When The Stars Align

chapter eight | what's your emergency?

THE KITCHEN CUPBOARD on the third shelf in the old box of biscuits. I remember my mom's voice clearly as she explains where the phone is.

The phone number is one one, and then your birthday. That's easy to remember, right?

Weird, because the number was established before I was born. It was engraved in Victoria and Lysander's brains by the time they knew their numbers. The fact that the numbers lined up with my birthday was just a coincidence, and helped to reinforce my mother's rules.

Or well, maybe the number wasn't a coincidence. We knew something was going to happen that day, and it just happened to be the day I was brought into the world. I was the something.

Lysander rushes to grab the phone. I only remember one other time when the landline was used, but I'm sure some point in the last ten years, someone had to use it.

Mom's father was a genius. He knew how to make it so the number couldn't be tracked to our house. From whatever device is used to call the number, it was never recorded into the call log. The number was untraceable if you didn't know how it worked.

"Hello?" Lysander said, his breathing heavy in fear. "Hey, guys, are you okay?"

He didn't put the phone on speaker - you couldn't anyway, so others wouldn't hear what was going on. I mean, they probably suspected something; the ring sounded like an alarm.

By my ears were trained, and standing next to Lysander as he spoke, I could make out Leo's faint words. "The guards... the guards told us to go to the safe room. Uncle Lysander, the castle is being invaded."

Lysander stood there in silence, trying to process the words. Then; "It's okay, it's okay, just stay there, in the safe room. Stay quiet. Watch your siblings and cousins. It's going to be okay, I'm coming. No one will find you there."

"Actually-"

Lysander's neck snapped to face me. "Vera..."

I bit my lip. Through all of this, he and Victoria were standing up for me, saying I wasn't a threat. Yet, in this moment, in a situation where his kids are in trouble... do I really want to tell him it was my fault that they were in the situation.

"You guys always wondered how we got in to here and the castle in the dead of night without any trace, haven't you?" I paused, trying to collect my thoughts. "Every other time, it was me only in the castle but, uh, they forced the layout of the castle out of me... a couple weeks before my capture..."

Not to mention, my capture was probably planned by them. After they got their information, they just needed me dead.

King Pheon looked like he was about to rage. "So they know exactly where the safe room is? They know exactly where the kids are?"

I hesitate before answering. Instead, I grabbed the phone from Lysander, putting to to my ear. "Hey... hey Leo, you still there?"

"Yeah... yeah but Annalise is crying and I don't know what to do with her," the boy said with a stutter. He sounded so different from the boy that barged into our conversation just yesterday - wow, it was just a day ago. "I'm scared, Aunt Vera."

I glanced briefly at the king, who was close enough to here what his son called me. "It's okay, it's okay. Like your uncle said, you're going to be okay." I paused, trying to remember the plan they came up with. I was never told about it, but I had an idea. They needed one of the kids for the plan, but they didn't know none of them would be helpful.

There were seven kids in there that were ten years of age or younger. This was going to be a hard.

"How good are you with a sword?" I asked Leo. "Or at least, do you have one around. Anything sharp." There should be one. Dad told us there was always going to be one in there. "If you can't find it right away, it should be in a loose floorboard..."

There was shuffling around, and the faint creak of of wood. "Issy found it. Now what?"

"Use that only when you have to," I said. "If you hear footsteps, be ready for attack. Find a hiding spot in the safe room, because they know exactly how to get in without the key, okay?"

"Are they here to kill us?" I could hear the fear in his voice. "Be honest."

I gulped. "Yes, they are. But I'm coming, okay?"

The king grabbed the phone. "Absolutely not. You're not leaving this place, definitely not to save our children. You are one of them, and you'll probably want to do anything to get back to them, wouldn't you? You think you're so smart? You aren't."

"I am your only hope if you want your kids back in one piece," I growled. "I know exactly why they're in the place, if you really want to know the exact reason, this goes all the way back to you and your family and your actions. Because frankly, you don't belong on the throne-"

"Vera, what are you talking about?" Tori asked, confused. But the king wasn't, and that was all that mattered to me right now. He stared at me, again, wanting to rip me apart. Because to him, I wasn't supposed to be alive. Of all of the heirs, almost two centuries ago, my ancestor was the one that wasn't supposed to be alive.

I ignored Victoria completely. "Do you want your kids back or no, because both you and I know that they're all worthless, and none of them are going to grow up to be a king or queen of any kingdom."

"Vera, what-"

The king cut Lysander off. The king looked at me with eyes that made him seem fifty years older than me, not twenty. "When you come back, you tell me everything. You say the truth behind your lies. You explain all your actions. Deal?"

I paused. "Do I gain my freedom?"

"No," he says simply.

It was a long shot, anyway. "Fine. As you wish, Your Majesty."