Cinder & Ella

Prologue

The problem with fairy tales is that most of them begin with tragedy. I understand the reasoning behind it. No one likes a pampered heroine. A great character needs trials to overcome—experiences to give them depth, to make them vulnerable, relatable, and likable. Good characters need hardships to make them strong. The idea makes sense, but it still sucks if you're the heroine.

My life had never been much like a fairy tale. I'd had no magical wishes come true, but no real tragedy, either. My dad had an affair and left Mama and me when I was eight, but other than that, I'd had it pretty good.

I'm sort of pretty—long, wavy black hair and smooth golden-brown skin, thanks to the Chilean heritage on my mother's side. But I have my dad's big, bright-blue eyes. I'm sort of smart—mostly A's without ever having to study much. And I'm sort of popular—not exactly the prom queen, but never without my friends or a date on Saturday night, either.

I may have grown up without a father, but my mom was my best friend and that was good enough for me. Life, in general, was good enough. Then, last November my mom decided to surprise me with a weekend ski trip to Vermont for my birthday, and I got my first real dose of character-building tragedy.

"I booked us the full spa package so we can thaw in the Jacuzzi and get massages when we're sore from skiing all day," Mama confessed as we left the city of Boston behind us for the next four days.

"Wow, Mama! Not that I'm not grateful, but can we afford that?"

Mama laughed at me. I loved the sound of her laugh. It was a light, fluttery sound that made me feel as if I could float away on it. She always laughed. She was the most exuberant person I'd ever known. For her, life just couldn't be any better.

"Listen to you, Ella. You're turning eighteen, not forty."

I grinned. "Like you are next month?"

"Cállate! That is our secret. If anyone asks, I will be thirty-nine for the rest of my life."

"Sure, you will. Wait...are those...crow's-feet?"

"Ellamara Valentina Rodriguez!" my mother gasped. "These are smile lines, and I am extremely proud of them." She looked at me, and her bright eyes crinkled into smile lines around the edges. "With you as a daughter, I have had to work very hard to get these instead of gray hair."

Snorting, I picked up my phone, which was dinging instant messages at me.

"You be nice to your mama, or I will embarrass you horribly in front of all the cute boys this weekend."

I'd had a witty retort ready, but forgot it when I saw the message on my phone.

Cinder458: Your blogaversary is coming up, right?

Cinder458, or just Cinder to me, is my best friend in the whole world besides my mom, even though I've never met him. I've never even spoken to him on the phone. We've been e-mailing nonstop since he stumbled across my blog, Ellamara's Words Of Wisdom, about two years ago.

My blog is a book and movie review blog. I started it when I was fifteen, and my third blogaversary was indeed coming up soon.

The name Ellamara is in honor of my favorite character in my favorite book series, The Cinder Chronicles. It's a fantasy series written in the seventies and has become one of the most cherished stories in modern literature. Hollywood is finally making the first book, The Druid Prince, into a movie.

Ellamara is also my name. My mother read the books when she was a girl and loved them so much that she named me after the mysterious druid priestess. I was proud of the name, and of my mom for loving Ellamara best instead of liking the warrior princess Ratana like everyone else. Ellamara was a much better character.