As soon as I get upstairs to my bed, I practically collapse. Today was exhausting, but also the most fun I've had in weeks. I can't believe Saoirse is that amazing of a fighter, and Kaire too. I've never seen anyone fight like those two did. I try and go to sleep but my thoughts keep me awake, and before I can even realize the time there's a knock at my door. "Come in." I say. Saoirse walks through the door followed by Emer, Kaire, and then Kansai. They all stand awkwardly around my bed, and it feels weird for them to be here.
"What?" I ask, baffled.
"I've let them in on the plan." Saoirse says bluntly. She stares me straight in the eye, daring me to get angry.
"Oh well. Are you going to say anything?" Kansai chuckles. He knows me well enough to know I'm angry, but no one else does. Saoirse and Kaire just look surprised. Emer isn't paying attention.
"No," Kansai says. "In fact, we're co—" Emer cuts him off.
"We're coming with you!" He says. I look downwards.
"And you didn't ask me?" I say, looking at Saoirse angrily. She looks at Kansai, then Kaire and Emer.
"I didn't want to leave them behind." "But guess what? That's what we signed up for when we made this plan. Now you didn't think to ask me if we should drag my family, no, my friends into this?" I don't yell, mostly because I'm tired and someone I barely know is who I'm angry at. I fall back in my bed. My hair's still tied back, and I feel dirty. Sounds a lot like two days ago, huh?
"If I asked you, youd've said no." She says with no shame at all. She knows what she did, plain and simple, and she didn't care about what I wanted. This was just her being selfish.
"I never thought you'd admit that." I offer her a cold smile. "That was selfish of you, wasn't it." She nods.
"Well then, you can run away on your own." "What?" She says quietly, angrily.
"Gained three friends, lost one." I'm being rash, and frankly stupid, but I don't care. We're both acting like children.
She turns away and walks calmly back to her rooms. Kaire and Emer follow her after a minute or two of me sulking and telling them I'm not mad, and Kansai sits down on the bed and stretches.
"Do you think I'm being childish?" "I'd have done worse, if my partner-in-crime told some people of my super secret plan." He laughs and I loosen up a bit. We sit in silence for a while.
"Want to do something stupid?" He asks me. I nod. He leads me up a familiar corridor and I know where we're going. Up some twisted stairs we go in silence, and when we reach the top I see a beautiful open view of the stars. This is where Kansas and I spent our childhood nights, peering up at the stars. Playing games and telling stories, rehearsing made-up plays and practicing Kung Fu forms. Jumping off buildings. I smile, one tinged with sadness. I miss those days.
"Jump on three?" I ask. He nods.
"One...Two...THREE!" I yell and we both run to the edge and dive over. Two rope are hung on the side and we each grab one loosely, letting ourselves drop for as long as we can before we have to stop. I let myself fall, and I let go of the rope for a time and dive with my arms straight down. It's too high up for me to worry about it, and I grab my rope again when the ground approaches. I laugh as the wind moves fast and then I pull my arms up and it stops. I smile as I let the grass touch my bare feet. I really missed this.
"Much better." Kansai says, and he's right, it is.
"Yeah." And after this, we go back to our rooms, like it never happened.
When I'm washed and dressed for bed, I a small, stupid idea forms in my head. What if I run away now? There's no one stopping me, so why wait for Saoirse to make it impossible when she takes off with three members of the Mycenian royal family, as well as herself, Princess of Calistime. I get in bed and try to push the idea down, but it doesn't work. Before I know it, I'm putting on commoners clothes and tying up my hair. I look at myself in the mirror, and I look different. Lighter? No, but perhaps Harder? And then it hits me, I look like I'm on my own, totally independent for once. It's a nice look. I shove my feet into brown leather traveling boots and silently creep out of my room.
I make my way to the place where Saoirse and I have stored food and money and I take half of it, knowing that Saoirse will escape. She's too strong not to. The private stables are all locked, but I have the key and I unlock Iphigenia's stall. She's a beautiful red Arabian with a white spot on her back fetlock, and a born runner.
And I'm off. There's almost no guards because of the extra people in the castle. Save for my room, which my father orders unguarded so that if there is an intruder I can prove my valor, and my father's and mother's room, all the rooms have at least two guards.
The night air is wonderful and cold, and my clothes are loose and my hair is back and it feels wonderful to be free. Finally free, not watched every second. I don't have much to complain about, but now that no eyes are on me, I could fly it feels so good. I ride until the dawn breaks, and Iphigenia's wails and neighs carry all through the forest. We find a clearing in the woods that isn't far from the road that runs through the forest, and I hide myself in the bushes. I think about what I've done, and what mother and father will think. I think about what my cousins will think. I think about what Saoirse will think. And surprisingly, I don't care that much. I watch the sun move up into the sky, and before I know it, I'm asleep.