Crystal Hearts • Book 2 Of The Crystal Trilogy • ⏸

-| 6 / freeze |-

Caroline, Phoebe and Esmeralda had managed to get themselves, Andy and Margaret out of the cell and were making their way outside with them in secret, trying to smuggle them out of the palace.

Caroline had unlocked the door with a bobby-pin and Andy had started knocking guards out along with Phoebe. Margaret tossed a ring of keys at Esme, who helped the princess free everyone else.

It had been a terrible sight to see; the guards, in fear of being executed by Alastor for incompetence started fighting with more force than they normally would. In a few minutes, five people were dead and countless others unconscious and bleeding out.

They hated to do it, but using the commotion in the dungeons as a distraction, Caroline, Phoebe, Esmeralda, Margaret and Andy, sneaked outside and started making their way to the gates.

It was hard to leave all these people behind. Caroline felt terrible about manipulating people and letting them die just to save a couple of close friends. It was also really bad strategy and made her feel like an awful person. The entire thing seemed like something her father would do; sacrifice a large number of people to get what he wants, which was something he'd done before and Caroline knew he wouldn't hesitate to do again.

Phoebe appeared to be reading her mind.

"Relax, they'll all be fine. Once we get Andy and Margaret out of here, we'll go back to help, okay?", she told her.

"What if it's too late?", Caroline frowned.

"Stop beating yourself over it. What's done is done. If you don't focus on what we're going to do next, everything that's going on in the dungeons right now will go to waste.", Phoebe replied.

"It's countless lives for two! I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea..."

"I doubt you ever thought of that, but even if you did it was because you put your heart first. You managed to stop thinking as a future queen and started thinking as a friend doing what's best for the people you care about and there's nothing wrong with that. You have to realise that you can't face all issues with the same tactic and strategy. Not all problems are the same.", Phoebe reassured her.

"Yeah, but--"

"No, queenie. You did what you thought was best and it's too late to do anything to change it now. The more you think about it, the worse it's going to be on you and everyone around you."

Caroline grumbled but didn't say anything else and kept walking in silence instead. She stopped abruptly, though, because she heard footsteps that didn't belong to anyone from the group. These footsteps were heavy and accompanied by the sound of clanging metal.

Phoebe subconsciously slipped her hand into the princess'. Andy and Margaret exchanged a nervous glance and Esmeralda stifled a scream upon realising that said footsteps were approaching them.

"Hide!", Caroline whisper-shouted.

They all ran as quietly as they could to avoid being heard. Phoebe was still holding onto Caroline's hand, but the latter had neither the time nor the intention to tell her to let go.

Andy, Margaret and Esmeralda rushed inside a room they found along the corridor. The footsteps following them started closing in, approaching faster and faster.

"What do we do?", Phoebe panicked.

"I don't know! Just calm down! I'll think of something...", Caroline whispered at her.

"No time for that!", Phoebe replied and dragged her inside another room down the hall.

There was barely any space for the both of them. They couldn't move and Caroline was having a hard time breathing with Phoebe towering over her. She was by far the tallest person Caroline had ever met, and that said a lot because the princess wasn't very tall herself and everyone seemed tall to her.