Another Cinderella Story

18. Home ~Liam~

 We were safe— for now. I sat in the carriage, and tried to cover my face so the peasants wouldn't see me. All I needed now was a ruckus over the taxes. The people seemed to take it all out on me whenever I rode through town.

"So," Lily said, trying to break the silence, "we need to hear your story, Jessie. How in the world did you find us?"

Jessie smiled, and I saw how much she resembled her sister. "It isn't too amazing. I ran out of the ball and heard the whole thing dissolve into chaos."

"People being taken away screaming spreads panic quite quickly," I laughed.

"Yeah," Jessie replied with a grin. "Anyways, I hid out in the bushes waiting for you to come out. I think I must have waited for about an hour, before I decided to come out. Little did I know, a maid was walking though there right then. I was so scared she was going to take me away or something, but she turned out to be really worried about you," Jessie said.

"Was her name Maya?" I said.

Jessie looked surprised. "You knew her?"

"We were friends at the castle," I said, but seeing Lily's eyes widen, I added, "Only friends. Seriously, just friends."

Lily relaxed, and Jessie went on. "Maya helped me into the castle wearing maids clothes. I asked to go down to the dungeon and bring you your breakfast, and when the guard left, I snatched his keys."

Lily laughed, "You would make a good thief— pickpocketing and lying like you did in the castle!"

Jessie turned a bright shade of red and everyone started laughing too.

"Wait, where are we going?" Jessie asked, turning to the road. "That's our street back there."

"I was hoping you guys had any suggestions," Liam said, "but we can't just go back there. That's the first place the queen will look for us."

"Well we can't just leave Mother and Angus there!" Lily said. "They're our family! If they were caught, they could be used against us."

"Okay," Liam said. "Stop the carriage," he told the driver. "We have two more people to pick up."

"You did what?" Lily's mother said.

"I know it's a lot," she said, "but we need to go. To our old house."

Lily's mother pursed her lips. "We're going to take the prince there?" she said.

"It's our best bet. We have a carriage waiting," Ella said.

Everyone started to move, seeing as Lily's mother seemed to have given in.

"Wait!" Lily said.

They stopped.

"Where's Angus?" she asked.

Lily's mother frowned. "He left last night. Important business."

"What kind of business?" Jessie asked.

She sighed. "He didn't tell me, but he said it was very important."

"When will he be back?" Lily asked.

"Hopefully soon," she said. "But where from, I don't know."

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