Page 29 of Switched

“It’s like you have magic at your fingertips,” I add. “The rest of us have to use a wand or cast a spell if we want to become something different. You have the power inside you. Why hide such an awesome talent?”

“You saw how Tessa and Raza acted when they saw my arm,” AG says, her breath slowing. “They’d never understand that I can’t control what I become. If they knew about my condition, they wouldn’t want to hang out with me.”

“Why would you want to hang out with people who would make fun of you for being unique?” I ask. AG seems stumped by this question. “Those aren’t the kind of people I want to be friends with.” I think of my own group of reform school pals. “I like being around people who like me for me, warts and all. People I can trust. Ones who have my back when I’m in a scrape and who tell me when I’m being all loosey-goosey like Humpty Dumpty.” I point to AG. “You’re acting like Humpty Dumpty.”

AG turns away from us and faces the barn wall. “You don’t understand what it’s like! My mother is beautiful, and I’m…”

“An original,” Maxine says firmly. “That’s what my momma calls me. Beauty comes from inside you. You just have to let it out like I have. I know I’m beautiful, and I don’t let anyone tell me otherwise.” She grins, and drool rolls down her chin.

“That’s very sweet, Maxine, but I don’t think being a beast is beautiful.” AG looks at me. “And I don’t think it makes me powerful either. It’s a poison. I want my father to find Rumpelstiltskin and make this condition go away for good.”

“That’s a shame,” I tell her. “Having a skill like yours could come in handy someday. I’d love to have you by my side in a battle.”

“Princesses don’t battle,” AG says, but her argument is weak and she knows it.

“Your godmother does,” I say. “I hear Snow is good in a battle too. A princess can be anything she sets her mind to…or so I’m told.”

AG contemplates this, then gives me a wolfish smile. “I appreciate what you’re both trying to do, but I don’t agree.” She holds up her hairy arms, which now look slightly less hairy. “I don’t want to be this thing anymore.” Her yellow eyes widen. “Can I trust you guys not to tell anyone what I really am?”

“We won’t tell,” I promise, and Maxine nods too.

“Thank you.” She sighs. “Will you guys stay with me till I turn back?”

I squeeze her furry hand. “Of course.” Maxine takes her other hand.

Then we sit there in silence, listening to the Pegasi eat hay and watching our friend till her hair starts to recede, her back, teeth, and nails shrink to regular size, and her eyes turn back to their regular color.

“I’m a princess again,” AG says, sighing with relief.

I just smile, holding my tongue instead of telling her what I really think—that Allison Grace will always be a princess, no matter what form she’s in.

CHAPTER 9

I Read You Like an Open Book

Jax is waiting for me when I get out of my Hexing and Healing Potions class, and he doesn’t look happy.

“What did you and Jack talk about yesterday?” A flash of lightning through a stained glass window highlights Jax’s already-dark expression. The weather has delayed this afternoon’s magic carpet racing scrimmage between the girls’ and boys’ dorms.

“How about ‘Hey, Gilly! Did you figure out how to counter-hex an angry court magician on a power trip in class?’” I ask.

“Or you could say, ‘Hey, Jax! Sorry I ran out of lunch with Jack yesterday and totally ignored my best friend,’” Jax counters. “You were being jerky.”

“You’re the one who was jerky!” I insist.

Jax stops short. “I was a jerk? I was a jerk? You were the one siding with that beanstalk-bragging liar! How can you stand him?”

Now it’s my turn to stop short. A pack of pixies flies into my back; then they grumble about my lack of etiquette and keep flying down the hall. “He’s nice! And I didn’t side with him. I agreed with him. There’s a difference, and you’d know that if you tried to understand the situation from our point of view!”

“Our point of view?” Jax repeats as a roll of thunder makes the ground shake.

Jocelyn whistles as she pushes between the two of us and keeps going. “Someone’s jealous,” she sings.

Does she mean Jax? Jax is a royal. They don’t get jealous. Do they? Sure, I’ve made a new friend, but Jax is still my closest. “Look, if you must know, I wanted to talk to him about Anna.”

“You told him about Anna?” Jax thunders along with the thunder outside. People look at us.

I pull Jax into an alcove. We stand in front of a window that is getting pelted with raindrops. “Yes, Anna!” Jax starts to protest. “He’s seen her with Stiltskin! He told me she seemed against the little troll, not with him. Jack thinks she wants to leave, but Stiltskin won’t let her.”