Chapter 12 (Carter) ~

There are many things I imagined about my first trip to Australia. I dreamed about snorkeling with clown fish in the Barrier Reef and taking touristy pictures in front of the Opera House and tanning in my favorite bikini on the beach in Sydney. None of these scenarios involved dropping off Prince Full of Himself and his spoiled sister.

"Admit it." Petros slides in next to me in the cramped helicopter. "You're gonna miss me."

"Ha!" I roll my eyes. "You wish."

"So you didn't dream about me last night?" Petros cocks a skeptical eyebrow.

"Ew, gross!" I try not to gag. "I told you, I'm in a relationship."

"Right." Petros crosses his arms and leans back. "The convenient boyfriend."

Speaking of Armanda, I'm currently counting down the seconds until I can see him again. It's been way too long. I miss his touch and the way he says my name and the rich dark cologne he wears. It sucks that I'll only get a few hours with him before Rosie ships me back to Louisiana. There were a couple times during the trip that I thought she might change her mind, but she seemed pretty pissed after I went off on Director Rogan. She's barely spoken to me since.

"Hey!" I yell up at the pilot. "Are we there yet?"

"Carter!" Rosie looks mortified, but the pilot chuckles.

"Two more minutes, miss."

Petros shakes his head. "Shame. Barely enough time for a decent goodbye kiss."

"If you touch me, I swear to God-" A million different endings swirl through my head, but Rosie's warning glare keeps them all inside.

Ed looks over at Petros. "Hey man, maybe you should lay off."

Petros shakes his head and mutters something in Italian. Megrin giggles. I start to count down the seconds from a minute and a half under my breath.

"Ninety, Eighty-nine, eight-eight, eight-seven…"

"We're here," the pilot announces as the helicopter circles the landing pad below.

I flash Petros a triumphant smile. "Signed, sealed and delivered."

"Are we supposed to be alone?" Ed asks.

"Yes…" Rosie says slowly. "Why?"

"Cuz I think we have company," he replies.

We all turn around to see a fleet of royal Bellissimare planes behind us.

"They must have put a tracker on the helicopter," I realize.

"And the cloaking device on the PPP island kept them from following us there," Rosie finishes for me. "They must have found us again when we took off for Australia."

"What do we do?" Petros asks.

Ed is already ahead of us. "How do you feel about parachutes?"

"There's only three," Megrin points out as Ed pulls them out from underneath the seats.

"We'll double up," I say. "Megrin and Ed, Rosie and Petros. I'll be with the pilot."

"I've got my own," the pilot says. "I'll be the last to jump."

I glance over the group again. Petros winks at me when I look over at him, but I pretend not to see. There's no way in hell I'm jumping out of a helicopter strapped to his chest. Megrin and Rosie are already pulling on their black bullet-proof coveralls.

"Ed on your own," I modify the plan. "Petros and Megrin, me and Rose."

Ed pulls out the rest of the equipment while Megrin helps me into my coveralls and Rose presses a bunch of buttons on her watch.

"Don't jump until I give the word," she orders.

As I pull on my helmet and protective goggles, my heart pounds. This is crazy. We could all die. The pilot veers away from the Australian coast back towards the ocean. The royal planes follow.

"So they want us alive now?" Megrin questions.

"By the power invested in me by the Bellissimare royal family, I order you to land," a booming voice announces from one of the planes.

When our helicopter doesn't respond to the order, the planes start shooting at us.

"Are you kidding me?" I groan. Like we needed this mission to get any harder.

We all pull on our harnesses and hook onto our partner's harness. Rosie pushes a few more buttons on her watch as the pilot tries his best to navigate out of the line of fire.

"We jump in 3-2-"

Ed throws open the helicopter door and we throw ourselves out of it like idiots. Gravity smacks us in the face and we fall like stones towards the giant ocean. The planes start shooting at us instead of the helicopter and Ed yells, "Parachute!"

Rosie yanks on our ripcord and a huge parachute shoots out in time to slow our fall and make us a much easier target for the royal shooter planes. Our parachutes are riddled with holes within seconds. I've never wanted to underwater so bad before.

I look down to see the blue rushing up to meet us and brace myself for the impact.