"Fr. Moiras." Avi cheers, catching sight of the old man as soon as the bag was lifted off his head. "I'm so happy to see you."
"Welcome back, son." The man accepts the hug. "And hello to your friends."
"We were so worried when we heard about your father, but we knew you were safe if your body was yet to be found." He appraises the young man.
"It was thanks to your good teachings that I am still alive, Fr Moiras." He smiles at his teacher. "So, what should we do now? How do we tell everyone that I am alive?"
"We could do a public broadcast over the radio." One of Fr Moiras' followers suggests, but the regent shakes his head.
"My uncle will just say it's an imposter." Avi says sadly. "Then he'll figure out where I am and kill me before I have the chance to do anything."
"We could take pictures of him and post it all over social media." Another one of the followers suggests.
"That wouldn't be any use." Moiras shuts the idea down immediately. "They could claim it's a doppelganger or that it was photo-shopped."
"Fr Moiras is right. If we want to prove that I am alive, they will have to see me in the flesh." Avi turns to the group, thinking over his options.
"Avi, it's too dangerous." Moiras disagrees. "I can't let you do that. I've been sworn to protect the crown and honour it. If I let you leave, any one of your uncle's men could catch you and kill you the minute you step out of here, and I would have failed in my duties."
"Then how will I prove to everyone I'm alive?" He lets himself fall back in the chair, his mind ready to admit defeat, but his heart unwilling to give up. Hearing a low hum, he immediately has an idea.
"What day is it today?" He asks his teacher.
"Friday, why?"
"The weekly Friday afternoon concert at the palace will be held as usual later today, right?" He declares. "That's when I'll make my appearance. It's televised live so they'll know I can't be dead, and my uncle wouldn't dare to do anything in front of a live audience."
"That a good idea." Moiras agrees. "But how will we get into the palace in the first place? We'll need insider intel."
Hearing those words, Hayley turns to Daniel. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Eureka." He smiles.
"Who other than Eureka?" She confirms, a plan beginning to formulate itself in her head.
"What are you kids talking about?" Abel asks, looking at the pair in the corner.
"We know how to get you your insider intel." Hayley affirms. "All we need is a phone."
"Phone." Avi requests from one of the men around him, and he hands it over to Hayley. Typing out a message, she hits send.
"Now as we wait, you should probably figure out what you're going to do once you're inside the palace." Hayley suggests, watching the phone for a message alert.
Her Louie beeps and she takes it out of her pocket. Opening it, she sees a message from an unknown number... from Belzia. Without hesitation, she accepts, coming face to face with indecipherable dots and dashes.
"Probably one of those scams or something." She mutters to herself as she looks for the trash icon. She's about to hit delete, when the Louie is snatched out of her hands.
"Hey!" She reaches for it, but Alex pulls it away, taking a quick look at the message. He sends it to himself before returning Jackie her Louie. It only takes him a second more of inspection to realise it's Morse code.
"Wait, Jackie." Alex shows her the message again. "This isn't a scam or chain mail. Hayley sent a message, just in Morse code."
"What?" Alex moves to sit beside Jackie and Brooke takes his other side, both staring at the message on the Louie.
He zooms in on a set of dots and dashes. "Look, it's a G." He isolates the letter as he continues reading through the message. "E. T."
"Get." Jackie states. "But 'get' what?"
"Hang on." Alex tells her, trying to recall the different letters. "Dash dash... M. Dot dash... A. Dash dot dot dash... X."
"'Get Max' to what?" Jackie asks again, only to be shushed by Alex.
"Get Max... to... E. N. C. R. Y. P. T... encrypt the line." Alex deciphers. "Then call back."
"Why?" She turns to the boy as he pockets his own Louie. "What's going on, now?"
"I don't know." He shrugs. "But I do that know Hayley sent the message; she signed it with "HW" at the end. I think it's best if we do what she said." Alex states. "It's the only way we'll find out what exactly is happening."
Agreeing, the three of them get up. "You get Max and his stuff, Alex and I will meet you at the Old Biology Lab." Jackie nods and immediately leaves in search of Max.
"Hayley?" Jackie speaks into the Louie. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's you. Just give me a minute. You won't believe the day we had, yesterday. Someone tried to bomb the school. Luckily, we found it and the police got here before it went off. So everything's safe now."
Jackie pauses for a moment, taking a second to breathe. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"Eureka?" Brooke and Alex watch as Jackie conversed with Hayley while Max continues to make sure the line's secure. "What for?"
They watch her nod as her face morphs into one of understanding, seconds before she ends the call. "I'll call you back in 5 minutes."
"Ready to overthrow a government?" She smiles at the room's occupants, instructing them on what they need to do. Soon, the room is full and Jackie is once again on the line with Hayley.
"Max is getting the security codes, and Emma's waiting to receive them." She tells Hayley. "How long more, guys?"
"You need to give us some time, Jackie." Emma asks her. "These are extremely secure international security systems that we're trying to get into-"
"Got it." Max cuts in. "They're not that secure. A little virus could easily get in and zip up all their files, and-"
"Focus Max." She reminds him. "Passcode."
"Right. Ready?" He reads the code carefully, making sure to not make any mistakes that could potentially lock them out and blow their cover. "4. Lowercase "L". 2. 1. 3. Lowercase "B". Uppercase "P". Uppercase "T". Got it?"
"4l213bPT?" Emma confirms. "Lower "L" and "B", upper "P" and "T"."
"Enter." Max affirms.
"We're in." Emma announces, watching as the screen fills up with smaller windows, each a grayscale live footage of various rooms.
"Alex, Cameras 1 and 2." Emma instructs. "Manny, 3 and 4. Parker, 5 and 6. Sophie, 7 and 8. Brooke, 9 and 10."
The Ravens and the Eagles watch the windows intently, looking out for any suspicious activity. They can see figures walking about, barely distinguish the soldiers from the castle's occupants, but nothing out-rightly suspicious yet.
"Hayley," Jackie calls out. "Did you hear? We're in."
"I heard." Hayley smiles. "Tell Emma she's the boss."
"Daniel." She turns to the boy in front of a radio transmitter. "They're in. Is everyone ready?"
"Dad, do you copy?" He speaks into the speaker, and his father's voice echoes, both from behind him, and the radio in front of him.
"Ok. We're good to go." Hayley tells informs both sides. "Good luck to all of us."
Giving a hug to the Prince, she wishes him luck, and the group leaves.
"Watch the kids." She hears Daniel's father instruct a man somewhere behind them, and she can see Daniel rolling his eyes, muttering "parents."
"We see them behind the door." Jackie notifies Hayley.
"Any guards behind or nearby?" The girl asks.
"Three around the corner once they open the door." Emma alerts her.
"Three around the corner once they open the door." Jackie repeats.
Hayley echoes this to Daniel, and he warns his father. "Three around the corner once you open the door."
Eureka at the Greenhouse watch as the man they assume to be Daniel's father hold up three fingers, before the small group slowly opens the door. Quietly slipping in, they skulk along the wall until they reach the end of the hallway. They see his signal... 3. 2. 1... before they attack.
Soon, the men are knocked unconscious and the room is in an uproar. "Yes."
"They're in." Jackie announces. "Now, they're heading for the main office. Coast is clear for now."
Daniel confirms the safe passage and hears the troop's soft footsteps as they move throughout the palace.
"How many in the office?" Hayley asks once they're standing in front of it, barricading the door.
"Four. All armed men." Jackie warns her.
"Four, armed men." Hayley relays to Daniel. "His uncle isn't there."
Daniel hears the door open, the sound of guns clattering to the floor, before all goes silent. He turns to Hayley.
"Jackie?" She asks.
"4-0." The girl cheers, receiving high-fives from the rest of Eureka.
At that moment, a knock sounds at the door, making them freeze in place. Turning to each other, they're at a lost as to whether to answer.
"Sophie. I know you're in there with everyone else." Leo knocks on the door. "Open up."
Looking to the others, she cautiously opens the door, quickly closing it and locking it once the captain is in.
"What are you doing in here?" He asks, coming around to face the computer screen. "CCTV footage from Belzia?"
Manny gulps. "Hayley's there with Daniel to help the Prince get his throne back."
"What?!" Leo's heart stops, remembering what one of his instructors told him a while back. "They're planning to send bomber planes to Belzia, specifically the palace, for sending someone to plant that bomb in the school."
They turn to Jackie.
"Hayley? Hayley are you there?" She calls the girl. "Hayley?!" But she receives no reply. "Hayley's not answering." She informs the group.
"Umm, you might want to see this." Emma sadly says as everyone gazes back at the computer screen in shock, watching as Daniel and Hayley slowly appear in their view.
"Daniel! Hayley! Come quick." The man behind them instructs, and they put down their devices. Following the man, the three of them find themselves at gunpoint.
"Move." A masked man demands, and they obey, following another man in the lead as he takes them through the streets and into the palace. He leads them through the same passageway they're almost sure the others took just a few moments earlier, and are face to face with a door.
With a nod, the door is thrown open, and the others quickly meet their anxious faces.
"Hands down." Javier walks in from behind them, gun in hand as a squad trails along beside him. "Or we'll shoot them."
Avi does as he's told, the others following suit. "You can have me." He tells his uncle. "But don't hurt anyone else."
His uncle raises the weapon, placing the barrel to his nephew's chest, right above the heart. He smiles menacingly, his plans finally coming into fruition. At long last, he will be the sovereign ruler of Belzia.
He clicks the safety off, steadies his grip on the gun, positions it in a way he knows will be fatal... and begins to put pressure on the trigger.
In 3... 2... 1...
The lights go out, momentarily blinding him and he loses his grip of the gun. It slips from his fingers and clatters to the floor, seconds before he hears footsteps.
A light seeps in from the open door and he rushes out, following the Prince. Stretching his hand, he accepts a gun from the man behind him, just as the boy makes it to the theatre stage.
"I am Prince Octavius Jacopo Edward the fifth, and I am alive." He speaks to the camera in front of him. "My uncle has committed treason by killing my father and is now trying to kill me."
He turns to his uncle standing by the camera, gun poised to shoot. His uncle, however, secret having been exposed, doesn't falter. He aims the gun, centres it to the teen's heart once again.
In 3... 2... 1... Click.
He racks the slide again and... Click. Click.
Dropping the gun, he reaches out for another, turning just in time to see the soldier who had handed him the gun, dropping a handful of bullets to the ground.
The soldier turns back to the Prince, an arm raised in 'attention'. "Your majesty."
The other soldiers follow suit, a chorus of "Your majesty"s echoing behind them as Hayley and Daniel watch from the side-lines.
Slipping out another gun, the soldier hands it towards the Prince. "Sir."
The Prince takes the gun, points it at his uncle, watches as his uncle freezes before looking at him, resigned. He stares at him for a moment. Memories once again flashing through his mind. His hand shudders and he returns the gun.
No matter what his uncle has done, he will not kill him. He will not become a murderer as well. One in the family is more than enough.
"Take him away, Nate." He instructs the loyal soldier and his best friend.
He waits until they are out of sight, before coming off the platform, turning towards Hayley, Daniel and Abel gratefully. "Thank you so much for your help." He smiles at them. "You and your friends will be welcomed here anytime, and I think we can definitely consider building an alliance between our two countries."
He chuckles. "But that will have to be for another day." Calling out to one of his old servants, a man brings forward a few bags. "Some souvenirs for you and your friends. Not that I wouldn't like you to stay but I have a lot of cleaning up to do. I'm sure my uncle has made quite a mess during the few days that he was in office."
The trio laughs along with him. "Take care ok?" He gives them each a hug before sending them off.
"Bye, Avi." They wave as they head into the car to head back to the boat.
"What a crazy day, huh?" Daniel asks as he and Hayley sit on the deck of the boat, watching as the sun disappears below the horizon.
"Yeah." She agrees. "Thank God it's over." She closes her eyes, enjoying the breeze as it whips through her hair. She can feel the salty ocean spray, and for the first time in a long while, it doesn't send her panicking. Instead, it's a great source of comfort.
"I'm glad we made it out ok, and that neither of us got hurt." Daniel admits, shifting slightly to face her. "I really meant it when I said I never want to see you hurt. Or to lose you."
"You'll never lose me, Daniel." She places a gentle kiss on his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. "I love you." She whispers.
He places a quick peck on her lips before pressing one into her hair. Laying his head on hers, he shares his own sentiments. "I love you too."
Together, they sit, watching the rolling waves and the setting sun. The sunset marking the end of a chapter of their lives, and that a new one is to come. One where they will be together, forever.