The Runaway

Chapter 22

We made it farther into the city. The humans are round and very tall. Some are short and round, tall and round, short and thin and tall and thin.

Why do they vary in size so much? Some are so tall, and others are as tall as us. Are they mutated? Some look so old too and walk so slow.

Many keep looking at us with either fascination or disgust. They're just jealous of my beauty. They're all also talking some other language. All the buildings that have something to do with food are so confusing.

This whole time I've been telling him random things I remember about human culture. All he has responded with is 'you talk a lot.' He says the sweetest words.

"They pay for everything with paper and sometimes coins but they're not like ours. Theirs are lighter and uglier."

He now looks like a lost child.

"How will we pay for anything?"

"Ask people for money or sell things."

"Sell what? You barely brought anything, neither did I."

"I'll sell you since I still can't trust you. I'll be free and rich. I'm sure they'll pay a lot for a prince."

He gives me another dirty and annoyed face. He has become an expert at this. We'll showcase him, just him for their paper. He looks through the bag before grabbing a handful of gold and silver coins.

"Will they trade money?"

"Yeah. They like gold and silver and pay a lot for it."

"Why?"

"The same reason they make tall buildings, they're weird."

When I get home, I ought to thank my parents for making me talk to everyone growing up or this would be hell right now. Without them, I would be in a corner crying from fear.

And dead, but that's for another day.

Everyone would be dead without their parents.

"How many unicorns are you planning on stealing?"

"As many as the universe lets me."

"Then what will you do?"

"Open a unicorn farm and live there till I die with my hordes of unicorns."

"Sounds fun."

Some man is walking towards us, not past us but towards us. He isn't too tall... He doesn't seem human either... well then.

His highness grabs my hand and his other on his hip where the 'secret' sword is. It's hidden enough but is noticeable if you know what you're looking for.

This man has brunette hair and a short beard, a mustache too.

"Hello, highnesses," he says.

We watch him. This feels awfully weird. To be fair, nothing is right, right now.

"Not one for many words it seems? Well, I'll be on my way but here, this will help both of you."

He holds out a bottle with strange writing on it. This is where we get poisoned and die, or only one and the other is sad and lonely.

He would definitely be sad if I'm not here to tell him every thought I have. He takes the bottle from the strange man with his sleeve over his hand. The man immediately walks past us. I turn around and no one is there.

"We're going to die. Do you know who that was?"

He shakes his head.

"You sure this isn't another part of your mastermind plan?"

He opens the bottle and looks in it.

"It would be unnecessary. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have helped you escape."

"Oh. What is it?"

He shrugs before holding it up to my nose. It doesn't smell like poison.

"I've noticed something."

"What, princess?"

"Everyone is so bad at explaining things, my goodness. You are, he didn't even try. Wasn't proper of him."

"You and your proper ass."

He dips his finger in the bottle. We both look at his finger. It's clear, whatever it is. He wipes his hand off on my sleeve.

"Now you're dying with me."

"How fun." I look at my sleeve to see nothing. "Drink it."

"You drink it. I'm not crazy."

He needs to know that he needs to take risks in life. This could be magical stuff that'll fix everything or water that a crazy man gave us. I take the bottle and look at it, the writing is so confusing. I drink some.

"It doesn't taste like anything."

"Tell me that when you're dead."

"I'm immune to death but will do."

I take the little empty herb bottle out of my pants pocket. The small one is the child of the new, mystery bottle. I look around and everything makes sense. I can read the signs and understand what the people are saying. Oh wow.

"It's magical stuff. I can understand everything. Drink it."

I hand him the bottle. He doesn't take it and keeps walking.

"You're still going to die before me."

"At least I won't be stranded in a city, all confused."

He hums. I'll find us whatever will give us the paper. Humans are so weird. That man is so weird. I look at all the signs on all the buildings. Half of them still don't make sense.

What is a 'store' or a 'hardware'? The craziest one is 'discount store'. Is it for humans that don't know how to count? Don't they have school for that? School is such a strange concept too.

Why couldn't their parents teach them? Why put a bunch of children in a building for most of their lives growing up? Humans confuse me so much. I caught up with him. I think he's walking just to walk. He has no idea what to do or he would have done something by now.

"How do the kids in your kingdom learn?"

"Their parents teach them or something." He shrugs.

"What about you?"

Royalty is always raised differently since they're... royalty?

"What about me?"

"How did you learn things? At home, ma and pa and the guards and everyone would tell me things. I'd also read books. Mainly ma and pa though. You?"

"Self-taught."

"Everything?"

He nods.

"What do you not know?"

He faces me as if it's obvious. "Cooking."

"Me either. What's something you don't know that I do so I can teach you and feel smart?"

I know I'm smart but for some reason, I feel dumb around him. He's too quiet. He could always be thinking super smart things or not think at all. Now I'm paranoid over absolutely nothing.

"You walk slower when you talk."

"No, something that I know that you don't."

"Your right foot sticks out to the side more than your left when you walk."

"Why are you telling me these things?"

"Self-awareness is important."

I don't think he understood the task. After looking around I see a building that looks like the one in the book with the papers. I point to it.

"There it is!"

A/N: Who do y'all think the guy that gave them the bottle was?

Vivienne would definitely be the first to die in a survival or horror movie. She just drunk whatever was in the bottle with no hesitation.