Prince Sam's POV
Night had fallen in the palace. Stars twinkled up above the large building, the moon bright and full with it's light illuminating the rooftop. A slight rustle of the leaves in the garden came when the breeze blew through. The guards patrolling the outskirts of the palace walls were vigilant and alert, eyes searching for any sign of movement, still wary after the recent attack. Everything was enveloped with a tranquil, serene peace.
Except in Sam's room. That definitely wasn't peaceful and serene, starting when the ticking clock hands struck midnight on the big grandfather clock in the hallway.
"Sam! Hey, your royal highness, wake up," A dark shape ducked through the window and was standing over Sam's bed, looking around the room to make sure no one else was there, finally bending down and whispering to the sleeping prince.
Little did the figure know that Illea's youngest prince wasn't completely asleep. Sam was trying to make himself sleep by closing his eyes and burying his face into his pillow. This, however, meant that he still wasn't expecting to have a visitor and freaked out even more than he would have if he had actually been sleeping soundly with his mind frolicking in the happy world of dreams.
"Holy mother of cheesecakes!" yelped Sam, kicking off his covers and assuming a battle stance against his mysterious intruder. A battle stance meant that he got tangled in his blankets, fell out of the bed, floundered around to try to find something to use as a weapon, and eventually got even more tangled in his blanket cocoon while on the floor holding one of Jadie's massive selected binders.
He couldn't see who the mysterious figure was, but the laugh that came after his epic fail was familiar. "Great battle cry. It's just me, didn't we agree on meeting tonight? Looks like you forgot," said an even more recognizable voice with sarcasm and teasing words that made Sam think of better times.
Once he was able to untangle himself from the blankets, and his eyes finally accepted the darkness, he could see who the intruder was. Pandora D'Aboville was standing with her arms crossed next to his bed. She was dressed in a t-shirt and ripped jeans, a jacket wrapped around her, and her favorite beanie was jammed onto her head to keep it warm. It was obvious that she hadn't taken the easier route of just wearing her pajamas.
"Dory. I mean, Pandora. How the heck did you get in here?" asked Sam. He used his dresser to pull himself off of the floor so he could stand closer to Pandora's height. She was taller than him, but it didn't really bother him most of the time.
Pandora laughed again. Her face flickered when he corrected himself to call her Pandora instead of Dory, but she shrugged it off and gestured towards the open window. A faint breeze was blowing through it and was making some of the cluttered papers he had no use for that were stacked on his unused desk blow around a bit. The ends fluttered about like they were trying to take flight. "But how?" Her hand motions hadn't been enough of an explanation.
"I climbed. I was on the roof and thought about climbing down, but I figured I could get a good climb in if you had forgotten about it. The palace walls are easy to scale, actually. You've heard that before from me," replied Pandora. Sam walked over to the window and looked down at the ground two stories below.
"But the guards. They could have shot you or something. Sheesh, you're going to get yourself in a whole lot of trouble if Jadie ever finds out," said Sam, making Pandora shake her head in disapproval. "She won't. It's fine, I'm fast enough that they couldn't get me. Ready to head up to the roof?" She asked. Sam looked down at his pajamas, which consisted of an old undershirt and some torn-up flannel pants.
He wordlessly darted over to his closet to grab a jacket, thinking twice and taking some ripped jeans out of a pile on the ground when he looked outside again. The bathroom was lit for just a second so he could get his pants facing the right way before he flicked the switch off and returned to the main part of his room. Pandora was doing some investigating as she waited. She was looking over some of the papers on his desk, her face twisted into a neutral expression before she saw him.
"That was quick. Come on, let's go," said Pandora, moving towards the window as if she expected him to climb up to the roof with her. Sam shook his head when she looked back towards him. "Nope. I'm not climbing. Never been good at it, never will be," replied Sam. This caused her to sigh and shake her head.
"Then how do you suggest we get up to the roof? We can't use the hallways, you dolt, they'll be swarming with guards if we even breath too loudly," Pandora scowled and crossed her arms again. She'd forgotten about another mode of transportation. Sam grinned.
He walked over to the wall with a swagger in his step, Pandora watching him as he went, and used his foot to kick open a panel in the wall. It swung open with a quiet thud against the narrow passageway hidden behind it. Sam could smell the fresh air that blew into it from a grate on one of the walls, and could hear the sounds of whatever was happening far away in the palace because of the air ducts and pipes that were connected into it.
"Secret passageways. Looks like you forgot," said Sam, mocking her earlier taunt. Pandora whacked him on the arm before laughing. "I did. Lead the way, your royal highness, I obviously don't remember the way up to the roof," she replied.
Sam grinned. He ducked into the passageway and motioned for Pandora to follow him, which she did. It was kind of a tight fit, but he could still walk normally without turning sideways and having to walk like a crab. Pandora made sure to secure the panel behind them.
Not many people knew about the secret passageways hidden in the palace walls, but Sam had discovered them at an early age and had used them for pranks and things ever since. They had originally been created for the guards and to protect against rebels, eventually being forgotten through time, and were one reason that the walls of the palace were really thick. Pipes and air vents were connected to them just in case the guards using them had to do some investigating.
There were one or two passages that actually lead out of the palace, both going into Angeles, and Sam had used them both to get Pandora in and out of the palace when they were dating two years ago. His favorites were the one that lead down to the kitchen, always great for grabbing a late night snack under the nose of the cooks, and the one that went to a blocked-off storage room. He called it the Sam Cave.
The path up to the roof was long enough that it took five minutes or so to get up there. Sam lead Pandora through a number of twists and turns, taking her up stairs and halting when he heard movement in one of the rooms that an air vent could cause their sound to travel to whoever was in there. Pandora stayed quiet the entire trip, which Sam was grateful for. He had a hard enough time remembering important things even without being distracted.
They finally reached the trapdoor that opened up on the roof. Sam, bending down so he could jump up and open it, turned around to smile at Pandora. She nodded, figuring out that they were almost to their destination. He pushed the trapdoor open with the force of his jump and hoisted himself out to be on the roof.
"You brought up food!" exclaimed Sam. Pandora must have stolen from the kitchens earlier, the small bag of snacks that was propped up against the wall seemed to be bursting at the seams, and no one could have gotten that many snacks by simply asking for them. The cooks in the kitchen could be notoriously hard-hearted after they'd been pranked a few times by someone.
She climbed out of the trapdoor and closed it with her foot. "Yeah. I figured you'd get hungry while we were talking," replied Pandora, strands of her blonde hair and hidden rainbow under strands blowing in the rooftop wind.
After a short pause, Pandora plopped down on the roof near the edge, finding a spot where the stone wall wasn't preventing anyone from falling and letting her legs dangle over the long drop to the ground. Sam followed her and warily glanced over the edge. "Relax. You won't fall, you've done this before," said Pandora, noticing his nervousness about sitting near the edge. "That was before I was volunteering to get pushed off a balcony," responded Sam.
"You did what? We can talk about that later," She looked confused and slightly amused, but also seemed like she wanted to get down to business. He had asked her to come up here for a reason. Sam was nervous about what she might ask, though this was the best way to get rid of the awkward tension due to the questions they both had for each other after they had parted for so long.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Sam's mind was reeling, and he was still very on edge about this whole thing. Having her in the selection, that was the thing. Not anything else. He felt like his mind could annoy himself sometimes, if that was even possible, it was so mixed up.
"I've missed you, Pandora. I was an idiot," whispered Sam, breaking the silence. It had been so long since they had done this, it felt alien to sit in a close distance with her. The soda and stack of oatmeal cookies she had taken out of her bag sat between them like a barrier.
Electric blue eyes with longer lower lashes looked back at him in agreement. "You were. But why? And please, if you're going to call me Pandora, try to keep it to a minimum," replied Pandora. Sam squirmed and glanced down at his hands. He hadn't thought about it being weird after him calling her Dory for so long.
"I guess I just got bored. I realized after the fact that it would hurt to do that, that it wasn't just something I could do while you were gone because I wanted to be with someone. She was there, you weren't, I was impulsive and stupid. And, Dory, it was horrible having to mix my mistake. You weren't the only one who was furious with me that night, I can say that," he said.
"Ha. Serves you right. But was I not pretty enough? Did she have something that I didn't? Be honest, or I won't let you eat any cookies," said Pandora. She started off into the distant lights of Angeles as if she was trying to spot the place they had first met, behind the club where she had been working on her art and had saved him with a makeshift blow torch from some angry guys after he had flirted with the wrong girl.
Those had been good times. Pandora and him had been so similar, they had hit it off right away, and he had been delighted to find someone that he liked that much. She was awesome. Bold, with less of a filter than most people, always willing to try new things and take the plunge. Pranks had been wonderful by her side, like the fun had been increased, and just being around her would make Sam feel happy and less like he was being a stupid loser.
He wanted cookies, so he decided to answer honestly. "No. You were, and still are, amazingly pretty to me. She was just in the right place at the right time, and I tried to take advantage of that. I haven't dated anyone since you, I've only flirted and stuff. I realized how horrible of a person I had been to you after I actually tried to think it through for once," replied Sam.
Pandora passed him a stack of oatmeal cookies and ate one of her own. Her beanie made her hair stay mostly down, the ends fluttering about, but at least she wasn't getting her hair styled by the wind like Sam was. It was sticking in way too many direction to count and was an absolute mess of brown tangles. It would have helped to do something with it before he had come up here, but Sam obviously wasn't smart enough to think of that.
"I think I can forgive you, I did get to punch you in the face. I've missed you too, Sam," She said, turning to look at him with her bright blue eyes. Sam smiled, and she returned it with a larger one of her own. "Just don't do it again,"
"I won't," promised Sam. He wasn't sure what counted with the whole selection thing happening, but he was mostly sure that taking the other selected on dates because he had to and because he might fall in love with someone else didn't count as cheating. At least, it didn't seem like it was in his mind. Would it be the same for Pandora? It was kind of hard to figure that out.
For what seemed like too short a time, Pandora and Sam sat together on the roof without talking. Sam felt happy as he munched on cookies and sipped his soda, laughing whenever Pandora tossed a few crumbs over the side and accidently caused one of the guards to look up. They spent about another hour up on the roof, eventually talking and having some words about what they'd been doing for the past two years, when Sam started to get tired.
"Do you need to go back inside? We've been up here for awhile, Sammy, you look like you might be about to fall off the roof," said Pandora, sitting up from her position where she had been gently leaning her head against him. He started to protest, but she gave him a sharp look.
"Just because we're together now doesn't mean you can fall asleep up here and expect Jadie to let us ever see each other again when she finds you in the morning. It may not seem like it, but you're heavier than I am," continued Pandora. It was probably time to give up, as he did feel like he could close his eyes and drift off into the sweet world of sleep at any second now.
"Fine. But can I take you on a date in the next month? Maybe in Hawaii? Or at least see you and do stuff with you in a group," said Sam. She nodded. "Maybe do the group activity thing first. You already know me, you don't know them, spend some time with the others and see who you like. I'll be here for when you're ready. If you really need to see me, there's probably a passage into my room," replied Pandora.
"That sounds good. Can I have some cookies for the road?" asked Sam, eyes going all wide and innocent in an attempt to win more of the delicious snacks from Pandora. Thankfully, she laughed and handed him a stack when she packed up the bag.
"Here. Down the trapdoor with you, Sammy," She said, opening it and making him slide down first. It seemed even colder in the passageway than it did on the roof, if that was even possible. Pandora slid down after him and closed the lid. She stopped for a second to make sure it was fastened securely shut before tapping him so he would walk forwards. He had to make sure they got back to the right place, to his room first since she could climb back to her's.
They were about halfway to his room when they heard voice through a nearby vent. They must have been walking alongside one of the hallways that was often patrolled by the guards, from what Sam could here. Pandora whacked him upside the head, hard, to make him stop moving.
"I could have sworn I heard something through the wall. Max, did you hear that? I'm going to check the vent," said the voice of a guard, gruff and deep with accompanying words from a guard that must have been named Max. He told the guy who was checking the vent to be quick about it, and Sam could hear footsteps coming towards where he and Pandora were stopped.
"Move!" whispered Pandora, hearing the footsteps, shoving him in one direction while she went the other, "Go out into the hallway when you get far away enough from them! If you see anyone, tell them you were getting a late night snack and show them the cookies. Goodnight, Sam, I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast!"
Pandora shoved him in the opposite direction from her and fled back the way they'd come, Sam looking back towards her retreating form as he hurried along the passage to where he thought an exit would be. He walked for what seemed like forever until he reached an exit he recognized, the only problem with it being that it was in the same wing of the palace as the rooms of the selection.
It couldn't go that badly, which was why Sam cautiously opened it with a hard push and stepped out into what seemed like an annoyingly bright hallway. He still had the cookies clenched in his left hand. If he went right, he'd be able to get back to his room without traveling on any well-patrolled guard routes, and could return to his room within ten minutes if he wasn't interrupted. Sam began to quietly walk down the hallway.
Everything went fine until he heard footsteps behind him. Turning, Sam began to panic when he saw what looked like two selected girls coming towards him from the direction he was heading. It looked like it was Kinsey and Jessica, an extremely mismatched pair, not talking and probably just walking because they'd stumbled upon each other in the halls.
Kinsey spotted him first, and did a double take. "Prince Sam? Is that you?" She asked, peering through what must have been dark to her eyes. Jessica squinted too, and nodded when she made sure that it was him. Kinsey walked closer to him with Jessica following her.
"What're you doing out here this late? We both weren't able to sleep and ran into each other a few minutes ago. Why do you have cookies?" inquired Kinsey, still in her pajamas with her red hair tied back in a ponytail holder. Jessica had her hair down, and looked like she hadn't even been trying to sleep when she'd decided to take a walk. They were people he wouldn't have seen together usually. He wasn't even sure if they had talked to each other before tonight.
"Late night snack run. See? Well, I'd better be getting back to my room. See you tomorrow!" said Sam. He began to slowly edge away from the girls towards the direction of his room, or at least somewhere where he could get back into the passageways for a people-free journey.
"Um, okay. Bye?" said Kinsey, clearly confused as she looked towards Jessica for some sort of clarification. Jessica merely shrugged and Kinsey was forced to walk with her in the opposite direction from where Sam was heading. Checking to make sure they weren't coming back, Sam glanced over his shoulder. He saw that they both had their backs firmly turned against him and he sprinted down the hallway before they might turn around again.
In a matter of minutes, Sam had ducked backed into a passage and used it to get back to his room, where he was relieved to see was devoid of a furious Jadie. Kinsey and Jessica didn't tell on him. Or they didn't have time to, either option worked for Sam.
He quickly got back into his pajama pants and removed his jackets. Sam was just about to flop down on his bed and hit the hay when he saw a folded up piece of paper sitting on his pillow. Frowning, he picked it up and carefully unfolded it so he wouldn't damage it.
It was a note from Pandora. Sam read it out loud, quietly, under his breath so no one passing by outside could hear it. "Sam- Sorry we had to split ways, but I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow. You can always use the passageways and get a note to me if you want to head up on the roof to talk, I'll always be ready for you if you need me at any time. Pandora,"
Smiling, Sam folded the note back up and pocketed it. He collapsed onto his bed and sunk happily into the cozy sheets, still slightly warm, and his head pressed against the wonderfully fluffy pillow that had been the resting place for his face only a few hours before.
It wasn't long before he drifted off into a deep slumber.
He dreamed about oatmeal cookies.
And about secret passageways with cobwebs in them.
It didn't even seem like it had been any time at all when Sam woke up. The only difference was the sunlight that he could see streaming through the window out of the corner of his eye, and the sound of birds and other things outside the window. His mind took longer than the rest of him to come back to the surface world of awareness, but he was already feeling less tired than he usually was when he first awakened in the morning.
Sam untangled himself from the sheet and sat on the edge of his bed, trying to figure out what time it was. When the checked the clock, he panicked when he saw that breakfast would start in less then five minutes. Jadie was going to kill him! At least he now knew why he wasn't feeling tired.
Rushing to his closet, Sam quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a respectable shirt, even though it would still look shabby compared to the day dresses of the selected he was going to eat with. He grabbed a jacket and some socks as an afterthought. Hopefully the jacket would make him look a little less informal when Jadie saw him because he would be even deader if he was caught late and in messy clothing, and that definitely wouldn't improve his day.
He finally deemed himself presentable. Sam hurried out of his room and down the stairs, hoping that he could get to the dining area in time, attracting some strange looks from the maids and palace staff in the hallways. They quickly went back to their business when they caught him looking, though.
It was a good thing he didn't encounter many people on his way to breakfast, he was nearly late as it was. Sam burst into the room and slid into his seat just as Jadie walked through the doors. She gave him a harsh look, but didn't lecture him on it. He caught Pandora's eye, and she smiled in return. Maybe, just maybe, this selection would work out to be pretty darn awesome with Pandora D'Aboville in it.
Author's Note: Here's a chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed Pandora and Sam's nighttime escapade, and the brief appearance of Jessica and Kinsey. Next chapter should be less centered around one girl. Remember to review if you liked this chapter or if you just like the story in general!