Chapter 9

                                    

                                          
"...Miss Natalee Young, of Northern Selivia." Natalee didn't even hear the first part of the introduction over her pounding heart and mishmash of random thoughts. All she knew was that suddenly, her feet were taking her to the top of the grand staircase where she would descend into the equally grand ballroom, even though her mind was telling her to go back, to run from this madness. However, her feet refused to listen, and she paused at the first step, taking in the random mess of faces in the crowd before her. She could hear whispering from the crowd below her, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Her feet, still having a mind of their own, took her one step at a time down the staircase. Natalee plastered a fake smile on her face, trying to make it seem like she wanted to be there, when in actuality, she wanted to run, no matter what Jackey or anyone else thought of it. 
                          
"Wow, Momma, can I get a dress like that someday?" A young child's voice ran out clear as Natalee hit the bottom step, and as the same whispering as at the top of the staircase continued, Natalee finally understood what they were saying. They were all praising her, saying things along the lines of how pretty the dress was, how well it matched her eyes, and even how pretty she was. Natalee wasn't sure what to think of all the sudden attention, but she did know that her fake smile was soon replaced by a real one. More confidently then before, she strode out into the crowd, only stopping mid-crowd when horns started to blare, making her jump slightly. The young child from before was standing right next to her, on her tiptoes trying to get a better view, but sighing when she realized it was no use. 
                          
"Here, let me help you. I don't know if this is very lady-like, but I really don't care," Natalee offers, before picking the young girl up and putting her on her own shoulders, giving the girl plenty of height to see what was going on. Natalee was just short enough that she had to strain just a little bit to see over the crowd of people, but she knew who was there anyway. Natalee didn't hear the first part of the introduction yet again, focusing too much on the girl that was bouncing on her shoulders excitedly, which hurt Natalee's shoulders, but she decided to say nothing about it. She had to stop a smirk from coming to her face, though, when she heard the name being introduced. 
                          
"Princess Jacquelynne Renee Ann Meyers!" Jackey stopped at the top of the stairs when all the attention was directed towards her, and for a minute Natalee thought she had frozen there. Jackey looked to the side, and Natalee realized she wasn't frozen, she was just waiting for her escort, which for some reason Natalee hadn't had one of. Natalee almost rolled her eyes when she saw that Jackey's escort was none other than her own brother, Prince Jacob. Natalee had almost expected it to be that Prince Andrew fellow that she still had yet to meet, but was sure she would do so tonight. Once the duo finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, the young girl made the motion that she wanted down, attempting to flatten her hair once she was firmly on the ground. Her hair wasn't all that flyaway, but it could use a wet brush through it. 
                          
"Thank you, Miss Natalee. You've been very kind. I won't forget that," she said, touching one of the beads on Natalee's bracelet. The bead started to glow, but then the glow faded, leaving Natalee utterly confused. The girl snapped her fingers, and Natalee looked on with surprise as she vanished into thin air. Natalee looked around for the girl, but found that she had indeed vanished without a trace. Natalee wondered what she meant when she said she would remember Natalee's kindness, and what the glowing bead had symbolized. As her thoughts began to clump together into a mishmash again, Jackey's voice cleared her head. 
                          
"Wow, isn't this just...wow?" Jackey says, unsure of the right words to use. Natalee looked around at the ballroom, which was exactly as Jackey had described it. Wow. The main thing that caught Natalee's eyes were multi-colored crystals hanging from the ceiling, each giving off their own light. She wanted to reach up and grab one, but found they were too high up, probably even for those with normal height. Jackey smiled at Natalee's endeavors, before whistling a small, quiet tune, attracting one of the crystals to them. Now that Natalee knew how to get one, she hoped to get one of her own, but then remembered she was unable to whistle. Jackey held out the blue crystal for her to take, which Natalee gladly did. The crystal had stopped glowing in Jackey's palm, but Natalee didn't mind, she was just happy to have one. She slid the crystal into her glove, where it surprisingly didn't stick out all that much.