For the Sake of a Good Day
Before the Selection, Kalum had never realized how absurdly un-creative he was. He had always considered himself to be a fairly artistic guy. Well, in the classical sense. He even had his own art studio in the castle. But never before had Kalum experienced such frustration when trying to come up with something so simple as a group date.
"You're pitiful, Kalum, really pitiful," Vegas had said when he came to her for help.
He didn't think he was that bad. His original idea had been horseback riding. I mean, what girl doesn't want to go riding off into the sunset with a prince? Vegas swiftly shot that one down with, "A girl who has to ride off into the sunset with three other girls."
He did have other ideas! Archery, a picnic, a tour of the castle, to name a few - all of which Vegas had responded to with an overdramatized, obnoxious yawn.
Kalum didn't think that they were boring. In fact, he thought that they were quite clever! But what did he know? He had come to Vegas for help, for heaven's sake. He had to be mentally ill.
It didn't feel much better when Vegas had asked, "What did you do with Priscilla?"
When he told her that he had taken Priscilla to dinner, the look that she gave him was positively aghast. Kalum rolled his eyes, and mumbled, "I pity any poor soul that has to take you on a date."
"High standards are the only standards," Vegas had replied, haughtily, "and this is what you're going to have to do…"
Vegas' advice turned out to be pretty helpful. Incredibly helpful, actually.
"Be yourself, you idiot. Do something you actually want to do and force them to do it with you. Plus, you suck at archery so it's not even worth trying to be romantic with it."
This made Kalum smile, because he knew exactly what he was going to do…
"Hiking… You're taking us… hiking?"
Kenzie Wallace looked nothing less than horrified when Kalum told her what they were going to be doing that day. Kalum nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! Well, I mean, not just hiking, but the entire idea is that we're going geocaching!"
He was met with blank stares. Kalum sighed in resignation.
"Treasure hunting, guys, I'm taking you treasure hunting."
Understanding broke out on the girls faces as they began to laugh and nudge each other. All of them were dressed in the hiking attire that he had requested of their maids. He had wanted it to be a surprise, but he had a feeling that most of them probably figured it out when they found that they were all dressed in the same bulky hiking boots. Ladies Kenzie, Reece, Samantha, and Caihi were all decked out in outdoor wear with bright satchels slung over their shoulders and enormous water bottles tucked into the pockets. They'd all brought the small trinkets that he had requested, and Sam, who seemed to be a tad bit more enthused than the rest, had drawn it out of her bag to examine it. Kenzie forced a smile on her face, and responded with a breathy, "Right… Hiking..."
"So where are we going," Lady Samantha piped up, "Please tell me we're not staying on the castle grounds."
"Nice to know you think so highly of my home," Kalum chuckled, "but no, we're not staying on the castle grounds. It's only about an hour to the Sierra Nevadas so we're gonna find a trail up there."
"Find a trail," Reece raised her eyebrows, "As in, you don't already know where one is?"
"No no no, I- no. No, I do know where we're going! It's just that I thought that we'd decide when we got there."
The girls nodded in unison. Caihi, though, still looked confused.
"What are the little things? The trinkets or whatever - what are we supposed to do with them?"
Kalum got a big, goofy grin on his face.
"Well," he started, "they're supposed to be treasures. The way geocaching works is that you're looking for a small container hidden somewhere - anywhere. And inside are little things that people leave behind when they find it. Nothing special just, you know… well, let's see what you have," he held out his hand for Caihi's contribution. The girl cinched her eyebrows, but nonetheless drew out a small object that looked to be a Queen from a chess set. She handed it to him and he held it awkwardly, fidgeting with it as he explained further.
"So, essentially, what you're going to do is take something from the geocache when you find it. And then, so that other people can find it and do the same, you replace what you took with something to give. That is why you bring the… objects. So that you can continue the cycle."
The girls looked fascinated. Samantha, for her part, looked intrigued by the whole process and her eyes glowed with anticipation as she tapped her fingers vigorously on the straps of her backpack. Kalum felt an overwhelming sense of relief to see that his idea wasn't a complete failure. In fact, he appeared to have struck gold if he discounted the nausea on Kenzie's face. But he would make her enjoy it. He would make sure that it was a fun day for them all.
"How about you guys go out to the car to wait for me and get yourselves settled in. I have to quickly do something but I'll be right out."
The girls smiled and nodded, and he quickly handed Caihi her chess piece back with a gracious smile. She returned it and followed the rest of their party out of the grand entryway towards the car. Kalum watched them go, and then turned to the figure standing on the staircase opposite himself. Kole smirked, casually lounging on the marble bannister, watching his brother with undisguised interest.
"What. A. Charmer," Kole mused out loud, "A modern day Casanova, in fact. " Kole chuckled as Kalum rolled his eyes and began to walk up the stairs towards him.
"You know, I never knew why I got all the girls when you were clearly the better option," Kole tapped his chin thoughtfully as Kalum approached, "Maybe it's because you did get all the girls, but no one could ever find them because you'd take them out into the woods!"
"Ha. Ha. Very funny," Kalum droned sarcastically, unamused.
"No! No, Kalum, I think it's smart! I mean, what says romance like mosquitoes and mountain lions-" Kole couldn't finish his sentence before he burst out into ill-contained laughter, having to lean over the banister to catch his breath as Kalum tapped his foot impatiently. He allowed for Kole to make a couple more jokes involving his REI outfit, the button bracelet that he had brought for the geocache, and mountain water diarrhea..
"You're absolutely hilarious Kole - really, I can hardly contain myself - now can I get you to focus?"
"On what? I was just seeing you off," Kole asked, sobering up a bit.
"Look, I'm gonna be gone for the whole day, and probably a little later at night. I normally wouldn't ask this, but with dad… indisposed…"
Yeah. That's the word for it.
"I just need someone to fill in for me."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do!"
"I disagree."
"Fantastic - you're still gonna do it though."
"Why," Kole practically whined, "I was never good at it in the first place, and besides, I have plans!"
"It's 11:00 am. You never have plans before 11:00 pm."
"Yeah, well, I could have plans and it's especially rude to assume otherwise, so consider me offended and unwilling."
"For the love of Sir-freaking-Elton John," Kalum threw back his head, getting irritated, "I will give you back GEAUX if you do this one thing for me."
This struck a blow in Kole's resolve. GEAUX (pronounced "go") was Kole's old private helicopter that the family hid from him after he used it to fly to the Sahara with a couple of his… shall we say lady friends. His less intimate and more male friend, Lord Bakari of the South African Embassy, had told him that he and his a couple of his mates sometimes went out to the Sahara to party away from their parents. Kole - seventeen, stupid, and significantly wasted - mistook the nightclub that Bakari was referring to for the literal desert, and thought it would be impressive to take his lady friends to a secret nightclub in the middle of the African desert. It wasn't one of his finest moments, especially since he never actually made it to the Sahara, and landed the helicopter in the Mojave desert. He did, however, tell his family that he was in the Sahara when they called to ask where he was, which prompted them to spend two full days searching for him in the middle of the northern African desert. All the while, he was getting wasted at a bar in the middle of Angeles with a couple of strippers he had picked up, not knowing where the other girls he had brought with him were.
Needless to say, getting GEAUX back was an appealing offer.
"Ok. I'll do it. But just this once Kal-"
"Yes! Oh, lord, you are my savior man, I love you - Ok, just go find Baron or maybe Nixon. One of them will probably know what to do so just -agh! Thank you!"
And he was off, leaving Kole standing dumbfounded in the middle of the palace entryway, wondering a) How the hell do you run a country for a day and b) Did he get GEAUX back before or after doing the work.
"Alrighty then," he said to himself, "Time to go find Nixon."
The ride up to the mountains was fairly uneventful, but Kalum soon learned what a terrible mistake he had made inviting four girls, which, including him, made for a spectacular party of five.
Five.
That meant that if he were to talk to one, he was leaving three others.
Three.
The devil number for girls.
It signified armageddon. It signified Lucifer's return. It signified a slew of riots of the most atrocious kind. For when one girl spoke to the other, the one left out became a jealous monstrocity fueled by pure rage and contempt for the two misguided souls who had left her.
Or so Vegas had said.
But he had no choice! He said that he would go on a group date with the winning team and, unfortunately, this was it.
Not that they weren't lovely of course. But Vegas had a way with words… one that terrified him deeply.
"We're here!"
Sam threw herself over Kalum's lap to see the mountain trail that they were approaching, not paying any attention whatsoever to the poor, space-invaded prince. From the other side of the car, someone could be heard saying, "desperate," under her breath, though everyone knew it was probably Kenzie.
"Ok, just to clarify, everyone has water," everyone nodded, "a protein bar," everyone nodded again, "and their treasure to put into the geocache?"
They had a three for three, and finally, after the everso uneventful car ride, they got out.
"It feels so fresh out here," Caihi stretched her arms out, basking in the welcoming sunlight. The air did feel fresh. It was one of those days where the sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it was at a solid 75-80 degrees, with a slight breeze that made the desert-like mountains feel as crisp and refreshing as the Rockies. It was a good day. Kalum could feel it.
"Ok, we have to take a picture," Kenzie piped up, drawing out her cell phone and scrolling around with her manicured fingers, "Everyone come over here and get the driver to- OH! Wait! Do we want this to be a selfie?"
It ended up being a selfie. Reece, Caihi, and Samantha, for their parts, looked severely uncomfortable, but Kalum, in his certainty that this was going to be a good day, was the optimist of the group, and played along for Kenzie's sake.
Finally, after a series of selfies, foot pics, panoramas, and a final group picture in front of the skyline (both silly and smiling, of course), they were on their way, not one of them deterred by the fact that they had been standing in the heat for 30 minutes taking pictures, and had already sweated half their body weight. It was going to be a good day.
"What if we get lost?" Samantha was the first to ask the almighty question, after previously being the first to realize their driver and bodyguards had left them. Not that she minded. They made her uncomfortable.
"Let's just focus on not getting lost right now, shall we?"
Kalum had tried to be clever, but it wasn't working, and he could see that in Sam's face.
"No, um, this is a known trail, and they have sensors and cameras tucked away around here, so really we can't get lost. Plus, they're just gonna stay around here, so if we do get lost, they can just come find us."
Sam nodded thoughtfully, tucking a strand of fiery red hair behind her ear as she marched along down the path, enjoying the nature around her. It was nice to be outside again. She never really got to do this sort of thing, but she did work with wolves, so some level of appreciation for nature was required.
"Don't worry," Reece piped up for the first time in awhile, "I think that if we do get lost, they'll guess our positioning from the angle of the Instagram pics," she jerked her head over towards Kenzie, who was desperately trying to find a good selfie angle while simultaneously keeping up with the group. She did it though, despite occasionally tripping over a rock or stray tree root. Kalum snorted, but quickly recovered.
"Exactly. See, everything's perfectly safe."
Caihi stayed silent through all of this. She saw the look Kenzie threw her when Kalum said "safe," but was able to keep her temper under control. It wasn't worth it anymore. It wasn't worth it when Kenzie subtly/not-so-subtly slid away from her in the car, and it wasn't worth it when she made her valiant attempts to hide Caihi in the pictures and crop her out when she made the final posts. It just wasn't worth it.
"Is there a map that we follow? If this is, like, a treasure hunt, shouldn't there be some sort of map," Kenzie asked, running up to brush arms with Kalum.
"Yeah, actually," Kalum responded, rather uncomfortably, "It's here on my phone - we just need to get close enough to it for the compass to kick into gear."
"So for now we're just walking?" Kenzie tried her very hardest to contain her annoyance. She really did, but everyone could see it nonetheless.
"I guess so," said Kalum, inching a bit ahead of Kenzie, who just nodded, as if considering the information. But with nothing else to bother (or flirt, as she termed it) Kalum with, she fell back, and awaited her next opportunity.
"Kalum said what?"
First of all, I think that it should be clarified that Kalum did not need someone to fill in for him in his princely duties. He never did. It just kind of happened, but Kalum didn't know that because he had never taken a day off of work in his life. But he thought that he did, and in his mind, who better than the former prince? Granted, said former prince never really accomplished any of his princely duties, but it's never too late to try! That was Kalum's mindset. Never too late to try.
Queen Jezebel, however, did not agree.
"Yeah. Kalum sent me - said that I needed to fill in. You're welcome, mother dearest," Kole smiled contentedly. He wasn't drunk - she could tell that. But he was enjoying this way too much to be anything other than intoxicated.
"Then why are you smiling?" Jezebel raised her eyebrows, her dragon nails tapping precariously on the binder in her arms.
"Oh, I just love the feeling of good, honest work. It gives me a high like nothing else could- well, almost nothing else," he winked suggestively, casually tucking his hands into his suit pockets. Jezebel rolled her eyes, annoyed by the mere presence of her stepson. It was a pet peeve like no other - his existence, that is. She had dearly hoped that once abdicating, he would simply lurk around in the wine cellar somewhere, or maybe tour the strip clubs of downtown Angeles.
And here he was.
"Don't tell me that you're not happy to see me," Kole mocked, clasping a hand over his heart in faux pain, "Really, mother, I thought that you'd be thrilled! I mean, filling in for my brother? That's pretty responsible if I do say so myself…"
He shrugged, as if to say, "I don't know what else you want from me," reveling in the evil eye she was giving him.
"Just don't say much, and you'll be fine," she rubbed her eyes, already exhausted by the conversation, "Maybe we can all get out of this with our dignity intact."
"Oh don't worry, mother, I will!"
"I was talking about the rest of us," she grumbled, opening the door to the conference room, "Having a conference with Kole… what has the world come to…"
Kole, neither listening to nor caring about what his stepmother had to say, strolled into the wood paneled conference room after her, enjoying himself a lot more than he thought he would.
"Alright," he said, straightening his tie, and forming his smirk into a charming smile, "Let's have some fun…"
And with that, he entered the lions den.
"Wow," Samantha breathed, gazing at the view from atop the cliff, "This is gorgeous."
"Yeah, isn't it?" Kalum took in the fresh air beside her, finally feeling at peace with himself after two hours of hiking uphill, fighting mosquitoes and dehydration. Finally, it was worth it.
"I'm gonna be honest, I didn't really take you for an outdoorsy kind of guy," Sam chuckled, moving away from the edge, following the others as they resumed walking up the path.
"Most people don't," Kalum smiled, "It's the prince thing, I think. Generally, people think I either sit in an office all day, entertain guests, or practice fencing."
"You know how to fence?"
"Not at all."
Sam ducked her head, smiling to herself. He really was something…
"So, if you don't fence, and you don't sit in an office all day-"
"Oh no, I have to do that. Kind of required," Kal jumped up onto a rock and held out a hand for Sam, who almost slapped it away, but seemed to rethink the idea, and took it graciously. "Otherwise, how do I run a country?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Well, I'm telling you right now, it requires a lot of office work," Kalum chuckled sardonically, "After awhile, the outdoors begin to sound really appealing. More appealing than it is once you're actually out here," he said, wiping the sweat off his brow, still grinning. Sam laughed at the prince, enjoying the sight of him grunting for air as they jumped up another steep rock formation. It was interesting. No one saw the great Prince Kalum Schreave like this. Maybe no one wanted to! But he was sure as hell more entertaining than the one they saw on the Report. At least he was to her...
"I spend all day either in a garage or a bar," Sam grumbled, following close behind as they wound their way around a thin path, "So I guess I understand the feeling."
"Yeah, but don't you raise wolves?"
Sam was taken aback. How did he know that?
"It was on your form," Kalum smiled back at her, reading her mind, "I tried to learn as much as possible about you girls… plus, something like that doesn't exactly escape someone's mind."
They shared a smile, enjoying the comfortable air between them, before Reece's voice rang out from ahead, "Guys! The compass is finally working!"
"About time," Kenzie grumbled, shoving past a startled and thoroughly annoyed Caihi to reach Reece.
"It looks like we have to go down there," said Reece, pointing down the rocky path, "and it says that we're 100 feet away."
Sam gave a low whistle, glancing down the cliff and into the rapids below. "It doesn't look too steep over there," she said, pointing to the waterfall on the other side of the cliff, perpendicular to them.
"Yeah! Forget the scary cliff! Let's jump off the waterfall instead!"
Kenzie's commentary wasn't helpful.
Reece glanced around, analyzing their surroundings. This was what she was good at. This was what she could do. Directing her gaze towards the waterfall with Sam, she saw the path that Sam was referring to - a rocky, two foot wide, switchback path that went far too close to the waterfall for her liking. But it was the best option.
"No, you're right," Reece spoke up, "Let's try over there."
"So, just to clarify, we're sure that this little treasure box is worth risking our lives for?"
Caihi spoke up for the first time in awhile, and it was a bit surprising to them all. Reece, however, familiar with the ridicule of society, and frankly a bit excited by all this adventure and problem solving, simply laughed and said, "Honestly? Probably not, but I didn't brave the Angeles heat for 2 hours and walk through a big ass spider web to leave empty handed."
"I'm down," said Sam, good-naturedly.
Kenzie groaned, but they were all past paying attention to her and simply left her to her personal torture.
"Agreed," Kal said, his eyes twinkling and his smile stretched from ear to ear. Yes! This hadn't been a complete disaster!
Well, not just yet.
"That was a complete disaster," Jezebel groaned.
Archibald Chamberlin chuckled, amused by the Queen's dramatics. She was splayed out on the chaise lounge in her private quarters, Archie beside her, stirring his drink. They had a meeting with the National Wilderness Preservation Committee in 15 minutes, and Jezebel could hardly form a coherent sentence. She wasn't willing to go back - not with him there.
"Was he really that bad?" Archie was trying his best to be supportive, and it wasn't as if he was too fond of Kole either, but really. He had abdicated and hadn't shown interest in the throne since he was 12. He wasn't a threat. So he was substituting for a day! Big deal! It wasn't as if he actually did anything.
"Oh, trust me, he was worse," Jezebel sat up, glaring pointedly at Archie, and snatching his drink, "And I just had to sit there. Listening to him ramble on and on and… oh lord I wanted to shoot myself," and she took a great, big swig of his bourbon. Archie laughed again, earning yet another glare from the Queen.
"And what, might I ask, did the late, great Crown Prince Kole have to say? Could you smell his breath while he was speaking? Is that what this is about?"
"No," Jezebel rubbed her eyes, "He kept saying 'as my father would say,' and would essentially repeat something someone in the room had already said." Archie's lips tightened ever so slightly. "Darius," he said slowly, "he quoted your husband? The one in the hospital?"
Jezebel looked up and seemed to recognize that this was making Archie uncomfortable. She stood and settled on the couch next to him, lovingly placing her hand on his knee. Forcing him to look at her, she spoke, "There's a reason he's quoting that man. They're the same. The exact same broken, tortured, weak souls, with nothing better to do than to ruin other people's lives, just to make their own seem brighter." She smiled, and squeezed his knee. "Kole could live a thousand lives, and he'll never, ever be more than that man - he'll never be more than nothing." And she touched her lips to his. It was a tender, sensual kiss, and Archie could feel her smiling against his lips, before pulling away. "And I love you. There's that."
And Archie smiled. Suddenly, everything did seem brighter. Kole was off the throne. Darius was in the hospital. This woman - this stunning, intelligent woman - was sitting here kissing him, telling him that she loved him.
It was a good day.
"WHY THE HELL DID WE DECIDE TO DO THIS?!" Caihi screamed over the thundering waterfall beside them. She was following Reece, who led the way down the narrow path, just close enough to the pounding falls to be sprayed by it's mist. Kenzie had nearly refused to even step onto the path, but a quick word with Kalum soon persuaded her, and now they were all lined up, hard pressed against a rock wall, about to be drowned by 10 ton gallons of river water.
"IT'S OK," Reece could be heard shouting over the falls, "WE JUST NEED TO MAKE THIS LAST SWITCH BACK AND THEN WE CAN JUST SLIDE DOWN!"
"OH YEAH, THAT'S BRILLIANT! FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! LETS JUST SLIDE DOWN TO OUR DEATHS- MAKE IT A JOYRIDE!" Kenzie's shrill voice protruded through all echoes of the falls around them, and even in spite of their situation and her semi-agreement, Caihi rolled her eyes at the curly-haired blonde.
But doing as Reece said, they all helped each other around the tight switch back, and each made it out with a bit of spray from the waterfall, but on the whole, intact. Then, they slid down, landing on a large, smooth grey stone that sat at the edge of the current. All of them stood up, quite amazed that they had truly lived through that, and checked to make sure that no one had broken boned and such.
"I have to say, Your Highness," Caihi sighed, looking around them at the towering cliffs lining the river, "So far, I'm not too impressed by your ideas of fun." She threw him a side glance, smirking, and Kalum laughed. "No, I don't suppose any of you think too highly of my extracurriculars as of right now, do you?"
They all looked sheepish as they laughed, Kenzie being the only one to deny it aggressively, saying that she was enjoying every minute of it. They all looked sigelong at her, wondering if she was actually going to stick with that. She did, surprisingly, and they all moved forward.
"So, where is this treasure?" Sam stepped up, grabbing her bag, and pulling her flaming red locks into a ponytail behind her. Kalum almost corrected her with, "It's called a geocache," but thought better of it and stayed silent.
"Umm," Reece mumbled, staring intently at the compass, "About 20 feet from us."
And the search began. At first, when one hears, "About 20 feet", one assumes that, with limited surroundings (including rocks, river, and two trees), the search should not take more than 10 minutes.
It took 45.
They must have looked between and under the same stones about 500 times, each time more grueling and frustrating than the next. Sam offered to climb into the river, just in case some idiot hid it under the current, but Kalum wouldn't hear of it.
"It'll help me cool off," she argued. But Kalum wasn't about to risk it.
"A) You could drown, and B) I have just enough faith in humanity to believe that a human would be so stupid as to hide a family friendly treasure hunt box beneath a deathly water current."
"Why not," Reece piped up, "They were stupid enough to send us down that cliff!"
"Truth," Kenzie grumbled, "But he's probably right. Plus, even if it is under there, why risk it? Haven't we done enough already?"
"Yeah, but I'd like to think that it was all for a reason, right? We've come this far- what's a little more water" Caihi stood on the other side of Reece, backing her up. It earned her a pointed glare from Kenzie.
"You mean the deadly water current over sharp rocks and rapids? Is that the 'little more water' you're talking about?"
"We could just wade in! It's not that big of a deal, especially since we're all wearing waterproof boots."
"Ok, look, we shouldn't even be talking to you about this, I mean, if one of us dies, it's just another notch on your belt right?" And that was it. That was Kenzie's first mistake.
That was the last straw. Time seemed to slow, and as the others gawked, especially Kalum, Caihi launched herself at Kenzie.
Their screams echoed over the crashing falls, and immediately, after falling to the ground on a patch of grass, the two girls wrestled mercilessly, yanking at each others hair, and pounding into the other into the ground. Reece jumped in to pry the girls away from each other, grabbing onto Caihi as Kalum did the same to Kenzie, Suddenly, Kenzie turned her attention to Reece, and shoved her out of the way. That was her second mistake.
Reece's eyes burned, her focus now on Kenzie. Charging, she slammed into the girl, one punch knocking her to the ground. Caihi tried to help her, but Sam held them both back. She pried Caihi away from the shrieking blonde, and held her and Reece back at arm's length. Kalum held Kenzie to his chest, shouting for her to calm down. He was none too pleased.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" All three girls looked at the prince, their movement becoming stiff. Kenzie had the nerve to shudder and nestle closer into Kalum's chest, playing the defenseless victim. Caihi and Reece appeared guilty, but neither shrank back, owning up to their faults. Sam just looked pissed.
As Kalum gazed at the girls, the firs in his eyes burned out. His focus turned to one in particular.
"Kenzie," he spoke in a low, foreboding tone. The girl turned her head up to him, noticing his arm slack from around her. Her eyes were falsely wide, but she had no doubt that she was blameless.
"You're dismissed. You're out of the competition."
The air was silent, but Kenzie didn't miss a beat.
"What," Kenzie shrieked, "You're kicking me out? NOW?! Now, after I was just brutally attacked by a convicted murderer and a rabid Eight?"
Sam had to hold the two girls back again, both steaming with rage. Kalum looked about the same.
"Yes," he replied, trying to keep his anger at bay and his voice composed, "Yes, I am."
"That's-that's… What?"
A wordsmith this girl was, really. But Kalum was unrelenting.
"Come on," he said, shrugging a shoulder to her bag, lying forgotten on the shore, "pick up your stuff, and let's go."
Kenzie was speechless. The other three were speechless. No one spoke as Kalum went to gather his own things, not paying attention to the saucer-eyed females gawking at him. "Well? Are you coming?" Kenzie continued to sputter, but Reece warily responded, "Um… but what about the… the geocache?" Kalum shrugged again, as if the whole matter was but a trivial inconvenience.
"Kenzie's right. It's too dangerous, and I think that I speak for the entire group when I say that we've had enough nature for one day."
"So I'm not eliminated?" Kenzie's poor, blue eyes flickered with hope.
"No, you're still eliminated."
And he set off back towards the hill where they slid down, and began his climb.
And the rest followed, unsure of what was left to do.
"Are you seriously getting rid of her?" Caihi had sidled up next to Kalum on the hike back down. Reece was planning on being the one to do it, but Caihi insisted, saying that she was the one who first hurled the screaming bitch to the ground, so she should be the one to ask why she wasn't being eliminated too.
"Why does no one think that I will? Yes, she's gone. She's-she's off. Out. Dumped. Discarded. Lumped out and froged- whatever terminology suits you." Caihi let a smile creep onto her face.
"Froged? That's a thing?"
"I don't know… probably in England or some shit like that."
Caihi couldn't help bursting out laughing. Kalum chuckled a bit as well, and Kenzie glared at them both from the back, wallowing in her "froged" misery.
"You know…" Caihi let her voice become low and cleared her throat, "I um… I'm not gonna, like, um…"
"Kill anyone?"
Caihi's cheeks flames, but she nodded. Neither made eye contact, and instead continued down the rocky path, pretending that the only reason they were silent was because walking/hiking took severe concentration. But again, after about two minutes of utter silence, Caihi cleared her throat.
"I haven't-er, I didn't. I never did."
Kalum looked up, his eyes not giving anything away.
"I don't think you did. And at any rate, I don't think you're ever planning to."
"You don't?"
"No… I don't know why, if you don't mind me saying. But I just... ," Kalum grabbed at his hair and sighed, "I just don't think you did. And besides… everyone has a past, so I choose to believe that if you say you didn't, then you didn't, and for now… we'll just leave it at that." And it was silent again. And it wasn't because of the giant one-of-us-is-a-convicted-murderer gap between them, or the one-of-us-is-the-crown-prince-of-a-world-superpower gap, or the everpresent we're-kind-of-sort-of-dating-despite-one-being-a-convicted-murderer-and-the other-a-prince gap. Who could forget that one. No, it was just silent, and they continued their walk down the path. Caihi never asked why Kalum decided to keep her there, and she never wanted to. For now, she was just glad that he did.
"Why did I just see whats-her-face running down the hall crying? Well, not running, but if it had been that dramatic, then she might've been running." Kole swaggered down the palace steps to his brother, who was tiredly climbing out of the black sudan, dragging his feet with every step. The older brother looked positively wicked, his eyes glinting with mischief and malice, like that elf from Midsummer Night's Dream (the name escapes me). He was dressed in a suit that didn't have the buttons open too low, or the sleeves rolled up. He was even wearing a tie, and his hair had enough gel in it to stick him up on stage singing "Grease Lightning." Kalum narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"What did you do?"
"I was responsible."
"I don't think that means what you think it means."
"No, probably not, but we're going to assume for your own sanity that it means what you think it means."
Kalum nodded, pursing his lips. "At this point, I can live with that."
"Good. So can I," Kole grinned cheerfully and turned back around to walk with Kalum up the steps. When they got back up to the grand hall, Kalum heard his name being called from behind them. He turned to see Reece jogging to catch up with them, her miniature frame braving the tall steps rather well. Kalum smiled and urged Kole to go on without him, and Kole gave him a suggestive wink. "I guess taking 'em to meet mother nature does work after all."
Kalum rolled his eyes and shoved him up the stairs as Reece approached.
"Hey," Kalum greeted, "I'm sorry we didn't get to spend much time together today… Alone I mean."
"No, that's not what I'm here about."
Oh. Well, thanks. Much appreciated.
Reece immediately realized what she said, but instead of blushing or profusely backtracking, she said, "Sorry," in an almost composed tone.
"I just wanted to say thanks. For not getting Caihi in trouble and all that." She tugged on her earring, but that was the only sign Kalum had that she was nervous, and he smiled.
"Of course I didn't get rid of Caihi. Kenzie was being a, well, a bitch the whole time and provoked her, so…" he trailed off, leaving it to Reece to interpret the rest. She looked at him for a second, as if he was some problem that she didn't know how to solve. He fidgeted under the intensity of her gaze.
"But Caihi is a murderer."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Yeah, but you're definitely an Eight."
"Not anymore I'm not," Reece crossed her arms across her chest defiantly.
"That's precisely the point." Kalum smiled victoriously as Reece surveyed him. Analyzing him.
"You're not what I thought you would be."
"Dido."
Reece laughed and said, "Be honest. You never exactly thought of me much."
"Oh, don't be like that! I thought of you every night in my dreams."
"And people say that your brother is the smooth one."
"I have my moments." Kalum grinned, feeling more and more confident by the second. Maybe this whole dating thing was good for him.
"But in all seriousness," he said, tilting his head and shoving his hands into his pockets, "I've been getting the whole 'you're not what I thought you'd be' bit quite often as of late. Maybe you could come to dinner and tell me exactly, without leaving any of the gory details, what people think of me." Reece eyed him, but not in fashion that he was used to with her. She looked amused.
"Maybe not tonight. But thanks." Well that was new. Kalum nodded, but didn't say anything as Reece slowly turned away, as if considering what she should do next. Kalum watched her go, smiling to himself.
Well, he thought, let's recount this shall we?
He had left the country in the hands of Kole for a day.
He had taken four girls out into the woods for a date.
They had almost died next to a waterfall, all to get what was possibly some sort of tinker toy or mini Happy Meal book.
His dates (plural) had began attacking each other after one called the other a convicted murder, which she was.
He had, for all intents and purposes, broken up with one of his girlfriends in front of the others, and it wasn't the one who was a convicted murderer.
And, finally, he came home sweaty, exhausted, and thoroughly broken down by Angels heat and desert rocks, without the supposed tinker toy or mini Happy Meal book that he had sought out to find in the first place.
And all in all, it was a good day.
I'm baaaAAck.
I'm doing this great new thing where I write the next chapter before I post this one so that I'm always ahead of the game. So yes, chapter 12 is written, but you won't get it until at the latest next week when I've finished 13.
Aaaaand yeah! No long author's note today, I just hope that you enjoyed it, and you're planning on reviewing!
Also, don't hate me because I didn't feel like writing an important meeting or something. I'm not good at that. If you want to read cool, sexy politics with Russian Czars and stuff that actually involves political intrigue (which I know nothing about) go and read If We Ever See The Sun by L.C. Caraway because she wrote some really cool stuff with that.
So yeah! See ya next week! (God, I sound like a vlogger)
BYE!
