I stepped in through the door and was automatically pulled into the living room by Denise. She sat me down in between Dean and Max and she turned on the tv.
"Good evening and welcome to the six o'clock news. I'm Veronica Stable and we have a story on fast food stops coming up, but first we have breaking news from the country of Greshva. I'll pass it over to Derek so he can fill you in." a woman who looked like she was in her thirties said and I could feel Max stiffen next to me on the couch. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked at me with a worried look. I turned back to the screen to see a guy, a bit older than me appear.
"I'm Derek Anderson and I'm here in the lovely country of Greshva with his Royal highness the King and his wife to be Stacie Robinson." He said and my father and Stacie appeared besides him. My stomach twisted into knots and they were getting ighter with each passing second. "Now a few nights ago the princesses and the prince ran away and left a very disturbing note. I'm standing here with the note in my hand and am about to quote it." There in his hand was a piece of paper, but it wasn't the plain white sheet I had left. Instead he had a light purple sheet that looked like the stationary that Stacie had just bought. My mouth dropped and I'm sure Dean was confused as heck. "I'm quoting this right off of the paper. We're sorry father, but we can not live this life anymore. And to not do that we'd have to kill our selves," my heart dropped at the last statement. "so we're leaving and going to kill ourselves tonight. We love you and wish the best for you and mother." I got angry and my face red bright red, and I could tell it. My free hand curled into a fist and my eye started to twitch. I know not a cute habit, but it was a habit I guess you would call it. "So we're going to California and jumping off the golden gate bridge. Which means yes we're abandoning the throne." At that point I couldn't take it anymore I jumped off the couch and stormed into the back yard. I screamed as someone came out of the house.
"The note didn't say any of that!" I yelled as I turned around expecting to see Denise , but instead there stood Dean confused as ever.
"What do you mean "it didn't say any of that"?" he asked and I sighed, I guess the secret was out. I fell to the ground and onto my back.
"I wrote that note. But I didn't write any of that." I told him as he fell down next to me. he stared confusion turning to surprise. "I'm Her Majesty the Princess Emma Elizabeth Phoebe Tutor, daughter to the throne, or Princess Emma Tutor of Greshva." I told him as his eyes widened.
"If you didn't say you were gonna kill you selves, what did you say?" he asked as I sat up next to him and sat indian style.
"I said that I needed time to think basically." I told him. "That I wasn't abandoning the throne and that I'd be back to take my place whether I liked it or not. And trust me I don't want to be a princess." I answered him. He turned me to face him and I stared into his bright green eyes.
"You have to go back and stop the fakeness of it all and tell what you want and that you're still alive." He told me and my breath quickened. My heart was racing as I sat there staring into his eyes as he told me I had to go back. I stood up and nodded. My heart still racing I walked back into the house and away from the person who made me feel safe. I stepped into the living room and Max and Erica were already there with a bag slung over their backs. Max held a bag in his left hand and tossed it to me. I caught it and gave Denise a hug promising I'd come back eventually. We walked out of the door and away from the life I want and the place I hated to leave.
Fourteen hours later we landed in Greshva and Erica, Max and I ran off of the plane. We ran out of the airport and called a taxi over. "The palace please." I said as the driver nodded and sped off towards the palace. We sat in the back for half an hour before the driver pulled over and let us out. Max paid and Erica, Max and I ran around to the stone wall that stood on the east side of the place. I tossed the bags over and Max gave me a boost over. I jumped down from the top and Erica came next followed by Max. "Now we just have to get to dad before we are found by Stacie." I instructed and we ran towards the palace. At the back door I knocked twice paused and then hit the door with my foot. I heard hurried footsteps and John Paul appeared at the door. I motioned for him to stay quiet as he led us into the kitchen and then into the pantry. I sat down on a box of potatoes, ready to tell him the story, but he didn't even let me start.
"You have to do something about Stacie." He told me and I was taken aback. "She's mean and cruel and she fired the cook for preparing her eggs wrong. And I think I'm next." He told me as I sighed. I nodded and peeked out of the cupboard. No one was coming down the hall to my right and I couldn't see the hall on my left. I motioned John to go and see if the left hall was clear. He went out carrying a package of chocolate chips and closed the door behind him. I heard footsteps from the left and pressed my ear to the door. "Hey Paul." I heard John exhale.
"Hey." He sighed heavily and I pressed even harder on the door. "I wish Emma was here. She would know what to do. She'd make us laugh at no matter what happened, and she probably would have gotten Jenna," that's the old cook. "back by now." I felt a pang of guilt stab into my heart.
"Yeah." I heard John answer half heartedly. "I need you to go get the duck from the freeze on the other side of the castle, sorry Stacie told me to put it there." He told Paul and I heard footsteps hurry off in that direction. John opened the door and his face had fallen even more then before. The guilt just got even heavier on my heart.
"Come on. We have to find dad guys." I told them as they nodded. They looked just as sad as John. I squeezed Max's hand, who squeezed Erica and we ran off towards our father's dressing room. I tip toed up the stairs and waited as Rosa a maid went by not taking notice of us. The whole castle had an air of depression surrounding everyone and every thing. I continued down the hall with the guilt growing heavier on my heart with each person who we hid from as we passed. I turned down the corridor, at the end sat my father's dressing room.
Continuing down the hall I picked up speed, wanting to fall into his arms and be told everything was fine, when in fact everything was as wrong as it could be. Erica and Max obviously felt the same way, because even though we heard voices at the end of the hall we had started running from we didn't stop. They stopped as we were within fifty feet of the room.
"The princesses and prince have returned go get them, before they run off again!" a yell came from who I guess was someone Stacie had recently hired. We all picked up speed and ran straight into the room. I slammed the door shut behind us and locked it. I looked up and saw Stacie and my father pulling away from a kiss. Stacie's face got red and I could tell she was angry. My father's eyes widened as he ran over to us and pulled us into a hug.
"Max, Erica, Emma! I'm so glad you're all okay!" he told s as he let go. I glanced at Max and Erica. Erica nodded her head in Stacie's direction, and I nodded back.
"Dad can we talk to you alone?" Max asked glancing at Stacie who crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows.
"Sure son. Stacie a moment with them alone please." He said to Stacie who stormed out of the room, which he didn't notice as always. "Sit, sit." He told us motioning to a couple chairs in front of a fireplace. "You know Stacie found that note you left and it scared me half to death." He said after a moment of silence. I nodded and tried to figure out a way to tell him gently that Stacie was a evil, conniving, little, and I don't use this word a lot, bitch.
"Dad it's just that…um…" Erica started and Max cut her off.
"Stacie's a bitch." He blurted out and even he was taken aback that he had just said that. My father's face got red and he became angry.
"You will not say that about your soon to be mother." He scolded him and stood up.
"But dad!" I exclaimed as he turned to face me. "She changed the note. I wrote something completely different then that. And she burned mom's picture, and she broke my picture of Max, Erica, mom and me. she also slapped me twice in five minutes." I told him and he just got more angry.
"You leave tomorrow." He said and walked to the door.
"For where?!" Erica said jumping up from her seat. Max followed suit and stood next to me grabbing a hold of my hand.
"Emma for Georgia, the country, Erica for Kazakhstan, and Max for Uganda." He said and my mouth dropped he slammed the door behind him and then opened it back up. "You're all under house arrest till then." He told us and slammed the door once again. Max jumped on me into a hug and I hugged back tightly pulling Erica into the hug. She squeezed the tightest of us all. A minute later a man walked through the door and told us he would be taking us back to our room.
He led the way and then locked the conjoining doors of our rooms. He locked us in and left. I fell onto the bed crying. I sat there for the next half hour before my back pocket started to buzz. I pulled out the phone Denise had bought me and saw a new text from Max. It said Bobby pin. I was a bit confused until I figured out what he meant. I ran over to my dresser and pulled a bobby pin off of the pile sitting on top of the mirror tray my mom had got me for my eighth birthday. I ran over to the door that connected Erica and my room. I knelt down and started to pick the lock. Max and I had had a wild day where w ended up locking each other in the dungeon cells and had to pick the locks with hair pins. The door swung open with a little click and Erica sat up from her bed. I shushed her and ran over to Max's door. The happened except he was waiting for me on the other side. We walked back over to Erica's bed and sat down just staring at each other for the next half hour before my phone went off again. I looked at the caller id and saw Dean's face pop up on the screen. I quickly answered and said hello.
"Hey!" he said with relief coating his voice. "How'd it go with your dad?" he asked and I groaned.
"He won't believe anything we tell him." I said and placed my head on my left hand.
"Okay well do you have anything to prove that you're not lying? A note a video clip," he kept going, but I didn't listen past then.
"Guy's we've got her." I told them and they looked confused as heck. "Dean I love so much thank you! Bye!" I said and hung up the phone running into my room, with Erica and Max right behind me.