Chapter 9

Chapter 9 "This is where you live?" Princess Pulverizer asked nervously a little while later as she hobbled around the castle. Elle had taken the gag out of Princess Pulverizer's mouth and untied her arms and legs so she was free to move around. But that didn't make her ankle —or the rest of her—feel much better. The princess had never before been in Elle's home. Up until now, the witch had always insisted on meeting with the princess out of doors. Which was probably just as well. This castle was awful. "Yes, this is my home," Elle said. "And it's yours, too. Because now, instead of being my knight, you are my prisoner. You will spend

every minute trapped in here. Lucky for you, I live in a really wonderful place." Wonderful wasn't exactly the word the princess was thinking of. More like horrifying. Elle's castle was decorated with velvet paintings of red-eyed rats and ravens. A real skeleton's head sat on the mantel. Above the fireplace was a giant portrait of Elle herself, with eyes that seemed to follow the princess around the room.

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"This place is definitely a reflection of your personality," the princess told Elle. Princess Pulverizer couldn't bear the thought of staying in this horrible place much longer. But she knew she couldn't just run away. For one thing, she had an injured ankle. And for another, Elle could easily use her magic to capture her again. An escape was going to take planning—and patience. So for now, the princess was going to have to get used to the skeleton skull, the creepy paintings, that doll up on the highest shelf of the bookcase, the... Wait a minute. Doll? How strange. The doll was beautiful, with long dark hair and smooth porcelain skin. It sure didn't fit in here. "What a lovely doll," the princess said. She reached to take it off the shelf. "Don't ever touch that!" Elle exclaimed angrily. "It's mine. And no one touches it but me."

Whoa. "I never pictured you having a doll," Princess Pulverizer said. "What, was I never a kid?" Elle asked her. "My mother gave Anna and me identical dolls. Anna's somehow ended up in the fire. But mine is still here." The truth-telling sword by Princess Pulverizer's side began to shake. Clearly, Anna's doll didn't just "end up" in the fire. Or the doll in this room didn't belong to Elle. The princess wasn't quite sure which. She just knew Elle was lying. "I don't care how popular Anna is," Elle continued. "She will never have a doll like that. It's irreplaceable because it came from Mother." Wow. That was surprising. Not that Elle was jealous of Anna. Jealousy was just one of Elle's many ugly traits. What was surprising was that the evil witch would be so attached to a gift. She didn't seem the sentimental type.

"I was Mother's favorite daughter," Elle boasted. "She told you that?" the princess asked, surprised. She couldn't imagine Elle being anyone's favorite. "Well, of course she couldn't say it," Elle continued. "But it was obvious. She gave me lovely dresses to wear, and braided my hair. She told me I was special." Special. Well, that is definitely one way of putting it. "Didn't your mother do those things for Anna?" Princess Pulverizer asked. "Well, she sort of had to," Elle scoffed. "Otherwise people would accuse her of playing favorites. But Mother was kindest to me. When no one else would play with me, Mother always did." If the grown-up Elle was any example of what she might have been like as a child, Princess Pulverizer wasn't surprised that she didn't have many playmates.