#fromcleo

Cleo

Unacceptable! Her pointy little ears keep popping up no matter how tightly I wrap them! And everywhere I walk, I hear that horrid tail swishing. It echos down the halls of MH. I accidentally tripped Deuce with it, and his sunglasses slid down his nose and turned poor Hissette into stone! She was following me - I think she mistook the swishing for hissing and was jealous I might have been hanging out with another cobra. As if I would ever find one as sweet as her. I'll miss her as long as it takes for her to de-petrify. Luckily, it looks like its already wearing off. CdN

One of the benefits of having a new window to the outside world is that now we can record the passing of days. 28 of those days have passed, and Amanita has not returned. I do not believe she ever intended to, but we will get out, and I will never forget.

...Or getting wet for. There isn't anything we won't do to SAVE FRANKIE!! TS

For some reason I can't fathom, Frankie is convinced that the Hybrids can help us learn to be good at this whole fused-together thing. They are the new monsters at MH, and they are the kids of 2 different types of monsters, so I guess they have the proper credentials. But the last thing I want to do is to get too comfortable in Toralei's skin, although apparently even I don't have a choice. I was talking to Ghoulia earlier... well, trying to anyway. It's really hard to have a private conversation with the werecat listening in. But I think Ghoulia has a plan to get me - all of us, I suppose - out of this situation. In the meantime, I guess I'll see what's up with the Hybrids. Toralei must be rubbing off on me, because I must admit I'm curious. CdN

Finally, a project worthy of my royal attention! I must say, on past projects, I have allowed Ghoulia to do the dragon's share of the work, but this is something I can really get my bandages wrapped around. When we still lived in Egypt, before "the difficulties", one of my jobs was to oversee the royal perfumers. Nefera used to tell me that it was a job reserved for "a princess who would never become queen," but I didn't care. While Nefera was in some deadfully boring meeting about how much grain would be harvested for the year or where to build the next royal monument, I would go down and meet the trade caravans. They would be loaded with spices, oils, and exotic flowers from the South and East, and the air was always filled with their fragrance. The royal perfumers and I would choose the best of everything to be had, then they would take the ingredients back to their perfumery and work their magic. I always wanted to join them as they cooked, ground, and mixed the different ingredients to make perfume and scented oils, but this was looked upon as a task beneath a princess, so I could only watch. Now that I have a chance to get my hands dirty, so to speak, I can't wait to get started.

Ghoulia Yelps came over today. She is like my lady-in-waiting, confidant, and best friend, all rolled into one. I can tell her anything, and I know that she will not repeat it. Not that most people would be able to understand if she did, since Zombie is a dead language. Ghoulia is quite brilliant, though, and her mind is quick, which makes up for everything else about her being so slow. We planned our classes so that we could have most of them together, although it wouldn't completely work because Ghoulia has some advanced classes that I don't. Honestly, I don't know where she gets all her brains.

Why is it that Headless Headmistress Bloodgood wants us to dredge up the past? The last thing I want to do is write about how my family went from ruling the greatest dynasty ever to being betrayed and dethroned by people we trusted. I will not write about that because even after so many thousands of years, it still hurts. What to write then? I have the ability to charm snakes - not with a stupid flute - but I can speak to them, and they will do what I ask them to. It's not something I do all the time - I mostly just use it when Hissette crawls inside a shoe I want to wear and won't come out. No, I've never used it on Deuce, although I've been tempted a time or two...just kidding. He likes me for who I am; why would I want to ruin that by manipulating him? I must also wear some of my wrappings at all times; otherwise...well, it's not something I really wish to think about. Father also has quite a collection of amulets and charms that will work only for those in my family. Of course, they usually also come with a curse if you over-use them.