at how malnourished the boy was. The boy bowed awkwardly and dashed away to fetch the requested soup. She smiled at the rest of the servants, "goodnight everyone!" She turned on one heel and rushed back to her room.

She ran to her room, opened the door, and expected Abby to be fretting over whether or not she should sit on the bed. However, when Eris shut the door behind her and turned around. Abby wasn't anywhere in sight. Instead a dark, cloaked figure stood by her jewelry box. Eris, at first, mistook the figure as her meek friend, but Abby wasn't so bold to even look at her jewelry box, much less go into it. The figure didn't seem to notice her arrival and kept skimming the jewels.

Eris tiptoed over and sat on the bed. She examined the figure as she crossed the room. Holding the cloak together was a golden brooch of a phoenix, encrusted with rubies and blood diamonds.

This signaled that the person was a thief and had robbed her previously, for that was Eris's brooch.

The figure finally pulled out a ruby bracelet with a golden clasp, and delicately wrapped it around her wrist.

"So I'm guessing red is your favorite color?" Eris asked the mysterious figure, who froze, turned around to see Eris sitting there, and ran out of the room. Eris, slightly hurt the person fled, jumped up and chased her or him down. She easily caught up, despite the fancy dress weighing her down. The thief looked irritated and began knocking things over, she avoided them with ease, but the noise would attract the castle guard’s attention.

"So much for trying to be friends," Eris muttered to herself. Only she would try to befriend a thief.

The thief almost reach the hallway, where there was a secret exit out of the castle, one of which only Eris had used, or so she thought.

Eris tackled the thief to the ground and pinned him or her there, so they couldn't fight back. The hood of the cloak slid off and revealed a dark lovely girl barely younger than Eris. Her eyes were a rich chocolate color with flickers of gold. Her hair was dyed a dark red and hung down her neck in tight curls. She glared at Eris with spite and loathing. They made eye contact and the girl screamed.

Eris flinched and covered the girls mouth to stifle the screams. It was too late, the guards were already coming. Eris heard their clumsy footsteps several hallways away. The girl struggled out from underneath her.

"A cursed! A cursed is in the castle!" The girl screamed. Eris looked at the girl funny, there was no one else around.

The guards came and the girl looked relieved, but they grabbed her. She panicked in confusion, "Why are you grabbing me! She's the cursed one! Arrest her!" The girl struggled fretfully under their grip. It then occurred to Eris that the girl was talking about her!

'But only people from Trinity are cursed,' she thought. "I must talk to Professor Grant!"

"No, you're not. You are coming with me right now," Helen cried angrily. "A princess doesn't chase down a thief. Especially on barefoot!" The old maid took a disdainful glance at the thief girl and snatched off the brooch and bracelet. "Those don't belong to you."

The guards dragged the girl away as she screamed and cried about the unrighteousness of a curse girl, who wasn't casted out. Helen dragged Eris back to her room and locked her in there. Soon the servant boy came, unaware of what had happened. Helen took one of the bowls and gave the other to the boy, knowing that was the princess's plan.

Eris sat on the bed with Abby, who was still knocked out. She took the bowl from the maid and wafted the aroma around her friend to coax her awake. It worked and after Abby was done eating, Helen escorted her from the castle.

Eris watched out the window as the guards returned up from the prison. She wanted to know more about that girl and why she claimed she was a cursed.

But, she first had to visit her teacher on a matter that bugged her very much.