Royal Dilemma

Chapter Eighteen

(Charli's Point of View)

The lights and noise of the regional fair might be overwhelming if I didn't have CJ to help me navigate it. When he proposed the idea I was skeptical. I've never been to a fair before and if they're anything like they are on TV, I don't want to go. We just got here and I kind of already want to go home. There are way too many snot-nosed kids running around. Isn't it past their bedtime?

CJ stops walking in front of a ride shaped like a spaceship. "Do you get motion sick?" He asks, looking down at me.

"Not really."

CJ grins. "Awesome."

We fork over some of our tickets to the man working the ride and then climb the stairs to enter the ship. Inside there's a circular hub in the middle. The rounded walls are covered with padded boards. What the hell is this thing? Some sort of torture device?

CJ leads me to a spot near the far-middle of the ship and he relaxes against one of the padded boards.

"What the hell is this?" I ask him.

CJ just grins. "When it starts spinning, lay back on the board. And don't lift your head."

"Excuse me?"

The ride's operator enters the spaceship and closes the futuristic door behind him. He sits in the seat in the center hub and begins pressing buttons. The lights dim and music starts to blare, then the ride slowly begins to turn. I lay back against the board like CJ told me to and wait as the ride starts to spin faster and faster. Suddenly I feel an invisible force pressing down on me, pinning me to the wall.

What the hell?

The force gets stronger and then all of a sudden the board I'm leaning on slides upward and I jump. CJ and a few other people have sat up even though he told me not to do that. One guy manages to stand on the bottom of his board and it looks like he's walking on the wall.

When the ride ends I stumble out after the herd of people, CJ trailing behind me.

"Well?" He asks when we're clear of the crowd. "What do you think?"

"It was weird."

"Bad weird?"

I glance at the spaceship as more people begin boarding it. "Not bad, just weird." I tilt my head and study the ship. "That was hypergravity right?"

I turn my attention back to CJ who simply shrugs.

"I have no idea what hypergravity is," he admits.

"It's having more gravity than usual affecting your body." I cross my arms and look from the ship back to CJ. "I wonder how much more gravity that gives off. Do you think the operator knows?"

CJ grins. "I really doubt it." He wraps his arm around me and starts leading me towards another ride. "Who knew you were a closet nerd?"

"I'm not a nerd." I elbow him in the side. "I've just taken some physics classes."

"Nerd," he sings.

"I am going to kick your ass."

"Go ahead, I think I might be into that." He gives me a cheeky smile.

We come to a stop outside an oval spinning vertically with little cages attached to it. I watch as some of the cages flip upside down and then right themselves again.

"Okay, what is this?"

"It's The Zipper and it's awesome."

"It's a death trap, is what it is."