"Now on to question two." said Mrs. Mariweather as Maddie narrowed her eyes, that meant that the question about their ages did not count at all??
She would not lie, this woman was giving her several reasons to dislike her, it was not that she was just being mean. When she did not like people, she had a good reason not to like them... or at least that was seventy five percent of the time.
"What are your likes, and what are your hobbies?" she asked as Annie started to think of her answers already.
This was a tough question, she had many likes, and many interests, but in order to save time, she decided to only mention a few.
"Well I like nice things, and I love reading, that's one of my hobbies." she said as Mrs. Mariweather moved on to Matt.
"I like being outside, especially in the woods, it's so peaceful and quiet there, and I like painting, I recently picked that up." he replied as Annie smiled.
"I like people that are nice to me, and I also love food, but I don't have any hobbies in particular, I guess that I like reading, but I'm not crazy out it." replied Maddie as she stifled a yawn.
It was obvious that she was not in anyway interested in this, but she was not trying to hide that fact at all, she wanted them to just get this all over and done with.
Mrs. Mariweather frowned, obviously displeased with Maddie's vague reply, but she quickly moved on.
"Question three, tell me about your family and their dynamic." said Mrs. Mariweather as her eyes were on Maddie as she said the question, she was contemplating skipping this question, but she decided that there was no point.
"Well my dad's name is John, and my mom's name is Lisa, they have been together for a long time. And oh, there's my guardian Curtis, he's one of my best friends, and he's family as well. I'm an only child, and since I'm an only child, sometimes, my parents can be a bit overprotective, but above everything they are very understanding." said Annie as he smiled, at first she was wondering why a school would need so much personal information about them, but you could never be sure of the true nature of someone until you did a little digging.
"My father's name is Lucas, my mother's name is Lucinda, and I am the eldest of eight siblings." said Matt as he could promise you that he saw Mrs. Mariweather's eyes pop when he said 'eight siblings'.
"Eight siblings??!" she asked for clarification as Matt nodded, she looked like she could not believe it.
"You really have eight siblings??" she asked again in disbelief. Annie and Maddie were chuckling at this point, yes he did have eight siblings, and believe them, they were a handful.
"Yes I do, there's Evie, Levi, Kaylee, Ellie, and Celeste are twins, then there's Mark, Frankie, Edward, and finally Noey is the youngest." said Matt as Mrs. Mariweather definitely looked sympathetic for him.
"And where do they all live?" she asked.
"Well right now they are living in the vampire realm with my grandfather and I go and visit when I can." said Matt as he smiled as Mrs. Mariweather nodded, she was aware that his father was the banished heir, but that had all changed for a while now.
"Go on." she said as she realized that she had interrupted his response.
"Being the oldest, I always have to be responsible for my siblings. And they can certainly be a lot to handle sometimes, but it's all about being understanding and communicating clearly. If there is something I value in any type of relationship, it's understanding and communication, because that's what my parents taught me." said Matt as Mrs. Mariweather nodded while writing down on her clipboard and once she was done writing she looked at Maddie.
"My mom's name is Clove, I'm an only child. My mom is a rather very forgiving person, and that's one thing I admire about her." said Maddie as Mrs. Mariweather looked at her as if she had forgotten to mention something else.
Maddie just looked at her silently, that was all she had to say. Up until a few months ago she didn't even have a family, but now she had her mom, and she was grateful about that. She of course wasn't just going to tell a total stranger her entire life story.
"Alright, question four." said Mrs. Mariweather decided that it was better to move on. She already knew all about Maddie's family, and quiet frankly, she would rather not find out more.
"What are your weaknesses?" asked Mrs. Mariweather as Annie frowned, this was a really tough one.
"Umm... I would say that maybe I care about the people I love a bit too much, and when we disagree it can really affect me." said Annie as she said the first thing that popped into her head.
"Sometimes I can be a bit hot tempered, only when I don't feel understood." said Matt.
"And neglected." added Maddie with a chuckle as everyone turned to look at her and Mrs. Mariweather frowned.
"You seem to be rather calm young lady, would you mind answering the question." said Mrs. Mariweather as Maddie smiled.
"Gladly, I have no weaknesses." said Maddie smugly as Annie and Matt shook their heads.
"That is impossible, everyone as weaknesses." said Mrs. Mariweather accusingly.
"That may be true, but not me, I am completely perfect." said Maddie proudly with a toss of her hair.
"You are wrong young lady, you are not perfect, no one is!" declared Mrs. Mariweather hotly, she seemed more offended by this more than anything.
"Well you are free to think whatever you want." said Maddie with a smile.
"And besides, why do you need to know our weaknesses in the first place?? Are you trying to find ways to take us down or what?" asked Maddie with a accusing gaze, what was the deal with all these questions, were they getting a job or what??
"That is how things are run here young lady, and I will not tolerate another vague, self centered answer like the last one." she said with a warning tone as Maddie scoffed.
"Question five, describe yourself in one adjective." she said.
"Nice." said Annie with a smile.
"Happy." said Matt.
"Perfect." said Maddie with a smug smile tugging her lips, it was clear that she said out out of spite.
Mrs. Mariweather looked at Maddie, resisting the urge to destroy her composure, so she ignored Maddie's reply.
"Stubborn and rude is more like it." she replied faintly.
"That's two words Mrs. Mariweather." pointed out Maddie harshly as Mrs. Mariweather shot her a dirty glare.
"Question six, why do you want to attend Artrovan?" asked Mrs. Mariweather as now this was a question that Annie needed to give a lot of thought.
"Well my Aunt Stella recommended it highly, and I am excited to have a change like this in my life for once. It is the first time in a while that my decisions are not affected by factors outside my control." said Annie as she smiled and Mrs. Mariweather nodded.
"If I'm being honest, my main reason is because if Annie's going, then I'm going as well." said Matt as Annie looked at him and smiled as he smiled at her.
"The friend group is more or else conjoined by the hip, so wherever these two go, I must follow." replied Maddie leisurely as Mrs. Mariweather raised her eyebrow at her.
"That's if you even passed the test." she said internally as Maddie looked at her as if she had heard what she had said.
"Alright, now the last and final question." said Mrs. Mariweather as she cleared her throat.
"What is your favourite colour and why?" she asked.
"My favourite colour is purple. I don't really know why I like it, but I do, I guess that I like how bright and how vibrant it is. It really stands out, on it's own or with other colours." said Annie as she smiled.
"My favourite colour is orange. It's the colour of the sunset, and I love watching the sun set, that's why I like orange." said Matt.
"And you're hair is kind of orange as well." said Maddie as she laughed and Annie couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright well, yes, maybe that too." said Matt as he laughed and shook his head. Even though Maddie could be a lot sometimes, her comments were always funny when she wanted them to be.
"And you." said Mrs. Mariweather as she looked at Maddie.
"Well my favourite colour is green." she said as Mrs. Mariweather expected that to be her only response, but she was sorely mistaken.
"Green is my favourite colour because..." said Maddie as she paused, giving the question a deep thought.
"...because it is the colour of life. It's the colour of leaves, it's the colour of the trees, it's the colour of grass. Anything green in nature is good, I mean at least some of it. Anyway, I like green because it's the colour of life, and as long as there is life, there is hope." said Maddie with a smile.
Her answer elicited claps and accolades from Matt and Annie who were happy that for once she gave a question very good thought.
"As expected from the queen Maddie." said Annie as Maddie laughed.
"Nice one Maddie, nice one." said Matt as he agreed with Annie.
Even Mrs. Mariweather seemed a little bit impressed and satisfied with her answer. It was clear to see that she had given it a lot of thought.
"Alright, alright, hush down everyone." said Mrs. Mariweather, her tone less harsh than before as she wrote something down.
"At least for once you gave a reasonable answer." she said as she looked at Maddie who didn't seem to care less.
"I won't lie, I did contemplate not answering Mrs. Mariweather." said Maddie as she smiled, causing Mrs. Mariweather to scoff.
What could she say? Maybe she did like stirring up trouble a little bit. But could you blame her? She was expected to be troublesome, and so why disappoint their expectations?
"Now, this concludes the end of the admissions test session." said Mrs. Mariweather as the clipboard disappeared from her hand.
"Your results should be out in a week, and from there you will know what next to do." she said as she stood up.
"Alright, thank you Mrs. Mariweather." said Annie as she smiled.
"No need to thank me, you are free to go now, and do enjoy your day." said Mrs. Mariweather as she smiled at Annie and Matt, and her smile faltered at Maddie who didn't seem to mind at all.
Mrs. Mariweather turned around and walked out of the room, leaving them alone as she left rather hurriedly, never to be seen again.
"So we are just supposed to leave now or what?" asked Maddie as Annie and Matt turned to look at her.
"I guess so, except you want to stay here?" asked Matt as Maddie scoffed.
"No way, I'm already sick and tired of this place." said Maddie as she stood up quickly and was the first to exit the room.
Annie and Matt followed after her with a slight shake of their heads.
"Where do we go now?" asked Annie as they all walked in the hall, getting a bit lost, they were unsure of the way they had come from.
"I don't know, we just have to find our way out of here, what sort of supervisor leaves us unsupervised to find our way just like that?" asked Maddie as she scoffed.
Annie didn't know what to say to that, Maddie was certainly right about that. Mrs. Mariweather could have at least escorted them out of this huge place.
"I think we should go this way." said Matt as he pointed to the right and they all stopped walking.
"And why should we listen to you exactly?" asked Maddie as she looked at Matt.
"Well because I can hear the sound of carriage wheels coming from that direction, which means that's probably where the exit is." he said simply.
"Of course, he's so right Maddie, come on." said Annie as she did not waste any time at all. Matt followed after her as Maddie scoffed, she had totally forgotten that Matt's hearing was impeccable.
True to Matt's words, it was not long when they finally arrived at the exit. They walked out of the building as a carriage was waiting right outside. A short man dressed in what looked like royal regalia was standing right outside the carriage.
"Miss Annie, Miss Maddie, Mr. Matt." called the man as Annie, Maddie and Matt responded with a "Yes?"
"I am here to take you to the Castle on the orders of Prince Oliver." said the man as a look of realization flashed on their faces.
"Oh, okay." said Annie as she smiled, she would not lie, she had completely forgotten that Ollie said he would send someone to pick them up after they were done with their test.
"Right this way." said the man as he opened the door to the carriage and held it open for them.
"Thank you." said Annie as he helped her up into the carriage while Maddie refused his help and he closed the door once they were all in.
"I tell you, I completely forgot that Ollie said he would send someone to pick us up once we're done." said Annie as the carriage began to move.
"Yeah, the question is, how did he know when exactly we would be done though?" asked Maddie in suspicion.
"Knowing Ollie, he must have asked someone who would know." said Matt as they looked at him.
"Someone like?" asked Annie as she realized.
"Mrs. Mariweather?" said both she and Maddie in a chorus.
"Probably." said Matt as he laughed.
"Oh that sly blondie, he really doesn't mind his business." said Maddie as she shook her head and Annie laughed.
"He must be so excited to see us, we should at least share in his excitement." said Annie with a smile.
"The only thing that will excite me is learning to convey so...yes, I'm not excited for him, I am excited for that." said Maddie as Matt laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, we know that Maddie, just don't burst before we get there." he said causing Annie to chuckle and Maddie scoffed.
...
Ollie muttered a few incoherent words as he walked into the Castle. He was certainly ticked off.
As he walked through he halls, he was not in the mood to answer any one of the maids of staff that greeted him. He kept his eyes forward as he walked with a destination in mind.
"Ahh Ollie, would you mind playing snowfall with me?" asked Adrish happily as Ollie entered the hall of mirrors. He had been bored all day, so imagine his surprise when Ollie passed by.
"No, not now Adrish, maybe some other time." Ollie replied bluntly as he walked by without stopping.
"Gosh, what happened to you?" asked Adrish as he appeared in the mirror ahead of Ollie and he frowned.
"That's why I can't play with you right now, see you later Adrish." Ollie replied as he quickened his pace.
He needed to get to his room quickly.
Adrish shook his head, wondering what had happened to Ollie, for one, he was usually way more friendly and chatty, and secondly, he did not always look green.
Ollie got into his room and slammed the door, not intentionally though.
Ollie looked at himself in the mirror and groaned. He was covered head to toe in a slimy, sticky green substance. He could not even recognize himself.
He looked so unappealing, he almost felt like gagging in disgust. He needed to take a shower and get cleaned up quickly.
Ollie walked into the bathroom as the door slammed with another unintentional thud.
In a matter of a few minutes, Ollie emerged from the bathroom. His skin clear and clean, as all the slime had been washed off.
Ollie was drying his hair with a towel when suddenly a knock on his door rang and he sighed with a deep breath. He had only just returned why couldn't he catch a break?
"Yes, what is it?" he replied rather rudely, he was just having such a bad day today.
"Sorry to bother you Prince Oliver, but they have arrived... your guests have arrived." came the voice of the maid from outside the door.
"Which guests?" asked Ollie with a raised eyebrow, so help him if it was some unwanted guest or someone from the Council he would gladly order that they be denied access to the Castle, he needed a break, a really serious one.
"Your guests, Miss Annie, first prince Matt, and Miss Maddie, you told me to inform you of when they arrived yesterday my prince." said the maid as realization and remembrance washed over Ollie's face.
"Ohhh...." he said as he finally remembered that Annie, Maddie and Matt were going to come over today. It had completely slipped his mind.
"Yes my Prince, so should I go welcome them while you prepa—" asked the maid as she was cut off.
"No, no, I will be out in a minute, you can go now, thank you for informing me." said Ollie quickly.
"Alright my prince, you are welcome." said the maid as she bowed before leaving.
Ollie quickly dried his hair as he folded his towel and place it neatly on his bed before rushing out his room.
He ran through the halls, which was something he rarely did, but he was in a rush today, and before he knew it he was already out the front doors of the Castle with a huge happy smile on his face.