I didn’t wake up as my real self. 

Before going to bed I had found myself making plans as Anastasia so to not be her anymore would have been quite inconvenient. My actual body was more than likely damaged by the car crash anyways. I could even be dead! I rolled and there was my maid in the same chair as yesterday.

"Busy day?" I asked her casually.

She nodded.

I don’t know how I didn’t notice yesterday but it was obvious she did not like me. Someone should really tell her not to look at a noble’s child with so much distaste.

"Where is my mother being kept?" 

I asked and watched the flicker of surprise and suspicion cross her face.

Before she even had time to answer I continued, "You told me, I'm sure you did but I had such trouble finding the room yesterday. I was hoping you could tell me again."

If she had not told me, this would be a really awkward conversation. A few seconds passed in silence. What was she thinking about? Is it really so important to consider the motives of a child that carefully? I began to suspect she might not have told me after all.

"You can't use your ailing mother to get out of lessons" she said at last.

"So I can go after lessons," I prompted.

Her eyes narrowed.

More silence. 

She was obviously trying to guess what my evil plan was. Not that my current plan was that evil, I needed the favor of the people around me in order to… to, I'm sure it would be useful to have. I assumed it would help me in the future or whatever. I got up and walked over to the dresser. The lady watched me with renewed suspicion.

I shrugged, “You said I have a busy day. Might as well start now.”

I glanced inside the dresser and was greeted by pink dresses varying from bright pink to something that looked almost magenta. I mentally groaned. Pink did not even look all that great with my new hair color. As I examined the dresses a flash of blue caught my eye. I pointed the dress to the maid and she stopped her own perusing to give me an odd look.

“It’s a nice color,” I said almost defensively.

“You said you didn’t like it,” she said slowly.

Does she just talk slowly or does she always need extra time to progress my bulls***?

“That was then,” I said dismissively.

“That was last week.”

How do I get out of a hole by digging?

“And today I think that pink doesn’t match my hair very well,” I said primly. 

“I remember your mother saying something simi-” Gabriela abruptly stopped herself.

Had she been about to say something that could get her fired. 

If the mother suggested the color thing then at least she had a better fashion sense than Anastasia. What had Anastasia been wearing in the cover of the novel? Why did I have to focus so much on her weird hair and eyes? 

“So the dress?” I asked, wondering how much I should rush her. 

She took the blue dress and began to help me put it on. It was a nice dress, slightly shorter than the one from yesterday and a beautiful sky blue. It matched my eyes. Did my new sick mom give it to me? Is that why Anastasia did not like it? 

She sounded more and more like a really bratty child. If I was anyone else in this novel I really would not like her. 

I realized Gabriella was talking. I only listened to a few words before I tuned her out. She really felt the need to tell me my schedule every morning? 

The day she was describing was the same as yesterday.

Equipped with my now much nicer dress I followed Gabriella to meet with my magic tutor whose name I no longer remembered. I listened and I couldn't help asking a few questions once in a while. The magic in this world vaguely reminded me of wicca but a very simplified version and maybe sort of mixed with Harry Potter. Very much like the author to throw random s*** together, but at every question I could see the enthusiasm of the professor grow. For him it must be like Anastasia had become a much better student practically overnight. 

Which brings up the question of why he doesn’t find that suspicious. I probably don't act anything like Anastasia. They wouldn’t immediately think some 20 year old from another world took over the daughter of a poor defenseless noble but shouldn’t they be more concerned? Even in a magic world, that can’t be normal. Maybe they had just decided that at the age of eight this kid had aged like 10 years as kids normally do.

The lesson ended. As I had lunch alone, it gave me time to wonder just how big of a social circle Anastasia had. No one had mentioned her having friends. Maybe she was just a really lonely child acting out and being a noble no one bothered to tell her anything. I put down my fork and grabbed the next mouthful of food with my hand and watched the maid. She gave me a look of disgust. And yet no one said anything. I picked up the plate and “accidentally” dropped it on the ground. Other maids materialized to check whether I hurt myself or not and to clean while sending me off to my next lesson. Pathetic.

After lunch I had more lessons and dinner alone because I guess no one wanted to spend more time with me than they had to. The only interesting thing that day was the maid telling me that since I didn’t have lessons tomorrow, she would show me where my mother was staying. I was almost curious about that woman and her unspecified illness. If the world has magic, are there healers or healing magic? If there is healing magic, who would know it? Maybe a person like a priest would know. Were there priests in this story?  

Looking out my window (which was not a door to a balcony after all) my thoughts were interrupted by what looked like two figures in the fading daylight. One was tall, a man probably and the other was more than likely a buy. They were holding long thin stick things, perhaps he was teaching the boy how to use a sword. So the world has magic, a sort of modern setting, and people still use swords? Is a gun too much to ask in this world?

I put down my fork and pushed my diner to the floor. Ignoring the maid rushing to clean the mess I walked up to the window. The boy was using an odd brown stick, making practice swings at what looked like a straw dummy while an older guy watched. I watched them for as long as they were outside, mimicking the motions of the boy. I only remembered the maid was there when she was telling me it was time for bed. Maybe I imagined it but there was a small sneer on her face. I guess she found my pretend sword use funny.

Another day of being Anastasia had passed and it was almost starting to feel normal. I found myself not missing my old life as much as I believed I should have.

 I thought back, willing myself to remember what my life used to be like. I remembered being in a car with two people but couldn’t remember who they were. There was something familiar about them and I wanted to focus on it but I felt myself falling asleep. The next thing I knew I was waking up and it was a new day.