safely into barns. The farms have been plucked of anything still ripe and stored away. Houses have been
boarded up. The market has been shut down.” Evelyn looked to Andromeda for approval, but Andromeda
wasn’t satisfied just yet. She narrowed her eyes at Evelyn, who hastily added, “We will begin to pack up
the Festival after midday. We will be fully prepared for the Blast.” Andromeda was now pleased. She
dismissed her young protégée and carried on with her day, which to us would have been quite boring, but
to Andromeda was the equivalent of a perfect day. The day passed and the island went to sleep at a
prearranged time which the government had enforced. Yes, everything seemed perfect in the land of Adal.
The next day, High Minister Andromeda awoke and left her stony bland palace for the Festival of
the Bees, which had already started. One booth after another, Andromeda drifted down the street, nothing
catching her eye. But one booth drew her attention, for it wasn’t a booth at all, but a shop. Feeling a spark
of anger, she began marching toward the shop. How dare someone disobey her laws? The booths at the
Festival were to be, obviously, only booths! She would tell her governors not to help pack this one shop
up. The owners would clean up their own disorderly mess.
Andromeda marched in the shop and was immediately distracted from her mission. Although she
normally despised creativity, for it led to disobedience, she was strangely drawn to these inventions. She
had never seen anything like these. “Interested?” said a voice behind her. Andromeda spun around and
found herself facing two identical girls. They were tall and thin with long, wavy chest-nut brown hair.
They both wore dazzling smiles. Andromeda did not recognize them, but they recognized her. “Ah, you
must be Queen Andromeda!” they exclaimed simultaneously. Andromeda frowned; she had never been
addressed as ‘Queen’ before, and decided that she rather disliked it. “I am not a queen,” she said coldly to
the two strangers, “I will be addressed as High Minister Andromeda.” Both girls nodded eagerly.
“We’ve come from another island near this one, and it has a queen,” said one of the twins. “I’m
Carmen, and this is Harper.” The other girl gave a small wave. “I see you were looking at our hover board
here,” said Carmen. “Yes, it’s quite useful –”
8