If this is how all the dorms looked, then I was a bit more impressed by the school. It was a large room, even if slightly smaller than my room at home. It had a large window that showed the best look I had ever gotten of the Ferris Wheel. Even more interesting was the sight of a mountain past the Ferris Wheel where indeed someone had built a castle. It was quite far, the castle looking like a toy. I also noticed a red brick looking wall around the building which I had not seen when walking over because just trusting my eyes was a joke when magic was involved. 

The rest of the room was also kind of nice. It had a gold desk and chair that seemed to be giving off the same golden glow the dormitory walls did. The walls were a softer yellow or maybe more of a cream color. I also noticed there was a framed list next to the wall but really I was a bit too far to actually read it. The bed was quite big and on the other side of the room next to the sofa was another door, which is where the maid had gone through. Maybe the maid gets her own room? The room had wooden floors which were one of the few things in the room that were not gold or yellow in some way, just regular brown. That’s probably why there was a rug near the sofa that was a nice gold color. Directly in front of the sofa was also a small circular table, with gold accents on the legs. 

Khloe motioned towards the sofa. 

“You snuck your maid’s kid into the school, right?” No preambles, no hesitation, that took me aback. It was nothing like how shy she had acted up until this point. 

“I am not sure what you are talking about! That is clearly Leanne Brown, a distant cousin of the Brown family.” My first instinct was to lie. The more people that knew that Larissa was not Leanne and not supposed to be here in the first place, the worse things would be for both her and me. 

“Anna, I have been to your house. I have seen her.” 

So much for that little lie. 

“But you’re not going to tell anyone?!” I asked hurriedly. 

She shook her head.

“You think she might be good at magic, right? You mentioned it in one of the last letters you sent me. You probably don’t remember that though. You also mentioned something about practicing a memory spell in your last letter so I assumed the fact that you don’t remember means that the spell didn’t turn out that great.”

I blinked. Yeah, I guess a bit of amnesia would be convenient at this point. I also thought back to how no one had seemed fazed by my lack of knowledge when I became Anastasia and an ugly feeling settled in my chest. No, someone would certainly have told me, or at the very least Gabriela would have. She mentioned how I burnt most of my hair off, there is no way she would have resisted the urge to tell me when I first woke up, unless she had been instructed not to. I slowly sat down on the sofa, it was nice, very soft.. Soothing even. 

“I don’t remember anything about that.” I said slowly, in vain trying to probe memories that were never mine to begin with. Nothing came to mind and Khloe nodded in an understanding way. Beating down the panic, I took a deep breath. 

“Are you sure I wrote you that? You would not just be lying because you know I won’t remember?” I asked. She shook her head. 

“I have the letters you sent me over the past year, until you stopped writing two weeks ago.” She pointed to the desk.

“You don’t mind if I take a look at them?” I asked. Instead of responding, she got up and brought the letters to me. They were neatly arranged and sorted by date as far as I could see. 

“It’s late, you should go to sleep too.” Khloe pointed to the door. I guess it was time to leave.

Walking the short distance to my own room, my brain felt bruised in a way different from the constant headaches. Instead of going into the room I looked at the first letter. The writing was similar to my own and for the briefest second, doubt creeped into my mind. Just how credible was Khloe anyways? Maybe she forged all these papers to throw me off! No, I should save judgment until after reading the letters. I figured it would not be that bad to read a letter or two before entering the room. The first letter was not particularly long.

“I failed the test. Erin and Laila were supposed to as well but they didn’t

Figures

They are such bad friends

I bet they don’t even remember your name”

Not a very formal letter, there is no greeting, closing, or signature. I took a look at the next letter, yeah, it looked about the same. It was also quite short.

“The tutor arrived today.

 It’s the king’s brother!!!!

Who did my father bribe to make

This happen??”

Okay. I flipped to the next letter. It was just as short, it only mentioned how the lessons were going and how degrading it felt for the guy to assume I could use no magic at all. I flipped to the next page but it was about the same. The next page mentioned that after mouthing off to her teacher, her father hired an etiquette tutor. The more I read, the less I could think of the writer of these letters as me. I wasn’t her back then. Four more letters of complaint later I found the first odd letter. 

“Hello,

I don’t know how well you know me

I don’t know anyone

I am not sure how to explain

But I woke up and I was me.

I am not me

My name is-”

I woke up on a bed. It looked about the same as Khloe’s room but there were two beds. I hurriedly looked around for the papers and found them on the bed next to me. It was a bit dark but I could still see sort of well. The papers were on a nightstand next to me. I could see the beginning of the letter that made me fall asleep. I skipped it and looked at the next letter. I barely even looked at it before my head started hurting. That was another letter I had to skip. Maybe the next one too for good measure…

The next letter seemed fine, or at least it did not make my headache worse.

“You were right

I saw Larissa but I need a better 

Plan before I approach her.

I believe-”

I stopped while in the middle of the letter. My vision got dark for a second. Next letter…

“I found a spell that can modify memory.

It is quite advanced but I think I can do it

I don’t need all these unnecessary memories

They are clogging up my head

Once I get rid of them

I’ll be able to focus on

What to do next

Hopefully”

There was no way any of these letters were real. I flipped to the last page.

“Everything is ready

The new story starts 

Tomorrow”

I opened up the drawer on the nightstand and stuffed the letters there. Whatever I had just read will not help me do better. My head was hurting worse by the second. I didn’t need this. I did not need whatever was in those letters to shake up the little certainty I had had since waking up in this world. I had classes tomorrow, that is what I should be focusing on. 

The pain in my head stopped. With a deep sigh, I laid down. On the other side of the room I noticed Leanne was laying down, facing away from and for the briefest of moments I hated her. I had to remind myself that Leanne was just as trapped in the story as I was but the nagging feeling that something was off did not leave. It kept me up until nearly morning and it made for a really bad start to the school day.