Meanwhile at Audubon, Dominick was taking off his hat, replacing it with a crown while Ambassador Bismarck said. "You're going to just tell her that you disguised yourself as a page? Are you sure that's wise, sire?"

"Not really, Ambassador." replied Dominick. "But I have to be honest. I think she'll understand. I didn't want to marry a stranger any more than she did."


Once my mom had dropped me off at Bowditch, Buck and I secretly followed her to Audubon, where we both took our first look at the school through the pathway.

"Holy Rapunzel!" Buck exclaimed as he looked at the tops. "That's a lot of towers."

"And there's where we need to go." I added, pointing at Anneliese's tower, where the balcony was facing one of the playgrounds. "But how do we get to Erika without being seen?"

Buck gave it some thought, then said. "Hey, uh, trick question; have you ever seen one of those films where the main guy sneaks around to get to his girl?"

"Uh, no. Why?" I asked, before realizing what Buck had in mind.

"You're not seriously thinking of..." I said before Buck scooped me up, saying. "Oh, I most certainly am."

With me on his back, Buck leapt onto the roof, where I exclaimed. "This is crazy!"

"How crazy are we going for here?" asked Buck. "Plain crazy or adventurously crazy?"

"Dangerously crazy!" I panicked while looking down.

Buck shrugged. "Hmm, that works too."

He carried me across the roof, looking down to see the library, which was the way inside to get to Anneliese's room.

"CowaBucka!" he exclaimed while swinging ourselves from the roof through the library doors, where inside, Dominick and Ambassador Bismarck heard a slam and a thud while they were passing through.

They turned to see Buck posing as a stuffed animal, looked at each other, shrugged, then walked to the other room.

I hid behind Buck as we tiptoed towards the elevator, where I pushed the button to go up, asking once we got inside. "CowaBucka?"


Up inside Anneliese's room, Erika paced nervously while saying to herself. "How am I going to do this? Everyone will know I'm a fake. They'll throw me in the dungeon in two seconds flat! Oh, Julian, where are you? Why aren't you here?"

DING!

On hearing the elevator sounding, Erika turned to see the doors open, revealing me and Buck.

"Erika!" I called out.

Filled with relief, Erika wrapped her arms around us, saying. "Oh, you guys are a sight for worried eyes."

"Well, put those worries to rest." said Buck. "Because, get this; the Princess actually showed up at Nathan's house last night."

"Oh, thank goodness." sighed Erika. "When were you planning to bring her back?"

"Well, because the wedding is on Labor Day, we hope to make the switch on Sunday…ish." I replied. "In the meantime…"

I took off my backpack, unzipping it to pull out a walkie-talkie, which I handed to Erika, saying. "Courtesy of Foster City School's Hall Monitor Patrol. That way, you can keep us updated until it's time to bring Anneliese back to Audubon."

Erika tucked the walkie-talkie safe in her dress pocket, saying. "I'll do just that."

As she gave me another hug, saying…

"Thanks for checking on me."

…Wolfie tapped on Buck's leg, asking. "Uh, what about Serafina? How's she doing?"

Buck lowered his head, whispering. "With a lively bunch like the Imaginaries, she's in good hands."

DING!

Erika stood up on hearing the elevator sound again.

The doors parted, revealing Preminger, who greeted. "Your Lovely Highness!"

Erika turned back to see that Buck and I were gone.

She hurried out to the balcony, where she spotted us bounding off the roof and disappearing through the pathway.

"What are you looking for?" Preminger asked as he came towards Erika, before Wolfie stood in his way, barking at him and Midas, who scurried back to the elevator in fright upon seeing him again.

"And what is that…that cat doing here?" added Preminger.

"He belongs to me!" Erika replied…as Anneliese.

"Oh! He's yours, is he?" assumed Preminger. "Well, my thousand apologies, my dear. Such a canine...feline."

He glanced back at Wolfie, who growled and barked at him, then asked. "What happened to the other one"

"Uh... she's around here somewhere." fibbed Erika.

"I see." Preminger said, backing away with a suspicious look on his face. "So rare...that you're apart."

He cleared his throat, then pushed the down button, saying while ushering his hand towards the open elevator. "The Queen has sent me to escort you to the assembly room...to meet the King."

Erika felt uneasy, but knew she doesn't want to make Preminger more suspicious.

"Uhh...thank you." she said to him while approaching the elevator, on which Wolfie reluctantly entered as well.