Day 41:
There was not.
Honestly, that was probably a safety hazard. Wasn't there some law that required trunks to be open-able from the inside? Y'know. Just in case someone threw you in a trunk and you needed to get out. Or maybe on the off chance that you closed yourself in a trunk because it was less obvious than climbing into the back seat, but didn't think to check if you could get out until it was too late.
Yup. That sure would have been a good law. Maybe if she didn't starve to death in this trunk, she would tell the king about it.
The car was still moving. They had been going for a long time without stopping, so they must have been outside the walls by now. Somehow, this was not really how she had imagined her first ever trip outside the Crown City going.
Wow, look at the sights! That tire iron was really something.
Cor sure wasn't taking the turns easy, either. She thought about shouting at him to slow down because this spare tire was really not a great pillow, but he'd probably turn around and take her back home. Actually, if he was in that much of a rush, he probably wouldn't. But then she would have to admit that she had locked herself in a trunk.
Sheesh. Embarrassing.
She had her phone to pass the time and that was about it. If she didn't mind the risk of the tire falling on her face she could stand it up and lean it to one side, and that was a little more comfortable. A little more dangerous, yeah, okay, but what was the worst that could happen?
Well, she could be found locked in a trunk with a broken nose. Then she could at least pretend like someone else had done it to her instead of admitting both those things were her fault.
See? Airtight plan.
The car stopped. A door opened and closed. She hesitated.
"Cor?" She called out. "Hey! Cor!"
Aaand no response. Because he was gone already. Okay. Well. He would probably come back, right? Unless he got eaten by wild dogs and she was stuck locked in a trunk in an abandoned car in the middle of the outlands. Actually, she could have been anywhere in the outlands, but everything was the middle of nowhere out there, right? Out here.
Yeah, okay. Time for a new plan.
The good news was, Rei's custom made, one-of-a-kind sports car was pretty sturdy. Surprising, really. Who put that kind of workmanship into a car commissioned by the king for his own children?
Okay, not surprising.
The bad news was, the tire iron was not very sturdy and there was not really enough room to maneuver it in there anyway. It was a little bent. Iris probably had a circular bruise on her ribcage. The latch was for sure still intact.
The seats were also not budging and there was no good way to kick a tail light from here. The angles were all wrong. She knew. She'd tried. Along with half a dozen other things.
Okay, step five hundred and sixty-four: re-search the entire trunk for something she had missed the first five hundred and sixty-three times. She turned on the light on her phone, twisted onto her stomach, and scanned along the side nearest her head.
She peeled up the edge of the liner and peered underneath. Please no spiders. That would have made this day so much worse. Actually, it was a really clean trunk. Not that she had a lot of experience being in trunks, but. Then again, what did a princess use a trunk for? She probably didn't even use the car.
No spiders. Not really even any dust. But she did find a cable attached to the inside of the trunk. For what? The latch, maybe? Seemed weird to put one in if it opened from the outside. Then again, seemed weird not to have one inside. Just in case, obviously.
That was probably some sort of electric signal anyway. But. Eh. Worth a shot.
She yanked on the cable.
The latch clicked. The trunk lifted.
"Are you kidding me right now?" She asked no one in particular.
She climbed out. Stumbled, really, was more the word, but the end result was being upright on her feet and that was what counted. It was pitch black and she really was in the middle of nowhere. Like. Actually parked on the side of the road with nothing at all except that big mountain with the red glow. There was a volcano in Lucis? Yeah. Right?
Right.
There weren't even street lights out here. Sheesh. Who designed this place?
Cor was nowhere to be seen. There were lights down the road, though, not too far off, so she walked that way. She closed the trunk first. Stupid trunk. Wouldn't it just suck if Cor got back to the car while she was looking for him and drove off not even knowing he'd just left her there?
She texted him. It was too late for him to take her back to Insomnia, unless he found Rei and went back anyway.
Hey, if you get back to the car don't leave without me. Dad'll be mad.
Now to hope his phone wasn't dead. On the sort of day that she got locked in a trunk, it probably would be. She'd just have a look around and see what those lights were and if it wasn't Cor or Rei then she'd go back to wait with the car. No point wandering all over looking for him. He couldn't get far without the car.