fragile time

~chapter 4~

Emily sat on one of the piles of pillows with a paper in her hands. She stared at it, her eyes giving a troubled expression. What had she found? I cleared my throat to announce my presence as I took a seat next to her, on a different pillow. My usual greeting was the only thing I could think of to say, "Fancy seeing you here."

"Summers. My Prince." My best friend replied absentmindedly. I started to peer over her shoulder at the paper she was holding, but she retracted it before I could. All I saw was a crumpled up piece of paper with somewhat messy handwriting. "Hold on," Emily muttered, "I just... I need to figure out how to phrase this.."

"Okay." I nodded, leaning against the wall. "I can wait."

Honestly, I couldn't wait. The fear was swelling inside of me like a balloon getting bigger and bigger. I was about to burst when Emily finally spoke again. "Look, I don't know how to say this, but I think someone wants to kill you."

"Excuse me?"

"This note. It...It's a threat. They're accusing you of, um, stuff... they... they want you to play some sort of game... I'm not sure who it's from, but it was here– in the... in the treehouse. I found it when I was getting my lunch."

My mind started racing, 'What? Why would someone want to kill me? Well, I have the Death Glare, and I'm the prince of The Barrier. Wouldn't it be smarter to kidnap me to steal my powers? They could hold me prisoner and get a lot of money from the kingdom to return me. Who had I wronged recently? I need to see that note. Maybe I could figure out who wrote it.'

I felt like I was going to vomit, but the only thing that came up was a simple, "Aw, a secret admirer," with a fake smile painted on my face.

Emily chose her words carefully as she pulled out the paper again, "Then again, this could be a prank or something. But, it's still illegal! The author is probably one of the older kids in our level. We just... I just... really don't want you to get hurt. Better safe than sorry, right?"

I tried to rationalize the situation. There had to be some sort of logical explanation. "Is this another one of your tests?"

"What do you think?!"

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' That was the only thought going through my head. Internally, I was screaming at the top of my lungs— running around and panicking. Externally, I seemed calm and collected. The expression covered my face like a mask.

"Um, right." I managed to choke out, "The chances of it being real are slim, too. Do we know anything about the person, or people, from the note?"

"Alright, Summers.. Here we go." Emily started before beginning to read the note aloud, "'My Dearest Micheal, Hello. You don't remember me, do you? Of course not. I can imagine you reading this now, your eyes widening. The fear and confusion on your face as you try to deduce where this came from. Can't figure out everything, can you? We've been watching you and your little friends very carefully, your highness. I have eyes everywhere, always on you.

"'Your little friends are always protecting you from harm's way, huh? They're your little henchmen, aren't they? I know the real plan behind all of this. You want to be king and destroy the entire country. Every single person is wrapped around your cold, dead finger in hopes that one day you'll appreciate them as they are. Not me though— I used to be, but after what you did to me, I'm finally coming to a realization: You're using everyone because you're a coward. History will never remember your name. You deserve to die.

"'You love to play games with people's emotions, so welcome to mine. Here are the rules: You do everything in your power to find me, and I'll keep on leaving you little clues for you to reach that goal. When you finally do find me, however, we fight to the death. Doesn't it sound fun? You've gotten plenty of clues from this message, so I'm surprised to see where it will take you. Rest in pieces, Unknown.'" She finished.