Something in the water

Chapter 6

I run straight into Peters arms. I have no idea what I am doing, or why I am doing this. Peter holds me in tight to his chest, I start crying now. I hate crying but I seem to be doing it a lot now. "Hey hey, it's okay" Peter reassures me, he rubs my back and I squeeze him tighter. He rests his chin on my head,and I try to calm down.

We walk for a few minutes in silence until we reach a beach. "I wish I could go swimming. I haven't been swimming in ages" I admit to Peter. "Why not? Why can't we go swimming right now?" Peter says and turns to me with a cheeky smile. "I'm a princess, and you're supposed to be a prince" I say with a smile, I kick off my shoes and take off my hat, I go to sit down next to my things but Peter picks me up, throws me over his shoulder and runs straight for the water, We laugh wildly like children, the water is cold but feels amazing. I look over at Peter, his dark messy hair, his wild blue eyes, he's really handsome, but has more of a careless handsomeness. "what?" He asks "you're staring, is there something on my face" why do I always stare at people when I'm thinking? "Yes there is something on your face" I splash water at his face, he stares at me gobsmacked for a moment "you know this means war right?" He says and we begin splashing each other and laughing. Peter swims over, picks me up and throws me in again. I stay under the water for a moment just looking up at the sun and Peters reflection. Water so calm, so peaceful. I think of my mother, how is she feeling right now? Why did this happen to her? She's the most caring and wonderful person I know. How would she have gotten sick? She was no where near anyone who was infected. What does almost everyone in the kingdom have in common? Air? It mustn't be the air because Maggy and I would be sick. Mother always told me not to drink the water from the tap, Maggy never drank from the tap either. It's the water! I jump out of the water right in front of Peter, he looks like he was about to jump in to find me. "It's the water!" I gasp at him trying to catch my breath. "It's the water" I say again. Peter stares at me he doesn't understand. "That's what's making everyone sick. It's in the water" I explain. He hold my face in his hands "What are you talking about?" He says with a worried look. I hold his wrists and pull his hands away. "What's the one thing that commoners and royalty do?" I say. "Drink water! It's so simple". "Why aren't you sick then? Or Maggy?" Peter asks. "Maggy and I don't drink the tap water, we drink from our own rainwater tanks." I explain. I run from the water and up the beach, grab my things and start back towards the castle. Peter quickly catches up, "Hey we should go to the markets they're on our path back" he says, "I don't have time for that, I need to get back to the castle" I almost yell at him. "So you can do what? There's nothing you can do to help" he says calmly. I know there's nothing I can do to help here, that's why I need to go home. But I owe him a walk through a market I guess. "Okay we might as well" I say. We start heading towards the markets. We get there pretty quick, I didn't know that Peter knew his kingdom so well. There are stalls all along each side of the road, selling everything from wildflowers to candles to materials for building. There are so many people here, so it's really noisy. All of the people recognize Peter but not many of them know me, and we must look really silly, still dripping wet from our swim, not wearing shoes and I'm not wearing my hat. We walk up to the first stall it has fresh fruit on it, it's run by a girl who's probably not much older than me. "Would you like anything today?" She says, she has such a sweet voice, still soft and young but strong. I look over the various fruits, some I can recognize and some I can't. Then my eyes fall on a strange yellow star shaped fruit, I know it because I had one when I was younger. "One of these." I say picking up the fruit. "Would you like me too prepare it for eating?" She asks. "Yes thank you" I say then give her some money. Peter has lost interest and is wandering around talking with people. I take the small bowl she put the fruit in and run back to Peter. We walk from stall to stall, sometimes buying stuff, sometimes not, but Peter stays the same talking pleasantly and understanding the people, I can't help but think that he will make a great king one day.

We reach the palace gates just before sundown. "Open up" Peter says to the guard, the guard opens the door and lets Peter through but closes it before I can get through. "Hey I am princess Alice" I yell at him, I've clearly lost my temper now, I can feel my face go red. "That's right she is and you had better let her in before I get the king down here, and you won't like the outcome of that." Peter threatens. I secretly know that he won't get the king because that would mean this man would lose his job and Peter doesn't want that to happen. The guard think about Peters words for a minute then decides to let me in. We race up the steps and straight to the kitchen to grab some food, I don't want to attend dinner tonight so I grab a lot of food before racing Peter back to my room. We burst into my room noisily and jump onto my bed spreading the food across the sheets. We sit quietly for a few minutes. "I'm leaving as soon as I can." I tell Peter. "I know". I look at him and he's watching me carefully as if I could break if he looked at me too closely. I lean in close to him so our faces are only inches apart, "how?" I say quietly. "Because you hope you can save your mom, you hope you can help find a cure, you are hoping for an adventure." He replies. He is right I do want to save my mom and I do want to help and most of all I do want an adventure. I've done nothing but princess lessons and reading my whole life. Now it's time for me to write my own story and it begins now. I lean even closer and kiss him on the lips gently. I didn't even realize I'd done it until he kisses me back, a little harder than my kiss. Maggy burst into the room with a huff and starts complaining that there is a boy in my room again and what would my parents think and all that stuff. I kiss him again then push him of the bed. He falls onto the floor failing to catch the bed post. He gets up, brushes himself off says a pleasant and acceptable goodnight, then leaves the room. "Oh look at your dress" Maggy says, my dress is covered in mud and food. "I'm sorry." I apologize but she starts going off about how she has to clean this and that. I climb into bed and fall asleep. I'm more tired than I thought.

Hey guys, how do you like this chapter. It's my little sisters favorite because she ships Peter and Alice. Don't forget to add this story to your library, vote or leave a comment. Thank you for reading this. Bye XOXO