Chapter 21
21
While the question of who the mambabarang was remained unsolved, the next few days were uneventful for me. By contrast, the palace staff was firing on all cylinders, preparing for the coronation, which was now only thirteen days away.
“Today we have a special guest instructor,” Professor Manatubay announced. On cue, the classroom door opened, and an older, stern-looking woman marched in. She wore charcoal-gray wool from head to toe, her only jewelry an onyx brooch; had silvery-white hair bobbed severely at her chin; and was very small, not even five feet, and slim, too. Within seconds it was obvious she was not to be messed with.
“Ah, here she is now,” Professor Manatubay exclaimed, beaming. Possibly the first (and only) time I ever saw him look genuinely pleased. “Class, may I introduce Dona Immaculada, our most respected royal instructor. She has likely tutored many of your parents and possibly even your grandparents in their own Pagkahari at Paggalang courses.”
The woman stood perfectly straight, with her heavily wrinkled yet flawlessly manicured hands clasped delicately in front of her. “Hello, children.”
Professor Manatubay looked expectantly at us. We all mumbled greetings politely but half-heartedly, except for Amador, who was sitting with her back flush against the chair and her hands folded primly on top of her desk, in a perfect mirror of our new teacher. She projected her snooty voice above everyone else’s: “Nice to meet you, Dona Immaculada.”
Usually, that got Amador lots of brownie points with teachers, but to her credit, Dona Immaculada didn’t fawn over the goody-goody act. She barely glanced at Amador. For that, I liked her already.
However, that brief respect changed as soon as she announced our task. “I’m here, by Professor Manatubay’s invitation, to assist you in your journey to proper royal etiquette. As you know, we are two weeks away from a very important coronation.” She glanced at me pointedly. “Something none of you have yet experienced. There are certain expectations which must be met, should you desire the respect and esteem of your people. A royal without manners is a royal without clout and is, therefore, a royal without a court.” She walked around the room slowly, stopping in front of each of us and speaking as if she was talking to that person alone. It was pretty intimidating. Kind of felt like she was about to pull out a riding whip and smack our hands with it like an old Victorian schoolmarm. I was so concerned with being under her spotlight that I could hardly pay attention to what she was actually saying.
“Today, for our initial lesson together, I thought we’d do something simple. Something you all should already know. This will demonstrate the way we will structure our lessons moving forward.” Dona Immaculada stopped in front of me this time. I gulped. She glared down at me when she said, “And let it be known that I may seem like a softie, but I have very, very high expectations.”
When she moved on, I exhaled. I wondered if she’d directed that comment to me personally, or whether I just happened to be the one in the line of fire at that point in her spiel.
“And now, if you will, boys on one side of the room, and girls line up on the other, please,” Dona Immaculada commanded.
Everyone jumped up to comply right away. I took my time getting out of my seat and making my way across the room to join Nix and Amador and the few other girls in our class, a futile attempt to get Lucas to notice me. When I took my place next to Nix, she whispered to me in a high-pitched imitation of Dona Immaculada, “Girls on one side and boys on the other.”
“Dona Immaculada hasn’t been introduced to gender theory, I guess,” I whispered back. Nix snorted.
Dona Immaculada side-eyed us as she paced between the two lines. “As you’ve probably guessed by now, today we’re going to dance,” she said. She clapped her hands together on the word dance like this was an amazing treat. A few students followed suit and clapped politely. Dona Immaculada was displeased. “The lot of you will never make great leaders if you are unable to drum up some enthusiasm in the face of adversity.” That made everyone straighten up a little bit.
And even if they weren’t overly enthused, everyone at least knew what they were doing, having taken dance lessons in the past. I, of course, hadn’t. And there was a good chance this dance wasn’t going to involve twerking—although I didn’t know how to do that either.
Dona Immaculada stood at Professor Manatubay’s desk and lifted the lid on a box. Inside I could see the top of a record player. She held the arm over the vinyl album and shouted, “First, the Biringan Court Dance!” Then she dropped the needle, and classical music began to play.
All the students stepped forward and bowed to the person in front of them. I copied them clumsily. Then everyone took a step back, and I did, too. Out of the corner of my mouth, I said to Nix, “How do you know how to do this?”
“Private lessons. First month I was here,” she replied. “At least, that’s what I called it. Me and a guy at the pub in town.”
“Wow,” I said, laughing.
“And!” Dona Immaculada’s voice boomed throughout the room. “One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three!”
Suddenly they were all doing complicated footwork, which I attempted to duplicate (and failed), and then holding their hand out to the person across from them. My partner was the crowned baron from the Court of Tikbalang with goldenrod eyes, who looked like he couldn’t be more than ten, despite being at least five years older than that, but took his role more seriously than just about anyone in the class aside from Amador. We touched palms and walked a few steps, then twirled around and switched hands. Meanwhile, Dona Immaculada was counting and shouting things like, “Now switch!”
At once, one line went one way, our line went the other, and then both lines did some kind of crisscrossing until we were fully switched around and standing in front of someone else. “What the hell is going on?” I murmured in Nix’s direction. She just laughed again. We repeated the steps, this time with a different partner, and then Dona Immaculada said, “Once more!” and everyone began the weird zigzag.
When we were back in lines again, I was standing face-to-face with Lucas. I looked right at him, but his eyes were focused somewhere over my head. Dona Immaculada began her counting, and then Lucas and I were touching palms—and unlike when I was dancing with the baron, with Lucas I could feel some type of energy, tension, between our hands. I wished he’d look at me, but for some reason he kept looking anywhere but in my direction.
And then, as quickly as it happened, it was over.
For the rest of class, there was no contact between the two of us again.
I never thought I’d be the kind of girl who’d be ghosted after her first kiss—or that her first kiss would be from a boy she was just pretending to kiss. Maybe that was what he thought, that it was just pretend. I was the one who’d demanded he kiss me, after all.
***
A few hours later, after another unremarkable Hayop at Halaman class ended, I rushed down to the cafeteria. Nix was already there at our usual table. “Hey,” she said after a while. “You all right? You seem down.”
“Do I?” I shrugged.
“Yeah, you’ve hardly touched your pancit, and I know it’s your favorite,” she said, twirling the rice noodles with her fork.
I listlessly pushed around the noodles on my plate. She was right; I could hardly taste it. The pressure was getting to me, and I had too much to deal with already. I didn’t need to worry about Lucas and how he felt about me on top of it. I was running out of time to make my magic work. I’d tried meditating in the garden, communing with plants, talking to the horses who pulled my calesa. Nothing. Discovering my talent was more important than anything else, and yet I was obsessing over what was going on with him, playing detective, and wasting valuable time learning ballroom dancing and listening to lectures about things that happened a thousand years ago.
Nix nudged me and asked, “Should we go to town again? We could do some more investigating.”
“I can’t. After... er, what happened, Elias has been watching me like a hawk since he came back. He’s not even comfortable with me coming to school anymore. He’s got the guards stationed at every entrance as we speak.” Plus, I really, really needed to go be alone and deal with this magic thing. The panic had been creeping up in my gut all day long.
“I’ll come to you at the palace, then. Or have you already given up on finding the real murderer?”
“I haven’t.”
“I’ll ask Lucas if he wants to come.”
“No,” I said sharply. Nix was surprised; her mouth froze in the shape of an O . I hadn’t told her about the kiss. I don’t know why. I just wasn’t ready to share, plus she would interrogate me about it: Do you like him? What about him and Amador? And on and on. I wasn’t ready for all that. But I felt bad for getting snippy. “I don’t want him reporting everything we do to Amador.”
“Good point,” Nix said. The awkward moment had quickly passed. She gave me a once-over. “You seem worn out. I’ll come by at the end of the week instead.”
“Yes, that would be better.” Phew. Maybe if put my mind to it, I could take care of the main issue, finding my magic, and then I’d be able to focus on the other stuff.
One of BANA’s kitchen maids approached our table, carrying a large silver tray with both hands. She set it down in front of us, curtsied to me, and started to walk away.
“Excuse me,” I called after her. I pointed to the tray. “I think this is for another table.” We hadn’t ordered anything.
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” Nix said to me. She was already picking through the variety of sweets on the tray. “We’ll keep it,” she told the maid.
I shot her a look. We couldn’t eat someone else’s food. Nix sat back, a slight pout on the edges of her mouth.
The kitchen maid stepped forward. “No mistake. It was sent for you.”
Nix’s face perked up.
“Oh, okay,” I said, still a bit confused. “Thanks.” The maid nodded and started back for the kitchens.
The tray held shiny éclairs, mango cake, and thick, gooey brownies.
“Yum,” purred Nix. “I can’t choose—they all look so good!”
“It’s probably another present from a first-year,” I said. Other students in the café took notice of our good fortune as well.
“Maybe it was Lucas. Trying to woo you. Gotta say, this sure beats flowers.”
I hated that her joking suggestion made my heart swell for a the briefest second before it came sinking back to reality. “Ha ha, but I doubt it.” Though it was interesting, considering what I thought I felt during class. Maybe it could be from him? A girl could hope? I grabbed one of the brownies and took a bite while Nix was still debating which dessert to eat. “You’re right,” I said with my mouth full. “Amazing.”
It tasted familiar, chewier than a typical brownie, almost like ... and then it hit me. As soon as I realized what I was eating, I spit it out into a napkin I was holding and began wiping my lips and tongue with my hand, desperate to get every last speck of it out of my mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Nix asked. She set the éclair she was holding on the table.
Once I was satisfied there wasn’t anything else I could do to rid my mouth of the toxin, I examined the napkin. I was right. Black rice.
“What is it?” Nix asked again. She looked like she was simultaneously super concerned for me and repulsed by the fact that I just spit chewed-up food out in front of the entire cafeteria.
I fumbled for my glass and took huge gulps of water. Now I had no doubt who sent us the treats. Amador almost got me to eat black rice to trap me in Biringan. I would never be able to return to the human world, never see my mother again. That evil...
I got up from my seat and looked around the room, trying to find Amador. I spotted her in the back corner, facing the entire room so everyone had a clear view of her, of course. Always on display.
She wouldn’t even look in our direction. Nice try. She thought that would make her look innocent. I could just imagine how satisfied she was inside. Sitting there knowing what a nasty prank she pulled on me, or nearly did.
Pure rage bubbled up inside of me. So intense I was afraid I would pass out from the pressure of it.
Amador picked up her glass as she laughed haughtily at whatever her friend across the table had said.
I hate you. I hate you, Amador, you nasty...
She took a sip of her drink; immediately, her eyes went wide, and she spit out the liquid all over the table. Her friends screeched and flew back, trying to avoid the spray. But it was all over them anyway.
“Ew!” one of them shouted. “What is that?”
Amador looked confused, disgusted, then angry. She scanned the cafeteria, then set her eyes directly on me.
I turned and dashed out of the room. Nix stared after me. I felt bad running off from her like that, but I was so sick of everything. Sick of Amador. Sick of Lucas ignoring me. Sick of the games, and the strange rules, and the expectations. I did not ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be born a princess, I didn’t ask to spend my entire childhood hiding, I didn’t ask for any of this!
I ran straight for the front doors, where my calesa would be waiting to take me back to the palace. As soon as I got there, I could pack my stuff—no, forget the stuff. I’d just leave in the middle of the night and go back to the human world, where I belonged. I need to leave this place, I kept telling myself, wanting to run away but too heated and upset to think straight.
So I didn’t notice someone coming right toward me. We collided.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, extra flustered now. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, Your Highness. It’s me who is sorry.” She pushed the hair back from her face, though she wouldn’t look directly up at me. It was Fortunada. Her schoolbag had fallen by her feet when we ran into each other. One of her books, stuffed with tons of paper tabs, was spilling out of it. It was a dark, mossy green with vines stamped in gold on the cover.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” I crouched to pick up the bag at the same time as she did.
She cringed and pulled back as if I was about to smack her.
My mouth opened to assure her I had no bad intentions, but without another word, she swooped up the bag and hurried off down the hallway.
I managed to make a mess of everything everywhere I went.