Morning came quickly, the sun once again shone bright, and its heat filled the land. Bella went out as usual to be with Edward. She couldn't find him, so she went to Angela's house and found her friend inside. As usual, she was working on a project.

"Angela, can't you ever take a break?" Bella complained.

"I suppose I could, but I love my craft. So for me, it's not really work," Angela replied as she continued to paint.

"At least take one day off and do something with me and Edward today," Bella requested.

"All right. What do you want to do?" she asked, looking at Bella.

"Edward mentioned they sometimes do chariot racing. Do you want to do that?"

"That sounds like fun. I'd love to do that!" Angela exclaimed.

"Ok. I'll ask Edward about it when I see him."

"Hey Angela! Mother wants to know when you'll be finished!" Jessica, her sister called as she came down.

"In six weeks! Jessica, I don't know. Stop acting like you're older than me!" Angela retorted.

"Then why don't you grow up? Honestly I have never…." Jessica kept talking as she went back upstairs.

"Wow," Bella simply said.

"I know," Angela agreed.

The two friends talked about the last few months, as they had been very busy with everything else in their daily lives. Angela told Bella about the projects she had been working on and how well they had been selling. Bella told her about her time with Edward and her experience with Mike. She also told her of Edward and her brothers' daring rescue from him.

"So he attacked and threatened you over not accepting a necklace?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe it. He has been your friend for such a long time. On the other hand, it makes sense."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't be that oblivious," Angela replied incredulously.

Bella tilted her head, confused.

"All right, perhaps you can be. He likes you Bella. When you didn't accept the necklace it figures he was so demented. Although that was excessive, even for him."

"Excessive? He was like a deranged animal Angela! If I ever see him again, I am running far from him."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Well, I had better go. Edward is probably waiting for me."

Bella started to walk toward the garden she and Edward typically met at, when she noticed Angela was following her.

"Decided to join me?" Bella asked, slightly amused.

"No! I just wanted to see if Edward would actually let you do the chariot race or not," Angela retorted in her defense.

"Are you sure you didn't also want to see if you could join me as well?" she asked amusedly as she continued walking.

"Humph," Angela responded making Bella laugh in amusement.

The two girls picked up their pace and found Edward in his usual middle-class disguise. He looked slightly surprised when he saw Angela, but greeted them both with the same amount of graciousness as he normally would.

"What do you want to do today Bella?" Edward asked her.

"I was actually wondering if we could race chariots. It would be so fun!" Bella expressed.

"Okay. I don't see why not," Edward agreed. "I'll have to sneak you in though. After all, my family will recognize you, and some have bigger mouths than others."

"See! I told you!" Bella remarked to Angela's earlier comment.

"Also, Angela, if you want to join us as well, you can," he invited.

"Sure. Sounds like fun. Though I do have a question."

"Of course Angela, what is it?"

"Bella told me about what happened with Mike and I find it hard to believe."

"Oh my goodness! Bella, I am so sorry I didn't believe you. It's just, he was always so nice."

"I know. Edward, how about we show Angela a good time?" Bella asked.

"Cool. Come on."

Edward led the way through the city until he stopped at a wall near the palace, but in a section no one seemed to go near or look at. He pressed up against the wall and a door opened up.

"Woah." Angela's eyes widened with surprise. "How do you know where the doors are?"

"I found some of them younger, I have been exploring ever since," Edward replied as he led the way with a torch nearby. "Some though I actually built and extended the existing ones."

"Why? If they were already here, why would you want to aggrandize them," Bella asked, somewhat puzzled.

"The ones built led to good areas, but I wanted to end up in other places as well. So I added on to some and built the doors as well. Then I covered them up with dirt to camouflage them. I could have had someone else do it, but I wanted it to be my secret and decided to take on the project myself. I had fun building them, so I continued until I thought I had enough," Edward explained.

They continued on until Edward abruptly stopped and looked at the wall for a minute.

"Thought so," he murmured to himself. "Well this is where we exit."

He pressed against the wall and it opened like the last one. After blowing out the torch, he led the girls into a stable.

"How did you know which one to choose?" Angela asked as they walked out of the passage.

"At first it was difficult, but then I thought 'Why should I keep guessing every time?' Then I put x's on the sections that moved on each of the four corners. After that I just go to them automatically, already knowing ahead of time where I will end up."

Edward led the two girls toward the interior of the stable yard and used a nearby rag to clean himself off more before he called for the stable boy's help. While he did so, Bella and Angela looked around in amazement.

"Ok I know you're bubbling with excitement so let it out," Angela commanded with amusement in her voice.

"Oh my goodness! This is so cool!" Bella exclaimed with extreme joy. "First Seshat, the goddess of writing and measurement, permits me to learn how to read and write, and now Bes, the god of fun and laughter, permits me to be here!"

"I will say, in all my years, I never thought Bes would let me have any actual fun again." Angela shook her head, amazed.

"Ah, hello Prince Edward," someone greeted him, making the girls turn toward the sound of the voice.

A young man, most likely of about 15 years, appeared around the corner. His hands were calloused from hard work, and he had one piece of hair hanging down from his head like other boys. He seemed like his muscles were well developed and had a lean look to him.

"Hello Tyler. I told you some time earlier you can refer to me simply as Edward. There is no need for titles or anything else. As long as my family doesn't see so you don't get in trouble, you and I are of equal status," he reminded him.

"Oh yes. Right, it's a force of habit, you know." Tyler suddenly noticed Bella and Angela, bowing slightly and they greeted him in return.

"Tyler, this is Bella and Angela," Edward introduced. "Bella, Angela, this is Tyler, the stable hand. He helps to set up the chariots and takes care of the horses."

Edward asked Tyler to set up three chariots, and bring them around to the usual racing area of the palace.

"Should we tell him we know how to chariot race because your father let us do it when we were younger?" Angela whispered as Edward instructed them on how to drive the chariots.

"No. Let's humor him. It will be fun when this is all done and over with."

He let them ride the chariots for a few minutes, so they could have a feel for directing the large contraptions before the race. After some 20 minute of practice the girls were ready for the next step.

"Bella!" Edward called to get her attention.

"Yeah?" she screeched, still having fun driving her own chariot.

"Bring in your horses and have Angela do the same. We are going to race now."

"Okay, Angela, bring in your chariot, okay? We are going to race now."

"Sure Bella."

Both girls steered their chariots closer to Edward's, and soon slowed them down to a stop. Edward lined his chariot up between the two girls and made sure his was aligned with theirs. Another servant shouted to start the race and they took off.

Edward and his brothers typically raced on a much harder course, but considering it was the girls' first time, they rode one of the easier courses.

He had put a good amount of distance between himself and the girls at the beginning of the race. Though they, as if by magic, appeared right next to him, one on each side.

"Let's pass him, shall we?" Angela asked Bella, laughing hard.

"Considering it's obvious he is taking it easy on us, yes we shall," Bella agreed.

They each pushed their horses ahead and continued toward the finish line. Edward tried to go at his normal pace, which was extraordinarily fast, but they just rode harder to keep ahead of him. Finally Angela passed the finish line, with Bella hard at her heels. Edward came in last, some distance behind the two girls, but he didn't mind. He slowed his horses and as he jumped off, he saw Bella and Angela laughing and shouting excitedly.

"How did you do that?" he yelled, amazed.

"Now?"

"Now," Bella confirmed.

"We have done this before," Angela told him, smirking slightly.

"You have? When? Also why didn't you tell me?"

"We figured we should surprise you. My father is general of a military, I wanted to learn how to chariot race and he taught me, my brother, and Angela when we were younger. My sisters could have learned but they didn't want to.

"I told you that you would have fun!" Bella yelled, in the middle of her laughing fit.

"I did not!" Angela lied, still laughing, not able to keep a straight face on throughout the sentence.

"She had a good time," Bella assured Edward as he got closer.

"I have no doubt about that," Edward replied as Angela's laughter faded.

"Phew. That felt good."

"What? Racing the horses or having fun?" Edward asked.

"No, laughing. Though the racing and having fun was a great experience as well, I meant laughing. I haven't laughed that hard in years."

"Why not?"

Angela shrugged before answering. "There was never anything to laugh about."

"Then you are most certainly not trying."

"Do you know what she tells me?" Bella asked.

"No, what does she tell you?"

"Either, 'Well someone has to be serious around here' or 'With all the suffering going on, how can anyone laugh?' I finally gave up trying to make her laugh and let her do it on her own accord."

"Well it's good to see you laughing then."

All three of the teenagers smiled at each other for a few moments before they silently agreed to leave. Edward led the girls past the guards, and other people they came across as they exited the palace. Once they were outside again, they ran back to the village, outside the palace grounds.

As soon as they were at Angela's, they stood and talked for a few moments. Bella and Edward then bid farewell to Angela as she went inside and they headed toward Bella's home.

"I had a great time with you today Edward," Bella admitted, her voice just barely a whisper.

"I did as well," Edward agreed, being quiet as well.

They realized they had walked the distance needed to get back to Bella's and walked behind a tree to kiss each other goodnight. They said their goodbyes quickly and Bella headed inside while Edward headed toward his home in the opposite direction.

Bella had dinner with her family that night, as did Edward and even though their minds were on each other, they still tried to concentrate on what other people were saying. Once the young adults were finished eating with their families they went to their rooms at about the same time, and each sunk into a fit-full sleep.

The next day Bella waited for Edward as usual and laid back on a bench. Not moments later an arm wrapped around her body and a hand covered her mouth so quickly Bella didn't have time to react. She was thrown up against a building and forced to swallow two spoonfuls of what tasted like poppy juice. Her mind became fuzzy and gave into the deep sleep they pulled her into.

….

After what felt like hours Bella's mind came through and she started to wake up. She tried to smell for anything unusual or possibly familiar but found nothing. About thirty minutes or so passed and she finally felt awake enough to open her eyes. She took in the tent with caution. A few baskets were in the corner and a fire was going. Small boxes filled with who-knows-what were scattered on the sides of the tent. A shape walked into the tent and Bella gasped at who it was.

"Mike!"

…

Edward was waiting patiently in the gardens for Bella to show up when he realized it she was almost an hour late. He knew something was wrong because she was never late and if she was she always sent a note to let him know she wouldn't be able to make it. He wandered around the garden before he spotted a piece of fabric on the ground. The stitching and fabric was simple, but when Edward sniffed it he smelled the scent Bella carried.

"Oh Bella where are you?" he whispered.