Chapter 25- Out of Hiding
"I trusted him." Charlotte's hands are clenched into fists. "I trusted him."
"We all did," says Henry. "Don't be hard on yourself. Let's get Adela."
Charlotte nods in agreement and keeps her hand in his, not letting it go until they're both banging on the door, calling for Adela.
There has to be some sort of royal protocol, but if there is, Adela trusts Henry and Charlotte enough to ignore it. She opens up a slit in the door they hadn't previously seen, it was so well hidden, and quickly ushers them inside.
"What happened?" Adela demands once the door is shut. "You two disappeared, and I thought something happened!" Her voice sounds almost angry, and her eyes… they have a motherly look of concern. Adela isn't worried about the mission right now; she's worried about Henry and Charlotte.
"Something did," says Charlotte. "A lot happened, and we have a lot we need to tell you." Adela's face softens a little, and she opens her mouth, but Charlotte beats her to it. "We found Kelilah."
Adela's eyes become glassy. "You did?"
"Yes!" Charlotte takes the Queen's hands into her own. "We found her at the ruins of the old castle, alive. She ran away because she doesn't want to be a princess."
Still holding Charlotte's hands, Adela sits down. "She kept telling me that," she says softly. "I had felt the same way when I was her age, but I didn't think she'd actually…."
"She wouldn't have," says Charlotte, "except she had help." Adela looks at her. "It was Jude. He's been a double agent this whole time. He helped her escape."
Adela swallows. "Jude… Jude helped her run away?"
"He did," says Charlotte. "He let something slip it the hallway just now, and confessed. But he ran and disappeared."
The Queen says something under her breath that Charlotte and Henry don't quite hear. "There's something else." Adela looks back at her. "Well… someone else."
How do you tell someone that their husband faked his own death? Charlotte swallows and says, "We also… we also ran into the King."
At first, Adela looks confused. Then shocked. Then, she stands up and walks to the other side of the room, putting her hand on the wall, and staring into space. Then: "Every day for years I would think about him. After he died I would dream of him coming back." She turns back to Henry and Charlotte. "You're absolutely sure?"
Charlotte nods. "He matched the picture I saw of him exactly, and looks just like Kelilah. They both confirmed it, that he had only pretended to be dead."
Adela had kept her back straight this whole time, but this piece of information is too much. She leans against the wall and sinks down to the floor. "Did he say why?" The words don't quite come out at first. "Did he say why?" This time, it's more clear.
Charlotte looks over at Henry. This was her news to tell, but she was scared of how Adela would react. The Queen had been nothing but kind and caring towards them, but….
Henry squeezes Charlotte's shoulder, and she takes a deep breath. "It turns out there's a reason Kelilah and I look so alike."
Charlotte tells Adela everything Angel told her. When she finishes, she almost takes a step back towards the door, but before she can, she finds herself wrapped in Adela's embrace, a much better reaction than what had been going through her head.
"I always thought it was coincidence," says the Queen softly. "I never knew I had more family out there." She releases her and looks her in the eyes. "We need to find them."
/\/\/\
Adela leads Henry and Charlotte back upstairs, where her rooms is. It is here where they find Ray, who, as it turns out, has been frantically looking for them.
"There you are!" He almost yells this when he sees them and grabs them both into a hug. "What's going on here? Adela, where's Sam?"
"I do not know where Sam is," says the Queen; Henry and Charlotte look at each other, having not even thought about the Queen's bodyguard. "I sent them to find these two, but we can't look for them now. We've been thrown a curve ball."
"What? What happened?" Ray releases Henry and Charlotte.
Adela looks at Charlotte. "It's your news as much as it is mine. Excuse me for a moment." She ducks into her room.
Ray looks at Charlotte, who sighs a bit. She really didn't want to say anything about it, but she didn't have much of a choice. She swallows and spills her guts again.
It's a bit easier with Ray, since he was much less affected by all this personally. When she stops, he shakes his head and says, "Okay, that is not what I thought you'd say. So now what?"
"Now we find them." Everyone turns around to see Adela, but they don't recognize her at first. Instead of the gown, she now wears a pair of dark pants, a matching shirt, and even a pair of tennis shoes. "I'm technically not supposed to have these," she says, throwing her hair in a ponytail, "but sometimes I'll put them on just to wear. More comfortable than gowns, to be honest." She beckons them toward Kelilah's room, where they use the secret room and stairs to slip out of the castle.
They sprint across the open area to the edge of the forest, and stop to catch their breath when they arrive. "Based on what Charlotte told me," says Adela when their breathing steadies. "Kelilah and Angel might have come back to the forest, or they might have stayed on the island. You said you took the boat, yes?"
"Yes," says Charlotte. "I can show you where it's hidden."
They would cover more ground if they spilt up, but Ray doesn't want either of his kids to be alone, Adela can't be alone, she needs to be shown where the boat is, and Henry flat out refuses to leave Charlotte. They end up staying together.
Henry and Charlotte are able to find where the left the boat, and it's still there. Adela is about to suggest they try the island when Ray says, in his quietest voice, that he can see someone- no, two someones- in the water.
And that's Day 1 of the sprint to the end!
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