THE TRAIN was late.

"Not surprising," Coralia sighed, leaning against her bags. She had a ton, enough to last her probably an entire month without having to rewear an outfit. She was looking the part of royalty, with a lovely dress fashioned for autumn, complete with knitted tights and fashionable boots. Not the kind you would wear in the winter, but rather the kind you'd wear if you were taking photos with your friends to post online.

Andorra, on the other hand, wore her classic ensemble of jackets upon sweaters upon long sleeved shirts. She was freezing, of course; her hat was pulled low over her forehead, her blonde hair a mess under the wool cap.

"So it's usually late?" Andorra had taken a train only once as a child. She had taken it into the city when she lived in California, and it had been underground. Not above ground, like this one was. The station itself was alight with seasonal decor and candles upon candles. There were candles in the windows, candles on the counters, candles on a chandelier.

It was not like the subway she was used to.

People mulled about, also their age, also leaning against suitcases. Andorra had none, which was unsurprising as she hadn't left the human world with anything but the clothes she had on. Either way, she felt awkward standing there, the lone wolf among a pack of students headed back to school.

Coralia made a humming sound. "Yes and no. You get used to it in Anltihamy. Things run on their own time. A late train means an early goodbye. Stuff like that."

Stuff like that. Andorra was still trying to understand their strange sayings, like an early goodbye. It wasn't literal, but Andorra couldn't help digesting it as so. An early goodbye from what?

There was no sense in asking. Andorra had been asking Coralia for weeks and still, nothing made a lick of sense to her. It was all riddles and rhymes and a jumble of understandings that a foreigner like Andorra wouldn't understand.

Finally, a train horn sounded through the station, long and loud. A rise of cheers among the crowd of students had Andorra turning, watching as the train pulled in. It was magnificent in size; taller than any subway or train Andorra had ever seen, with no end in sight. She marveled at the sight as it slowed down in front of her, windows passing her line of sight too fast to see inside of them.

The force of the train pulling in blew her hair back. Coralia gripped her hand in a squeeze, and the train stopped completely, seeming to rock back on its wheels for a second before stopping, letting out a long hiss, a sigh of relief.

A line was forming by the door. Others seemed to know the train and how it worked, not marveling over the size or the beauty that lie beneath the paint. The train was painted in a brilliant gold with navy blue accents. Bold sweeps of the brush had formed gliding blue lines, almost geometrical, but not quite so harsh. They were fluid marks, flowing from one corner to the next, creating wonderful designs on the side the train. It was almost overwhelming.

A whistle blew from somewhere, and bodies were pressing in closer, forming the snaking line that now swept past Andorra. Coralia gripped her hand, pulling her into line as well, as though the redhead was used to this. She probably was.

"Stay close. There's always a lot of eager people going back, and you don't want to get lost."

Andorra looked at Coralia, taking in the sight of a girl who knew exactly what she was doing. There was no hesitancy, no anxiety, no worries that something would go wrong. Andorra swallowed her growing panic, trying to look more like the Autumn Court heir, but she knew it was a wash.

It was just that, with everyone watching her, she felt like a bug under a microscope. So little of her confidence on that fateful night back in the human world, when she had brought the entire Snow Clan over, was still with her. It was like she was reverting back into her old shell.

She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. She was not the useless human she once was. That was a mantra she had been telling herself since she'd arrived in Anlithamy. She wasn't the weak, dependent girl she used to be. She wasn't the girl scared of Shaniah, wasn't the timid girl afraid to stand up for herself.

Coralia moved them along. "The train is wicked. It's one of the best parts about going back to school. Oh, take a big step here."

Andorra stepped up onto the train, taking a big step as directed. Warmth hit her suddenly as she entered, and the smell of rich chocolates filled her nose. As she looked down the aisle, she realized that this wasn't the subway she'd taken in California. There were no handle bars, or seats lined against the walls. This was quite literally the fanciest vehicle she'd ever seen.

The interior was full of reds and greens. The rug beneath their feet was a ruby red, and was plush enough that her boots seemed to sink beneath the fabric. The seats, which were turned facing each other, were emerald green, and weren't the hard seats she had imagined. Instead, they were a fancy plush loveseat, like something she would have seen in her grandmother's house.

Coralia was pulling her along, but Andorra was taking it all in. There were tables between the plush loveseats, and on each table was a lamp, probably screwed into the table to prevent it from knocking over.

Coralia suddenly sat down on one of the loveseats, pulling Andorra down with her. "Welcome to the train. Quick, take off your jackets so one of the men can take it when they pass."

Andorra wasn't sure what that meant. She pictured a flight attendant coming around, collecting jackets. But, she wasn't one to argue, so she pulled her jackets off, taking off her mittens and hat as well. She folded them on her lap and looked at the walls. She had completely ignored the beautiful wallpaper.

"Beautiful, isn't it? The first time I rode the train, I begged my parents to let me wallpaper my room in this stuff."

Coralia dragged her hand down the wall in a sigh of delight. And delightful it was. The wallpaper was red and gold and had intricate designs. The gold looked to be a foil of sorts, glimmering in the light.

"Now, let's talk school." Coralia turned towards Andorra, pulling one leg underneath her, so that she was sitting on it. "I've already requested that we be roommates. Usually, they match randoms together, but mom didn't want you to be alone."

It was so thoughtful, Andorra's throat closed.

"I'm guessing school back home wasn't like Hornwell Academy. It can be overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it. Basically, it's school for the upperclass fae. Technically anyone could attend, but they have to pay, and so not everyone can afford to come. So you'll see way more faeries that are like us."

Like us. Andorra didn't quite know what that meant, but most of the students on the bus looked human. If Andorra had seen them on the streets in California, she probably wouldn't have noticed anything off. Anything not human.

"So it's like... boarding school?"

Coralia hummed her response. "Yeah, I guess that would be the human equivalent. I don't know much about human culture, though. Faeries go to schools in their Court for the first twelve years, and then come to Hornwell Academy for the next eight. By the time they leave Hornwell, they will become an apprentice of sorts, for whatever they will do in the future."

"Wait. Hornwell is like, college?"

Coralia's face clouded over with confusion. "College?"

"In your Court. You go to school until you're eighteen?"

Coralia looked away for a moment, as if doing the math in her head. "Humans age differently than we do, but yeah. I guess we would be about eighteen in human years. But we age much slower than humans do."

Andorra tucked that information away. If that was true, than Andorra was going to be a freshman. Or, not, because she wasn't seventeen, not like she once thought. She was twenty. Twenty. Which would make her a junior. 

Despite the weird mind funk that put her in, being twenty, a sense of familiarity trickled in, and homesickness slid down her throat. She would have been going off to college this year, if it hadn't been for her true heritage. A sense of for-longing for that life hit her hard in the gut.

"So how many years have you been coming to Hornwell?"

"This is my first. We're the same age. But I've been going to a few months now."

As Andorra digested this, two others sat across from her and Coralia. They were two boys, both with reddish hair and dark eyes. They slid their jackets off almost immediately, then grinned at Coralia.

"Hey, Leelee." The taller one said, his smile much more cutting than the first. His dark eyes danced from Coralia to Andorra, as if trying to connect the dots. "I heard rumors of a stowaway, but now I can see they're true."

The other boy, who had auburn hair to his chin, grinned at Andorra. His face was round, a little chubby, and very friendly. "I'm Bort. This is Hans. We're friends of Coralia's. You must be Princess Andorra."

Andorra squirmed at the title. "You can call me Andorra." She hoped her smile was friendly enough. Then, she turned back to Hans just as Coralia smacked him on the head. "Don't be rude Hans."

Hans rubbed his head, but he continued to smile at Andorra. His reddish hair was chopped short, not quite a buzz but something close to it, and his face was longer and more angular than Bort's.

"We're from the Autumn Court. Leelee here would never admit it, but we've been childhood friends since before her mom was Princess. She seems to forget we're her ride or dies."

Coralia rolled her eyes and gave a snort. "Ignore them Andorra. They're both knuckleheads."

The look on Bort's face was sad enough to make Andorra want to apologize, but two men stepped up to the end of the table, looking expectantly at all of them. "Coats, if you may," the one closest to her said, extending his arm.

Andorra draped her jacket over the extended arm, laying her mittens and hat on top. The man didn't even blink as he moved onto the next table, moving to collect their items as well. In that next moment, the train horn sounded again, much more muted from inside the train than it had been outside, and the train began to move.

"Welcome to Anlithamy, Princess," Hans said with a mock bow. "Just you wait. The fun is about to begin."

"And by fun, he means drama. Hans lives for it."

Hans crossed his arms, but his grin grew larger. "Nothing wrong with being in the know. Didn't you hear? Aihfie's been getting pretty close to the new Snow Clan Leader. Her dad's been over there a lot, and of course she's been home to oversee the process of a new clan inducted into her Court, so she just had to go with dear old Daddy."

Andorra's stomach tightened at the mention of Noah. Dropped so casually in conversation, it made her almost sick. But, there was no way Hans would know that, and Andorra knew this.

Coralia shot her a look. "Aihfie is Prince Puck's daughter. Nasty thing. You'll meet her soon enough."

Prince Puck was Prince of the Winter Court. He was the same ranking as Carling, who was Coralia's mother, and Princess of the Autumn Court. Andorra knew that much, but it was the other two that she had trouble remembering.

Bort seemed to awaken at the mention of Aihfie. "Hey, you know Sir Nohx, don't you?" His question was directed to Andorra, his face eager. "What's he like?"

"He's wicked and cruel and dangerous." The words fell flat on her tongue. "And he's a prick." Some other choice insults came to mind but Andorra shoved them down. Being nasty here, with these strangers, would do her no good.

Bort nodded. "Sounds like Aihfie, to be honest."

And Andorra didn't want to think it, but hearing Bort say that made Andorra suddenly think that maybe Noah and Aihfie would be a better match. And maybe the few weeks they had both been here, while Andorra had been mending a broken heart, Noah had been kissing Aihfie instead.

* * *

Oh my god!

We are finally FINALLY here my friends :)

The sequel is finally here, and I am so so SO excited to share with you the new characters, this new world, and the new adventures Andorra and gang will go on.

Thank you for supporting me, always.

XOXO

And, exciting! vvickeddomen has won the dedication! Congratulations ;)

If you want to learn more about Anlithamy and Andorra, check out my blog!

https://wickedpromisesblog.wordpress.com/my-books/the-golden-prophecy-series/