Ghost of a Chance by Susan Maupin Schmid

Author:Susan Maupin Schmid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2017-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

“Here,” Marci said, setting a box of buttons before me. “Sew one of these on each spot that I’ve marked with a tailor’s tack. Just like I taught you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

I picked the bodice up off the desk. It shone a soft orange, like a melting sunset. On one side was a long row of neat buttonholes; on the other, a series of Xs marked with white thread. A pile of coral buttons waited in the box. I scooped one up as a sigh escaped me.

“I don’t feel sorry for you,” Marci said, sorting through her keys.

She didn’t, but I did. Across the room, lined up against the wall, were six—count them—six baskets full of mending. And I, Darling, had to do it all.

Marci saw my glance. “That’s just the beginning. That previous Wardrobe Mistress was as slack as they come. I don’t think she did a stitch of mending the whole time she worked here.”

Probably not; she was too busy plotting to release the dragons to spend time sewing.

I poked my needle into the first X.

Lindy stalked into the wardrobe hall, pulling an awestruck Gillian along behind her.

“No dawdling,” Lindy snapped at her. “There’s a pack of work, and you’ve got to start from scratch.” She watched me mournfully.

I threaded a coral button onto my needle as if this required a monumental amount of concentration.

“Oh,” Gillian gasped. “I really get to work up here?”

“After you’re suitably dressed,” Marci said.

Lindy favored Gillian’s canvas apron and brown dress with a frown.

“She looks fine; it’s not like she’s stayin’. This will all be back to normal in a day or two,” Lindy exclaimed. “Right, Darlin’?”

“They made me come up here,” Gillian said. “I’m not trying to steal your job.”

“I know,” I told her.

The thread made a slithering sound as it ran through the bodice fabric. Would it be a day or two? I had my doubts. Princess Mariposa had been so upset by her missing-and-recovered pin and the discovery of the library book that she’d gone back to bed.

And stayed there for three days.

The Head Cook had said that the betrayal of one’s servants cut like the sharpest knife—a comment I hadn’t found all that helpful, especially since the sentiment was shared by most of the Under-servants. If they viewed Francesca with suspicion, they saw me as a traitor. By taking that book, I’d stepped over a line. They half expected an Upper-servant to do wrong, but one of their own?

It was inexcusable.

“But I borrowed it!” I protested for the thousandth time.

Jane’s incessant sobbing didn’t help matters. The Under-servants eyed me with a disapproval bordering on affront. Lines were lines, and you knew better than to cross them. Taking—borrowing—one of Her Highness’s own books? Well, it wasn’t something a good servant would do.

What business did Darling have with a book?

Lindy had rallied to my defense. She protested my innocence—not to mention, my outstanding pressing—to anyone who would listen. But to no avail.

“It’s out of my hands,” Marsdon had said.

The Princess had

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