Bollard caught the bird before it attacked him, his hands securely squeezing the neck. “I’d love nothing more than to break your neck, old friend, but a promise is a promise. Take him.”
Rudolf came back into the room and took the bird. The bird struggled to bite him.
Bollard left the room.
When I was sure it was safe, I left my hiding space. Lothaire’s body slumped. Grandma’s prince. His breathing was shallow, almost nonexistent. His eyes were open and still. He was dead, but not. In a coma, but not. His body lived, but the man was gone all because he had tried to tell me something. I should have stood up. I should have stopped Bollard. Tears welled in my eyes. Grandma’s prince. I’d failed Grandma. I’d failed her prince. I couldn’t help it. I was so sorry. I hugged Lothaire and when I did, I knocked open his coat. Creeping up from inside his front pocket was a picture of him and Grandma. I took it and as I did, a necklace fell to the floor.
I picked it up and gasped. It was Grandma’s necklace! The necklace.
“I am so sorry!”
I stumbled back to my room in a daze. What had I seen? I felt sick to my stomach, and more than once I had to force myself to keep moving and not dissolve right in the middle of the hallway. Doc had left before I returned. Alone, I crumpled to the bed. What had I witnessed?
My thoughts were so awful, I dissolved into them. And I cried. I cried for everything that had happened that day. The fire, the attack. I cried for Lothaire, for my doctor, for my parents, Manon, Sasha, but mostly, I cried for me and for what I’d be forced to do. I didn’t remember falling asleep—I barely remembered slipping into my bed—but the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me. A man dressed head to toe in black stood over me.
“We’ve got to run.”
Chapter 20
A Shot in the Dark
This moment was out of a dream… or was this a nightmare? My mind was in such a sleepy fog, I couldn’t decide if it was real until he repeated, “If you want to escape, we need to run.”
My body jolted awake. Escape, run, yes.
“Grab your stuff.”
In my moment of joy, it didn’t matter that I had no clue who was behind the mask, if they were the Galvantry or not. All that mattered was escaping and saving myself from what I had just witnessed. I jumped from my bed and ran to my closet. I doubted I needed a dress, so I had limited options and no time to think. I had to move fast. I sucked at this kind of pressure; it was the SATs all over again. What could I not live without? The underwear drawer. I grabbed as many pairs as I could and stuffed them in an empty purse.
All my shoes were dressy and uncomfortable, so I put on my slippers.
It might be cool; I didn’t have much so I put on my white robe. My ring was on my finger, the necklace clasped around my neck.
The man came in, judging my choices. “Do you have any other shoes?”
“It’s these or heels.” I pointed to the rows and rows of glittering pristine shoes.
“We’ve got to run,” he said, and I followed the man out of my room and into the hallway. Five new guards lay on the ground. They were all asleep. One snored. I sincerely hoped this guy knocked out the whole place because at any second Bollard could jump out and attack us.
Bollard… the thought of my uncle prowling towards us was enough to get me out of there.
I ran past the man. He caught up.
As we got to the end of the animal hallway, more guards lay across the floor. I didn’t recognize any of them, and I realized they must have been added to protect me. It hadn’t worked. We made our way through the hall and down the stairs.
The man swung open the giant doors of the ballroom. Had it only been two weeks since my fake ball? Back before all the bad had happened. Now look at me. In the mirror reflection, I was bright pink in every way imaginable. My face was red from running. The only not pink thing about me was my white housecoat and slippers. The man in black was an ominous figure dragging me away from the ballroom.
Outside, a mist floated from the ceiling, mimicking a morning fog. My side stitched, and I needed to slow down to get my breath, but the man was pulling me so fast, I didn’t have a moment.
As we passed the fountain, I caught the silhouette of two people lying on the ground in an embrace. I saw their shoes; he was a guard, but the woman wore a dress and sandal strap heals. My stomach flipped as I recognized those shoes. I wormed my hand free from this stranger and went straight to the couple. Rudolf and Manon had been in the garden together. They’d be killed for sure if Bollard found them here.
I crouched down and took Rudolf’s arms. I yanked on him using my whole-body weight, but he didn’t budge.
“Get up,” the stranger commanded. “There isn’t time.”
I switched to Manon. This time I pulled her away a few inches but fell on my butt. I reached for her hands again. “We have to save them.”
The man took my arm, pulling me to my feet, all while saying, “They don’t need saving.”
I
