The Day the Gates Were Knocked

The four towers of Crayon Cinderella Castle caught the morning light and held it — each spire a different color, blazing above the rooftops of Art Gallery Kingdom like giant colored pencils jabbed into the sky.

Up on the highest balcony, Crayon Cinderella leaned against the crystal railing and watched the kingdom wake up. Below, fox-eared merchants unrolled their painted canvases. A round badger in overalls dragged a cart of clay pots down the cobblestones, grumbling cheerfully at every bump.

She liked mornings here. They were soft and unhurried.

"Your breakfast is getting cold," called Buttons, her round little owl assistant from inside.

"Five more minutes," she said.

"You said that twenty minutes ago."

She grinned and turned to go inside — and that was exactly when the front gates shook. Three hard, urgent knocks. Not a visitor's knock.

Something about the sound made her stop.

The Girl Who Knocked Three Times

Crayon Cinderella was halfway down the grand staircase when the gates shook again — harder this time.

Buttons, her small round barn owl with cream-and-brown feathers and enormous dark eyes, flapped anxiously ahead of her. "Should I call the guard?" he asked.

"No. Just open it."

Standing outside the gate was a girl — maybe twelve or thirteen — clutching a battered leather satchel to her chest. She had paint-stained fingers and messy dark curls, and her eyes were red from crying.

"You're Crayon Cinderella?" she asked.

"I am."

"Someone stole my painting." The girl's voice cracked. "Not just any painting. It's the only thing that can prove I belong in the Royal Gallery Exhibition — and without it, my name gets pulled from the list forever. Today. The deadline is tonight."

Buttons let out a soft hoot.

Crayon Cinderella studied the girl's face — the tight jaw, the chapped lip, the way she was clearly holding herself together by sheer stubbornness.

"Come in," she said. "Tell me everything."

The girl stepped inside — and then stopped short.

"They followed me here."