Clara

Clara’s father, King Frederick, died in November. Just one month after James and Clara wedded. Clara and her other eleven sisters grieved the loss of their father. They were all comforted by the princes that lived in the enchanted palace. Clara and her sisters desperately wanted to live in the enchanted palace with the other princes. That was their plan up until James ruined it.

Clara had been visiting the enchanted for the last ten years, and she fell in love with Prince Blake. Times have been different now since James discovered the trapdoor. After James had told King Frederick about the trapdoor, King Frederick destroyed the evidence that James brought with him and killed the servants that heard the confession. King Frederick didn’t want anyone to know of the enchanted palace in order to protect his family. He lied and told everyone that his daughters would wake up in the middle of the night, put on their shoes, and dance, but the whole time they’re all still asleep. As long as James could marry the oldest daughter and become next in line for the throne, he didn’t care what the story was and promised to never tell a soul about the enchanted palace. James broke promise when he called his twin brother, Kurtis, and told him everything. Kurtis was loyal to his brother and spoke of what James had told him.

There was a party for James and Clara since they accepted the throne and were now King and Queen. Clara was greeting her guests when her youngest sister, Lilly, came up to her in tears.

Clara excused herself and asked, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Lilly responded, “I don’t want James to be the king. I just want to live in the enchanted palace but we can’t.”

At this point James had walked up and heard Lilly’s comment. James said, “Do all of you still visit that enchanted palace? Clara, you are my wife. I forbid all of you from going there.” James began to cause a scene and Lilly ran to her other sisters to tell them what had just happened.

Clara looked at him and said, “James, now is not the time. We will discuss this later.”

After Lilly told her sisters what James had said, they snuck away from the party and up to their room. Lilly locked the bedroom and they bolted to the trapdoor. They immediately ran to Prince Blake once they got to the enchanted palace. Prince Blake could tell that something was wrong by the looks on all of the girls’ faces.

Lilly said, “James found out that we still visit all of you. We need to do something quick before he finds a way to destroy this place.”

“I already had a plan in case we were put in danger. I need all of you to lead James and Clara here. The other princes and I will take care of the rest,” responded Prince Blake.

James and Clara sorted out their disagreement after the party that night. Clara asked if she could visit Prince Blake one last time. James agreed, but as long as he went with her to make sure she didn’t stay there.

The next day Clara told Lilly what she and James had concluded.

Lilly excitedly responded, “Oh my, that’s great!”

“How is that great?”

“We visited the enchanted palace last night after the incident at the party. We came up with a plan that allows us all to still go to the enchanted palace. We just need you and James to go there together.”

Clara felt a rush of joy go through her body and she said, “I’ll do it, but it has to be on December 3rd. That’s the night of mine and Prince Blake’s anniversary of when we first met.”

Clara and James decided that they would visit the enchanted palace for the last time on the night of December 3rd. This gave all of Clara’s sisters and the princes time to perfect their plan.

A week passed and it was now December 3rd. James, Clara, and the rest of her sisters made their way through the trapdoor and into the enchanted palace. Prince Blake greeted everyone while the other princes were hiding. Prince Noah snuck up behind James and then knocked him over the head. James fell to the ground immediately. Prince Noah then blindfolded him, and the other princes carried him off while the princesses followed. They tied James to a chair and put him in a soundproof room as they waited for him to wake up.

Prince Blake pulled Clara aside and said, “Your sisters are going back home to tell everyone that you and James went on vacation. In a week they will then tell everyone that James disappeared, and that you don’t know when you’re returning home.” Clara couldn’t help but feel happy and safe even amidst the whole hostage situation.

James finally woke up, but he was in a daze. Prince Blake carefully untied him, and Clara looked at James and said, “You will never tell me or my sisters what to do ever again.” With that being said, Clara and Prince Blake shut and locked the door.

March had arrived and everyone heard the news of James’ disappearance. Lilly was cleaning the house when she heard someone knock on the door. She answered it which revealed two FBI agents.

“We have some questions to ask you and your sisters regarding the disappearance of King James,” Jane said. Lilly opened the door further and motioned to them to take a seat.

Blake then said, “Do you know where James and Clara went off to?”

“No, neither of them told anyone where they were headed,” Lilly replied.

Jane said, “We have found a body whose DNA matches that of James. We suspect that Clara is on the run, and she is FBI’s most wanted.”

Author’s Note: I read the story of The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces. The story was of twelve princesses, who had a trapdoor in their room. This led to a palace where they would dance with twelve other princes. No one knew of this trapdoor in their room. Their father wanted to know why their shoes were danced to pieces each night. He appointed men to solve the mystery but killed them if they didn’t. A daughter and the chance to become king was the reward. A soldier ended up solving the mystery and chose the oldest daughter for himself.

In the original story none of the princesses had names. The oldest daughter was carefree, while the youngest daughter was cautious. In my story, I chose to name the oldest and youngest daughter since they both had speaking parts in the original story. I was able to create these two princess characters from scratch in my story. I made the soldier the antagonist since he exposed the princess's secret. I wanted to give the oldest princess a big role in the story because the soldier chose her to marry. I wanted to give the youngest sister a big role in the story because she suspected something was wrong, in which she turned out to be right.

Bibliography: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, "Die zertanzten Schuhe," Kinder- und Haus-M�rchen, vol. 2. Story Source.

Image Credit: Princess at Pixabay