Page 13 of House of Mages and Raven

Shit.I blinked, feeling like a fist was ramming into my jaw. I’d just been downgraded to Barbie 0.5.

Shit,Sy agreed.But at least you aren’t Barbie zero.

“I was going to warn you before you had to meet Grace,” Bea said in a low voice. “She’s Queen Lilith’s ward, princess of the House of Underworld.”

9

Barbie

“Where is Barbie?” an unkind voice demanded.

“There! Barbie’s there!” Shouts from those buttkissers rose across the floor, and multiple rude fingers thrust in my direction.

The limelight swirled back from Barbie 2.0 to Barbie 0.5 in record time, utterly derailing 2.0’s great entrance. Wasn’t it peachy?

Peachy!Sy preened. She was a firm believer that there was no bad publicity.Let’s give them a big smile. Show your teeth.

I was being sarcastic,I told her.They’re gunning for us.

A band of sentinels, led by Headmistress Ethel, streamed toward me with purpose. It didn’t look good for me.

What for?Sy demanded.

Who the fuck knows? Many things, probably.

We’re in trouble again? So soon?She blinked.Fight or flight?

Usually, it was me who asked that question. It seemed like I didn’t have many options as I looked around. Every table had switched their attention to me, snapping out of their obsession over Queen Lilith and drawing their admiring gazes away from Grace. My geek friends stood up, not knowing how to react in this situation.

No one was shouting, “Team Underdog Barbie!” anymore.

The sentinels who weren’t coming after me blocked the entrance, obviously expecting me to bolt. More sentinels spread around the dining hall strategically, anticipating my flight in every direction. They were determined to round me up. The main force of a dozen men and women made a beeline for me.

They all regarded me as a dangerous career criminal.

Sy smiled.But we are dangerous, and we shall not apologize for who we are. If they displease us, we’ll eat them all.

“Sit this out, Bea,” I whispered to my friend. “Don’t act. Don’t say a thing. And don’t follow me.”

Headmistress Ethel snapped her fingers at me and barked, “Take her!”

“What for?” I shouted as they rushed toward me. “Based on what?”

I darted my wild gaze around. Where were the heirs from the other houses? They’d defended me on multiple occasions. I urgently needed their backup.

“You’ll stand trial in front of all the kings and queens and the Council in the court of Kingdom of Chaos,” Headmistress Ethel summarized without sympathy.

I glanced at the eggs, cheese, and donuts piled on my plate then at the sentinels in gray-and-blue uniforms. They’d surrounded me, but now they stepped back a pace in unison, as if worried that I’d fling my dishes at them. It made me sad that they’d think I’d be crazy enough to throw away food.

“Another trial?” I sighed. “Then it’ll be a long day. I won’t be able to sit through it on an empty stomach. Let me have my breakfast in peace, or at least let me finish my milkshake, and then I’ll go with you like a good little sheep. Deal or no deal?”

Two sentinels at the front looked at their mistress, and Headmistress Ethel spat, “You’re leaving now! You’ll learn to respect your betters.”

“Who is my better?” I asked sincerely before I sighed again. “You see, I didn’t have a lot growing up, but I have this principle that no one takes my food from me.” I flashed her and her minions a savage smile I borrowed from Sy before she ate her prey, and everyone, including Ethel, flinched. I lifted my plate above my eyes to show respect. “See, I even got spam musubi. I gotta eat it.”

Before Headmistress Ethel exploded, the captain of the academy sentinels whispered in her ear, and her expression changed, her temper cooling.

“You’ll finish only that musubi and half of the milkshake while walking,” Headmistress Ethel ordered me. She now understood that by compromising, one would go further in life. Pushing me too hard wouldn’t end well for anyone. “The kings and queens won’t wait for the likes of you.”

---