A huge shout out to Pumkinking 5 and the guest review by Simone! I loved to hear from you both, you made my day! This chapter is way longer than I planed and it is sort of part one of two or three. Not what I thought would happen when I started writing. Please tell me what you think about this chapter. Love it or hate it?
Sorry about some grammar and punctuation mistakes. I write in Word and uploade it to the site, and when I go in and edit the chapter after I have uploaded it inot Doc Manager, it tends to mess something up as I go over it. Again I'm sorry about that.
Now here is chapter 11!
Gabriella's POV
"Brie. Brie. We need to get up," he said and I opened my eyes slowly."It's too early," I mumbled and he laughed quietly.
"I know but I promise you that you can sleep on the plane," he told me kissing my lips softly.
"That was a better wake up," I said now opening my eyes fully.
"We are leaving in forty-five minutes," he told me gently and I got out of bed.
"How is the weather like when we're landing?" I questioned going through my packed bag.
"We will be landing at eleven in the morning local time, and last time I checked there would be sunny and a couple of minus degrees," he told me and I found a pair of jeans, a top and a jacket.
I was quick getting ready in the bathroom and when I was finished Troy were just zipping his bag shut. I packed my last things and zipped my own bag shut. I looked inside my small bag and checked that I had everything such as my phone, passport and other things that I needed.
I took my bag and sat them down by the front door and found Troy in the kitchen.
"You have everything?" Troy asked and I nodded yawning.
"Breakfast?" "No thanks. But I wouldn't call it breakfast," I told him and he raised an eyebrow.
"Then what would you call it?" he wondered walking closer to me.
"A good old fashioned mid-night snack," I told my boyfriend and he burst out laughing.
"You're something else," he smiled as I looked through his bookshelf.
"Looking for something?" he asked me turning to look at me.
"Not really, but I think I've lost my copy of Stars of Magic," I told him with a sight.
"What happened?" he asked sounding surprised even though I suspect he wasn't innocent in this situation.
"I wanted to take it with me since we're going to Etrea, but I couldn't find it anywhere home," I explained to him.
There was a knock at the door and Troy went over to answer it. "Good morning Troy," the voice of a young man was heard.
"Good morning Ted. It's good to see you again," Troy said to the man at the door.
"You too. What happened to your wrist?" Ted asked having noticed the arm
"Broke it after I fell the other day. Nothing serious," he told him reassuringly.
They spoke about something quietly that I didn't hear, before Ted spoke up again no more than a minute later.
"Are you ready to leave?" Ted asked not having noticed me yet.
"Almost, come there is someone I want you to meet," Troy said and Ted walked inside.
I looked away from the bookshelf and towards the two men entering.
"Ted this is my girlfriend Gabriella. Gabriella, this is my bodyguard Ted," Troy introduced us.
Ted appeared to be in his mid-30's, around 6 feet tall, had black short hair and was dressed casually. If you saw them on the street together, you could think he was Troy's uncle or even older brother. The other man appeared to be much older than Ted, but about the same height with short blond hair, all dressed in a black suit with a matching tie, white shirt and a clear earpiece.
"Pleasure to meet you," I said holding out my hand.
"You as well miss," Ted said shaking my hand.
"Pleas just call me Gabriella," I told him a little surprised by how polite he was. Ted smiled and nodded
"Do you have everything?" Troy asked me and I looked over at him.
"I have," I said to him and Troy turned towards Ted. "Then we're ready."
"Then let's get going," Ted said and showed us the way out where two black Mercedes CDI were parked. By the car there was another man dressed in a black suit and another man behind the wheel of the second car. Ted opened the door to the second car and I got in first. Troy sat down beside me and Ted closed the door before he sat down in the front passenger seat. Just after he had sat down the car drove off towards the airport.
"How are you?" Troy asked me quietly taking my hand.
"Exited, nervous," I told him feeling the butterflies in my stomach.
"It's going to be all right. They are all excited to meet you," he told me and we sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the journey.
It didn't take long before the car stopped at the airport and Ted opened the door for us. Troy walked out first and helped me out afterwards. The noise hit me at once and we were standing right by the small plane. Me having no clue what type of plane it was, the best way to describe it was as a typical small private plane. Troy was the first of us that walked on board and I followed him.
Once I entered the jet, the interior was all a cream white colour with golden accent and details all around. The seats were much larger than on a normal airliner, and the fabric looked to be white leather. The first couple of seats were taken by men dressed in business suits but they looked nothing like the men other men we had previously seen. These looked more like Australian or Asian ethnicity.
Troy walked to the back of the plane and sat down on the left side in the chair that was turned backwards. I sat down opposite of him and I noticed that Ted sat in the sofa behind Troy. We fastened our seatbelts and I felt the plane start moving. It was then I noticed that it was only Ted who entered the plane out of all the guards that was with us.
Troy looked over at me and gave me a reassuring smile as the plane moved faster and we soon took off into the night sky leaving Albuquerque behind.
"How are you doing?" Troy asked me and I looked from the window over to him.
"Good but this is all a little over whelming," I told him honestly and he put his hand on the table that was between us. I put my hand into his hand he caressed my hand lovingly.
"I know it is, but I am really glad that you wanted to celebrate with me and my family," he said to me and I smiled sheepishly.
"I'm happy I got the opportunity," I said as I relaxed more into the seat as we got closer and closer towards California.
Before I knew it we had landed in LA and the private jet were taxing down the runway. I found my phone and turned it on when I heard Troy's voice: "You all right?" he asked and I looked up from my phone to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm just sending a message to my mom telling her we have landed safely," I told him and started texting my mom. I put my phone in my pocket as the plane now had stopped. A man I presumed came from the security team approached us and looked at Troy.
"Your highness, we're ready," the man said and nodded towards Ted before he walked away.
"This is exactly why I prefer Ted," Troy muttered and Ted chuckled behind us.
With the small bag over my shoulder, Troy leaded me out and as my feet hit the tarmac, my gaze landed on the massive plane in front of us.
"Wow!" was the only thing I could say stunned by the sheer size of the plane. We were thirty, or so, feet away from it and Troy must have seen my expression because he was smiling looking at me.
"Come on," he said taking my hand and guided me over towards the plane. The closer we came the only thing I could compare it with was the Air Force One, even though this looked to be bigger.
Together we walked up the metal stairs and entered the plane. The first sight that meet me was a set of stairs on the left side along with a door at the end. Troy however, walked towards the right and down a narrow hallway. The floors had a dark red carpet, while the walls with the windows were white and on the other side it looked to be a dark wood of some sorts. He walked past all of this and then the space opened up. The hallway continued down the length of the plane, but on our right side there was a big oak table with four leather office chairs, two on each side. Troy sat down closest to the window and as I sat down I noticed how comfortable the chairs were, and that we were alone. I couldn't hear a sound except for the engines running. We fastened our seatbelts and my eyes landed on Troy's.
"What's on your mind?" he asked gently, as if he could read it.
"This is all so strange," I confessed. "Where is everyone?" I continued to question as the plane slowly started moving.
"Well, the people working on the plane is in the staff area upstairs, Ted along with the rest of the security is all upstairs in their meeting room," he explained as I looked out the window, just in time to see the flaps of the plane move up and down.
"This area is where the royal family or other guests sit, while there is a press section upstairs. I can show you around later on," he continued to explain as the plane started moving again. Absentmindedly I grabbed his hand and he squeezed it gently.
"You all right?" he questioned looking down on me.
"Is now a bad time to say that I don't mind flying, but I'm not a big fan either?" I questioned and he gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Not at all," he told me squeezing my hand lightly again. "You look a little pale," he observed looking at me.
"Mhm," I said nodding, not really feeling great. Troy pulled me as close as he could and I put my head on his shoulder, while he wrapped his right hand around my shoulders, comforting me by moving his hand up and down my arm.
There was a loud rumbling of the engines before we suddenly started moving. Fast. I sunk back into the seat as the massive plane left the runway and flew into the clouds of the sky. The knot in my stomach was still there but as Troy and I continued to talk, my mind drifted off and I didn't think more about it.
As we were well up in the sky Troy gave me a tour of the plane. The back of the plane was just seats for when there were extra guests on-board, afterwards he showed me the medical office, where a petite woman, with jet black hair tied back onto a ponytail, was working inside the small doctor office.
"Hello your highness," she smiled and greeted us and I had to say it was strange to hear someone formally address Troy.
"Pamela, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Troy?" he asked with a smile.
"Probably more than I can count," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I see you brought a guest home for Christmas?" she continued asking.
"Yes this is my girlfriend Gabriella, Gabriella this is Pamela," he introduced us.
"Nice to meet you," I said shaking her hand.
"You as well. If you don't feel well, come and find me and I'll fix you," she told me and I smiled at her.
"I appreciate that."
We continued upwards the hallway and he showed me the king's office, meeting rooms before we stopped by the galley.
"It smells so good," I said as we neared us.
"You getting hungry?" he asked me looking back at me, and I was nervous about him tripping over something.
"Yeah," I answered with a nod.
"I think they are working on the breakfast," he said and smiled. "Good morning chef Alberto," Troy greeted as we walked into the galley.
"Good morning or should I say good night?" he asked and laughed. Alberto, like most of the people, had black, short hair. As I looked at him, his eyes looked to be green and his face was slightly oval.
"You're having fun with the time zones," Troy said rising an eyebrow smiling, amusement clearly showing in his voice.
"Is there anything I can do for you today?" he asked stopping with the cooking, pretending not to notice what had just happened.
"I was just showing Gabriella around," he said and it was first then that Alberto noticed me.
"Hello I am Alberto it is nice to meet you," he said putting out his hand, after taking of his plastic glove.
"I'm Gabriella and it's nice to meet you too," I said shaking his hand giving him a polite smile.
"We are working on the breakfast is there anything special you want?" Alberto asked looking at us both. I took a quick glance over at Troy, only to find him looking at me.
"Food," I said shrugging my shoulders. "I think we can manage that," Alberto said smiling at the two of us.
"Do you drink coffee?" he asked me but I shook my head.
"No I don't," I told him.
"We'll bring out breakfast soon," Alberto told us with a nod of his head, and went back to prepping.
"Thank you," Troy said with a smile and he turned to me again.
"There is one last thing I want to show you," told me and we walked past the door we entered and I saw that there was a set of stairs on the right but we walked past them. He opened a door that was just a couple of meters from the stairs and we walked inside.
It was a bedroom with two single beds, both of the beds had a blue/turquoise cover with the Etrean royal seal on. The wall behind the beds had a fuzzy blue wallpaper and on the two other walls were white with windows.
"This is where we sleep during longer flights, and the beds can be made into couches if there is need for extra meeting place," he explained and I looked at him.
"The animal on the seal, is that an owl?" I questioned and he smiled nodding. "It is," he confirmed.
"Is there a reason why?" I questioned and he started explaining. "Owls are some of the smartest animals that exist, and Etrean people like to think that they are smart, hence why we have the owl. The shield with the crown is because Etrea is a monarchy but slightly different from other monarchy countries and lastly the words Spera in cognitionis, Spera in rege, is actually Latin, and means Trust in knowledge, trust in the king. To be honest that is all I know in Latin," he said with a laughed.
"Why write in Latin when you speak English and Japanese?" I questioned him puzzled. "To be honest I have asked myself that so many times, and I still have no answer," he said shaking his head.
"Can you tell me about your favourite memory from a trip with this plane?" I asked him as we were sitting eating breakfast.
"It was my first trip in the plane, or on a plane for that matter. I was five years old and my grand-parents wanted to take me on one of their visits, and I couldn't believe we were flying in this plane. I spent the entire time discovering and ended up sitting in the cockpit," he told me as it looked like he re-called the memory.
"What did your grand-parents say to that?" I wondered smiling at him.
"They laughed when the captain followed me down again. After we landed that it," he said and we both were laughing at this point.
"So you said earlier that you're usually fourteen when you celebrate Christmas. Who is coming to celebrate?" I questioned him.
"We're sixteen, seventeen with you," he said and I nodded. "And it's a lot of my mom's family actually, She's the one of us that has a bigger family. Grandma also had a sibling, but as the years went on we didn't stay in touch, and they started their own traditions and we stopped talking. I don't think grandma speaks to them at all and they just became distant." he said before he continued. "My mom has two siblings, an older brother and younger sister. Her sister is named Adriana and is married to Gael, and they have twins Makayla and Calvin who are the same age as us. Moms older brother, Hendric married Violet and they have Bridget who is 22 and engaged to Ben. Together they have a two-year-old named Natalia. And of course mom's parents Keith and Kathleen" he listed to me and I tried to remember it all.
"Ok, so its Keith and Kathleen who have Hendric, Lucille and Adriana. Hendric and Violet?" I questioned and he nodded his head. "They have Bridgett, who is engaged to Ben and they have Natalia," I said to him and he nodded. "Adriana is married to Gale and they have the twins Makayla and... oh his name started on Ca something," I said annoyed and waited to see if I could remember it. "I'm blank." I declared.
"Calvin," Troy supplied and I nodded. "Then there is the two of us and your parents and grandparents," I said and he nodded.
"That would be all of them," he told me with a nod.
Troy had just woken me up telling me that we would be landing within the hour. I had slept for the past five hours and I felt better than when we took off in LA. Walking out of the bedroom I found Troy and sat down beside him. "Good morning," he said with a smile and I gave him a look shaking my head.
"It's almost five thirty back home," I complained and he just started cracking up.
"Says the girl who slept for the past five hours," he laughed kissing my temple. "Hey look outside," he said and as I looked out the airplane window I got my first look at Etrea.
"Wow," I muttered in awe and I felt the plane turn and starting it's descending. "Are we far from the castle?" I questioned suddenly not remembering the capital. Wow, great Gabriella!
"Downtown Iwaki and the castle is to our right so I don't think we're able to see it. The airport is about half an hour from the castle," he said to me and I nodded. As we were descending into the clouds the plane started shaking a little due to the turbulence and I grasped Troy's hand again. He squeezed it reassuringly and kissed the back of my hand.
We got closer and closer to the ground and I could see more and more snow on the plains. As I was wondering if we were ever to hit the runway, the black and white asphalt were visible and with a soft thud we were down on the ground. The engines rumbled loudly as all four of them were working on stopping the plane and I had a knot in my stomach again. This time I knew it was because within the hour I was meeting Troy's family. All of them.
Looking out the window again I noticed we were going to the right away from the airport and to a secluded area of the airport where there also were two massive hangars. "Are you ready?" Troy asked me as the plane slowed down to a complete stop. "I'm ready," I told him more confident than I was.
That was it! Whew, this wasn't meant to be this long, yet alone in two different chapters! I have cut out a lot because I feel like it wouldn't have been as important, yet I didn't feel like I could fit in the meeting with Troy's family. If anyone is wondering, the plane that they are flying is a converted Airbus A380. Yes, I was inspired by the American Air force one, but I changed a couple of things. What I have said about the plane part is only based on research I have done on Google and a documentary from National Geographic channel name On board Obama air force one. I know these two chapters might have been boring to read, but they have sort of been important for the rest of the story –an a possible sequel?- BTW I own Etrea and the characters and places there. If there is anything else out there that is similar I sweat that is just a coincidence.
Please tell me what you think, I love to hear from you!
-FreeFlyingWriter