The Red Queen's Daughter: Book One

Chapter 14: I Saw It Coming

Her smile morphs into a frown,"Thank you for telling me. I'll put more guards on duty. Nicole, Nate, Charlotte, you are excellent fighters, I want you to guard the doors of the castle. Thank you." she says.

I head to my position as does everyone else. I look around with the others for the King, but he's nowhere in sight.

I hear something in the bushes from no more than 3 yards away. I point an arrow at the spot. A wounded Red Knight comes out. I slightly lower my bow. He's holding his side. I realize as he comes closer is side is really bloody.

"I....bring.....bad news," he slowly says. "The.... Red King...wants you and....Nate and Charlie... I think.. Is his name..."

I help him into the castle. He is taken by some people to get fixed. His wound is fixed after a few hours.

He then tells us we whole story. Us meaning mother, Nick, Nate, Charlie, and me.

Apparently it's about when we took Charlie back. I saw all of this coming. I knew it would be about how Nate and I took Charlie back. And he wants Charlie back as prisoner, and me, and Nate. Mother orders guards to be outside our doors. I go to sleep with no fears.

***

In the middle of the night, I hear clanking of armor in the hall outside my room. I reflexively grab my bow and arrow. The door whips open. Red Knights. Five of them. What will I do? I just shot down one, but- all of a sudden, a knight grabs me by the waist, I pull of his helmet and bang my bow on his head. This Nick's him out. I stand up, two Knigts racing after me. Nate's room is the closest to mine, so I bang on his door.

"Nate! Nate! Let me in!" I turn around. They're getting closer. I make two fists with my hands and bang on his door harder. "Na-" I scream, losing my voice. The Knights are so close now, I just lean on Nate's door and wish for the best.

"Nicole, it's three in the morning what are you-?" he pauses, seeing the Knights. He grabs my arm and jerks me into his room.

"Thank you," I whisper, I lost my voice, I think. I try to talk but only a squeak comes out. Nate has me sit down.

"Your welcome," he says. "What do we do? They're banging on the door out there. Sooner or later they'll get in here. I can already hear the wood on my door splintering," he continues.

I shake my head. I try my very, very best to talk, but I can't.

"Oh, I see. You can't speak from all that yelling." he says. I shake my head, showing he was right.

How do I get my voice back?

I still have my bow and arrows. I open the door, which brings a word of protest from Nate.

I back off and shoot both of the Knights.

"Nice." Nate says. I look at him for a moment. He has the worst bed head I have ever seen. I point t my head, signaling he should look at his.

He goes and looks at his hair. "What happened to my hair?" he asks, looking at me.

I shake my head, how does he wake up every morning and not notice that?

"Have you seen Erin lately, Nicole? I haven't seen her, she's like a mouse, you see her for a second, then she's gone." Nate asks.

I shake my head 'no'.

"I wonder where she went?"

I shrug.

Coincidently, I see a shadow of dark hair and white skin flash through the hall.

Erin...

I point to the hall. I grab my arrows and bow and race to the hall. Nate follows. He grabs a blue fire torch beside his door.

I creep through the hall until I see white skin and dark hair again.

"Erin?" Nate asks.

She whips her head around. Her amber eyes glow in the dark.

"Where have you-" Nate starts, but is quickly shushed by Erin. She's.... Strange.

"Shhh.... You don't need to know where I've been. I've been.... Above." she says.

My eyes widen in shock, I know what she means by,'above'.

"Upland? The... U.S.A?" Nate asks, his eyes widened, too.

"Yes, yes, but you may not tell how I got there. Sit, sit." she says.

We take a seat on a couch across from her.

"There is a place called the Grand Room. It's upside down. The tables, chairs and everything are on the ceiling. It is not far from the White Castle. The door lays on the floor. If you open it, you must fall in.

I love it in the Upland. They have a year system. It means every 365 days, a new year starts. I was told what year it is up there, and it's 2012. They've gone through many years so far. And it's peaceful in the Upland.

When I went through the door, I landed in a state called, New York. It's a very busy state. Many stores.

To make it in the Upland, you need something called a job. It's when you work, and get money in return.

Money is what people use to buy things in the Upland. Things like shirts, jeans, stuff like that." she tells us.

"What are jeans?" Nate asks.

"Well, see what I'm wearing from the Upland?"

I look at her pants. They are these really cute dark pants. She's wearing a shirt with a symbol on it. Since when do girls wear shirts instead of dresses? But I gotta say, it's a cute shirt.

"What's that symbol on your shirt?" Nate asks, repeating my thoughts.

"Peace. It's called a peace sign." she says.

I've heard of peace, but haven't seen the symbol...

"Anyways, when I landed in New York, people like literally stared at me. I looked so out of place. So, I bought some clothes like this. I.. Um... Got a job. It's not hard. It was easy. But I looked out of place because of my dress. It was long. I saw girls wearing these dresses called sundresses, they were cute. But anyways, it's nice up there. I want you two to come with me tomorrow for my trip."

I'm speechless. Literally speechless.

Nate and I exchange a look. We nod,"Sure, but we should tell the Queen, Nicole's mother," Nate says.

"Sure, I asked her and she let me," Erin says.

"I'll let you borrow some of my clothes, Nicole. And since I wanted you, Nate, to come, is bought you a cool shirt. It's called a graphic shirt. It's cool. I bought something called a guitar. I play it on a corner and I get money, it's awesome. I bought a playing book, too. The job I got makes good money. And since I'm fourteen, a little older than you guys, I got a job at a diner, a place where you serve and cook food for other people. It got hard after a while, so I got that guitar and that playing book, so, yeah. So, we will leave tomorrow at one pm." she says.

Nate and I return to our rooms.

I go back to sleep wondering if this was a good idea.