Avi knocks on the door. "Dad?" He calls out, not hearing a reply.
Slowly, he opens the door, and blood pools at his feet. It drips down the entire length of the rug, the dark crimson a stark contrast against the bleached white, and he can only stare in horror at the body of the man he once called father.
"Save yourself." The room seems to echo to him. "Save yourself from my murderer."
He quickly makes the Sign of the Cross, apologising to his father for leaving him as he is, and leaves to find his uncle. His uncle is like a second father figure to him, always giving him advice and watching out for him whenever his father was too busy dealing with matters of the crown. If anyone knew what to do, it would be his uncle.
Rounding a corner, he hears voices.
"Make sure the Prince doesn't escape. His highness, Javier, wants to kill him, himself." The voice was a deep baritone and it sent shivers up his spine. "Guard all exits. No one leaves or enters until the Prince is dead."
"Yes, sir." The chorus makes him freeze in place. Here was the army sent to protect him, the army he had been introduced to when he was a little boy. He knew each of their names; he could fondly recollect memories from his younger years with each one of them. How easily was it for them to be bought over? How could they betray their monarch? How could his uncle kill his own brother?
All the precious memories he's collected over the years is now tarnished by the shedding of blood. His rose coloured glasses are now stained red. No longer is he able to see the innocence in everything. No longer will he be a child. He is now the King of Belzia. And his first act as King is to save himself so he can reclaim his rightful throne.
Ducking through the tunnels he familiarised himself with as a child, he finds the exit... but it is guarded.
"Nate..." He pleads the soldier. "Nathaniel... Please, you've known me for years. We grew up together. You're practically like my big brother. You can take all my money. Take all I have, if you want, but let me live."
"You're my best friend, Nate." He begs. "Whatever my uncle promised you, is it really worth it? To kill your own friend? To kill your king?"
His shoulders slump, hand moving away from the weapon. "Go, Avi." He pushes him through the door. "I'll tell your Uncle you ran out the gates during a shift change, that you found your father's body and couldn't take it. I'll tell him you jumped the bridge..."
"Thank you, Nate." He hugs his friend, wiping away the stray tears.
"Save yourself." The soldier urges him, strangely echoing the words from the room. "I'll do my best here."
With a final wave, he leaves the castle, leaves his kingdom, saying goodbye to everything he once knew, including his childhood.
"Uhh, guys. Breaking news." Max announces, attracting the Ravens' attention. "His Majesty, King Elias the third was found dead in his office this morning."
"No way." Emma moves closer, looking at the laptop as well.
"His son, His Royal Highness, Prince Octavius, was reported to have found the body and was unable to take it. Eyewitnesses claim he committed suicide by jumping off the bridge. His body is yet to be found and search parties are being sent out..." Max continues reading to the shocked Ravens.
"I can't believe he's gone." Hayley mumbles to herself. "We just talked to him two days ago..."
He walks through the desert, sand filtering into his shoes as the sun scorches down his back, only stopping as he comes across a rest stop some 30 miles from his starting point.
He buys a drink and a snack, allowing himself some reprieve before continuing his trek. He has only one place in mind where he would be safe, knows one person who could help him, and he can only hope he reaches her before they find him.
Throwing away his trash, he begins to continue his journey, only to find himself in the aftershock of a grenade.
"Prince Octavius?" She looks at the boy in shock. "How are you here? They said you were dead."
"I paid off someone to tell them they saw me jumping off the bridge." He explains quickly. "I had to get out of there." He sighs, patting the grass as he invites her to sit.
"My uncle killed my father, and now he's going to kill me." He tells her his story, periodically checking over the bushes for signs of soldiers or militia.
"Wow." Is the only thing she finds herself able to say. "We need to go tell Louis. He can help you. He'll protect you."
"Hayley, no." He grasps onto her wrist, keeping her firmly in place. "You can't tell anyone I'm here. They'll have no choice but to send me back and my uncle will kill me."
"Fine." She huffs. "But if we want to hide you, we'll need some help." She thinks for a while. "Don't move. I'm going to get my friend. We can trust him."
Turning around, she runs into the Greenhouse, praying that at least someone would believe her.
"Cruz, I need your help. It's really important." She tells him urgently, only for him to brush her off. "Leo."
"Woods, can't you see I'm busy?!" He slams the book down onto his desk. "I need to prepare for this test if I want to have the slightest chance of being accepted into the program, ok? I don't have time for your games."
"Please leave, and close the door on your way out." He shoos her, leaving her wracking at her brain as she thinks of who else she can turn to.
"Hayley, you ok?" Jackie's voice snaps her out of her thoughts, and she heaves a sigh of relief as she spots her and Brooke approaching her.
"Thank goodness you're here." She whispers, once they're close. "I need your help. Prince Octavius is right outside in the bushes and I need your help to-"
"Hayley, are you feeling ok?" Brooke interrupts her as Jackie places a hand on her forehead, checking for a fever.
"Nope, no fever." Jackie shakes her head.
"You guys, I'm serious. Prince Octavius is right outside-" Hayley tries, only to get cut off again.
"Hayley, he's dead." Jackie tells her softly. "And why would his body be here? How could it travel all the way here and end up in the bushes?"
"Jackie, it's not a body." Hayley tells her, exasperated. "He's alive."
"But the news reports all say that he's dead. He jumped the bridge and was assumed drowned because they never found the body." Brooke reminds her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She brushes the hand away. "His body was never found because he never jumped. He paid someone to say that."
Brooke begins to pull out her Louie. "I think I better call Alex." She tells Jackie. "She might be having another one of those Eric episodes."
"I'm not crazy." She snatches the Louie and pockets it, before grabbing each of their hands and dragging them outside, ignoring both their protests. "I'll show you he's right out there, and definitely alive."
"Daniel? What are you doing here?" She lets go of Brooke and Jackie as they stare in shock at said boy conversing with the supposedly dead Prince.
"Look, I'm sorry Hayley but I overheard your conversation with Brooke and Jackie and had to check it out for myself." He hurriedly explains himself. "Not because I didn't believe you, but because I wanted to make sure you were safe and..."
"It's fine, Daniel." She assures him. "You just can't tell anyone."
"Ok." He nods. "I can do that."
"Great. Now that we're all here and believe me," She turns to everyone. "Where should we hide him?"
"My brother's secret room." Brooke says after a moment. "No one will find him there."
"Great thinking, Brooke." Hayley agrees. "Can you make sure the coast is clear while Jackie gets some clothes for him? He'll need to blend in with us, so maybe borrow Manny's clothes. And Daniel, keep a look out. There may be some soldiers looking for him."
They nod in agreement and begin putting the plan into action. Soon enough, Avi is changed and safely in the room.
Daniel sits in the cafeteria, getting some food when Leo spots him, walking over with three armed men behind him.
"Daniel." He calls out to him, leaving the three men behind for a bit. "Have you seen anyone strange lately? Like a foreigner?"
"Other than you?" He jokes. "No."
"Hilarious." The shorter boy pulls out a shirt from behind him. "Look at this. It says 'Made in Belzia', which means a possible terrorist from Belzia is hiding in the Greenhouse right now."
"Whoa man." Daniel feigns shock.
"Please tell me if you see anything or anyone suspicious." He instructs the boy. "Tell Hayley to do the same, and to watch out."
"Aye aye, captain." He nods, collecting the food and hurrying out. He needs to warn them that the soldiers are already here. And fast.
"Wow." Avi looks around the room, giving himself a few moments to take it all in. "So this is Jason's secret room."
He nods his head in approval. "I have a few questions. First, who is Jason? Second, how did you find this room? Third, he won't find us here, right?"
"Well, Prince Octavius-" Hayley begins, only to be interrupted.
"Just call me, Avi, please." He corrects her, groaning at the formality and obsolescence of his name.
"Well, Avi." She stresses, making him smile. "Jason is Brooke's brother and the former dean of this school. How we found this room is a long story. And, hopefully he won't find us in here, or that we'll meet him at all."
"He's on the run from the cops." Brooke adds in. "Another long story."
"Hey, got some food." Daniel enters, carrying the tray. "Bumped into Leo, by the way, with the army. Told me to tell you to tell him if you see anything strange or suspicious, and to watch out."
Laughing, Hayley takes the tray from Daniel and hands it to Avi.
"Who's Leo?" Avi asks, hungrily taking a bite out of the Apple.
"Captain of the Ravens and Hayley's ex." Jackie explains. "Long story."
"Wow." The Prince laughs. "And I thought Belzia was complicated. You don't seem to have any short stories, do you?"
Smiling sheepishly, they allow the Prince to devour his food in peace, the only thing punctuating the silence being the rhythmic alerts of a Louie.
"Oh, wait." Daniel pulls his out. "It's mine."
"What's that?" Avi asks, looking curiously at the tube-shaped device as Daniel pockets it once again.
"That's a Louie." Hayley explains. "It's like a phone, but more."
"Hey, guys. Uhh..." Daniel interrupts. "I'd like to stay but I promised my dad I'd go live with him for a few days, so I have to go now."
"Stay safe, ok?" He directs that to Hayley, who can only nod. "And Brooke, General Leo and his troop might arrive at any minute so be prepared."
"Thanks Daniel." Brooke waves as they watch him leave through the hidden door.
"Would you guys be ok if I closed this door for a while?" Brooke asks, unsure. "I can't exactly close this door when they're near because it will be too loud and..."
"It's fine, Brooke." Hayley reassures her. "It'll just be for a few minutes anyway." Looking around, she sees nods of agreement from both Jackie and Avi, so with a quick goodbye, she leaves the room and closes the door.
Just in time to hear a knock.
"Ok." He pushes the empty tray aside. "So you three are friends, right?"
Hayley and Jackie nod, unsure of what he's going to ask next.
"So, who's Daniel?" Avi looks directly at Hayley teasingly, a 'to you' going unsaid. "Let me guess, another long story?"
"Ok." Brooke's voice echoes as the metal door shifts to the side. "General Leo and the army are gone. We're safe for now."
"Thank goodness." Hayley sighs. "So what should we do now-"
"Hi General Leo." The Prince waves at the boy walking through the door.
"I should've known." He shakes his head, carefully looking the boy up and down as he scrutinises him. "I should've known you were helping him all along. And my guess is Daniel was too."
"You're not normal, do you know that? Half the army is looking for him, and you're hiding him. Do you know how much trouble you've put yourself in?" He looks at Hayley, sternly. "How much trouble your dad is going to be in?" He turns to Brooke. "Do you honestly want to go through the camping investigation all over again?"
He huffs, turning to leave. Maybe if he reports him to the chief, he could say his friends just found him and he had told them he needed their help to hide him. He could tell the chief that they didn't know they were looking for him, and hopefully, they won't get in trouble. Hopefully...
"Cruz, wait!" He hears Hayley calling out for him, but he ignores her. He needs to find the chief as fast as possible. The sooner he does, the better off his friends would be.
"Leo!"
He turns around just after exiting the Greenhouse. That wasn't her telling him to stop anymore, that was her panicking, saying she's in danger.
His heart races as he contemplates his next move. He knows he could get the chief, lead him to the foreigner, and in the process, let the professionals save Hayley. But he also knows that by the time he finds them, he could be too late... If he has a gun, or if he really wanted to kill her, she'd be dead in less than a minute.
Spotting a gun laying on the ground, he makes up his mind.
"I'm coming, Woods!"