A loud bump jolted Ava out of her sleep.
With a fuzzy head, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Before she could come up with theories as to what that was, she heard another bump. Followed by the sound of someone cursing under their breath. Stupid as it was to investigate a strange sound in a strange place, her mind was still too foggy to worry about that now.
She hauled herself off the large bed and pushed open the heavy door. What she expected to find was a murderer ready to attack...
Not the prince.
Ava's head was booting up with adrenaline when she saw Alexander with a satchel and a panicked look on his face.
"Wh- What-"
He sighed and begrudgingly confessed.
"If you must know, I've taken your suggestion into consideration. Thus realizing it is the best course of action for me and my kingdom!" he said in a rushed, defensive whisper.
"I was joking !!!" Ava exasperated. "I didn't think you'd actually take that as advice!"
"I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I'm afraid it's getting too late for me to chat. I have a ship to be smuggled on."
Alexander started to walk away, but not before spotting his sister down the hall... Doing the exact same thing.
The princess looked at her brother with little surprise.
"You didn't think I'd let you leave without me, did you? One of us needs to have brains if you are to go on this expedition." Eloise sassed.
"What is going on." the third wheeler said at her wits end.
The prince having quickly accepted the fact that his little sister was tagging along, -much to his frustration- answered the startled girl. "We are leaving. You shall stay here where it's safe."
"Alexander." Eloise chided. "Do you really wish us to leave Miss Ava all by herself?"
"There is no one else who needs to leave!" Alexander was getting more impatient by the second.
"Do you really want to leave her with the burden of explaining our escape to our father??"
She was right. He would feel guilty about leaving an innocent bystander to answer for their actions. Even if it was easier to do. So he turned to Ava.
"Are you coming with us?" he asked sternly. This was no time for second guesses.
And as always, she froze up.
"I- I don't..."
He didn't have time for this.
With a huff, he turned on his heel and marched to the exit. Eloise gave a sorry look to her and quickly followed Alexander's footsteps.
Ava was stunned. Bewildered. Anxious. Any other word that could describe the oversaturated turmoil clawing its way to the front of her mind. One one hand, she could stay in a lavish castle for a couple of months, tops. Eating good meals, sleeping in a nice bed, doing whatever she wanted, far away from danger. On the other hand, she would have to be here without anyone to latch onto for safety. A soul crushing loneliness was inevitable. And nothing could overpower the overwhelming fear of staying and answering to a worried father. Maybe even a furious one...
With a noise of displeasure, she hurried to pack anything she could need in a sack, then dashed out her room to follow in line with the royals.
"Wait for me!!" she pleaded.
Alexander silently grumbled, but stopped in his tracks.
"I'm glad you could make it." Eloise said with a relieved smile.
"Enough of the pleasantries. We need to go." the prince clipped.
The three stowaways started for the side exit with Alexander leading. If anything, this was going to make things a lot more complicated for him...
The sun was barely raising its head as the trio made it to the docks. Albeit clumsily.
Ava repeatedly checked for people following and catching them, Eloise repeatedly made sure that Alexander waited for Ava, and Alexander repeatedly almost reached his breaking point.
"In the future, would you please do us the favor of being considerate of our time?" he said with thin patience to their guest.
The three of them hide behind a wall made out of crates. Narrowly avoiding the workers starting their morning shift.
"We still have ample time before the ship leaves port." Eloise scolded. "You needn't take it out on Miss Ava."
He whipped his head around to the backseat driver. "I am sorry. But have you forgotten that if we miss that boat, many people could be in danger? I won't let my kingdom fall to ruin because of someones paranoia-"
Ava felt her heart plunge to the floor. She glued her eyes to the rough cobblestone out of shame.
Alexander regretted it the moment it slipped past his lips. He hated that she looked like a kicked dog. The one thing he hated more was the silence that followed.
"I-" What were words at this point? "For- Forgive-"
A whistle cracked through the air. The ship was being loaded.
"Crates." The prince ordered as he climbed into one just big enough for the three of them.
Eloise settled in on his left... Leaving no one between the other two. Understandably, she didn't want to be anywhere near him. But time wasn't on her side.
She bit the bullet and got cozy.
As Alexander pulled the lid over their heads, darkness and a musty stench enveloped them.
"What are we doing once we get on board?" Ava whispered.
And with that... he had no idea how to answer.
"You don't know?!?"
"I do know, it is just not fully realized..."
Ava looked at him like he was going to kill them all. She sat back in disbelief.
"So this is why Father entrusted me with the Help Seeker." Eloise sassed.
Her brother gave her a cruel side eye. "I only decided on this course of action last night. I usually need more time for my plans."
"You could not sit down for five minutes and write out what you would do once you get on board?" The princess asked with uncharacteristic venom in her voice. It could only be the primal instinct to bicker with your sibling. Meanwhile Ava was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as the two royals verbally punched each other.
Fortunately for all of them, the lurching and lifting of their crate put a stop to their arguing immediately.
Ava fruitlessly tried to hold onto something to steady herself.
But gravity had other ideas...
They were tilted to the right. Causing the prince to slide too close for either of their liking.
She clenched her jaw as her face turned beet red. And Alexander did the same. This was far too early for something like this to happen in the adventure.
After they both silently agreed it was terribly cliché to have this forced proximity, their transportation landed on the deck with a thud.
All of them were smart enough to stay as quiet as the morning fog until the ship sailed well away from the shore.
To keep from going insane in the small space, Ava listened to the muffled voices that seeped through the rough cracks of the wood. Some complained about the work load, some ordered others to positions, but above that, she could hear their dear heroes chatting away.
"I know she's nervous in new places, but I really think this is the best for her."
She perked up at her godfather's unmistakable candor.
"Yeah, but, don'tcha feel a little bad for keeping her in the dark about everything?" Elliot countered.
"She's probably having the time of her life up at the Ritz." The nonchalance of Sedgewick broke through the heavy topic. "Sure wish that was us." the gourd sighed.
"But hey! We're out on the seas again." George smiled. "Those old doctors always sent people to the shore when things were rough. Maybe they had some merit."
"Didn't that happen because they didn't have antibiotics?" the cucumber questioned his friend's logic.
"And we're sailing ! We're not on a nice beach with warm sand." Sedgewick complained while plopping onto the crate the stowaways were hiding in.
All three of them tensed as they felt the weight press onto the lid. None of them daring to even breathe too loudly.
"Whatever the case, we got a job again." The grape chided. "Let's just get to work to make the day go quick. Pirates who don't do anything, or not."
The stowaways let out a silent sigh of relief as they felt Sedgewick hop off the crate...
But that quickly vanished as Ava yelped and turned her head away from the oppressing light of the sun.
The lid was almost tossed on the deck from the sheer surprise and disappointment of finding the one person George did not want to see on this boat.
"Whaddya doin' kid?!?"
George looked at the other two guilty faces. If he had a hand he'd run it over his face when he cursed to himself.
"Alright! Out of there!" The grape was too old for this nonsense.
After they clumsily climbed out, the trio was met with the shocked faces and the uneasy silence of the whole ship. But it was much worse to see the rarely-angry George furrowing his bushy eyebrows.
Alexander cleared his throat to speak, but he was beat to it.
"What're you even doing here? Going against your dad's orders?! Sneaking onto the ship?!? Who knows how he's feeling!"
The prince tried to defend his case, but George didn't give him an inch.
"You of all people, I'm not surprised to see here. But kid." He turned to his goddaughter to see her clutching the fabric of her dress. She could hardly look him in the face. "You? This isn't like you!"
"If it makes any difference, this was my doing." Alexander finally managed. "I had the plans to smuggle myself onto the ship. Eloise did not want to leave Miss Ava behind, so I asked her if she was coming with..."
"So she felt pressured to go." George sighed out. He at least had more of an understanding.
"No." The person in question finally spoke.
"Kid?..."
She forced her eyes up. "I- I mean at first, yeah. I did. But, I chose to go. He wanted me to stay, but I didn't want to be alone. I'm sorry."
Her godfather's face morphed from understanding to surprise.
"So... now what?" Elliot had cautiously asked.
For once, Sedgewick didn't have a comment to make. He was just as uncomfortable as everyone else. George on the other hand, had several he wanted to air out. But for the sake of the atmosphere, he calmly came to a conclusion.
"Looks like you're lucky we're on a tight schedule. We're too far ahead to turn this huge thing back. And I doubt you wanna see your dad angry..."
The royals were about to thank their hero. But not before he had one final thing to say.
"Don't think things are all hunky-dory now. You've all got some work to make up for this. You may be stowaways, but you ain't gonna be freeloaders. And I'm looking at you sonny-boy." George grimaced before softening up. Albeit slightly.
With a sigh, he turned away from them and said over his shoulder;
"Guess we gotta find some rooms."