King of Gold

Chapter Seventeen

17. Drugged Cookies

"Wait what? Every island should have flowers." I scoff as Theo drags me to some sort of club. Why the hell are we going to a club?

"Not this one. A king banned flowers from ever being grown here because they were and still are poisonous. The soil on this land is rotten. Flowers can't grow here anymore without getting some sort of infection." Theo explains as we walk inside the club. Bright lights flash everywhere in the dark room, illuminating it with pinks and purples and blues. Ladies walk around, easily passing the drunks and dancers and giving out little flower shaped cookies.

I feel my stomach grumble and grab one, taking a bite out of it.

"Kind of demented to have flower cookies when the real things can possibly kill you." I laugh, grabbing a few more cookies off another tray. Theo grabs one and takes a bite out of it.

A few cookies later, my mind begins to feel dizzy and I clutch my head, squinting my eyes. Everything looks fuzzy and the world starts spinning before my eyes. I laugh at the merry go round that I'm currently on.

Theo throws away the cookie he took only a bite out of and I frown at him.

"Eat it." I say, grabbing another one.

"Lexi, how many did you have?" His voice is commanding.

"Like ten." I giggle, walking away from him and falling onto a sofa.

"Shit. Don't eat anymore." He orders and I pull him down onto the sofa, getting onto his lap.

"Mmm, and I why not?" I lick his bottom lip but he grabs my waist, setting me down next to him.

"They're filled with a drug that'll make you want to stay here forever."

"Come on." Theo says, grabbing my hand and dragging me away from everything. A woman shoves a tray of cookies in his face but he pushes it away.

I'm pulled away from Theo by a man with strong hands, making me laugh. The laugh soon subsides and is replaced with panic as his hand goes lower and lower. I start squirming, trying to push the man off of me.

Before I can utter a word, he's already off me because Theo punches him in the face. The crowd gasps as Theo fixes his collar and wraps an arm around me, leading me out while cursing under his breath.

"Fight the drug. If you fight it, it'll go away." He says and I nod my head, resting it on his chest as we finally end up outside.

I swallow the bile rising in my throat, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. I look up and it's already dark.

"Why is it dark all of a sudden? We weren't even in there for 15 minutes." I breathe, pointing up at the sky.

"Time goes by quick here." Theo runs a hand through his hair.

"If that isn't the real clue, then what is?" I ask, looking around us. The buildings aren't from this century. They're all probably from the 17th century. They have a Victorian style to them and some people are walking in clothes looking like they came out of a Victorian movie. Corsets, ball gowns, tailcoats. All that.

"I don't know what the clue is. Damn it, who would try to do that?" Theo punches the wall, slightly cutting his knuckles.

"Who do you think? Henry wanted us to be here and now, he's doing everything in his power to keep us from getting to my mom." I sigh, this time, grabbing Theo's hand and taking him back to our room.

Once we're in, I shut the door and begin rummaging through anything that doesn't belong to us.

"What are you doing?" Theo asks.

"My mom used to tell us stories about things like these as if it was real life. If someone was ever duped, they would search through the things that weren't theirs. Didn't realize how important that would be until now." I mutter, throwing open the closets.

"Yes!" I exclaim, grabbing the golden card but this time, it's real, solid gold. Unlike the other card, which wasn't.

I read over it, an unbelievable look taking over my face.

"You're kidding me," I laugh humorlessly. Theo snatches the card from me and reads it.

"Dive into a lake? They're kidding, right? We could die. There are poisonous piranhas in there." Theo scoffs and my eyes widen.

"What?" I yell, already nervous.

"This is definitely the real card." Theo sighs.

"How do you know?"

"Only someone as deranged as my uncle would come up with something like this." Theo says. How did we drag ourselves into this? This isn't fair.

"Well, let's go."

***

"Henry is insane. Why the fuck would he put the next clue at the bottom of this specific lake?" I huff out, placing a hand on my hip and staring down into the lake. I can see the piranhas swimming about and I glare at them for even being there.

"Because he knows it'll be hard to get." Theo answers. He takes his shirt off and I give him an incredulous look.

"You don't expect me to let you go in there alone, do you?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"You don't expect me to let you go in there at all, do you?" He counters, a smirk on his face.

I straighten. Asshole thinks I can't handle it. Well, I'll show him.

"Oh? You won't let me go, huh? Watch me." Luckily, I changed into a t-shirt before we got here so I take that off, keeping my jeans on.

I give Theo one last look and then dive into the dangerous abyss.

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Hello, fellow potatoes/people/hoomans. Sorry if this chapter was too short. I hope you liked it, though. I'm currently in another country so I didn't have time to publish. Sorry. If you did like this, please vote. It'll be great. And comment, and share, and read too? Okay, bye! I purple you all!

Have a nice day!

Sincerely, KnightQueenTheAuthor.