THE ROYAL CROWN WARS

Chapter One

Our mission was simple: get in and get out of the kitchen without anyone seeing us.

Simple. Real simple. Except for the two flights of stairs, the never-ending main hallway, and the royal guards stationed at every corner. Oh, and if we get caught the King's head will probably explode.

All right, it wouldn't explode, but he'd ground me for life. Especially since he specifically told us not to leave my room.

Luckily, the King is in some meeting everyone's been going on and on about. It's been going on for an hour and a half, and even though everyone says "Don't worry about it, it's grown-up stuff," to me it says one thing: fewer people to catch me and my best friend, Lizzie, standing in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Jamie," said Lizzie. "Nothing bad is going to happen. We're not going to get caught. Are we really going to miss out on Dean's chocolate chip cookies because you want to sit in your room?"

I shifted my weight from one foot to another. "Er...my dad said-"

"Oh, come on," Lizzie interrupted. "The visiting Kings do not need all those cookies. They'll never eat them all. It's Dean's cookies."

Dean Wells was the best baker in the whole country and the palace's personal chef. He was one of Lizzie and I's favorite staff members. We always talked him into sneaking us cookies.

One cookie was often bigger than my head. The cookies always remained warm, the chocolate stayed gooey, and it was so soft.

"Lizzie," I said. "You know these hallways better than I do at this point." Her father had been a royal consultant to the King of Lannina, who just happened to be my dad, for most of our lives. "We'll never get past the guards." My stomach twisted into knots at the thought of a guard seeing me in the hallway. They'd spot my shadow cast across the white-marble titled hallway. I'd be toast.

"Princesses don't break the rules." The words tasted bitter coming out of my mouth. Mom and Dad said it at least once a day.

This morning they'd mentioned how important it was for me to stay in my room while they had their meetings. It didn't make any sense because the rooms were soundproof, but they didn't want us running through the palace.

They expected me to behave perfectly, and I didn't want to disappoint them. I'd promised my mom, the Queen, we'd stay in my room. This was a chance to show them I wasn't just a kid anymore.

Lizzie said, "Breaking the rules for cookies doesn't count, and the princesses in all the stories didn't hide out in their rooms."

"Rapunzel did."

"They locked her in her room, she wasn't hiding away in it."

Lizzie's head dropped down as her red hair fell out of her messy bun. Her hazel green eyes looked up softly at me, while her bottom lip curdled into a pout.

Ugh! Her infamous puppy-dog look. Why did she have to do that right now? No one could resist giving into her with that look. Not even her dad, who was a very tough man.

I sighed. "Fine. Let's go get cookies, but if we get caught, I'm going to tell them that it was all your idea."

Yanking the black hair tie off my wrist, I tied my brown hair back into a loose ponytail. The last thing I needed during this mission was my hair getting in my face.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks."

"You're older," I said.

"By six months!"

By exactly six months. Lizzie and I always found it cool that our birth dates were exactly six months apart. Her birthday was June 3rd, and my birthday was December 3rd. However, in two weeks, I'd be twelve too.

Sighing I stepped out of the door frame and directly onto the freezing cold marble floor. The thin black socks I wore barely provided any protection from the floor. It didn't seem to matter what temperature they kept the heat at, the floor was always ice cold during the winter.

"It's so cold," I said.

Lizzie's brows knitted together. "That excuse isn't going to work. We're going to get those cookies."

"I was just saying it's cold."

She waved her hand dismissively.

"How do you plan to get there?" I asked.

Lizzie bounced down the hallway barefooted. "Well..."

My eyes widened. "You don't have a plan!?"

"Of course, I have a plan," said Lizzie matter-of-factly. "You just won't like it."

My brow rose in question. Except, she didn't offer an explanation.

"Lizzie?"

"Just remember you'll get cookies at the end of it."

My brows knitted together. "Stop stalling."

"We're going to take the secret passageway."

I froze. No way was that going to happen.

The last time we went into the secret passageway, a mouse climbed up my leg. That wasn't the part that bothered me. It was the pair of glowing yellow eyes hiding in the total darkness. After telling Mom and Dad about it, they forbid us from ever going down there again.

My stomach churned. How many rules did Lizzie want to break right now?

"We can't go in there!"

Lizzie frowned. "Don't be like that."

I crossed my arms across my chest. "Did you forget about the monster? I'm not going down there. No way!"

Sighing, Lizzie reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She quickly swiped up, and a stream of light came out. "We have a flashlight this time."

"No way," I said. "Dean's cookies are not that good."

"We're going to miss out on cookies because you're too chicken?"

Lizzie pouted and batted her eyelashes. There was that look again, the puppy dog look. How was anyone supposed to resist that look? She stepped closer to me and began to whine. "Plllleeassseee."

"Fine," I muttered.

Squealing, Lizzie grabbed my hand and yanked me down the hallway. I forced myself to stare at the back of her head instead of the paintings of the King and Queen. Even the paintings looked disappointed at the number of rules we were about to break.

As if this wasn't risky enough, we'd have to sneak past Mom and Dad's hopefully empty room too.

Coming to a stop at the end of the hallway we peeked around the corner. Only one royal guard stood at the end of the hallway. He leaned against the white-painted brick wall, tapping on his phone. Every few seconds he'd laugh at something and then scroll.

Seriously? This looked too easy.

Following Lizzie's lead, we tiptoed over towards the bookshelf about halfway down the hallway. Typically, Mom kept nice flowers on them or some trinkets someone had given her. Dad called them dust collectors.

Looking closer the guard wasn't just playing on his phone, but he had wireless earphones in. Seriously?

Reaching up on the third shelf, I yanked on the black leather book. The bookshelf gilded open. The guard didn't even bother looking up from his phone and continued to laugh and scroll.

Looking down the secret passageway it was nearly impossible to see anything but blackness. The smell of wet dogs and mold drifted out into the hallway. My stomach churned.

"Together?" I asked.

"Together," said Lizzie.

Pointing her flashlight down the hallway, we stepped into the secret passageway. The bookshelf gilded back across and slammed shut. Leaving us in total darkness.