Standing Up For Grace (6 page)

Usually one of the servants actually sets the table. Maybe, because Imperia has hurried everyone along, the servants didn’t have time for a real setup.

Grandmama sweeps into the room not five minutes later. Grandmama is the only person Imperia knows who can sweep. It’s almost as if she can fly, which lends credence to that fairy blood rumor. (Imperia has never asked her about that. Imperia doesn’t ask Grandmama much about her own life because, Imperia feels, if she asks too much she might suddenly be between Mom and Grandmama, and she doesn’t want to be there.)

Grandmama takes a slice of cake and a pile of fresh fruit. Imperia already has three different slices of cake. Daddy doesn’t allow sweets for breakfast so this is a real treat.

“All right,” Grandmama says. “Tell me what this emergency is.”

Imperia almost denies that it’s an emergency, but then she realizes that it is. She has to deal with it and she has to deal with it before Monday.

So she tells Grandmama what happened, from the mean things that Skylar said about Grace, to Grace crying all the time, to the now-infamous punch, to the possible lawsuit, to what Daddy said.

Grandmama listens. Grandmama is a spectacular listener. She doesn’t say anything, but she frowns in the right places and nods when she’s supposed to and just pays attention. Imperia likes that.

When Imperia finishes, Grandmama doesn’t say anything judgmental at all. Instead, she says, “What do you think I can do? I don’t know any of these people or how the Greater World works.”

“I was wondering if you can help Skylar’s nose heal right. Or if you can help me find someone who will.” Imperia holds out her hand and shows off the bruises. “This is what Greater World medicine looks like.”

“No wonder they think she’ll be disfigured,” Grandmama says, and in her voice, Imperia hears shock. Then Grandmama frowns. “Do you want to bring this Skylar here?”

“No!” The very idea startles Imperia. “I just thought maybe you know some spell or can give me some potion or something that will help her face heal.”

“You want to recite a spell?” Grandmama says.

Imperia can tell just from her expression that reciting a spell is a no-go. “Or maybe you know somebody who can come with me and do the proper healing or something.”

“Bring someone magical to the Greater World to help a mortal?” Grandmama says. “You know that violates all kinds of rules.”

Imperia bites her lip. “Or a potion….?”

“Imperia,” Grandmama says, “I thought you understood how dangerous magic is in the wrong hands.”

“It’d be in my hands,” Imperia says.

“And you would give it to someone nonmagical, who might share it with her little friends who might share it with their friends, and suddenly something that should have stayed in the Kingdom is all over the Greater World.”

“But—”

“No buts, Imperia,” Grandmama says. “And no magic.”

Imperia lets out a small sound. Grandmama broke rules all the time. Imperia was hoping Grandmama would break this rule for her.

“So what am I supposed to do?” Imperia asks.

Grandmama leans back in her chair and studies Imperia. Imperia hates it when Grandmama looks at her like that. It’s always uncomfortable. It’s like Grandmama can see to the tips of her very soul.

“Have you wondered why you punched Skylar?”

“She deserved it,” Imperia says.

Grandmama nods, not like she agrees, but in a kind of dismissive way, like that’s not the right answer. “You could have slapped her. You could have pushed her. Instead, you hit her so hard that you broke her nose. Have you wondered why?”

Imperia frowns. She hadn’t thought of pushing Skylar until now. Come to think of it, the punch is not like her. No wonder Daddy looked shocked when he found out.

“She was being mean to Grace,” Imperia says.

“By saying mean things,” Grandmama says like that’s not a big deal.

“And making Grace cry,” Imperia says.

“But she’s not the only person who has been mean to Grace lately, is she?” Grandmama says.

“Someone else has?” Imperia asks, feeling a surge of anger. “And nobody told me?”

“You know very well who has been mean to Grace,” Grandmama says.

Imperia studies her, wishing she has the same ability to look inside Grandmama’s soul. “No, I don’t know.”

“Oh, but you do, honey,” Grandmama says. “Someone has been very mean to Grace, someone you can’t hit.”

Imperia crosses her arms. She’s about to disagree when she hears Daddy’s voice.
Kids tend to learn that kind of stuff at home.

“Mommy,” Imperia breathes. And then she mentally kicks herself. She vowed never to call that woman Mommy again.

Grandmama nods once, and this time, the nod is agreement. “Yes,” Grandmama says. “Your mother has been very mean to Grace, and to you. Leaving you like that.”

“I can handle it,” Imperia says. “But it made Grace cry.”

“And your friend Skylar made Grace cry,” Grandmama says.

“She’s not my friend,” Imperia says.

“No, she’s not,” Grandmama says. “She sounds quite mean. But she didn’t deserve a broken nose, did she?”

Imperia’s cheeks heat. “I said that. I
told
you that. And I can’t take it back.”

And she can’t just magically transfer that broken nose to Mom either. She wishes she could. Then Mom would be permanently disfigured and she wouldn’t look like Imperia any more.

“That’s right,” Grandmama says. “You can’t take it back. And you can’t use magic to change it, not in the Greater World.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Imperia says.

Grandmama looks at her. “Have you ever thought about what you and your little friend Skylar have in common?”

“She’s not my friend,” Imperia says again.

Grandmama smiles just a little. “Imagine what your mother would say if one day you showed up with a broken nose.”

“My mom wouldn’t care,” Imperia says.

Grandmama winces. “Maybe not now, but what would she have said when you lived in the palace?”

“She would have been mad,” Imperia says. “She wouldn’t have let me out in public for weeks.”

“Because…?”

“Because it would make her look bad,” Imperia says.

“You told me that all along the problem is how Skylar would look. Not that her face hurts. Not that she has lost some status with her friends. How she looks. Even the family attorney is involved. Who called that attorney, do you think?”

Imperia closes her eyes. “I’m not like Skylar,” she says.

“Maybe not,” Grandmama says, and Imperia doesn’t like that
maybe
. “But you understand her, don’t you?”

Imperia opens her eyes. Grandmama is giving her that look.

“I don’t want to understand her,” Imperia says.

“You might not want to,” Grandmama says, “but you do.”

“What do I do with that?” Imperia asks.

Grandmama smiles. “Have a little compassion,” she says.

NINE

Grandmama won’t tell her anything else. They have a nice breakfast and then she sends Imperia back to the Greater World.

Imperia spends the whole weekend thinking about what Grandmama said and still can’t come up with anything to do. She managed to get back home without Daddy knowing she went to the Kingdom, and she doesn’t think she can manage another trip to maybe get a healer on her own.

Even if she does bring a healer back, she doesn’t know how she could smuggle the healer to school. Nor does she think buying a potion is an option, not after what Grandmama says about the way loose magic could travel.

So Imperia doesn’t have a plan at all when she goes to school on Monday. She even thought of staying out of school, making up some excuse or something. But, she figured, the more she lied to Daddy, the worse off she was going to be. Especially if he figured out that she had gone to the Kingdom during the weekend.

She kinda hopes she can go through the day without seeing Skylar, but of course, that doesn’t happen. The first person she sees after Grace heads off with her little friends is Skylar, walking with her posse.

Skylar wears her uniform like a fashion statement. It’s crisply ironed, and looks brand new. She’s coated her shoes with some kind of glitter polish that makes them look like they’re not the regulation shoe. Her purse is expensive, her phone is top of the line, and she has the latest tablet, one that hasn’t even been officially released yet.

Imperia wonders if she can dodge Skylar, then Mikayal sees her and elbows Skylar while pointing Imperia out. Imperia takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and walks toward the group.

“What’re you doing?”

She can hear Janie’s voice behind her. Imperia didn’t even know Janie was nearby. So Imperia pretends she can’t hear her.

Imperia walks right up to the group.

Mikayla and Georgia stand in front of Skylar, arms crossed, like body guards.

“I want to talk to Skylar,” Imperia says.

“No,” Mikayla says.

Imperia tilts her head so she can see around Mikayla. Skylar is standing directly behind Mikayla, face still bandaged. Her eyes are less black now, more purple and green and yellow—and not in an attractive way. Imperia has never seen anything like it before.

“I want to talk to you,” Imperia says to Skylar. “In private.”

Skylar doesn’t answer.

“Look,” Imperia says to Mikayla, “if I lay a finger on her, I promise, I’ll let you guys beat me up all year. You can break my nose too if you want, okay?”

“Don’t say that.” Janie has come up beside her. “They’ll do it.”

“I’m making a promise here,” Imperia says to Janie and to Mikayla. “I mean to keep it. I won’t touch her. Not a finger. I just want to talk to her. Alone.”

“No,” Mikayla says.

“It’s okay.” Skylar’s voice sounds funny. It almost sounds like she said
Idsokey
. It takes a minute for Imperia to realize Skylar’s talking that way because of her nose. “I’ll talk to her.”

Mikayla turns as if she’s going to protest. Skylar just raises her eyebrows—a very Grandfather move—and Mikayla walks over to the lockers.

The other girls follow and line up along either side, so they can rush in if Imperia hurts her.

“You too,” Imperia says to Janie. “I want to talk to Skylar alone.”

“It’s not a good idea,” Janie says.

“You’re probably right, but I’m going to do it anyway.” Imperia looks at Janie. Janie has a frown on her face. She holds her phone up.

“I’m recording it,” Janie says.

Janie is actually worried about her. That touches Imperia. No one ever worries about Imperia.

“I’ll be okay,” Imperia says softly.

Skylar hasn’t moved. She’s watching warily. She really doesn’t look pretty right now, even though she should. Her hair is perfect. She has make-up on that sort-of covers the bruising. But her face is a mess.

And Imperia did that to her.

“Go,” Imperia says to Janie.

“I’m leaving in protest,” Janie says, but backs off.

Imperia feels really exposed now, standing in the middle of the hallway, facing off with Skylar. “Let’s go over there.”

Imperia nods toward a wider area near the stairs where two corridors meet. The other girls can still see what’s happening, but they can’t hear.

“All right,” Skylar says. She pivots and walks to the stairs, turning her back on Imperia.

In spite of herself, Imperia admires that. It shows a confidence that Imperia would never have.

Imperia follows her. Skylar stops a few feet away from the steps and waits, like Grandmother does on state occasions.

“What’s so important?” Skylar asks as Imperia approaches. “I suppose you’re going to tell me to drop the lawsuit.”

Imperia starts. She thought Daddy had taken care of that. But she doesn’t want to lose her focus. She’s going to talk to Skylar, not let Skylar bully her.

“I don’t want to talk about the lawsuit,” Imperia says. “I want to tell you something about me and Grace.”

Skylar’s eyelids lower just a bit. It’s a good move. It shows contempt. “Why should I care?”

She isn’t going to make this easy.

“You know we just moved here,” Imperia says as quickly as she can. If she doesn’t get this out, she’s not going to try again. “What you don’t know is that we just moved in with our father too. Our mother ran off with some other guy and dumped us with our grandparents.”

“So?” Skylar’s voice drips with contempt, and it actually hurts. Imperia debated all weekend about telling Skylar the personal stuff because she was afraid it would give Skylar more ammunition, and now that looks like it might be true.

“So,” Imperia says softly, “when you and I were fighting over Grace, I got really mad. So I hit you.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Skylar says.