This story is a fantasy about a solar system with only two planets. One is called Alasia, and the other is called Anesia. In this Universe, some people get magical powers. Everybody, however, has to prove that they are advanced enough to keep their power. They do this by getting the highest, or second highest, score on an exam that they take when they are 13. If you have a power, you get to live on Alasia. It is a much prettier planet with lots of high-paying jobs and good opportunities. Anesia is more like our world. There are some people who have lots of money and live very well, but most people are working-class. Nobody who lives there has a power. The form of government for this world is a monarchy. I hope that you enjoy this excerpt from the story!
Ember Wind
You can call me a triple agent.
I started hating Indigo before I even met her. She was basically a five-year-old celebrity. At first, I wanted to be just like her. Rich, famous, cool — but then I learned that it goes to your head. Manipulates your thoughts. Changes your attitude. Makes people always ready to criticize you.
I didn’t want that.
On the first day of school, everybody was surrounding Indigo and her family. They were saying how adorable she was in her little pigtails and bright pink dress. She shot out a little gust of snow and everyone clapped for her.
I was instantly jealous, along with every other student there.
But I knew what needed to be done. My parents told me to befriend her. I went along with it, because I was five so I hadn’t started to think for myself yet.
My parents went up to introduce themselves to her. As I was watching them, my dad pointed at me. Indigo and I made eye contact. I quickly looked away. As my parents come back over to me, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, thinking it was just a parent who had mistaken me as their child. It turned out that it was Indigo.
Indigo introduced herself to me. I was surprised by how intimidated I felt. I knew that she was a person. But when she asked me what my name was, I could barely remember it, let alone say it. I ended up replying so softly it was little more than a breath. Indigo had cocked her head and said, “What?”
I got over being intimidated. I hated the way that she’d said that. It made me feel judged and less than her.
All of my jealousy came out in that moment. I said my name so loudly that she was probably startled, but she didn’t show it. I continued to say that I already knew everything about her and already had a picture that she had autographed, so I had felt no need to come over and meet her.
She stared at me with a peculiar look on her face. “Do you want to come over to my house this weekend?”
The question took me by surprise. But my parents had told me to become friends with her. I rushed off to tell them.
They were both pretty excited for me. I was so happy to make them proud. They also told me to ask about Caprice Winters by working it into a conversation. I nodded. I didn’t actually know what they meant, but I decided to do my best.
After I became close friends with Indigo, my parents explained why they wanted me to be friends with Indigo. It was so that I would become best friends with Caprice, the princess of the Universe.
Most people don’t know this about me, but I have an identical twin sister, Emily. She doesn’t have a power. My family was devastated on the day we turned five. There was a one in a million chance that she wouldn’t get a power, and she was that unlucky millionth person. We didn’t want Emily to have to move away to Anesia.
My parents decided to hide her away. We are a pretty common family, and Emily and I didn’t have other friends, just each other. So, it wasn’t that hard. There is no real authority making sure that everyone without a power moves to Anesia. That’s just the way it’s always been. It’s an expectation, not a requirement. I’m sure that there have been other cases like this.
My parents’ plan was to influence Caprice’s family. Since they were royalty, they could easily bend the rules for my sister. They could give her a stable job here at Alasia that didn’t actually require a power, such as a tutor. It wouldn’t be that hard for them to do. Plus, since they knew it would be hard for Caprice to make friends at school, they figured that she would be very loyal to me and help persuade her parents.
I had to pretend to be friends with Indigo for months before we did anything with Caprice. When the day came, my parents were overjoyed to hear that Caprice’s parents would be there too. My parents couldn’t come, but they had me put on my fanciest dress and told me to be on my best behavior.
“This is our chance, sweetie. Don’t blow it,” they said.
It turned out that we were just having a picnic. Caprice was in a dress much nicer than mine. She was very kind and had the best manners a five-year-old could possibly have.
That’s when I learned how the stuffed animal incident between Caprice and Indigo had really affected them. They obviously hated each other. Caprice was jealous and mad at Indigo, even though on TV Caprice’s apology looked so real.
It ended up getting really complicated. Whenever Indigo and I would talk, Caprice would interrupt Indigo and ask me a question. She completely abandoned all of her polite manners. It was very hard for me as a five-year-old. I didn’t know who to answer, Caprice or Indigo. If I answered Caprice, Indigo would get mad and wouldn’t invite me along to events with the royal family. If I answered Indigo, Caprice would get mad and not help Emily.
Luckily, the parents noticed what was going on. For being such wealthy people, they seemed to care a lot about a middle-class girl who was in an awkward situation. Or maybe they just wanted to uphold their reputation as genuine people.
The queen herself comforted me. It felt like a dream, almost. I never thought that this would ever happen to me. Then she made Caprice apologize to Indigo and me for being rude. She also invited me to come over to their house in a few days since Caprice wanted to spend time with me.
When I told my parents everything that had happened, they gave me a big hug. “You’re such a great twin sister,” they told me. “Emily is so lucky to have you. Now, be sure to be on your best behavior in the palace. And try to enjoy yourself, sweetie.”
I nodded. I was so excited to go to the royal home. They never did tours of it, and only super wealthy people could go in. So, if you managed to get in, there were always people asking you about it. It would be so nice to be the center of attention for once.
I could barely contain my excitement for the next four days. I could hardly pay attention to my level one wind studies class. Luckily, the teacher was used to five-year-olds having off days or weeks. She didn’t really care that much.
Finally, it was the day. My parents drove me over to the castle. We spent about 15 minutes going through security. They took my parents’ ID cards and triple checked that the queen had made the reservation. Eventually, we made it through.
We drove up to a huge parking lot. It wa filled with limousines and parts of the motorcade, but it was easy to find an empty spot.
My parents each took one of my hands as we walked up the front steps. My mom knocked on the front door. A man wearing a tuxedo opened the door. “Right this way,” he said as he directed us down the long hallway.
I looked all around me as I walked through the entrance hall. It felt like being inside of a kaleidoscope. There was glass everywhere, in all of the colors of the rainbow. There were paintings of past kings and queens that I recognized from a history book. As I walked, I could feel the plush carpet tickling my feet through my sandals. It felt like walking on a red cloud. I looked up, and there was a magnificent chandelier, glittering as it caught the multi-colored light coming in through the glass windowpanes.
It was beautiful.