Chapter 18- Run Away
The snap wakes them both, and, instantly, they're on alert. That hour of sleep seems to have acted as a power nap for them, which, they both think, will come in handy later.
Henry presses his wide-open eye to the hole, and has to find to keep his gasp from escaping. He nudges Charlotte, prompting her to look out, and she sees them, too.
Two shadowy figures are only yards away- one is bigger, probably and adult, the other shorter, but probably not a child.
Without speaking, Henry and Charlotte look at each other and agree that, if caught, they'll be trapped like rats. The figures haven't moved- they seize the opportunity and slide out of the shack.
Footsteps approach… they're getting closer. Henry and Charlotte creep to the shorter side of the shack on the left just as the two figures reach the shorter side on the right. They move again; Henry and Charlotte crouch by the long side of the shack and hear the smaller figure crawl into, then out of the shack entrance. An angry, feminine-sounding whisper: "They're not here!"
The second person shushes their companion, but she ignores them. "Maybe they went back to the palace," says the feminine-sounding voice. "We can try that, but only up to the edge of the forest," the other voice says. The two creep out of sight in the direction of the palace, the same path Jude took.
As soon as the footsteps have faded, Henry peeks around, and, seeing that they're out of sight, grabs Charlotte's hand and they run.
They run across the forest floor, not thinking about noise, not caring that Jude had told them to stay put, only thinking about putting as much distance between themselves and those two people- who very well could be Jean Marie and Daphne Delacroix, or their husbands, or anyone else in on it- before they could be spotted.
They were so deep in the forest that even through they have adrenaline pumping through their veins, it still took several minutes to get to the outskirts of the forest, where they can see the ocean.
"Wait!" Charlotte says a little too loudly. She claps one hand over her mouth and looks around- no one appears. She points to the sand, and Henry knows exactly what she means: footprints.
They walk on the edge of the forest until they find a small spot where there is only about five feet of sand between the grass and the water. Grabbing hands, they nod and jump into the shallow water, not leaving any kind of prints in the sand.
"Look," says Charlotte softly, pointing to something in the distance.
Henry follows her finger; it's the castle.
Rather, it was the castle. Jude wasn't exaggerating when he said it was in ruins; the place looked like it had been bombed… which maybe it had. Also-
"It's straight across," says Henry. "We'll have to go deeper in." Charlotte swallows. "I'll got first," says Henry. "I've always been a bit better at swimming."
The only thing in their favor is that the water covers their tracks, but the waves are a challenge. At first, the water rises slowly; their ankles, their calfs, their knees. It's when the water reaches their waists that crossing the water becomes more difficult.
The waves crash into them, splashing their faces. They get as high as their chests, and it's enough to knock them over if they don't keep their balance well enough, which is hard to do when they're trying to cross an ocean. A section of the ocean, anyway.
Henry takes a step and almost falls completely; the water level changes by two feet. "It's no use," he says. "We're going to have to swim." Still grasping his hand, Charlotte nods. They take a deep breath and dive into the water.
Being fully submerged isn't any easier than walking, especially since the current keeps fighting them and they have to come up for air. The stretch they had to swim across ends after about ten feet, but crossing it takes a whole five minutes. Finally, though, the sand does come back up and allow them to walk; the water shallows out and more and more of their bodies are unsubmerged; their waists, their knees, their calfs. Finally, they're on dry land.
After doing their best to cover their footprints in the sand, they sit down on the floor of what used to be the palace, completely worn out and shivering. Charlotte starts wringing out her hair, and realizes that the water on the stone won't dry up until daytime, so they step out onto the grass, which should absorb at least some of it.
The only problem with the grass is that, unlike the ruins of the castle, there's no cover. Henry is the one to suggest they take a walk around the permitter, just to make sure no one was there. They find that they are alone.
The adrenaline that got them out of the forest is gone; they sit and catch their breath for several minutes. They wring out their clothes, managing to at least get enough water out that they don't drip as much.
Charlotte suggests that they poke through the ruins to see if they can find better cover, but the best hiding place is behind a stone wall that had managed to not topple over. Around them are several smaller walls, and nothing else.
There's nothing else to do but wait. But wait for what? Jude had told them to stay put, he wouldn't know that they made it to the castle. He probably wouldn't expect it, either.
Henry and Charlotte can't think of anything else to do except stay huddled behind the stone wall. After what happened in the forest, neither of them could even comprehend the idea of falling asleep again, so they sat there, awake.
Charlotte looks up at the moon, wishing she knew what time it was so she could figure out how long they had left until the sun comes up. It had just become dark when Jude found her at the party, so maybe it was still the same day….
It's quiet, but they hear it. A voice. They sit straight up, listening. Most of it is unintelligible, but they do make out one phrase: "talk to her."
They hear footsteps- light footsteps, not Jude's- approaching them. Henry and Charlotte look at each other, panicked. Any escape attempt would be loud and clear on the stone floors-
But it doesn't matter. Before they even have time to do anything, a figure comes around from behind a smaller stone wall and approaches them. The moonlight shines, allowing them to see her- they're a her. Her hands are free of any sort of weapon; her hair is dark and curly; she carries herself with pride. It isn't until her face is visible, though, that Henry and Charlotte realize that they have come face-to-face with Kelilah, Princess of Ebella.
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