Finding A Prince

Chapter 17

Kiera smiled at the plate of food resting in front of her. She had no idea what it was, and didn't want to disrespect Mary by asking the dish's name, but she knew that it was absolutely delicious and she could not stop herself from taking a second serving.

"So," Mary started, just as Kiera was about to take another spoonful of food into her mouth. "Kiera and Christina, you both are not from here, are you?"

Christina shook her head. "Oh no, we are from Atla–" She was cut off by Derek who said, "Atlianra, Mom. They are from Atlianra."

Mary furrowed her eyebrows. "Atlianra? I've never heard of that place before. Where is it?"

Derek smiled at his mom. "It's actually quite close by. Just a one hour drive away. We should go there once dad recovers," he offered.

Robert grumbled, "I have already recovered."

Mary smiled adoringly as she looked at her husband. "Of course, you have, sweetheart," she said, before she turned to Derek. "Maybe a holiday would do us well. Perhaps, next month, we should go?"

Derek's eyes widened before he nodded with a tight smile. "Next month sounds amazing," he said, grimacing internally.

"Why did you lie?" Kiera demanded once they were done with dinner. Christina had offered to help Mary with the dishes and Kiera had taken that opportunity to talk to Derek.

"What else did you expect me to say? That you and Christina are from Atlantis? Do you know what mom would've done? She would've kicked the both of you out of the house and sent me to a mental institute for making up stories in my head. Let's be real, other than me, no one else in this house would actually believe that you are from Atlantis. That island doesn't exist for them. They think it's just a foolish myth that people came up with when they had too much of time on their hands," Derek explained, running a hand through his hair as a frustrated sigh escaped him.

"And now, I've promised Mom that I would bring her to some place that doesn't even exist. What am I going to do?" he groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Unless... Kiera, can you erase my mom's memory like how you made my dad recover?" he asked, hope glinting brightly in his eyes.

"What?" Kiera asked, surprised that Derek wanted her to do something like that. "No, I can't. I mean, I can but I don't think it is right to. You've already lied to her, I do not think it is wise to play with her mind. The mind is really fragile and if I accidentally do something to it, I would never be able to forgive myself for it," she said, smiling sadly at him.

Derek stared at the ground. She was right, he couldn't just mess up his mother's mind. What if something happened to her after that? He would feel extremely guilty about and he didn't think he would be able to face her if something happened.

"You're right. But if you want to, you can do it, right?" he asked curiously.

Kiera nodded but hoped that he didn't want to actually do it and he was just asking to satisfy his curiosity.

"Great! By the way, you didn't tell me how you managed to cure Dad," he stated and Kiera raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said you didn't want to know," she replied.

"Did I? I don't remember saying that," he said cheekily and Kiera shook her head before looking around to check if they were truly alone. Once she was satisfied, she took out the wand from one of the hidden pockets in her dress.

"Every princess of Atlantis has a gift, something that makes them extraordinary. I didn't have any talents gifted to me so I was given this wand. It is really special. It only listens to me and it would only listen if I command it to do something that is not for selfish reasons," she said, smiling as she revealed one of her biggest secrets to Derek.