Chapter 8 #2
only the twins were beautiful enough to wear them.”
“But you saw nothing?” Neta asked.
“Not a thing. To me, it looked like they were holding up air.”
“‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’” Kaley and Neta said in unison.
Neta’s face showed her horror. “If my sisters arrive naked, my father will go into a rage. He might kill people.”
“If anything bad happens, Olina will use it as an excuse to keep the men from coming tomorrow.”
“I have to go. I must stop my sisters.”
“You’re not going without me!” Kaley stood up. When Arit fluttered her wings very fast, she added, “And Arit.”
“Your dress,” Neta said. “You can’t—”
“This is urgent.” Kaley grabbed her skirt and lifted it. “Lead the way!”
It wasn’t easy to make it through the big palace but Neta knew the way down deserted corridors, and out a door into a courtyard.
Neta slowed down twice for Kaley, who was burdened by high heels and the heavy dress, to catch up. When they reached a house,
Neta stood still, caught her breath, then threw open the door. Arit went in with them, then sat down on a window ledge to
watch the show.
Standing in the middle of the room, stark naked, were the two beautiful twin sisters. From the hazy, dreamy look in their
eyes, they’d been drugged. Both of them turned slowly around. “How do you like our dresses?” Shay asked. She reached down
to her naked leg, seemed to grab a handful of skirt, then held it out. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
Bree smiled in a faraway look. “I hope we don’t outshine you, Kaley. It is your day.”
“Shine is the right word.” Kaley looked at Neta. “Will a blue pen work on drugs?”
“I hope so. I’ll get it.” Neta ran out of the room.
“No!” Shay said. “She’s just jealous because we’re younger and she never got a husband. This dress will get us the attention
of all the men.”
“That is very true,” Kaley said. “Every man will look at you and all the women will too.” She took a big scarf off a chair.
“This would look good on the dresses.”
“Absolutely not!” Shay said. “You’re not going to cover up this beauty.”
Behind them came Neta holding out a little metal pen with a blue light on the tip. She reached out, grabbed Bree’s left arm,
and put the pen to it before the girl could object.
Bree stood still, dazed.
“Not me!” Shay said and headed toward the door. “I’ll show everyone my dress and tell them how jealous you’ve always been.”
Kaley tackled the girl before she could get out the door, and they landed on the couch. Her big white dress billowed around
them, her skirt catching on a table edge. She had to hold Shay down while Neta fought to put the pen to her flailing arm.
On the other side of the room, Bree gave a scream, then grabbed a scarf from a chair. “Shay,” she shouted. “Let them do it.
We are naked!”
“We’re not,” Shay said, but her sister’s words made her hesitate long enough that Neta could put the pen on the chip in her
arm.
Bree, wrapped in the scarf, sat down on the couch. Her face was bloodless. “We almost went out like that,” she said softly.
“It would have . . . We could not . . .” She looked at Kaley and Neta. “Thank you.”
Kaley let go of Shay but she was still waving her arms about and she was still angry. When Kaley moved, she felt her skirt
tear, but she couldn’t deal with that now.
When Shay screeched in shock of realization, she grabbed the big covering her sister threw to her.
“How can we repay you?” Bree asked.
“We don’t need anything,” Neta said. “Just get dressed.”
“You’ll tell everyone, won’t you?” Shay’s bottom lip was stuck out. “We’ll be laughed at by the entire island.”
“If people find out, it won’t be from us,” Neta said firmly. “But Aradella’s nasty maids were in on this and I’ve never known
them to keep a secret.”
“I know how you can repay us,” Kaley said. “You could be nice to Aradella. I mean genuinely nice. No sideways punches shot
at her.”
Shay gave an ugly sneer. “She came back on the arm of the most beautiful man we’ve ever seen. She doesn’t deserve more than that.”
Kaley’s eyebrows raised. Since she agreed about Mekos, they had a point.
Neta put her hand on Kaley’s arm. “You’re going to be late.”
“Right.” A sense of panic ran through Kaley. “My hair! My dress!”
“You’re still perfect,” Neta said. “Let’s go back.” She turned to her two half sisters. “Meet us at the wedding and be nice
to Aradella. Understand?!” She did indeed sound like the older sister.
The girls nodded, Bree looking grateful, but Shay was still sulking.
As soon as they were outside, Neta said, “If Aradella’s maids were in on this . . .”
“That means Olina was behind it.”
Neta picked up her pace. “If we tell the men about this, swords will be drawn.”
Kaley started running. “In my case, it’ll be a pistol and shots fired.”
“Especially since I doubt Tanek has calmed down since finding out what his son did at the Lair.”
“What did he do?”
Neta had a frantic look. “I think we need to keep our mouths shut. About everything.”
“Agreed.” Kaley hesitated. “I don’t mean to be impolite, but those girls don’t look alike.” She was referring to the fact
that, when dressed, the young women looked the same, but undressed, they were very different. Shay’s body looked as soft as
a feather pillow, while Bree was lean, even muscular.
“Bree and I take after our father. Shay is like her royal mother.”
Kaley couldn’t help a quick up-and-down look at Neta. “Good to know.”
When they reached the palace, Neta flung open a heavy door. “Let’s go get you remarried.”
They ran through the hallways until they reached the Sanction Room. Jobi was standing outside the closed doors. Kaley hadn’t
seen him since he’d put her, unconscious, on a ship headed to another planet. She wasn’t sure whether she should be glad to
see him or smash him in the face.
“What have you done to yourself?” He sounded horrified. “You look as bad as when you met King Aramus.”
“That was because I’d been running with—”
Neta stepped between them. “She is beautiful.” She smoothed a long strand of Kaley’s hair behind her ears.
Jobi grimaced. “Of course a mother would think that. Graceen! How could you let her run around the streets in her wedding
dress?”
Kaley’s eyes widened.
“I’m sorry,” Graceen whispered to Kaley. “I should have told you. I wouldn’t have left you behind on Earth if . . . if . . .”
After all that Kaley had experienced, nothing could surprise her. “Let me guess. You were drugged to the point of death then
carried back to a spaceship. Been there, had that done to me.” She held up her hand for a fist bump.
Since Graceen had spent time on Earth, she knew how to respond. She bumped back.
Jobi groaned. “We should put some swan feathers in your hair, then Tanek won’t notice the mess you’re in.”
“I’m marrying a blue swan,” Kaley said, “so I need pink feathers. Are there pink swans?”
“Ssssh!” Jobi hissed, then opened the door.
Kaley’s father was standing just inside, ready to walk her down the aisle. Jobi left them to go to the front where he stood
under the arch.
A musical instrument started playing an odd version of “Here Comes the Bride.” Graceen lowered her daughter’s veil, and Kaley took her father’s arm.
But then she stopped and looked at Graceen.
“Is Sojee really your father?” Kaley was wearing the Truth Necklace, and it was cool so she knew she wasn’t being lied to, but she wanted to hear it.
“Yes, he is.”
“Then he’s my grandfather?”
“He most certainly is. He wasn’t about to leave you alone among strangers when you first arrived.”
“And he needed me to pull him out of the mud.”
“What?” Graceen asked, then smiled. “You’ll have to tell me. I love stories.”
“Me too,” Kaley said. “We can—”
Pointedly, the music got louder, meaning she needed to go. A glance at her father showed that his eyes were on his wife, who
he hadn’t seen in years. Kaley looked ahead to Tanek and Mekos waiting for her at the end of the aisle. They had on Earth-style
tuxedos and she’d never seen anything as beautiful as they were. On the other side was Aradella in one of her big, elaborate
robes.
Kaley tightened her grip on her father’s arm and they started the slow walk down the aisle.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Completely. To my soul.”
Jeff laughed. “Spoken like a lover of fairy tales. We begged Jobi to let us see you but he said that if we got to you before
you’d bonded with Tanek, you’d leave him and go with us.”
“And that would prevent the overtaking of Empyrea,” Kaley said. “I’m learning that everything leads up to that. Are you glad
to see Mom?”
“To my soul.” They were at the arch. He kissed her forehead, then took his seat.
Tanek was looking at her in curious pleasure. Her dress, her veiled face, all of it was strange to him.
“Sorry I’m such a mess,” she said, “but I had something to do with my . . . with my mother.”
Tanek smiled. “They told me she was still alive and here. She was hiding when we were at the Museum of Earth. As for beauty, you look like my Kaley.”
From the back came Jobi. It looked like he was the officiant and he was ready to say the Earth words. But then, Tanek saw
Kaley’s skirt. “Your dress is torn. What have you been doing?” His voice was alarmed.
She did not want to tell him about the naked women. She needed to deflect his attention. “I think you should ask your son what he did
while we were at the Lair.”
Mekos, standing next to his father, gave a startled look. “What do I have to do with your dress being torn?”
Jobi looked at Mekos. “On Earth, we’d say you just got thrown under the bus.”
Kaley kept looking at Mekos. “Why did you two bring that little dragon to me? Was that part of something you shouldn’t have
been doing?”
Mekos looked ahead. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Suddenly, Kaley’s Truth Necklace got hot, then hotter. “Ow!”
Tanek jerked it off her neck. When it burned his hand, he dropped it to the floor. They watched as the little half round pendant
burned a hole through the white rug. It lay on the stone floor, steam coming off the heat.
They looked at Mekos. “That was one powerful lie,” Kaley said.
Tanek narrowed his eyes at his son. “What have you done?”
Jobi, frowning so hard his eyebrows met in the middle, said, “Do you two want to get married or not?”
Mekos grimaced. “They’re only interested in the honeymoon,” he muttered.
“What does that mean?” Kaley asked, eyes wide.
It was Sojee and Frank, sitting behind them, who bellowed, “Get on with this!”
Kaley looked at Tanek. “They’re my two grandfathers.”
“Sojee is?” he asked.
Kaley said, “Yes,” then Tanek looked back at the big man, who smiled and nodded.
Jobi spoke loud enough to hurt Mekos’s ears. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to—”
Tanek looked at Kaley through her veil. “That means you’re related to Aradella. Are you a princess?”
Kaley smiled. “No, but you’ll always be my prince.” She turned to Jobi. “Please continue.”
“Are you sure? Or should we wait for a dodo bird to appear? You have no fairy tales to destroy? Maybe you want to introduce
us to Rumpelstiltskin.”
Kaley gave him her sweetest smile. “I’ll save all that for later.”
There were no more interruptions for the rest of the ceremony. They were a happy group, full of stories, and they loved the
cream-filled cake. Mekos ate three sugar roses and stayed far away from Kaley and her questions.