1st 5 Pages February Workshop- Kunrath

Name: Jenn Kunrath
Genre: YA Fantasy
Title: Covert Cinderella


Chapter One - Abort

So how did I get here? I would like to credit my training and excellent conversational skills. Fairy Godmother, though, would just laugh and tell you it was dumb luck. He did at least call it a fortunate twist of events. The mission was supposed to be just for the evening of the ball, no one ever thought I would get myself engaged to the prince. Still only a student at the Grimmald Academy of Espionage, I was not prepared for intense undercover work. My orders had been to get the information, then get out. But the prince threw me off script. I was so flustered, the only option I could think of was to excuse myself and run out of the ballroom. Not my best moment, I know.

I thought he realized I was a spy. The feeling that I had blown my cover was so consuming, I did not notice when one of my shoes slipped from my feet. The only thing I wanted to do was get back to base. Fairy Godmother thought I had blown the op as well. “Rookie mistake!” he shouted. I was sloppy. I had left something in the field. Good agents leave without a trace. I listened numbly as he yelled at me, told me I was a disappointment, that I had thrown away an opportunity we would never get again. It felt like my fear that I would fail had come true.

The trumpets woke us the next morning. Fairy Godmother cursed when he heard them. We waited with bated breath as heralds poured into the streets. What they were going to announce, we did not know. No one expected it to be good, though. The other agent, Driz, slipped from the pod, an old carriage we had rigged as a base, and went out. She said there was a thick group of people gathered to listen. A lithe thing, with pointy elbows, I could imagine her pushing her way through to the front. At the academy, she had told me once that being ugly was an advantage. It made her less noticeable. Sometimes she could almost make herself seem invisible. I envied such a critical skill in our line of work. When Driz finally returned, she looked confused. The news was surprising.

Apparently, the prince did not think I was a spy. He was smitten!

Though it seldom happened, Fairy Godmother was speechless. His mouth hung open as he listened to Driz recount every word of the announcement. The prince wanted to find the mysterious girl from the ball. I shivered. Mysterious was the most wonderful compliment anyone could give me. If the girl from the ball was willing to come forward and present the shoe that matched the one left on the stairs, he hoped to propose marriage. As Driz recited what had been said, she had this smug look on her face as though she had somehow singlehandedly saved the op. I was about to say something smart about how she was just the messenger and I had been the field agent when Fairy Godmother turned on me.

“Tell me again exactly what happened last night.” His voice shook a bit from the emphasis he put on exactly. No longer folded over with worry, I stood up to give him my report with more detail than I had included the previous evening. After the ball, I had been angry at myself and kept my notes short on purpose. No longer afraid I was in trouble, I indulged in the details and found myself getting lost in the story.

I had left late in the afternoon, the air was warm and there was still light along the edges of the horizon as I stepped from our pod. Painted orange, it blended with the fall leaves of the forest around it. I always thought it looked kind of like a giant pumpkin. After several intense days of reviewing the mission, I was happy for the fresh air and the quiet of the forest around me. Inside, the pod was generously described as cramped and uncomfortable. It made Fairy Godmother’s voice seem even louder when he yelled. The sound bounced from wall to wall in a way that filled the space. Still, it was odd to be out on my own. Until that point, I had been kept in close quarters with my team. Together, we plotted, planned, and strategized. Before that, I had been at the academy with a whole assembly of instructors and fellow students around me. Though excited to be going out into the field, I couldn’t help but be nervous that I was on a solo assignment.

This was due to the limitations of our mission budget. Sprice had only commissioned one formal ballgown for what was considered an investigative operation. It was the nicest dress I had ever worn. They had not spared any expense in that. When Fairy Godmother gave me the package in which it was wrapped, I had nearly dropped it my hands were shaking so badly. It was worth more than all my years of tuition at the academy. If I did well on this mission, I wondered if they would let me keep the dress as a “thank you.” I could sell it and send the money back to my mother who had worked hard to keep me in school. 

The Grimmald Academy of Espionage had been founded because as the smallest of the kingdoms, Sprice knew its best defense was to be paranoid. From that, a strong initiative in espionage was spurred. Those parents who wanted to give their children an opportunity to work for the royal military, sent them to the academy for training. You had to be good. The royal military was the best but most selective employer in Sprice. They only kept a few highly skilled operatives and open positions were rare. Those who did not quite make the cut, could hope to teach at the academy but those spaces were limited as well. If I did well on this mission, it would give me an advantage no other student could hope for. I would be guaranteed employment once I graduated. The stakes were high though. If I failed, all my years of training would be for nothing.

As I walked, I reviewed the mission in my mind. According to our intel, Arydia, a kingdom with which we shared our southern border, had been spending exorbitant amounts of money during recent months. Reports suggested that a new wing had been added to the castle. The archway to the city had been remodeled with marble. And the royal family decided to host a lavish ball for all the kingdom’s citizens to attend. There was talk of possible black market involvement and concern that funds were also being funneled into military forces for a possible land grab.

Determined to find out what was going on, the Kingdom of Sprice’s special forces recruited me from the Grimmald Academy of Espionage to serve as a plant at the event. They needed someone young and pretty enough to catch the prince’s eye. At the academy, I was one of only a few girls and the rest were a bit rough to look at. I was so excited to have been selected but also very scared because I wasn’t sure I was ready.