Born to Rule

Turret?”
    “I don’t believe in ghosts,” Gundersnap said. “I can’t see them, so they don’t exist.”
    “Look, if there are ghosts, what’s to be afraid of? It’s not like a great white shark,” Kristen said, touching the shark’s tooth that she wore as a pendant around her neck.
    “How can you wear that around your neck while you sleep, Kristen?” Gundersnap asked.
    “Because I know it’s dead, like a ghost. My harpoon killed it.”
    But hello! You can’t kill a ghost, Alicia thought. That’s the whole point. It’s dead, and it comes back to haunt you for some reason.
    They had only been at Camp Princess for four days, but on two of those nights Alicia had sensed upon awakening that there might have been a presence in her bedchamber while she slept. Tomorrow would be the fifth day of camp. That left nine more days for this first session. Would she feel this spirit each night? she wondered.
    Another thought struck her. Nine more days meant she didn’t have much time to teach her songbird how to sing! That thought was almost as alarming as notions of ghosts. She would have to go to Princess Roseanna, the Mistress of the Aviary and Songbird Counselor, to seek her advice.
     
    Alicia noticed that her songbird seemed the slightest bit happy only when she was reading Love Letters of a Forgotten Princess . If she happened to look up as she read, she could see an almost wistful look in the golden bird’s eyes. Sometimes she thought he might even be on the brink of singing. If only that would happen, Alicia thought, she’d be the happiest camper at Camp Princess.

Chapter 11
    THE PRINCESS PARLOR

    The next morning there was a cold drizzle falling outside the castle, which meant there would be no swimming or archery or falconry. After needlepoint the three princesses decided to go to the Princess Parlor, where the campers often gathered on rainy days to play checkers, practice with their songbirds, drink cocoa, and toast marshmallows.
    “Maybe the smell of cocoa will loosen up your bird’s vocal cords,” Kristen said hopefully as they entered the pink and silver parlor. Alicia was carrying her weeb in its cage. She set the cage on a stand and stood hopelessly as she listened to another bird sing an aria, a song from an opera.
    “Still no luck, Princess Alicia?” Princess Eloise looked up from the chess game she was playing with Princess Myrella. Princess Eloise was as pretty as she was kind. Her auburn hair fell in cascades of ringlets to her shoulders. Her eyes were a rich, deep brown, and dimples flashed in her cheeks when she smiled.
    “No luck,” replied Alicia. “And I had a consultation with Princess Roseanna. But nothing seems to work.” What I need is a wizard like Merlin, she thought, not for the first time. Merlin’s magic would make the weeb sing.
    “You know, Alicia, my very first session here my songbird sang, but it had a hideous voice. I think I might have preferred if she hadn’t sung,” Eloise said with a smile.
    How did Princess Eloise always seem to know exactly the right thing to say? Alicia was so glad that she was on the Purple team too.
    “Come over to the piano. Let me play some scales for the bird,” said Gundersnap. But even with music, the bird did not sing. Alicia looked at her weeb sadly. She felt like she was going to cry.
    When Gundersnap saw this, she stopped playing and jumped up. “Vrachtun!” The word fired from her mouth like a bullet from a musket. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Alicia’s bird. “Enough of this, you lazy veeb. Sing! I command you to sing for your mistress!”
    The bird blinked, turned in its cage, and dropped a splat of white.
    “That does it.” Gundersnap opened the cage door and reached in.
    “What are you doing, Gundersnap?” Princess Eloise cried out.
    “Don’t vorry.” Gundersnap held the bird upside down and began to shake it like a saltshaker. “Sing! Sing!”
    Other princesses dropped their marshmallow sticks in the fire and gathered around in dismay.
    “Stop it!” Alicia cried. “You’ll kill him.”
    “Nonsense,” snapped Gundersnap. “My mother always shook us like this when we were little and misbehaving. It shakes out the nonsense. Nicht nocklepop, eh, bird?”
    “Please stop, Gundersnap. I can’t bear it,” Alicia cried.
    Gundersnap stopped, surprised. She shrugged, then turned the bird right side up and returned it to the cage. “I only vanted to help,” she said softly.
    Princess Eloise