Chapter 25~
(Carter) The late morning sun streams in through the window and I blink slowly. I'm not in my own bed and it takes me a moment to remember whose bed I'm in and why. On the floor next to the bed, Petros rolls over on top of the pile of blankets and grins at me.
"I fell asleep?" I crock, pushing my hand through my messy hair in attempt to look at least halfway decent.
"About thirty seconds after Landon rescued the Virgin Mary." Petros smirks.
"That's my favorite part." I yawn.
"That's what you said right before you started snoring," he teases.
I stick my tongue out at him and he laughs. Everything is slowly coming back. I cried until the pizza was ready, then Petros insisted that he needed me to help him taste test and then we agreed good pizza calls for a good movie. I found out he'd never seen "A Walk to Remember," which is my all-time favorite, so we borrowed it from Rosie's collection and headed up to his room to watch it.
I yawn again. "Did you finish it?"
"All the way to the end of the credits." He stands up and starts to roll up all the blankets on the floor.
"And?" I prod, rolling onto my side so I'm laying lengthwise on the bed like an Egyptian princess.
"It was pretty good," he admits.
I smile triumphantly. "Told you."
It's a weird sensation, waking up in someone else's bed. Even weirder when that someone else is a guy you're not dating. Yet being here with Petros feels oddly comfortable. I should leave soon, though, before Armando catches wind of our sleepover and takes it the wrong way.
"Petros!" Megrin pushes open the bedroom door before I have a chance to hide or at least cover up my little tank top and shorts.
Megrin freezes in the doorway. Her eyes travel from her shirtless brother sitting on the floor to me in his bed and says, "Don't you have a boyfriend?"
"It's not what it looks like," I insist.
"Whatever." She rolls her eyes. "Thought you'd might wanna know, the queen's back."
"What?" I jump out of bed and run down the hall yelling Rosie's name.
"I'm right here." She steps into the hallway and I screech to a stop.
It's Rosie, but at the same time, it's not. Her hair barely touches her shoulders now and she looks older somehow. Petros doesn't seem to notice. He pushes right past me and gives her a hug.
"Hey Rosie. Glad you made it home safe and on time."
It takes a second for his words to register. "You knew where she was?"
"He helped me," Rosie explains.
"Helped you what? Runaway?"
"Basically," Rose admits.
"Who else knew?" I demand.
"My mom."
My mind's spinning too fast for me to process any of what's going on.
"I'll explain more later," Rose promises. "I have a ball to plan."
"To hell with the party! I want answers."
"Soon. And Carter?"
"Yeah?"
"If Armando asks, tell him I was away on official palace business."
Rose tries to walk away like she can just disappear for ten days and then waltz back in as if everything's fine. I grab her arm. She looks at me and her eyes darken.
"Carter," she says quietly so no one else can hear. "I want you to keep an eye on Armando. And please, be careful."
"You said that before," I snap.
Rose doesn't react to my attitude like she usually does and that's when I know something's really wrong.
"This time, Carter," she says even quieter. "This time I really mean it."
And almost as soon as it appears, the darkness in her face is gone and she smiles. "Oh! I almost forget." She pulls out a necklace and fastens it around my neck. "Happy birthday! Now go find your boyfriend and let me help Petros throw you the best birthday ball ever."