Kiros

Chapter 17: She's Not Heartless

I was thankful that I didn't bring a ton of stuff to Aramella's because it would make it much harder to escape if I had to lug a suitcase behind me.

Snatching up my music/research tablet, I locked onto the signal from Vixen and sent out a video message to Marilio.

Shooting a quick glance down the hallway to make sure no one was there, I closed the door just as Marilio picked up. His black hair was tousled and messy, his lavender eyes looked tired and sleepy. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mar," I apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you up, but this is really important."

He rubbed his face and nodded. "Yeah. What's up?"

I leaned in and hissed, "They are going to kill me!"

"Who?"

"The entire town! They think that I'm dangerous and that I'm going to hurt them or something like that. They're going to execute me in a few hours!"

Marilio blinked. "Say what?"

"They put me through some kind of test that I apparently failed, and now they're going to kill me," I wailed. "Mar, I need to get off this planet! I don't know how to do it! I, I, I'm freaking out! I thought that I could trust them! They seemed so nice and welcoming and they gave me food and a place to stay and I thought that maybe they could help me get out of here but they don't want me to get out of here they want to kill me and I'm really not ready to die because apparently I'm the princess of some foreign planet and that's the real reason that Kodi wants to kill me: I'm in the way.

"I think his dad or something tried to kill my parents, failed, but forced them to run away or something. I don't know! I don't know what's happening! There's so much information coming at me from all sides. I find out that I'm not Eglisian, I find out that I'm a princess. I find out that Kodi has a legitimate reason--albeit, it's not a good or justified one--to want to kill me, and that his father is most likely the king of the planet that I actually belong to and am the heir to, which is some planet called Zephyr or something and... UGH!"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down as everything caught up to me.

Marilio listened to everything, and once I could breath normally, he smiled softly at me. "Kiros, it's going to be okay. You're blowing this into something much bigger than it needs to be."

"What are you talking about? They want to kill me and you're telling me that I'm overreacting?" I screeched.

He shrugged. "It's not like this is the worst thing you've been through. You are Kiros Asaphath. I know you'll think of something."

"But what?" I started to pace around my room.

He pursed his lips. "What planet are you on again?"

"Some place called Luuo," I replied.

"Let me lock onto your position and I can help you figure out a way to get out of this mess."

Marilio set his communication tablet down and I was greeted with a ceiling. I could hear Marilio rummaging through his drawers as he searched for... Whatever it was he was going to use.

A tap on my door startled me and I muted the tablet. "What do you want?" I growled in my fiercest voice.

"Kiros, let me in," Aramella ordered. "We need to talk."

"Why should I?" I retorted.

She huffed. "It's my house. Let me in."

Marilio's face appeared on the screen again and I held my index finger to my lip, making sure he wouldn't talk.

"I'm busy right now," I called.

"With what?" she scoffed. "Getting ready for your execution by putting on some half-decent clothes?"

I clenched my jaw. "You little--"

"Mell, are you bothering Kiros?" I heard Essen ask.

"No. She's the one being rude. This is my house and she won't let me in!"

"Maybe if you weren't such a brat I would," I called.

I heard her gasp. "You are under my roof, you little--"

"Aramella, come on. Let's go get a snack or something. We can talk to her later. "Essen sighed and I heard the two of them leave. (Aramella was still complaining about how terrible of a house guest I was.)

I sighed and picked up my tablet, turning the sound back on. "Sorry, Mar."

He shook his head and adjusted his glasses. "It's fine. I understand..." A smile broke across his face. "Are you really a princess?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I guess. I mean, I don't know how accurate that vision I saw was, but it is pretty darn convincing. I don't know. I'm just... I'm a little bit confused right now. That's all. But first, before we figure out of I really am a princess or not, let's deal with the important stuff. First off, getting out of here."

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In ten minutes, everything was set. I had all of my things packed into the bed sheet that I tied into a sling-type backpack. Marilio was still online, and I hoped that the battery life on the tablet would last me long enough to get to Vixen and avoid getting executed.

I usually try to not get executed in my first week of being on a planet.

"You ready?" Marilio's muffled voice said from inside the bag.

"Yup. I'm ready," I replied. "Let's do this thing."

"Remember: once you get out there, you need to find a way to get to the tops of the houses. If you're going to jump across the roofs, you need a way to get up there."

I heard footsteps coming towards my door and I cursed. "I need to put a pause on that," I said quickly. "Someone's coming."

"Hurry!"

The door opened, and Aramella stood there with her arms crossed. "Come on."

I blanched. "But it's not even time for the exe--"

"You're not going to the execution," she snapped. "Do you really think I'm that heartless?"

I didn't respond.

"You're unbelievable," she hissed. "Come on. We only have a small window of time for Leni to smuggle you out and make it look like you actually escaped on your own."

I stood there, shocked. "What? You... You're helping me?"

She sniffed. "I would rather not, but yes. My idiot brother and Leni agreed to, so I guess that's what's happening. Come on. We don't have much time."

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-flygirl1

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