Chapter 4

Stranger

I turned around and Angel was getting ready to pounce on me.

I stepped to the right. She just missed me.

In the distance, I could hear the man saying, "What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I have to help. I can't just stand there and watch," I said.

He never objected. So I kept fighting Angel. More like she kept missing me. All I had to do was step out of the way. She wanted to hit me so bad that she wouldn't stop trying until she did.

Step, miss, step, miss, step, miss, that's what it was like.

I looked back; just to see how the boy was doing, and bam! She hit me, right on the cheek. I looked up and she was grinning.

"Ouch! That hurt!" I yelped.

"Good!" She said, nastily.

I gave her a dirty look. Then hit her back. She swung at me and missed.

"Missed me, try again," I teased. She kept trying, but missed every time.

Meanwhile mom was just standing there, watching. "I have to do something, but what?" She asked herself. She looked over to me.

"Mom, help!" I screamed.

"I've got to help her! My daughter's getting hurt!" She said to herself. She started running. She had no clue what she was doing, and suddenly she was there, standing, trying to figure out what to do next. Then, it came to her. She saw her daughter get hit and it all started. She slapped Angel on the cheek.

"She thought she was only fighting Lindy. Now she wonders why I hit her," mom thought.

Angel put her hand up. Mom saw it and moved out of the way, but Angel was too fast, hitting her back.

The fight kept going, with Angel and mom, and with the man and Ginger, until Ginger yelled, "Run!" because she was about to get pinned down by the strange man.

So, Ginger and Angel ran. They ran through the hall, and out of the mall.

"That was great! What's your name?" I asked the man.

"My name is Derik," he answered.

"Are you a prince?" I asked. It sure looked like it because he was wearing a purple cape (he took it off before he fought some how), a T-shirt, but the sleeves were puffed out and sort of made a sphere with light blue slits around it, but comfortable looking pants.

"Well, yes, but I don't wish to be, sometimes," Derik said, looking very sad.

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

"Sometimes it gets lonely."

"Oh, yeah."

"Well, you wouldn't know what it's like to be lonely. You live here. I bet you have a lot of friends, and companions. You wouldn't know what it's like to be a prince."

"No, no I wouldn't." I looked at the ground, searching for words. "Wh-where did you come from?"

"I came from Pickenly."

I stared at him. "That's really far away! How did you get here?"

"I flew."

"How come they didn't stop you? Did you come on vacation?"

"Yes, I'm on vacation. I just happened to see you two fighting that dragon and I thought you might need help, so I stopped to help."

"Oh." I thought for a moment. "Why did you choose to come here?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just thought it looked nice here."

"Well, I know your place is better than mine."

"Don't say that. I'm sure your house is just fine."

"Do you want to see it? I mean are you hungry?"

"I would love to see your house, and I am feeling a little hungry."

"Well than come over for dinner."

"No, I couldn't intrude."

"You won't be."

"Ok," he said, shrugging.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm-"

"Lindy, it's time to go," mom yelled.

"Lindy, I like it," the prince said. "Let's go," he said as we left.

On the way we said nothing to each other, because he was mostly talking to my mom. Finding out what her name was and everything about her, well not everything. He never found out that she was the Queen of Linderwall.

I think she wanted me to tell him, but by the time he was done asking questions we were there, at the palace.

He stared at it. "This is your house?!"

"Well, yeah," I said.

"What, are you rich?"

"Well, you could say that."

"Well, Ok then. I thought you were a princess or something."

"Well, I-" He walked away before I could finish.

"Don't fret, honey. You'll be able to him over dinner," she said, patting my back. My head was bent over, looking at the ground.

I looked up, "No, Mom, I can't tell him. We still need him, to help fight off Ginger. He won't help if he's mad at me."

"But honey, if you tell him now, he probably won't be as mad as he would be if you told him later." She looked at me, concerned.

"I can't, Mom. Dad is out of town with Littia, Susie, Star, and Linda, for two weeks and we have no one to help us fight the dragon, besides the guards, but their kind of dumb. They wouldn't fight the dragon, just because we told them to. Not even if their life depended on it. They would probably make up lies and say they weren't really our guards." I tried not to laugh while I was saying this.

"Ok, but it's you he trusts, and it's not up to me." She walked into the palace. I thought about what she said. Then I walked in the entrance.