William raised an eyebrow, "A sleepover?"

I nodded excitedly. I've always wanted to experience a sleepover.

Millie looked at me, "What's that mean?"

I explained with animated eyes, "You sleep in sleeping bags on the floor, share stories, stay up late snacking, make shadow puppets, and of course make prank phone calls!"

William looked even more confused, "Phone calls?"

I paused, "Okay. Maybe not that one."

My mother frowned, "You intend to sleep on the ground? You can't do that to your guests. We have more than enough rooms for everyone."

I shook my head firmly, "No. That's not fun."

My mother answered firmly, "I know you like to be rude to others, but I don't. I won't allow it. It's improper for girls and boys to sleep in the same room."

Millie spoke timidly, "I don't mind, Seri's mother."

My mother made a disgusted face at being referred to as my mother. She didn't even try to hide her hatred of this idea. I frowned at her reaction.

You can't even pretend for a second? This is why you have no friends.

William stepped forwardly full of arrogance, "That's right. I don't either. I find this idea new and exciting. We shall do it."

My mother looked at him nervously, "But..."

He smiled sinisterly, "I'm the Prince aren't I? Would you ignore the Prince's commands? I wonder what the punishment is for ignoring a Royals command."

My mother flinched at this. She knew full well the punishment was severe.

Dante also looked at my mother with cold, threatening eyes, "Your position can always get worse." He glanced at her neck which was covered in a large ribbon, "Such as, if THAT were to come off..."

My mother met his eyes with a bit of panic. She raised her hand to her necklace and bit her lip. It was only until Dante spoke ambiguously that she felt threatened.

She sighed in resignation, "Fine. But you must sleep far away from each other. And Bertram must keep watch. Can I trust you Bertram?"

He nodded, "Yes Ma'am. I won't let anything bad happen."

My mother nodded and left timidly. I looked at the three of them in surprise. Did they just defend me? How strange...

William turned back to me seething with anger, "Why do you let your mother treat you like that?!"

I blinked still confused. I forced out laughter, "I don't let her do anything. She does it on her own."

Millie nodded, "William has a point. Usually, if someone talked to you like that, you would have some evil plan to ruin their life. Just like Ilene and her father."

My eyebrow twitched. Is that really what they thought I was like?

But they had a point. After my mother fell out of favor, I just started ignoring her. For some reason, I don't care enough to make her stop these verbal assaults. I wonder why...

I shook my head, "Just ignore it. One should only focus on the present."

Millie looked at me with pity, "Are you sure?"

I nodded quickly, "Yes. Now stop worrying about such things. Today is going to be fun!"

I turned to Lona and began describing everything I needed. She then went to the maids who started bringing stuff into my room. There were no sleeping bags, so they just brought out several blankets. Me and Millie shared one "bed" and William and Dante shared another.

The kittens soon joined us on the beds getting comfortable. Kitty Millie tried to lay on William's lap, but he screamed out of reflex and hid behind Dante. Kitty Millie's ears drooped sadly and she shuffled over to me. William felt a bit bad for overreacting, but was too scared to let the cat sleep with him.

We stuffed our faces full of snacks and talked into the night. I sighed, "Ahh. I miss mini pizzas."

Millie looked a me, "What's that?"

"It's a pizza, but bite size. It's the perfect sleepover snack."

"Hmm. I don't know what a pizza is, but it sounds good."

I nodded, "I will make you one some time."

Her face grew dark, "No... That's alright."

"What? Why not?!"

She changed the subject quickly, "I'm surprised this is your room."

I looked around, "Why's that?"

My room didn't have anything fancy in it. Other than my closet packed to the brim with fancy dresses, one wouldn't think it was a noble's room.

I only had a vanity mirror and seat, a bed, and a few bookcases. The bookcase only held journals and my school books since the books I enjoyed were well hidden under the floorboards.

William nodded, "I agree with Millie. This room is a bit...."

He tried to think of a word. Dante answered simply, "Plain."

"What?!" I shouted, "It's not plain!"

Millie frowned, "You don't have any decorations."

William added, "Everything is grey."

I frowned as if being insulted. I whined, "But grey is my favorite color."

They paused. William's face fell, "Are you serious?"

I nodded, "Yes. I like the color. It calms me down. Not too bright, not too dark."

"Huh. I didn't know that." William looked at me puzzled.

Why are they looking at me like that?! It's not like grey is a bad color!

I ignored them, "Also, I've told you before. I don't like trinkets and small things. It's all just junk. My father tried getting me to change my room and add color, but I refused. When he gave me trinkets to decorate with, I would just toss the stuff out of the window."

Well. I actually pawned off most of the trinkets.

I continued, "After a while, he stopped giving me things."

Truthfully, in my other world, I would always be wearing jewels and flashy clothes. I made sure to have the newest and best things. But this was exhausting. It was only to keep up my image.

When I was younger, I always fantasized about being rich and owning such unnecessary trinkets and jewelry. However, I never felt happiness at having such things. In fact, I always felt uncomfortable. Like I was trying to hide who I really was.

When I became Seri, I felt no need to keep up that charade. So I didn't do it. I never knew it could be so refreshing.

Of course I still enjoyed being rich. I just chose to use my money on food and nice cars. Sigh. I miss my cars.

I noticed it was dark outside and clapped my hands together. "I think it's time for shadow puppets."

Millie smiled, "I'm so excited!"

William crossed his arms, "I am interested to see if it's as great as you say."

I rolled my eyes at him and looked at Bertram. He had been sitting in the middle of us, taking his responsibility of keeping the boys and girls separate to the next level. I don't think he ever stopped glaring at the boys.

"Bertram. Bring me a candle?"

He flinched. He looked at me a bit worried, "But Young Miss... Didn't your father say you aren't allowed to use fire?"

William looked at me suspiciously, "What did you do?!"

Dante glanced at me. He was able to guess why I wasn't allowed near fire. After all, he knew about the incident where I tried to set the carriage on fire.

I ignored Dante's look, "I didn't do anything William. Mind your own business." Before he could whine, I looked at Bertram, "Just go grab it will you? I don't need to hold it. Just put it on the ground."

Bertram knew how serious I was about this, so he nodded and grabbed a candle. He put it on the ground as instructed.

The light from the candle reflected on the wall. I smiled haughtily, "Alright. Now watch carefully."

I put my hands in front of the flame, making sure not to be too close. I folded my hands, "Woof woof!"

Millie sat up quickly, "It's a dog!!"

I chuckled at her innocent reaction, "That's right."

Even William couldn't contain his excitement, "T-That's not that impressive."

I smirked, "Give me an animal."

He thought for a moment. He looked at the kittens that were all curled together and sleeping near my feet.

"Do a cat."

"Easy." I changed the shape of my hands. The shadow on the wall looked similar to a cats head.

Millie giggled, "A butterfly!"

I changed the shape once more. William and Millie kept going back and forth shouting out types of animals. I didn't think they'd ever get tired of it.

Millie looked at me, "How do you know how to do that?"

I tossed my head arrogantly, "Because I'm a genius."

William rolled his eyes, "I bet you learned it from someone."

My smile turned a bitter, "If I had, then why haven't you heard about shadow puppets?"

He thought about this for a moment, "Well.. But how are you so good?"

I looked at the shadow with a somber smile. A long time ago, I used to do it for my little brother. He made me do them for him every night. After a while, I was a pro at it.

I can still hear his laughter as he shouted out animals.

I shook my head to dispel the memory. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dante staring at me with a fixed gaze. I knew he could sense something that I didn't want him to.

I glanced over at Millie. She was smiling and rubbing her eyes sleepily. Even William looked like he was nodding off.

I smiled at them, "You two look sleepy. Perhaps we should call it a night."

They both looked disappointed at this. Millie pouted, then her face let up, "You should tell us a bedtime story."

I tilted my head, "A bedtime story?"

She nodded happily, "Yes! With your shadow puppets."

I glanced at William who also happily agreed. I tapped my chin thinking about it. I nodded, "Alright, but you need to lay down first."

William frowned, "Don't talk to us like children."

My face twitched. You're the one who wants a bedtime story.

Even though he complained he still laid down. I started my shadow puppet show.

"Once upon a time there was a caterpillar. The caterpillar wasn't very good at many things. She only knew how to survive. Avoid the birds and no one gets harmed. Yet, this caterpillar didn't get along with the rest of her family. For some reason, they always mocked her. They told her she was only an ugly caterpillar. There was nothing more she could ever be.

In the beginning, she believed them. After all, every day so far she was nothing more than an ugly caterpillar. How could such a thing change?

They continued to mock her relentlessly. Eventually her self deprecation turned into hatred. She would say, 'How dare these caterpillars mock me! They are no better than me! I will show them!'

So the caterpillar slunk off and made herself a cocoon. The other caterpillars laughed at her. They would say, 'Just an ugly caterpillar in an ugly cocoon.'

But their laughter stopped once she emerged.

She was no longer an ugly caterpillar. Instead, she was a beautiful blue butterfly. Her very wings shimmered in the sunlight. She knew they could never taunt her again. After all, she had wings and they didn't.

She flew away from them never to return. Finally, she had freedom. She went wherever she wanted to go. No longer worried about what others thought. She was happy.

But after a while, she grew lonely. Perhaps it was time to meet with other animals. So she did.

She befriended a family of bears. At first, she was worried they wouldn't accept her. After all, she was a butterfly and they were bears. But they would only ever compliment her.

'Oh my! What pretty wings you have! Their shade of blue is more breathtaking than the sky itself.'

She enjoyed their compliments. She finally had a new family of her own. They truly cared for her. After all, why would they compliment her so lovingly? She grew comfortable in their loving words.

Little did she know, the bears did not feel love. Only jealousy. Unable to take it anymore, they ripped her wings off and threw her into a pit.

As she fell, she heard them say, 'How dare you think you're better than us! Just because you have such beautiful wings, doesn't mean we are worse than you! But now you no longer have that beauty! All you are is a wingless butterfly. There's nothing special about you.'

The butterfly lay at the bottom completely crushed. She had thought she found someone to love her. But in the end it was all a lie. She wondered if anything they said was ever true.

No matter how much pain she felt, she couldn't bring herself to hate them. Wasn't it her fault they grew so jealous? They only ever complimented her. She couldn't recall ever complimenting them. Of course they would be angry.

As she lay at the bottom, looking at the blue sky, the butterfly caught herself making a wish. In a raspy voice she said, I wish..... I wish..."

I trailed off with my story. I felt something warm and wet roll down my cheek. I rubbed my cheeks and discovered I had been crying.

I stared at my wet hands completely confused.

Why am I crying?

Was it over a story? But I made this story up and it wasn't that sad...

I looked back and saw that William and Millie were fast asleep. Even Bertram had his eyes closed, but I knew he was awake. My eyes rested on Dante's.

I couldn't pull my gaze away. I was lost in those eyes that glistened in the candlelight. The same eyes that pierced my soul intimately. I did not feel cold or hatred from those eyes.

"What was the butterfly's wish?" His voice said softly.

I blinked and wiped away the rest of my tears. I mumbled, "I'm not sure."

He grew quiet. Then after a moment he spoke up, "Did her wish come true?"

Although I did not know the wish, somehow I knew the answer was no.