"Oh, Princess…"
God, I hate when Mica wakes me up. Just the sound of his voice makes me jump from my peaceful sleep into deer-during-hunting-season mode. I quickly sit up. "Yes?"
He's leaning in the doorway, holding a small box and a black jacket under his arm. He tosses me the jacket. "Put that on. You've got a mission to do."
I do as told, pulling on the heavy material as I follow him. Dang. This coat has a pistol in the pocket and must be four times too big for me. I'm sure it's for a reason. Mica always has a reason.
He takes me to the stables, to Beast and Emerson. He throws the box at me, nearly missing my head. I don't catch it, but I quickly pick it up off the ground. Inside of it is a small white…thing. Mica takes it out and shoves it in my mouth. Starting from under my tongue, an odd tingling feeling spreads all in my gums and lips. "What is it?" I ask, only…
It's not my voice.
It's this…I don't really know how to describe it. It's almost as if a bunch of voices joined into one to form my words. It scares me.
He laughs. "Just a bit of magic. Don't want for you to be recognized, do we Princess?" he teases as he pulls the hood up and over my head. He lifts me onto Beast. "Now, listen, you little whore," he growls. "You're gonna go to the castle and drop by to see the queen—oh, don't pull any of that 'I can't sneak in' shit; you know that place better than anyone—anyway, you're gonna go in and you're gonna tell them that their precious little girl is dead and then you're gonna leave, got it? You do anything I don't like, it'll be the last thing you do, alright? Does your little slut brain get it?"
I swallow hard and nod. "Why?" I ask. "Why are we doing this?"
He chuckles. "I just want to piss them off. I wanna torture them; it'll be fun."
No.
He wants to torture me.
After letting off a deep growl, he smacks Beast's rear, sending the horse off into a run. It takes me a full five minutes to slow Beast down to let Emerson catch up. Once he does, flying down, landing on Beast's head, he asks, "That…"
"I don't think I can do this."
"I know." He sighs. "Is…is there anything else we could do? Rosie, anything. I don't care how ridiculous."
"We could run. Just…They'll think I'm dead and we could just leave it at that—not forever! That—that wouldn't…I—I just need—Dammit, Em, I need a break. Just a little break. Maybe a year, two tops. I need to have a bed to curl up in, some decent food…Even if I could go somewhere where I'm not being fucked everyday…That's…"
"Let's do it," he says, quiet but determined. "You're parents'll live. Do this. Make them call off the search. This could be your last chance."
I nod. He's right. If I'm going to do it, then I've got to do it now.
I'm going to have to break my parents' hearts.
It's a several hour trip by horse, even a fast one like Beast, but finally I make it to the town that surrounds the castle. I leave Beast tied to a pole on the outskirts and finish the trip by foot, alone. Emerson waits with Beast.
I sneak to the back bushes and go through my old secret hole. The familiarity makes me smile, if only briefly. I make it to the hidden entrance that leads to the unused hallways that I used to use to get out of balls and galas. I'm just going to keep walking around until I hear voices.
It takes up just about half of my day, but then, I do. It's soft, but there:
"I miss her." It's Dad.
"Me too." Mom.
I don't think I can listen anymore. I take a deep breath and move out of the hall and into the sitting room. They're sitting on the couch together. The sight of them just…God…I don't want to do this. But I have to. "Am I interrupting something?" I ask, trying to sound as casual as possible. They both jump up onto their feet. I pull the gun out to be a threat; Mom was always jumpy and I don't want to get attacked.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Mom asks, her voice…it's defensive, but it sounds so good to hear again.
I shrug. "That—that's not really important. I just came to deliver a little bit of news that I think you two deserve to know." It's the truth.
Mom—the look on her face! I think she's expecting something good. "Well? Out with it."
I blurt, "Rose is dead."
Her face falls. She moves closer and I grow weary; I don't know what I'll do if I get too close. So I scream, "Come any closer and I'll kill you too!"
I'm frozen on the spot. Every muscle in my body just…refuses to work.
Which is really bad because Mom charges me.
She knocks my gun away and—I can't help myself.
I hug my mother for the first time in nearly three years.
Of course, because of the force, we both fall to the floor. If this were a normal situation, we'd both be laughing like fools. But it isn't.
Mom reaches around my neck and starts squeezing, cutting off a lot of my oxygen flow. I pull and pull and pull, and then start to panic when I hear her yell, "Edward! The gun! Shoot it!"
Oh, shit. Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
The gun goes off once, missing me, and I realize it: my parents could kill me. So, I roll onto my back, pulling Mom onto my stomach, slipping her a small kiss to the temple, as if that'd make everything okay. I know that Dad won't shoot if Mom's in the way.
Shockingly, she lets go and flops off. Did she recognize me?
When I realize that she's reaching for the gun…No. She didn't recognize me.
I run as fast as I can, even when I hear the loudness of the gun and the pain of a bullet piercing my upper arm. I keep running until I'm well into the town, and even then I go at a solid trot until I reach Emerson and Beast. I pull myself on the latter's back and keep riding.
"Rosie!" Emerson shouts over the wind. I slow down to hear him. "How'd it go?"
"How do you think?" I ask, pulling out that damn contraption Mica gave me and throwing it to the ground. "They tried to kill me."
"Well…We have a problem."
I groan. "What is it?"
"I…I overheard a few of Mica's goons talking. They were saying something about tomorrow night and long live King Mica or something like that…"
I sigh. "Emerson, just give it to me straight; I can't handle thought right now."
"Rose, I think they're going to overthrow your parents."