Annika the Fifth

Chapter Seventeen

Before I could scream she covered my mouth. Her hands still felt warm...maybe she didn't come from the dead. "Hush!" Saige...Alexandra said, "I can't let anyone know for now,"

I removed her hand from my mouth and just stared. I waved my hand at her face and she glared. "I'm real," she grumbled, "Very much real,"

So I was talking to the Princess Alexandra. The one people were saying died in a carriage accident. Is she actually alive? I guess it did make sense by the way Saige was acting. You know, with Noah and knowing all about Destinia. But it still seemed almost impossible.

"But..." I said slowly, "How...?"

"It's a long story," Alexandra replied, her eyebrows furrowing, "I just want you to help me with something in exchange for showing you Tomas,"

I stayed quiet. If Saige turned out to be a princess who everyone thought was dead, then what else could be possible? This is Princess Alexandra we're talking about anyway. I wouldn't have trusted Saige but I do trust her, but only a little. I slowly nodded. "Go on..."

Alexandra crossed her arms and looked at me seriously. "I want you to help me get back my throne," she said, "I know I'm supposed to be queen. Since Lady Mary is the only one with access to the Relic, she must've done something to change it,"

I paused. That did make somewhat sense. I don't know how she could change what the Fortune Relic showed though. Since another suspicion of mine is starting to be proven, the one about Lady Mary being up to something, I figured why not? Also, it was better than Maya being queen. "Okay," I said, nodding, "But do you promise you know where my brother is?"

Alexandra nodded, putting her hand on her heart.

I sighed, that was a lot. I still had no idea how I was going to help Alexandra but I would do anything to get my brother back.

Suddenly, the door knocked and Alexandra and I nearly jumped to the ceiling. Instantly, she ran to the corner of the room, rubbing her necklace. She slowly began transforming to Saige again which I thought was cool. Unfortunately, the person opened the door and it was none other than Noah. I sighed, a long and aggravated one, I was prepared for him to show me his Knightly Cards. Then I blinked in realization, shouldn't he be at the castle or something? "Noah?" I asked, walking over to him, "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same question," he said, "I came here because I think I left one of my cards here. I brought 26 with me to school and now I have 25,"

As I watched Noah search around the classroom, hardly noticing Saige, I figured the only thing he was truly serious about was his dumb cards. I folded my arms, but he still didn't answer my question. "Hey, Noah," I said, "Aren't you supposed to be at the palace or something?"

Noah looked up. "Yeah, I think..."

"What do you mean 'you think'?" Saige asked, speaking up.

Noah looked startled to see her there but he still answered. "Don't you remember? My fencing bout is today," he told us, "But my parents said I couldn't go because of that stupid parade. And I don't want to miss out on a bout for a boring parade so I'm going to skip it,"

Saige had this malicious grin on her face, excitedly clasping her hands together. "You want to skip Maya's parade?" she asked enthusiastically.

I wish I was close enough to nudge her.

Noah nodded, he bent down near a desk, searching under it. "I thought you were going to be at the parade, Anna," Noah said, "Are you skipping it too?"

I froze at the question. "Oh, um...yeah, I guess so,"

Saige linked my arm, pulling me closer to her to my discomfort. "We're skipping together," she said cheerfully, "We can come to your...uh...fencing match,"

Noah smiled gratefully at us. "Thanks!"

Saige giggled and I pulled away from her. It was odd seeing this interaction knowing who she really was.

Noah got up and let out a frustrated sigh. "Great, I think someone stole it. Maybe I should stop bringing my cards to school,"

Please do, was what I wanted to say but I held my tongue.

Noah headed towards the door. "I'll see you guys in the gym, right?"

I nodded while Saige practically yelled, "Yeah, of course, Noah!"

He waved and left and I turned to Saige and she gave me an innocent smile. "I don't think this is right," I said after a moment.

Saige frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean we both know Addie has a crush on Noah," I explained, "And she just found out she isn't going to be queen,"

Saige just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Yeah well think about me," she scoffed, "Everyone thinks I'm dead and goes on like nothing happened,"

I wanted to bring up the fact that our school was named after her and nobody fails to mention her at the castle but she kept talking.

"Also," she said, narrowing her eyes, "You promised me to get my future back. Right, Annika?"

I sighed, how could I forget? It's like I've signed an irreversible pact. "I know, I know," I huffed, "But Addie is also my friend, and maybe can you not be too obvious about also liking Noah?"

Saige just rolled her eyes and I was starting to hate when she did that. "Whatever," she said, "Just remember I mean it when I say I'll do everything to be queen. So if I am, you are too,"

She jabbed her finger into my shoulder which made me flinch. I glared at her.

"You got that?" she hissed.

I took a step back. "Yes, I do. You don't have to touch me to 'assert your dominance' or whatever,"

Saige snickered and shrugged causally. "Let's go to that fencing match. It'll be better than watching everyone kiss Maya's feet,"

She was right about that. So I followed Saige out of the classroom even though she didn't clean a single thing. It's not like she'd care, she just wants to be queen.

***

I feel like I need to work on a lot of things with my writing. Like adding less dialogue and to make the chapters longer. But I'm working on it. What do you think will happen next? Thanks for reading!