THE ROYAL CROWN WARS

Chapter Twelve

Alexandria leaned against the door of my room with Lizzie's red backpack in hand. She stuffed the backpack full of all kinds of things. She smoothed out her skirt and straightened up once we got closer.

"Did you bring everything?" Lizzie asked, jogging over.

"Of course, I did. I got your PJs, your toothbrush, and clothes for tomorrow before the dinner," Alexandria listed off the rest of the things in the backpack.

"The headlamps?" asked Lizzie.

Lizzie yanked the bag out of her hand and unzipped it. She shoved her hand further into the bag ignoring all of the purple shirts and pants falling out of the bag.

Alexandria sighed and bent down picking up the clothes onto the floor. "Elizabeth, they're going to be at the bottom. They're one of the first things I packed. I still don't understand why you need them."

She glanced up. "We're going to tell scary stories. Duh."

Alexandria rolled her eyes. "Right, right. You did ask the King and Queen if you could stay, right?"

"We just got back from there," I chimed in. "My mom is having a bed brought up, and she thought it was a good idea." Finally, the first honest thing I've said in a while. It was nice not to have to lie about anything.

"Alright, are the two of you going to behave?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "We'll be just fine, Alexandria, don't worry."

Her brow rose. "Uh-huh."

"How much trouble can we really get into?" Lizzie asked, innocently.

She waved her hand. "I don't really want to know the answer to that. And, I don't really have the time. You behave, and I'll see you later. I have to run some errands for your father."

Alexandria patted Lizzie on the head and strolled down the hallway.

Lizzie and I bolted into my room. Slamming the door shut, I locked the door behind us. I wasn't supposed to have the door locked. It was only there for emergencies, but this was an emergency.

She threw the backpack down on the bed and threw the clothes out. A variety of clothes fell onto the floor and other things scattered onto the floor. The backpack was nearly empty when she pulled out two headlamps.

With a toothy grin, Lizzie held out the headlamps. Eagerly I took mine. The one I used had small splatters of red paint on it from last summer. Lizzie and I had gone caving then ended up trying to do some painting. My parents offered to replace it, but she didn't think it was a big deal.

Lizzie and I adjusted the elastic straps until they fit perfectly on our heads. This was really going to work.

* **

All we had to do was get through dinner then we could go back to get the blueprints. To prepare for the event tomorrow, we were having dinner in one of the ballrooms.

The ballroom held a homey feeling. The oak wooden table was large enough to sit between 6-8 people. They'd covered the table in a beautiful velvet red tablecloth. The normally hard wooden chairs felt like I was sinking into a soft pillow with the matching velvet material.

The smell of red meat lingered in the air along with some roasted vegetables. We took our seats in front of the already-plated table. In front of us sat one plate, three different forks, two different spoons, and a water glass. The adults at the table had the exact same place except they also had wine.