The whole castle was in a sheer state of panic which filtered down from the royal family to every butler and scullery maid. For hours the whole place had been turned up side down, but still there was one undisputable fact, the Princess DG was missing.
It had been her sister, Az and her Tutor who had first noticed the disappearance early that morning when they had gone to fetch her for another dancing or magic lesson; some how the two were not as mutually exclusive as one thought. She had not been in her room; the bed was not slept in but there was no sign of a hasty departure as only one set of clothes was missing from her closet. It did not take Az long to realize that what was missing was a beat up pair of dark blue jeans, a t-shirt and leather bomber jacket.
They immediately alerted her parents.
Her mother and father took it in stride, DG was apparently prone to odd disappearances recently, but as her father said, she'd probably show up in a few hours wanting breakfast and not to worry. Her mother did not look as relaxed.
Breakfast came and went, as did brunch, and there was no sign of DG.
This is when they brought in Glitch and Raw; everyone knew not to involve the Tin Man yet as he had developed a habit of riding off in an immediate man hunt for the princess, muttering things under his breath. On the few occasions these searches did find the Princess, most of the castle would not sleep that night for the racket the two made shouting each other horse. So Glitch was told to alert the upper members of the staff and Raw took to prowling the corridors trying to hunt out any strange thoughts or feelings.
Lunch came and went, as did afternoon tea, and there was no sign of DG.
By this time the Queen's tea cup was beginning to shake as she picked it up. No one had seen the princess since the previous evening and Cain was beginning to ask questions and Jeb could only distract him for so long. So they broke the news to Tin Man and to no ones surprise off he raced to his horse, hand on his gun holster the whole way, muttering to his self about the foolish, head strong princess. Jeb had dutifully followed, to make sure Cain didn't shoot off his own foot in the process.
Dinner time came and went and no one felt like taking desert, though coffee was plied in mass quantities and there was no sign of DG.
Every member of the castle was now look, relooking, looking sideways and upside down. Glitch and Ahamo stood over old blueprints trying to find ancient escape roots while Az and her mother began dissecting everything that DG had said to them within the last month. Cain remained looking throughout the country side, using lanterns when the light became scarce.
Midnight came and went and though heads began to droop no one would admit exhaustion, and there was no sign of DG.
Cain and Jeb returned to the palace to find the royal family and their friends in a calm state of agitation to which they joined. Ahamo and Jeb began a very serious game of chess, Glitch flipped through every book he could get his hands on and Cain paced a hole in the floor. The hours passed by… 1 am, nothing… 2 am, nothing… 3 am….
The door opens and in walks a very bedraggled looking Princess, appearing to all in the room to be looking quite proud.
Everyone started talking at once, eventually a resounding "Where were you!?" came through.
"I had to go to the other side," she said matter of factly. "It was very important."
They all began to demand an explanation.
"Well, I left early in the morning through a travel storm cause I wanted to get there early. I thought maybe I could get there and back in enough time for no one to really notice I was gone. But, I was mistaken I must have gotten my bike on the road by seven a.m. but by the time I reached the building there was a line around the block. So I got in my place and waited and what should have taken no more than an hour took almost 5 hours. Something about new machines and having to recalibrate something or other, I don't know. Well I got through and thought I'd head out, but I couldn't leave until I knew how everything turned out so I waited, went to a local sports bar and ate cheeseburgers and chili cheese fries until after 11 p.m. And then everything went crazy, people were cheering, crying, chanting. It was like a huge party and I just couldn't leave I had to celebrate, so I got back a bit later than I thought, but man alive it was worth it!"
"DG!" Cain growled. "What the heck are you talking about?"
She looked around and saw everyone in the room had the same perplexed look on their face.
"What?" And then it hit her. "Come on Pop, you know what day it is on the other side and technically I'm still a US citizen."
A look of realization dawned on Ahamo's face and he let out a great laugh as his wife continued to demand an explanation.
"On the other side it is November 4th." Their looks remained blank. "I had to go vote."
A/N: As one reader pointed out, it might have been a little unlikely that DG found the only sports bar in Kansas celebrating last night, but I like to dream. =)