I took a deep breath and looked up the stairwell. I'd just finished one ridiculously hard part of my journey, but this could be even worse. How was I going to get into Julia's apartment to get her passport? What if her mother was home?
But it wasn't like I had a choice. I had no other way of getting out of the country. I just had to hope that Julia's mom was working like she'd been all week. I started up the steps, thinking of all the movies I'd seen where people had broken into houses with credit cards. Unfortunately, I didn't have any. Another downside of the whole
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never-having-to-pay-for-anything thing. Maybe Julia and her mother hid a key near the door somewhere like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That would be perfect. Of course, I could also probably get someone in the building to open the door for me. After all, I was Julia. I could just say I'd locked myself out.
When I got to Julia's apartment, I tried the doorknob and it was, of course, locked. I was about to check under the welcome mat when the door flew open and Julia's mother was standing there, her brown, unwashed hair up in a ponytail, her eyes wide with hope, holding a crumpled tissue in her hand.
I stood up straight, my heart in my throat. She just stared at me for a moment, looking utterly confused.
"Where's my daughter?" she asked me. "You look just like--"
"I can explain," I said.
She stepped aside, watching me with this sort of stunned expression as I walked by her. I made my way to the kitchen and sat down. The table was covered with notes that had names and phone numbers on them. One of them read Vineland Embassy and another was a number for the FBI. I swallowed back a lump that was forming in my throat. Julia's mother had really been worried. Suddenly Julia's cat hopped into my lap and I let her curl up there, purring. When Julia's mother came into the room, she stood at the end of the table, staring at me.
"You might want to sit down," I said.
"I think I'll stand," she replied.
So I took a deep breath and told her the whole story. Everything. From the sushi restaurant to the training to
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the makeovers to getting stranded on the bus. When she heard that Julia was in Vineland, she decided sitting down would be a good idea. Then I explained that I'd come back there to get Julia's passport so that I could go home and Julia could return to L.A.
"I'm really sorry," I said when I was finished. "If I'd had any idea that it was going to cause this much trouble ..." I trailed off when I realized I was about to say that I wouldn't have done it. But I knew that I would have. Two days ago all that had mattered to me was meeting Ribbit and escaping from being a princess for a while. I would have done anything for that chance. Now all I wanted to do was go home.
"So ... you're a princess," Julia's mother said.
"Yes," I replied.
"And my daughter is impersonating you in Vineland right now."
"Yes."
Julia's mother stood up, scraping back her chair, and marched into her bedroom. I sat at the table, scared to move, as I listened to her banging around for a few minutes, slamming drawers and muttering to herself. When she reappeared a couple of minutes later, she had on a pair of jeans and a sweater, and her dirty hair was all hidden under quite a beautiful red hat. She was carrying a suitcase.
"You'd better go get Julia's passport," she said, grabbing up a huge wad of cash from the kitchen counter. "We're going to Vineland."
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***
Chapter 30
I was sitting at Carina's desk with her furry white cat in my lap, surfing the web and waiting for someone to come and arrest me. It had been hours since my confrontation with the king, but I was sure he was going to figure out that Carina would never have talked to him like that. At least I didn't think she would have. Did anyone ever yell at a king? Well, anyway, he had to realize that I wasn't his daughter. He just had to. And when he did, I was going to be in serious trouble.
There was a sudden knock at the window and I practically jumped out of my skin. I spun around to find Ingrid standing at the glass doors that led out to the verandah. She waved at me hysterically and I jumped up to let her in, sending the cat flying. He let out an angry yowl and disappeared under the bed.
"Thank you!" Ingrid said, all out of breath as she ducked into the room. "I paid off one guard to let me onto the grounds, but if I'd been out there much longer, someone would have definitely caught me."
"How did you get up here?" I asked as Ingrid sat down on the bed.
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"Climbed up the trellis," she said. "Do it all the time. It's easier for Carina to sneak out, but I sneak in when necessary."
"They won't let you in the front door?"
"Not after hours. And not tonight," Ingrid said, getting control of her breath.
"Why not tonight?" I asked.
"There's some kind of dignitary dinner going on here. People higher up than my parents. The king and queen are probably doing damage control for you and Markus." She looked me up and down and her forehead furrowed. "Why aren't you dressed?"
"I ... I didn't know," I said, standing up. "Are you telling me I have to go to this thing?"
"Well, Carina's not back yet, so--"
"But won't the queen be there?" I asked desperately. I felt like I was going to explode from stress and fear and guilt. I couldn't take it anymore. I half wished the Vineland police would get their butts in here and arrest me.
"You have a point," Ingrid said. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked for messages. "Where is she?"
"That's what I'd like to know," I said.
There was a knock on the door and my heart dropped. "Uh ... who is it?" I called.
"It's Asha, miss. I came to help you get ready."
I shot Ingrid a doomed look. "Better just let her in," she said.
"Come in!" I called out, sinking back into the chair. Asha bustled through the door with an armful of gowns and laid them out carefully on the bed. A slim purple gown,
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a puffier pink thing, a blue dress that looked exactly like something Jennifer Garner would wear to an awards show. Ingrid stood up and we both watched Asha as she worked. A heavy dread settled in over the room and I knew Ingrid and I were both feeling it.
"What time will dinner be served, Asha?" Ingrid asked.
"Seven o'clock, Miss Ingrid," she replied, smoothing out the last gown, a deep red strapless dress with one glittery asymmetrical stripe down the left side. "Now, princess, which would you like to wear?"
None of them, I thought. I just want my own jeans and my own sneakers and I want to go home.
Ingrid nudged my shoulder and I sighed. "I guess the red one," I said, standing.
"Excellent choice," Asha told me, lifting the dress and draping it over my arms. "I'll go get your red pumps and your tiara. Will there be anything else?"
"How about an escape ladder," I muttered.
Asha smiled. "I'll see what I can do, miss," she joked before hustling out of the room.
"I actually gave Carina one of those once, but they took it away," Ingrid said.
I looked at her, the dress hanging limply from my arms. "What are we going to do?"
Ingrid lifted her hands, palms up. "Get you dressed and hope for a miracle."
I stood in front of the mirror in Carina's room in the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen, wearing a tiara, with a set of real rubies draped around my neck. I should have been
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breathless with excitement. Instead I was breathless with fear.
"It's almost seven," I said to Ingrid, who stood by the window frantically dialing her phone. She had put on one of Carina's other dresses just in case she needed to go downstairs and do ... something to stop what was about to happen.
"I know this," she said, holding the phone up to her ear. "Ugh! It keeps saying she's out of the calling area, but we both have worldwide service! Even if she's still in L.A., I should be able to get her."
"Don't say that!
She can't still be in L.A.," I said, my stomach doing back flips.
There was a quick knock on the door and then Asha peeked her head in. "They're expecting you downstairs, miss." Then she disappeared again.
"I'm not going," I said to Ingrid. "They can't make me go."
"Actually, they can," Ingrid said. "The king once sent the guards up to drag Carina downstairs for a holiday brunch. Of course, Carina was being a brat that day. Something about hating the new chef."
"Oh God. I'm really going to be sick," I said, holding my hand over my stomach. Suddenly the tiara felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and was squeezing into my head. My temples started to throb and my vision swam. Ingrid walked over to me and clutched my arm, half holding me up.
"Okay, we are going to walk down there together and I will tell the queen ... something," Ingrid said. "This whole thing was my idea. I'll... I'll tell her."
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I swallowed back the bile in my throat and looked at her. "Really?" I asked. "If you're lying to me again, I'll--"
"I swear I'm not lying," Ingrid said, releasing my arm. "Julia, I'm really sorry about everything. Really."
I took a deep breath, calming my nerves. "It's okay," I said, raising my chin. "This isn't entirely your fault."
After all, I had agreed to take Carina's place. I had flirted with Markus and hurt Ingrid's feelings. I could have ... I don't know ... faked a seizure or something before the plane had taken off for Vineland. We were in this together now.
We both turned and looked at the open door as if it were the gateway to hell. Ingrid reached out and clasped my hand. I squeezed hers back.
"You ready?" I asked.
"Let's go," Ingrid replied.
We walked out into the hallway, hand in hand, and managed to descend the long, winding staircase without tripping ourselves out of nervousness. When we reached the front hall, I saw the queen ushering a few guests through the doors on the far side of the room. I couldn't breathe to save my life.
"Here goes nothing," Ingrid said.
The queen turned around and saw us from across the room. She tilted her head with a motherly look of disappointment, then smiled and shook her head. It was like she was upset about the whole Markus thing but at the same time not all that surprised.
She started across the room toward us, and for a moment I thought it was going to be a replay of the scene
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with the king--that she wasn't going to recognize me. But when she was about ten yards away, her face suddenly dropped. My grip on Ingrid's hand tightened and she clasped me back so hard I thought my fingers were going to break.
The queen's hand fluttered to her chest and she looked me right in the eye. Then she said the words I'd been expecting to hear since this whole charade started:
"Who are you?"
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***
Chapter 31
The taxi pulled up to the front gate at the palace and stopped. I was so tense, I was tempted to tell the driver to just smash right through it. Ever since the moment I'd stepped off the plane in Vineland International, I had been bombarded with images of Julia and Markus--on the TVs at the airport, on the cover of every newspaper-- with headlines like renegade princess and finger-lickin' carina ! I had tried to call Ingrid from my cell phone to find out what was going on, but my battery was completely dead. I had no idea what Julia and Markus had done, but if I knew my parents at all, she was either locked in my room still waiting to be screamed at, or the screaming had already happened and we were both in huge amounts of trouble.
Why had I ditched on my responsibilities? How had I ever thought Julia would be able to handle it? I'd been training to be me my entire life. Clearly a few crash courses hadn't been enough.
Joshua, one of the younger guards, approached the car and motioned for the driver to roll down the window.
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"I'm sorry, but there's an event at the palace tonight and tours end at 5 p.m.--"
"Event? What event?" I blurted, leaning over the driver's shoulder.
"A state dinner, miss. It begins at seven."
I jumped out of the backseat, my heart racing. I knew Josh all too well. Ingrid and I had paid him off so many times to get on and off the grounds, he had saved enough to buy a BMW last spring.
"Josh! You have to let us in!" I said, hanging on to the top of the car door.
"Miss, you'll want to get back into the vehicle," he said, that blank, I'm-in-charge look on his face.
"Joshua! It's me! Princess Carina!" I said, looking up at him desperately. Whatever this state dinner was for, it was going to start in about five minutes from now. If I didn't get in there soon, Julia was going to be in major trouble. If she hadn't been found out already.
"Princess Carina is inside," Joshua said with a smirk.
"Josh! You have to believe me! Look at me!" I said. The commotion had attracted the attention of the other gate guards. Marshall, Ricardo, and Morris all emerged from their little station houses and walked over to stand around Joshua.
"Is there a problem?" Morris asked, raising one eyebrow. He always thought that looked particularly threatening.
"Look, if you guys don't let me inside right now, I'm going to have every last one of you fired," I said, causing them all to crack up laughing.
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"Miss, if you don't get into the car right now, we're going to have you forcibly removed from the grounds," Joshua said, reaching for my arm.
My eyes flashed. "You touch me and I'll tell my father about all the times you let me and Ingrid off the grounds. I'll tell him about the hundreds of times you let Ingrid in. I'll even tell him that your car was paid for entirely out of my trust account."
Joshua froze. He looked at the other guards, who were eyeing him warily. I stared right back at him with all the defiance I had in me and finally Josh narrowed his eyes. He bent toward me until he was just inches from my face.
"Princess Carina?"
"Are you going to let me into my own palace now?" I asked, tilting my head.
Josh took a stunned step back from the car and I slipped into my seat and slammed the door. He waved at Morris to open the gate, and finally the taxi was moving up the drive. When the palace came into view a few moments later, I almost burst into relieved tears.
"Wow. This place is unbelievable," Julia's mother said.
"It's home," I said.
I could barely contain myself as the taxi driver pulled around the front drive and stopped before our doormen. My whole body was taken over by butterflies. I had to get inside and see my parents. I had to get inside and save Julia. Ronald stepped forward and opened my door for me as if I was one of the dignitaries arrived for the dinner. I jumped out and tossed a bunch of bills through the window at the taxi driver, then bounced up and down on the
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balls of my feet while I waited for Ronald to help Julia's mom with her bag.
Soon we were both rushing up the front steps toward the palace. I had no idea what kind of scene might greet us behind those doors, but for once I wasn't worried about what was going to happen to me. I just wanted to bring Julia and her mother back together and put an end to this whole mess.
And I wouldn't mind seeing my own mother, either.
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***
Chapter 32
"I asked you a question," the queen said, taking a few steps closer to me. At that very moment Markus and his father walked in, decked out in tuxedos once again. Markus's face lit up when he saw me.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my daughter's clothes? In her crown?" the queen asked, her voice quavering.
"Your Highness, what are you talking about?" Markus asked, striding over to us. "Are you quite well? This is your daughter."
He touched my arm and I thought I was going to throw up right on the queen's very expensive-looking shoes.
"Actually ...," I heard myself say.
And then the front doors to the hall burst open and C
arina came flying into the room. Her hair was still brown and she was still wearing the same clothes she'd worn to the concert. She froze in her tracks when she saw us all standing there, taking in everyone's expressions. I knew she was sizing up the situation and trying
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to figure out what had been said. If she'd been five minutes earlier, she could have saved us all a lot of trouble.
"Hi... Mom," Carina said, lifting a hand.
"Carina?" the queen said.
"Julia!?"
That was my mother. When I heard her voice, I thought I was finally losing it. But then she walked into the room and the moment she saw me, she dropped the suitcase she was carrying. I started crying before she even made it across the room.
"Julia! Are you all right?" she asked, hugging me so tightly I could hardly breathe.
"I'm fine, Mom," I said. "I'm so sorry."
She pulled back and looked me over and I knew she wasn't mad. She was just as relieved to see me as I was to see her. The major freak-out would probably come later. When we were alone.
"Carina?" I heard Markus say. He stepped back from us and looked at me, then at the real Carina, his face contorting in confusion.
"Markus, I--"
"I'm Carina," the princess said, walking a bit farther into the room. "That's Julia Johnson. From L.A."
Markus's eyes filled with pain, and I thought my heart was going to shrivel up and die right then and there. Even with my mother's arms around me and even with everything falling back into place, I had never felt so awful in my life.
"I didn't mean to--"
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Markus turned on his heel and swept out of the room, past his father, who was calling his name, and past Carina, who tried to grab his arm. I had a fleeting thought of going after him and then the king strode into the room.
"What is going on out here? We have guests in the dining hall and the entire royal family is loitering in the front hall!" he bellowed.
"Reginald, we seem to have a bit of a problem," the queen said, walking over to him and placing her hand on his arm. She looked from Carina to me and the king followed her gaze. His jaw opened slightly, then snapped shut.