At LAST, the first chapter of book two-Ready or Not, Time to Rise- is HERE! I'm so excited to be finally releasing this book! I had to push back the date for some mental health purposes, but it’s finally here for your enjoyment! Now, before we get into the chapter, I’d like to quickly shout out the winners of the RON art con to celebrate the ending of book one!

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you all for entering! Now let’s get right into the first chapter of the new book!

Chapter One; Life After Happily Ever After

I sat down on my large, purple bed. It’s been a week since I arrived, and I still wasn’t finding any of this normal. The maids checking up on you legit every two minutes, the fact that you can’t go anywhere without guards, the fancy meals, having to make my first royal appearance in two days, and can we talk about the worst part? Gowns. Gosh, whoever invented poofy, frilly, usually pink gowns, I would like to have a serious chat with them. Not to mention the fact that Xavier and Lucy have so many strange rules and are trying to make cover stories as to why I mysteriously appeared out of-literally-thin air. 

“As far as the public is concerned, your mother had taken you to live in Siri. It’s a small island off the coast of Crystal Sands. She wanted to keep you from the stress of royalty.”

“Your mother passed away, so you came to live with your biological dad, who is me.” 

“And one last detail. No powers when they could be exposed.” 

Xavier and Lucy had told me that two days after I had arrived. They said the sooner a backstory could be formed, the better it would be for the kingdom. But they never said my powers would be exposed in the castle-with just the maids and the people who already knew. I summoned my powers and formed a little phantom-except this phantom was a good one. This little guy was going to be my friend-my pet. 

“Hey-” I paused to decide the name, “Aura.” A squeaky voice replied with a greeting. I didn’t know they could talk! I giggled but stood up quickly when the door opened. My father greeted me with a smile. I brushed off my sweatpants and t-shirt. 

“Where’s your dress? Do you not like any of them? I can have the seamstress make new ones right away.” Xavier turned, but I grabbed his arm to stop him. 

“No no. It’s just I-uh,” I paused, trying to find a good lie, “don’t like dresses.” I blurted.

“What?” Xavier turned around slowly. 

“I don’t like dresses. They’re uncomfortable.” I muttered, going back to sit down. 

“But you’re a princess now, Mariah.” Xavier asked, confused. 

“Yeah yeah, I get that. But why do I have to wear a stupid gown when I’m in the castle with no company?” I asked, throwing my arms in the air. 

“I suppose. But you have to get used to them soon, honey.” 

“Yeah yeah. I’ll get right on that as soon as I can memorize this entire lie you have in place for me.” I said quietly, instantly realizing what I had said. 

“Mariah, it’s for your own good.” Xavier explained. I nodded. I understood this was all for the greater good and all, but what about for my greater good? The greater good that would allow me to be-you know- myself? 

“Your gown for your coronation should be finished later today.” A maid had peeked her head in, bowing in respect to the king. I almost replied with a sarcastic remark, but with Xavier here, I didn’t want to offend him. He was already doing so much for me. 

“Alright.” I replied, looking out the large window in my room.

“I get this is a big step for you, but you’ll adjust. Besides, you have Olivia to show you the way to being a princess. And I’m sure she’ll introduce you to all her friends at school.” Xavier explained. I immediately looked at him in horror. 

“Sch-school? Like in a school full of bratty royals that do fan-waving and waltzing classes? No way! I’ll stick to homeschooling as my mother did. I’d do tons of reading on Jamaa’s history and geography, along with power practice. Now that sounds a lot more exciting.” I sighed, touching the purple necklace hanging off my neck. It’s only been a week since my mother had been captured in this tiny little amulet, and I know she was doing much harm, but I can’t help but miss her. She’s my mother after all! Xavier chuckled at my guess of what this royal school was. 

“It’s not that awful. Majestia Prep has a wide variety of classes, some you can choose. You’ll take the basic arithmetic, science, literature, and history, but along with many other classes. You have your meeting with the headmaster tomorrow to set up a schedule. But I won’t make you go until after your coronation. That’s fair, right?” Xavier gave me a pamphlet of information on Majestia Prep. I sighed. 

“I guess so.” I shrugged, starting to flip through this lengthy pamphlet. Who knew there were so many classes! I suppose finding some interesting courses wouldn’t be that hard after all. 

“Well, I’ll let you get to reading. You can make a list of all the classes you’re interested in if you’d like. I’ll have Elijah come get you when dinner is ready. Okay?” Xavier asked, about to shut the door. 

“Alright.” I replied, sitting the pamphlet on my purple desk. I heard the door click, and Aura immediately flew out from behind one of those gigantic pillows. She raced over to the pamphlet as I grabbed a sheet of paper from the drawer. 

“Wow! There’s a lot of pages in here!” She squeaked, flipping a page with Liza’s face plastered all over it. I gasped. 

“No no no no-” I panicked, reading through the page. Liza was one of my teachers? No way! 

“She’ll hate me! I locked her in a cage, Aura! She’ll hate me for sure! Oh my goodness! What should I do?” I frantically paced around, trying to soothe my nerves. 

“I’m sure she’s already forgiven you, Mariah. Just wait and see. There’s no point in getting worked up over it right now.” The little phantom was sure wise for her just being created ten minutes ago.

“I don’t see how she would. I mean I was awful to her.” I sighed, looking down at her portrait on the paper. She’d never forgive me. And honestly, I wouldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t forgive myself either. Before I could even write down the name of the first class I was interested in, there was a knock on the door. Aura flew behind one of the books on my desk.

“Come in!” I shouted, writing down a class all about phantoms. Hey, if I was forced to go to a school full of bossy royals, I might as well try to stick to my roots as much as I can. Elijah came hustling in, bowing in respect. I wanted to roll my eyes so hard, but I thought otherwise. 

“Dinner is ready, Princess.” Elijah announced, walking over to the door and holding it open. I opened my mouth to correct him, but I decided against it. Besides, I was hungry. He bowed respectfully, and I muttered a quick thanks. Manners weren’t really my A-game, but I’m sure they’ll somehow come out of the “dark abyss which is my jammanity” or whatever snarky remark Olivia had thought of at the time it was mentioned at dinner. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to put up with that horror in a shiny tiara, but I had to make it work for Xavier-for my dad. I had to keep an act up as long as I could for him. He was bending over backward to try and make this work. The least I could do was try. 

“Hello, Mariah.” Olivia snorted, picking up her gown as she walked down the halls to the dining room. 

“Hello, Olivia.” I mimicked, even trying to imitate her annoying walk. She scoffed, looking at my sweatpants. 

“You know, a princess doesn’t wear such embarrassing clothing.” Olivia informed me, turning the corner. 

“You know, a decent jammer doesn’t have to nitpick on everything someone else does.” I shot back, rushing up to catch up with her. Dang, that girl can walk fast in three-inch heels. She immediately halted, glaring harshly into my soul.

“What would you know about what a jammer does, you monster. All you know is how to mute poor, innocent, beautiful royals because of your pure jealousy!” Olivia screamed, getting right into my face. I shoved her out of my face, causing her to stumble back. 

“What in Jamaa is going on out here?” I heard Xavier say. Right before he turned the next corner, Olivia gave me the evilest smirk I’ve ever seen (Let me remind you, I lived with a phantom in line for the throne) and plopped onto the ground. She began to wail fake tears, grasping her left paw. 

“Are you serious right now?” I laughed, rolling my eyes. 

“Olivia! Mariah! What in Mira’s name happened here!” Xavier asked, bending down to lend aid to his “hurt” daughter. 

“She pushed me!” Olivia shrieked, grasping her left leg, acting like her paw was falling off. 

“I moved her out of my face after she called me a monster. She just faked the whole scene.” I explained, putting my paws up in defense. Xavier glanced at me, then at Olivia, then back at me. 

“Olivia, is this true?” Xavier asked, sternly looking at his daughter. 

“N-No! I was shoved! I tried to give her advice, and she couldn’t take it!” She cried, glaring at me. I snorted. 

“Yeah, alright. I think you’re perfectly fine, Olivia. You’ve done this with Liam before. Let’s go. I’m starving.” Xavier grabbed Olivia’s paw and stood her up. She sighed. She let Xavier walk in front of us, but pulled my paw for me to wait. She leaned towards my ear and whispered sharply,

“You better wait, freak.” At first, the threat hit me, but then I chuckled. 

“Sure. I’ll wait for you to get some better skills.” I smiled, patting her shoulder. She growled but continued to strut to the dining room. I rolled my eyes. This was going to be an interesting “bond” we were going to share. 

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After an unusually quiet dinner of roast beef, carrots, and potato cubes, Xavier asked me to follow him. Usually, I wouldn’t have been confused or worried, because usually he was just privately checking in on me. But today-after the events with Olivia- I seriously thought he was going to punish me for something that was clearly fake. Olivia smirked and waved at me, which made me even more sick to my stomach. I followed him down the hall until he stopped. He opened a random door and went inside. 

“This is my office. I do all my boring, royal paperwork here.” Xavier chuckled, taking a seat on a throne. How many thrones did this guy like to have? He ate on one, he worked on one, heck- he probably sleeps on one! 

“Before you ask, no, you aren’t in trouble. I know Olivia isn’t a fan of yours. I wanted to talk to you about a few things. First, the maids have told me your gown for your coronation is ready in the seem room for you to try on. I had to have them remake it a few days ago because they made it a sparkling pink and purple dress-which is not what I told them. I knew you’d hate it as soon as you saw it.” Xavier laughed, putting a few papers into a red folder. I nodded, watching him. 

“Have you found any interesting classes for Majestia Prep yet? Xavier asked, peeking his head up. I shook my head out of my trance. 

“N-not yet no. Just one about phantoms that interested me.” I whispered, playing with the string on my sweatpants. 

“Are you alright?” Xavier asked, putting the folders down. I shrugged. 

“I’m not sure. I guess. I mean, I’m just-I guess you could say I’m nervous. That’s all.” 

“Everything will work out.” 

“Promise?”

“Promise.” 

“But what if I-” 

“No buts. Butts are for sitting.” 

“You are not using that on me.” 

“I just did.” We laughed for a few moments before Xavier cleared his throat. 

“Look, I get Olivia is giving you a rough time. She’s just not excited about having a-uh- sister.” Xavier explained. I snorted. 

“If by sister you mean “freak,” then yeah I’d say so.” 

“She didn’t-” 

“Oh yeah, she did. And some other fun stuff too.” 

“Lucy and I really need to sit her down and tell her she’s not being very lady-like. That’ll make her straighten out.” Xavier shook his head. 

“Do you think I could go out?” I blurted out, looking out the window. 

“Out?”

“You know-like outside?” 

“You want to tour the kingdom?” 

“I guess so.” 

“Of course you can.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. You’re not a prisoner or anything.” 

“That’s debatable.” 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” Xavier stood up, brushing his suit off. 

“I’ll go set things up for you. I think this’ll be good for you.” Xavier decided, opening the large doors to the hall. I nodded, standing up. 

“Just so everything is planned out in your head, we’re meeting with Headmaster Cruizer tomorrow to set up a schedule for you. Wednesday is the Coronation, Thursday will be your first day at Majestia Prep, and Friday is the Coronation Festival, which is kind of like your welcoming ceremony.” Xavier explained, holding the door open for me. My eyes grew wider with each thing explained. 

“I never knew a festival existed!” I exclaimed, running my hand through my purple hair. 

“It’s a big step, I know. But it’ll be alright, I’m sure of it. By the way, is there any way we can go get your hair dyed to something a bit-you know-normal? It would match your story more, anyways.” Xavier asked, looking at my deep purple hair. I frowned, twirling my hair. 

“I-” I couldn’t produce words. He wanted me to change myself? This wasn’t discussed either. I thought about that time mother spelled her hair to make it blonde when she went out in public. I could pull that off. 

“I have an idea!” I exclaimed, grabbing Xavier’s arm and pulling him towards my bedroom. There was an obnoxiously large mirror in there, so I’d actually be able to see. I opened the large doors and flipped the light on. 

“Now, I’ve seen my mother do it before, so this should work,” I paused, turning to look directly at Xavier, “hopefully.” 

“What are you doing?” Xavier asked as I unbraided my hair.

“What you asked.” I explained, looking at Xavier’s hair. Brown. I could rock it. I closed my eyes and snapped my fingers by my hair. Xavier gasped as my hair changed from deep purple to a light brown with a few lavender purple highlights. 

“More believable?” I asked, pulling my “new hair” into a ponytail. He nodded, still staring at my hair. 

“This way it can be changed.” I explained. He nodded, opening the door. 

“It suits you. Don’t forget a dress before I have Elijah come to fetch you for your outing in the town.” He smiled, closing the door behind him. I groaned. Why does every single royal have to wear a gown? I rushed over to the large walk-in closet, scanning the dresses for something decent. I touched the necklace hanging around my neck. 

Will life be ‘happily ever after’ with you not in it with me?