Alice

15. Betrayal

15. Betrayal

I woke up the next morning to a voice.

"Alice. Alice, wake up," it whispered

I groaned and turned over.

"Alice, come on! Alice!" The voice got louder.

"Five more minutes, Mom," I mumbled, pulling a pillow over my head.

"Five more minutes, Mom," I mumbled, pulling a pillow over my head.

Suddenly, the pillow was yanked out of my hands. The next moment, it hit me over the head.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, sitting up. "What the heck?!" I was quite annoyed. Jack stood next to my bed, the pillow in his hand.

"Sorry, but it's important," he explained, trying not to smile at my irritation.

"What's important?" I asked, still groggy.

"The gem worked."

"It did? That's great!" I exclaimed, smiling. "How do you know?"

"No one will do what the Queen says. She literally can't sit on the throne, and she can't even touch the crown. She's really mad."

"Wow," I said in awe. "That's great! So have you become king while I was sleeping?"

"Uh, not exactly. I haven't told anyone that I have the ruby."

"Does she even know that it's missing?"

"Not yet....."

Just then, an extremely loud, high-pitched, blood-curdling shriek cut through the air.

"Well, she does now," I said. "Come on!" I sprung out of bed, threw a sweatshirt on over my sweats, and rushed out the door, with Jack in tow.

"WHERE IS IT?! WHERE IS MY NECKLACE?!" I heard the Queen bellow.

We followed the sound of the Queen's screaming to the courtroom. We snuck in, attempting not to be seen, but the Queen was so busy on her tirade that she wouldn't have noticed us if we had stormed in like elephants.

"It's gone!" the Queen screamed. There was a servant standing in front of her holding the onyx box the necklace should have been in. He quivered with fear as the Queen glowered down at the empty box.

"Alice!" the Queen called when she saw me. "My beloved ruby necklace is missing!"

Yes, I know, I wanted to say, The entire kingdom knows because of the way you've been shouting. But what I really said was, "Oh no! That's terrible, Your Majesty."

"Yes! It is!" she agreed. "What do you think happened to it?"

"Maybe you lost it?" I suggested.

"No, no, I never lose anything," she said. "The only thing that could have happened was that it was stolen. Yes, that's it! But who is the thief?" She glared around the room, as if those cold black eyes could see into everyone's mind. A lot of people must have thought she could, because the servants, heralds, nobles, and guards looked very nervous.

"Alice," she said, looking at me. I couldn't see any suspicion in her face, but maybe she was a better actress than I thought. "Who do you think is the thief?" she asked.

Oh crap! I thought. She wants me to make an accusation?

"Um, I don't know, Your Majesty," I answered.

"Well, take a guess then!" the Queen ordered.

"I, um.... I really have no idea." What else was I supposed to say? I knew who it was, obviously. But I couldn't tell the truth, and I certainly wasn't about to pin it on Jack or Brokk. But I didn't want to falsely accuse someone.