ROYAL-TEA [ON HOLD]

16

ANTHONY'S POV.

I knew she was worried about her friends. Aaliyah loved them like family. I knew she had her thinking cap on when she started to flit from one side of the control panel to another. Then she saw me and grinned conspirationally.

"I know how to save them," she laughed with glee. "I know EXACTLY what to do!"

Then she tapped on the mic and spoke. "Hello, you Russian Vermin!"

I watched as everyone inside trained their eyes outside, and those outside... well, trained their eyes everywhere. "I know you're hiding liberated slaves in your settlement and for that you shall pay with your lives. All of you shall die!!!" She yelled dramatically.

What was she doing???!

She tapped on a few buttons as she reiterated the same "Russian Vermin" message and found the sound file on the computer. Soon, she played the aeroplane noise over the speakers as she continued talking. We watched people cover their ears and smiled.

Then we turned off the mic and sounds and watched as Nina and her family were released. What followed was the following of the people who just held our hosts hostage outside. They didn't look too pleased once they discovered they had been tricked. They couldn't attack because even the slaves had come up to them carrying pitchforks and other farm implements.

It was safe to say that the visitors were shown out a few minutes later. Aaliyah cheered and we hugged each other before we both realized what we were doing. We jumped apart as if we had both been scalded with hot water.

"So... what next?" I asked her.

"We go back to the main house," she replied with glee. "They must be waiting for us."

"Okay."

*&*&*&*&

"Thank you for the risqué move," the husband spoke. His wife merely smiled and stuck out her tongue.

Aaliyah merely hugged her and smiled, feeling a little happy that things had gone well. There was no telling what would happen next.

"You can't be here too long. You need to leave. The both of you. You can leave tomorrow at four in the morning. I can have someone escort you."

"I think so too," I agreed. Aaliyah nodded her head. We proceeded to discuss the best place for us to run off to. Our host was ready to send us off to her other farm and Aaliyah said she would give her the necessary feedback after we discussed it exhaustively.

*&*&*&*&

"What do you think?"

"Well," I said and looked at the map. "How far are we from the borders?"

"Some distance, but if we can swim across the lake, then we won't have to pass through border control, so our passports won't get stamped."

"Can't we use fake passports?"

"Well... I don't know... Can we?"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see Antoine. You'll see," Aaliyah said with a creepy smile on her face and winked. I gulped.