Princesses in Peril by Gabrielle Wobrock

The day started off like any other day or the young princess. She ate breakfast with all of her eleven sisters and took her dancing lessons with them in the grand ballroom. Soon after lunch she started noticing dark shadows in the corners of the rose garden and by the time she called Orchid to come, they were gone. When she told Orchid and the rest of her sisters what she had seen, they didn’t believe her. 

Near bedtime, the oldest sister Tulip was looking out towards the garden and saw dark figures moving close to the entrance of the garden. She called to her sisters to come to the window, but by the time they got there the figures had vanished. Tulip asked Daisy to describe what she had seen earlier. Afterwards, Daisy told them that these figures looked like they didn’t belong in this world but a darker one. Tulip said, “I think I believe you now because I just saw the same.” None of the sisters slept well that night and the next morning they all had dark circles under their eyes but wouldn’t tell their father what was wrong. After finishing their dancing lessons they all met in the garden and asked Tulip and Daisy to show them where they saw the figures. 

When they reached the spot Orchid saw something on the ground, it turned out to be seashells. They hurried in to show their parents what they had found. After hearing their description of the figures and explaining the seashells, the queen’s face turned as white as a sand dollar, “I know who these belong to and she has come back for repayment!” When the sisters asked who it was, their parents told them that the queen made a deal a long time ago with a powerful witch named Marissa. “I told her it was a big mistake, but she wouldn’t listen,” said the king. “I made a deal that when all my daughters were old enough to take care of themselves, I would go and be her head ballroom dancer for the rest of my life.” The sisters looked horrified and Tulip looked at her mother and the rest of her sisters saying, “we will not let them ruin this family, we will find a way to stop her and her band of minions.” All twelve girls looked determined to help even the smallest one, Lilac who was only five. The next morning all of the sisters rose early and set off to find the queen who they found in the breakfast room off the main hall. Tulip and Orchid spoke first with their plan: to find the shadow minions, discover her weakness and destroy all of them once and for all. They all agreed and rushed to tell the king. When the king had heard of their plan, he agreed but gave them a special weapon to use against the witch: a conch shell which had the power to trap any magical creature inside it. They all went upstairs to get ready for their adventure. A few hours later they all stood in the rose garden near where Daisy first saw the shadow creatures. The queen found the secret entrance near the arbor of roses, counted twelve times stepping on each shell in a certain order. The ground opened to reveal a staircase lit by torches in wall sconces. Upon reaching the bottom they found themselves in an enchanted world of glittering seashells and soft silver sand that led to a sinister looking lake. The lake surrounded a far off island that was home to a seashell castle with dark purple bricks. There were shadow creatures with golden tridents guarding the entrance of the castle. The queen told her daughters to follow her as she led the way across the shimmering sand for there was no sun in this underworld prison and the sand glowed on its own. As they approached the waters edge enough boats appeared to carry them across to the castle. These boats were made of shiny mahogany with golden fittings and golden tipped oars. When they reached the castle they went through the main entrance and were greeted by the head servant whose name was Maud. She led the group to a large chamber where the witch had her audience of court members. They were all dressed in muted colors of black, silver, gray, dark blue and purple. As the group came to the front of the chamber Marissa peered down at them with evil in her eyes. 

“So you got my warnings, dearie?” The queen nodded with a face that had an unreadable expression. With a snap of her fingers, Marissa sent servants rushing forward to lead the girls and the queen to their chambers to get ready for a ball later that night. After every detail to their gowns, hair, and jewels were seen to they headed to the grand ballroom.it had a dark feeling to it with heavy worn dark purple velvet curtains framing each of the floor length windows that overlooked a forest of silver trees, polished black marble floors, and a tarnished chandelier and wall sconces.  As the queen led them to the center of the ballroom, Marissa entered and took her place on her throne looking more ghastly but seeming to glow from within. 

The ball began and the sisters each had a dancing partner while the queen danced with Marissa’s son Prince Faben. As they danced Marissa seemed to glow brighter, sucking the energy from the dancers. As midnight drew near, they all went into the great dining hall for a midnight supper. After a few more dances the ball ended with a waltze. The girls retired but the queen stayed with Marissa. Tulip and Orchid couldn’t sleep so they stayed up whispering their different plans to each other to save the queen and defeat Marissa. The next day the girls were allowed a short walk in the silver forest. Daisy mentioned she had an idea on how to get rid of the henchmen, “We could use our hand mirrors to reflect the light off of the trees, blinding them and locking them in a room near the ballroom.” Tulip thought of this for a couple of seconds before asking, “How will we trap them all there are at least two dozen of them and only twelve of us?” Lilac spoke next, “Maybe we can get some of the servants to help us?” Near the end of their walk they still hadn’t figured out a good plan. Later that night before the ball began, Maud came in to help them get ready. 

She asked the girls if they would help her escape. Daisy asked her, “Why should we help you? You work for Marissa.” Maud looked afraid, fear darting in her eyes. “I am forced to work for Marissa because I am a lost princess. I used to come here with my father who was Marissa’s long lost love. One day Marissa got angry with my father and banished him from this world. He wasn’t allowed to take me because that was part of his punishment. I have worked for her ever since.” When she finished the girls had tears in their eyes. Lily the second youngest came forward, took Maud’s hand and said “Do you know how to defeat Marissa?” Maud looked at her and said, “She is very powerful and doesn’t let many people near her. But I did overhear that she promised to take Tulip as a bride for Prince Faben. Tulip felt all eyes turn towards her and she said, “Don’t look at me I didn’t know anything about this. The only one that could have know besides Marissa and Maud is mother.” They rushed to find the queen before the ball began. They found her in her chamber staring at herself in the mirror checking that everything was in its proper place. Daisy spoke first, “Mother is there something you want to explain?” The queen turned to them with a sigh and a weary look on her face. “I need to tell you about Marissa and the deal we made when Tulip was born. Tulip was deathly ill and might have died but I made a deal with Marissa to save Tulip but marry her to Prince Faben in return.” 

They all looked at the queen in surprise. Tulip stepped forward and asked her why she had lied to them all these years? The queen said she didn’t know and wanted to try and fix it before it became too late. They couldn’t speak about it anymore because the gong rang to announce the beginning of the ball. As Orchid sat down to rest at one of the tables set up on the far side of the ballroom, Maud came up to her and asked her if she would help her. Orchid said,”We need to know if you can find Marissa’s weakness and who your father is before we can help you.” “My father is King Gerald who rules Aslonia.” Orchid couldn’t believe what she was hearing because that meant that Maud was her long lost sister. Maud hurried away as Orchid sat in shock. Tulip saw Orchid’s distress and excused herself from the dance as she hurried to Orchid’s side. When she told Tulip what Maud had told her she was just as shocked. Tulip angrily said, “Then we need to break that deal with Marissa and destroy her.” In the end they found Marissa’s glass pendent that was the source of all her power, but not before destroying the castle. As the world started to crumble around them, Lilac took out the magic conch shell and blew three times. The queen, Maud, and all twelve sisters appeared back in the rose garden. Maud was reunited with the King and everyone lived happily ever after.