The Red Queen's Daughter: Book One

Chapter 16: It Was Only The First Day

Erin leads us to her boyfriend's apartment. It's a hotel. Yeah, I've learned a lot about this place.

The hotel is really fancy. I'm surprised her boyfriend has enough money to live here. But when we meet him, his appearance shows why he lives here. He's tall, has short blond hair and chocolate brown eyes. He looks like he's dated a million girls before. So when he kisses Erin's hand and she giggles, I roll my eyes.

His name is Chad. Whatever. He glances at me and asks who I am with a raised eyebrow.

"She's taken. That's what she is," I hear Nate say.

"Yeah, she is taken, Chad," Erin says with furrowed eyebrows. He rolls his eyes,"Come on, Erin. Let a guy have some fun," he says, patting her shoulder.

Erin lied when she said he was a great guy. It's only noticeable. He walks away, and I fold my arms at Erin.

"A great guy, you said. He's smart, you said. No, he's not. He jumps from girl to girl." I say.

"You're just jealous, Nicole. Let's go to the hotel room, you guys," she says, stepping in the hotel. I roll my eyes,"She has the most mixed emotions I've ever seen. One moment she's happy. Another she's mad. And she's just being a jerk, too. Nate, I wanna go. I didn't think it'd be like this. Erin is nice one moment and a jerk another." I say.

"I know, but it's our first day," he replies.

"I know, Nate, but-" I'm interrupted by Erin yelling,"Come on!"

I roll my eyes and just walk in. Nate follows

I end up going to sleep at 8:00pm and waking up at 9:00am.

Since Erin isn't up and Nate is, I ask,"Why couldn't we have landed in a different state? I feel all crowded here."

"Dunno, Nicole. Hey, let's go play the guitar or whatever, earn some money and go shopping. I want to bring back a souvenir." he says.

I get dressed, grab my guitar case, and head outside the hotel. I play a few songs on the guitar then go out and buy a book full of good songs of 2012. Yeah.

I just bought the book and it's literally called,'Best Songs of 2012', yeah.

There's lyrics under the notes, so, I just sing along to it. There's this one I really like. 'Safe and Sound', by Taylor Swift. Whoever she is, I like the song. The others are a little too country for me.

I finish the song and check how much money I made. 103$. I must be good, thankfully.

"You have a beautiful voice, Nicole," I hear Nate say. I turn around. I blush,"Thanks, Nate. I never thought my voice would be beautiful. Hardly," I say.

"Well, you're good. That's all I can say," he says.

"Let's go eat something. It's lunch and I haven't eaten a crumb yet," I say, holding up the money we made.

"OK, let's go eat at McDonald's. I don't know any other place." he says.

I agree and we start walking down the street. I look through the window into McDonald's. Someone in there looks strangely familiar. I squint my eyes and see someone unspeakable: The Red King.

***

I gasp. He isn't even wearing armor, he looks... normal for this place. How did he know we were here.

"Nate, the air doesn't feel right here, we should go somewhere else," I say quickly.

"What? What's wrong here?" he asks.

"Nate, believe me, something just is wrong, OK? I promise you that if we leave right now we can eat anywhere you want."

"OK, then, McDonald's."

"Nate! Anywhere but here!"

"Fine! Panda Express, that place looks good."

"Nate. Panda. Animal. There's even advertisement of a chicken up there!"

"Fine, Nicole. Let's go to- wherever!"

"OK, then. There's a coffee place right there. Let's go there."

"OK."

We walk across the street and Nate orders something called a hot chocolate. I just get tea. We sit by a window.

"What did you mean, the air wasn't right back there?" Nate's question catches me totally off guard.

"Well, I lied," my words are hardly audible. I hate lying.

"What?" he asks.

"I lied," I say a bit louder.

"I still can't here you, Nikki."

"I lied, OK?" I say, loud enough for him to hear.

"You... lied?" he says, looking upset.

"No, no, no, no,no. I lied so we wouldn't get hurt. Safety, Nate," I say quickly, drinking my tea.

"Why would we get hurt?"

"Nate, let's just say there was a special someone waiting for us there."

"Nicole, who was that special someone?"

I bite my lower lip. "The one that's my dead aunt's lover?" I say nervously.

Nate rubs his forehead. "Nicole, what the heck are we gonna do?" he asks.

I shake my head, but quickly try to hide my face from the window. The Red King is standing right out there, piercing our helpless eyes.