Not Your Average Princesses Read online

  “Go for it,” Juno said, glancing skeptically at a long purple skirt with butterflies embroidered on it. “Good luck.”

  Athena nodded. “If you are qualified, then by all means, have at it.”

  Rhea gathered all the clothes up into her arms—the drab selection from Athena and the random hand-me-downs from Chamberlin—and headed for the girls’ bedroom, happy to have a little solo project to keep her busy for a while.

  Meanwhile, Chamberlin dismissed himself for a much-needed nap. Muttering something about a tepid shower and not enough sleep, he shuffled off. The girls’ butler was obviously disappointed no one had appreciated his little gift.

  As soon as he was gone, Athena slid her trunk of supplies out. The clothes she had packed hadn’t been popular with the other girls, but she hoped the other things would be. She pulled out the musical instruments, one by one. As soon as her keyboard was settled on her lap, Athena spread out her fingers and played a few notes. Something about the bright sound of the keys carried her straight back home, to the only planet and life she had ever known. Playing the keyboard made her feel at home.

  “Drumsticks!” Juno gasped, peering into the trunk. She pulled them out, her purple face bright. “May I?”

  “Of course,” Athena said. “I brought these things to share. But I don’t have any drums…”

  Juno grinned. “That’s not a problem. This planet is a space dump, remember? I’m sure there are some things floating around outside that I can use to put together a kit.” She raced toward the door of the space transport, certain she could build a killer drum set out of spare parts and recycled metals on the streets of Borana.

  Hera reached into the trunk and tugged out the bass guitar. She flopped back onto the couch and strummed a few notes. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the sound. She, too, felt most at home with an instrument—or her camera—in her hands.

  “You play bass?” Luna asked, sounding both surprised and impressed.

  “A little,” Hera shrugged. She plucked at the strings. “I’m more of a classical upright bass player, but an electric bass can be pretty fun from time to time, too. Do you play any instruments, Luna?”

  “I’ve been taking vocal lessons for thirteen years,” Luna boasted. “Opera, French classical, and soprano ballads are my specialties. I write songs and play a little piano, too—but only because my tutors made me learn so I would be a ‘well-rounded’ princess.”

  Athena tapped out a simple melody on her keyboard. A few notes in, Luna began to sing along:

  Livin’ on Borana.

  It doesn’t get a whole lot uglier than this.

  But life … as we know it … is gone, gone, gone.

  Lost. Forgotten. Stolen …

  Her voice cut out. But a moment later, Hera jumped in and filled in the empty spaces with the thrumming beat of her bass.

  Rhea peeked out of the bedroom, her face lighting up when she saw the unused electric guitar on top of Athena’s trunk. She bopped out to the living room, strapped it over her shoulder, and chimed in. For a few minutes, the girls were unified in song. For once, they were getting along—but only because they didn’t have to talk.

  The tranquility only lasted for a few minutes. Just as Luna had started building a new verse, Juno returned to the space transport with a collection of metal to create her drum kit. She spread all the supplies out in the living room, crashing and banging around and taking no notice of the other girls. It was as if she were totally unaware that she was making a ruckus.

  Irritated, Luna snapped, “I can’t hear myself think with you building your noisy little toys over there. Can you please go somewhere else?” She said this in a voice that suggested she was used to getting what she asked—always.

  “These are not toys,” Juno grunted. “It’s gonna be a killer set of drums.”

  Luna rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Drums are just noisemakers. They don’t make real music. You and your stack of garbage over there are ruining my sound.”

  Juno glared at her but said nothing. She returned to her project, tapping her drumstick against one of the drums in a thrumming rhythm. It actually sounded great.

  “I just had an idea,” Athena said suddenly. “What if we all tried to play together? Like a band?”

  “Backup for me?” Luna clarified.

  “As if,” Rhea scoffed. “A band is a group thing. There is no star.”

  “Unless you’re the singer,” Luna said. “A band’s singer is obviously the star. It’s the words that matter. The instruments are just background noise.”

  The other girls began to argue with her, but Athena put up a hand to silence them all. Miraculously, the bickering stopped. “Every member of a band is important. And since we all play different instruments, we could make an amazing group.” She put her hands on her hips. “At least it’s something to do.”

  Juno looked up from her makeshift drum kit and muttered, “So I’m not allowed to fight back against Geela … but I am allowed to play cute little songs with a bunch of princesses? Awesome.”

  “It is awesome,” Hera said, not realizing Juno was being sarcastic.

  “What if we did both?” Athena said. “Chamberlin won’t let us fight back against Geela as ourselves—but what if we fought back through music?”

  Rhea shook her head. “I’m not following.”

  “We could write rebellion songs!” Athena said, her usually pale cheeks flushed pink. “Here’s what I’m thinking: We go undercover as a band and get our songs broadcast to spread the message of hope and rebellion.”

  “And love. I’d love to spread a message of love,” Hera cooed.

  “But we can’t broadcast anything,” Juno pointed out. “Every station is all Geela all the time.” Quietly, she added, “I wonder when she’ll form a band…”

  “So I guess we just have to go out on tour, then,” Rhea said, shrugging.

  Athena pointed at her. “Yes! We can travel around the galaxy preaching a message of rebellion, freedom, and love to the people!”

  “I’m all about rebellion,” Juno agreed.

  “If you think we can help our people and planets reclaim their freedom, I’m in!” Rhea said happily.

  “I’d be the lead singer of this band, right?” Luna asked. She looked around at the other girls, waiting for them to agree. No one replied, so Luna continued, “As long as I don’t have to share the spotlight with anyone, I guess I’ll do it.”

  “A band,” Athena said, nodding. “I like it.”

  Rhea grinned. “Geela is always bashing other peoples’ music, so what better way to rebel against her than by writing a bunch of freedom songs?”

  “I can think of a few better ways to get back at Geela,” Juno said, punching a fist into her palm. She pounded one of her drumsticks noisily against the edge of her homemade cymbal.

  “Nonviolent fighting,” Hera said softly. “This is the smart way to fight.”

  “I have to say, your idea is kind of brilliant, Athena,” Luna noted with a small smile.

  Juno shrugged and said, “I’m in, too. Just know that I’ll be pretending my snare drum is Geela’s starship.” Then she lifted her arm high and slammed one of her drumsticks down with an enormous boom. The fight was on.

  CHAPTER 4

  “The most important part of forming a band is costumes,” Luna announced. “If we want to be taken seriously, we absolutely have to look the part.”

  “That’s the most important thing?” Rhea asked, lifting an eyebrow. “Really? More than the music?”

  “Of course!” Luna insisted. “If we start touring, and then we get super famous—because of my voice, of course—and sell T-shirts with my face on them and…” She broke off, momentarily distracted by the thought of T-shirts with her own face on them scattered far and wide across the galaxy. “Well, everyone will recognize me unless I look seriously different.”

  “She’s right,” Athena said, stepping into the hall to make sure Chamberlin’s white noise machine was
still cranked up nice and loud. The girls had discovered their butler preferred to sleep with relaxing Heralda lute music playing in the background. “Just like Chamberlin has been telling us since we got to Borana, we’re going to need clever disguises. I think our new names are different enough, but our looks need a major overhaul. Especially if we think we’re going to play gigs and be in front of crowds.”

  “Of course we’re going to play gigs! For huge crowds!” Luna scoffed. “Do you have any idea how many connections I have? We can book any club in the galaxy if I just say the word. I’m not at all worried about getting plenty of publicity and attention.”

  Athena shook her head. “But we can’t use your connections. We need to stay in disguise at all times, and we can never tell anyone who we really are.”

  “We’re gonna need to build this band from the ground up,” Juno pointed out. “We have to get people to notice our sound without using any royal connections.”

  “That sounds like a lot of work,” Luna said. But after a moment’s consideration, she added, “But I’m sure we can get plenty of people to pay attention to us even without connections. I mean, have you heard my voice?”

  Hera smiled serenely. “I just love that we’re going to build something together, sisters. Just think—yesterday morning, we only knew of each other. Now, we are forming a beautiful band and preparing to spread a message of love to the people of our galaxy as a group of friends. I wish I had my camera so I could capture this moment! Can we have a big group hug instead?”

  “Oh my Grock,” Rhea griped. “We’re not going to be that kind of band, are we? Let’s just take group hugs off the table right now. Anyone else agree?”

  Athena raised her hand. Juno snorted and turned away.

  “Now that we’ve gotten the hugging issue out of the way, what should we do first?” Juno asked. “Want to try to play something? It kind of seems like we should make sure this band thing is going to work before we waste any time on elaborate rock star makeovers.”

  The other girls all agreed to jam for a bit before getting too deep into their costume design. So a few minutes later, they had assembled their instruments in the bedroom to play for a small, furry crowd made up of the five princesses’ pets.

  They made sure the door to their room was sealed tight so they didn’t wake Chamberlin. Then Juno counted off: “One, two, one, two, three, four!” In a storm of sound, they all began to play. It was a mess of twangs, clanks, and screeching voices. No one was in the same key, they were all over the place on style, and Luna had already begun to cry. Every one of the pets raced for cover under the couch.

  “You all sound terrible!” Luna screamed, slamming down the hairbrush she had been using as a microphone.

  “Let’s try that again,” Athena said patiently. “This time, we’ll try it in the key of C. Juno, you start. Then Hera, you can come in next. Rhea, you and I can try to jump in on keyboard and guitar after those two have laid down the beat. And then—” She looked pointedly at Luna. “Then, you can try to lay some lyrics over the top. Okay?”

  “Fine,” Luna said, sighing.

  This time, they were all a little more in sync. But almost as soon as Luna had come in with a crooning “Ooh-ooh-wa!” Juno launched into a drum solo that drowned the rest of them out.

  “Let’s try it again,” Athena said, waving her hand in the air. “This isn’t the time to show off what we can do. We’re trying to make something work as a group. Be mindful of what we sound like together.”

  Over and over, the girls tried—and failed—to make their styles mesh together. After more than an hour of clashing and fighting, they all agreed it was best to take a break. “We’ll get it,” Athena assured the others. “It’s not going to happen in one afternoon.”

  “Yeah,” Rhea agreed. “Let’s take a rest, then try again.”

  “Should we all share a truth?” Hera suggested.

  “A truth?” Juno asked.

  “Something secret about ourselves. To help us all get to know one another better.” Hera shrugged. “Sometimes, when creatures can connect on a spiritual level by sharing something personal, it helps to connect them in other ways, too.”

  “Let’s save secret telling for bedtime,” Rhea suggested. “We can each wear a pair of those soft fluffy jammies that Athena brought for us from Athenia, and share a quiet secret before we drift off to dreamland.” She grinned. “How about we do makeovers now instead? Let’s look inside the box of makeup and hair stuff our parents sent and see what kind of changes we can make that will help us look the part. At least then we’re making some progress on getting the band up and running.”

  “I’ll go first!” Luna said quickly. She stood in front of the others, and said, “I’m ready for a change.”

  The other girls studied her. Luna’s golden skin was offset by floor-length reddish hair. Her dramatic hair would make her stand out in any crowd.

  “I think we need to go bold,” Rhea said, circling her. “I want to cut your hair and give you swooping bangs. Then I think we should add highlights. If we put in a ton of golden streaks, your hair would really accent your skin color beautifully.”

  Luna looked at herself in the mirror hanging from the wall. She ran her fingers down the length of her hair, then took a breath and said, “Do it.”

  So Rhea grabbed a pair of scissors from the box and got to work. While Athena and Juno mixed up a box of bleach, Hera and Rhea cut and trimmed Luna’s hair so it curled around her hips and fell in a gentle swoop across her forehead. Rhea applied the bleach, then moved on to Athena while they waited for Luna’s hair to change.

  “With your smooth gray skin and light blue eyes,” Rhea said, studying Athena, “I think we need to abandon your fair hair. I’m thinking we give you a bold pop of color—and do something dramatic with your style. Can you handle that?”

  Athena nodded briskly. “If I must. Are you thinking nice, sensible brown hair?”

  Rhea shook her head.

  “Beige?”

  Rhea shook her head again.

  “Pale peach?”

  Rhea grinned. “Pink. No one is going to recognize you if you have hot pink hair. Am I right?”

  Athena gaped at her. “You’re not serious?”

  “Totally. You’re going to look amazing,” Rhea promised. Before Athena could object or question her further, Rhea lifted her scissors and snipped a huge chunk of hair off Athena’s head. She said, “You’re going to adore short hair. And the color will be a really fun change.”

  Next, it was Juno’s turn. Juno scowled as Rhea looked her over. Juno’s skin was a beautiful, rich purple—a darker version of her eye color. Her hair was forest green, and Juno kept it pulled back in a tight ponytail.

  “You can handle bold, yeah?” Rhea asked her.

  “Of course,” Juno said, jutting her chin out.

  “Do you trust me?” Rhea tested.

  “Not really,” Juno admitted. “I don’t trust anyone. But after what you’ve done to those two, I’m more inclined to test your styling skills.”

  “Excellent,” laughed Rhea. “We’re cutting your hair super short and spiky. And I want it to match your skin color. Let’s really play up your purple punk style. Okay?”

  Juno nodded. “Do it.”

  Rhea shaved the sides of Juno’s head, then gave Luna and Athena instructions on how to dye her hair purple. Meanwhile, she turned her attention to Hera.

  “Hera, Hera…” she said, studying the kind, pink-skinned sweetheart. Hera’s hair was fluffy and soft, and frizzed around her face like lavender cotton candy. “You, girl, need a little edge if you’re going to play the bass. I want to dye your hair black, with sharp bangs across your forehead. We can curl the back, to keep you somewhat soft looking.”

  Hera nodded, her eyes wide. “I’m okay with you cutting it—however you want!—but I really don’t want to dye it.”

  “Why not?” Juno blurted out from across the room. “The rest of us did.”

&nbs
p; “I prefer a more natural approach to fashion,” Hera explained. “I like sun-kissed cheeks and honeycomb lip gloss. Beauty you can find in nature! I don’t believe in applying toxic chemicals and poisons to my body. It’s not good for the constitution.”

  “Okay…” Rhea said, walking toward their bedroom door. She stepped into the hall and said, “I have another idea. I saw one of the palace stylists do this on Rhealo once. Hopefully I was watching carefully enough that I’m able to do it myself!” She returned a moment later with a jet-black starcumber from the space transport kitchen.

  While the other girls watched curiously, Rhea squeezed the black juice from the horn-shaped vegetable into a bowl, mixed it with a few drops of sea squid ink, then held it out for Hera’s approval. “Ta-da! Natural hair dye.”

  Hera and the other girls came closer. Luna pinched her nose closed, jumped back, and groaned, “That smells awful!”

  “It doesn’t smell like sun buttons,” Hera agreed, her eyes beginning to water from the rancid smell of the starcumber mixed with sea squid ink. “But if it’s all natural, I won’t complain. Are you sure this is going to work?”

  The ink and veggie juice combo gelled into a thick, mud-like substance and—once applied—turned Hera’s hair into a hard helmet. The smell grew even more powerful the longer it sat on Hera’s head. They all kept their distance while the color took hold, trying to escape the putrid stench. Hera smiled through the whole ordeal, promising the others that the temporary discomfort would all be worth it in the end. And she was right!