Not Our Plan

Chapter thirteen

Elizabeth stared at Rose.

She wasn't just looking.

She was staring. The girl was so beautiful, so gorgeous, and Liz just couldn't tear her eyes away. It was just so surreal. There was a naked girl in front of her, swaying her hips and humming, turning back to smile at the princess, and it wasn't a dream!

They had to be nearly at the door now. There had been no more comments about Ethan from Shawn, and they had been walking for nearly five hours. Liz's feet hurt. She wanted to sit down, and she could tell the others did too, but nobody spoke. In fact, barely anybody had spoken the entire time. The only sound they could hear was Rose's humming. Liz found it quite beautiful, as did Ethan, but anyone could tell that Shawn was getting really annoyed by it. Maybe that was why Rose was doing it. Even a fool could tell that she didn't like Shawn, and he didn't like her.

Half an hour later, Shawn stopped abruptly and turned to glare at Rose. "Can you stop it?" He shouted. She giggled, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Say please."

"Will you please stop humming?" He asked through gritted teeth. Liz felt that Rose had a trick up her sleeve. If she was wearing any.

"I suppose," Rose sighed. "Are we nearly there?"

"We're nearly there." Shawn answered, turning back to continued walking. Only a few minutes later Rose began to sing. Liz could see Shawn visibly tense up from two metres away, and to her left she heard Ethan giggle. The princess smiled down at the blonde boy. She had grown quite attached to him. He was a coward and a wimp, yes, and very scrawny, but it was impossible not to love Ethan. He was sweet, kind, and his smile lit up the entire room. Liz saw him as a little brother.

"I asked you to stop-" Shawn started, but Rose interrupted him. "You asked me to stop humming, dumbass. Never said anything about singing, did you? Yes, that's what I thought." She continued to sing, and Liz felt instantly at peace. The song seemed to brainwash her. Without thinking, she moved forward and pressed her face against Rose's shoulder.

"Elizabeth?" A voice cut through the beautiful song, and Elizabeth awoke from her spell. She was latched onto Rose, her arms wrapped around the mermaids neck. Their lips were only inches apart. Swearing, she tugged away. "Fucking hell, don't fucking do that!" Liz hissed at the woman. "You sing again and I'm going to literally decapitate you. That's not fair." She turned her nose up and walked ahead of them all, only a few steps behind Shawn.

"I kind of liked it." Liz heard Rose mutter, but the princess only ignored her.

"We're nearly there now." Shawn said a few minutes later. Sure enough, the four soon approached the huge door that led out into the world, out of the maze. Liz's palms began to grow sweaty, and she licked her lips.

It was scarier than she thought. Though there was nobody there, the trees loomed down at her, their crooked branches forming what almost seemed like a smile. A bird hopped past, making Liz jump back in fear. The grass wasn't like that in her gardens. This grass was brown, dry, and probably spiky to walk on where as her grass had been green and soft. She stepped back and curled her hands into fists.

"Are you okay, Elizabeth?" Ethan asked her, and she turned to look at him with a scowl.

"Are you okay, Elizabeth?" Her father asked her, a disgusting smirk on his face. "My Elizabeth?"

"Don't call me that. It's Liz, not Elizabeth. And I'm fucking fine." She started to walk. "Let's do this. Have you made up your mind?"

Ethan looked sheepish, and he nodded. "Yes..." He whispered. "I'm staying with... Uh... Shawn."

"You're joking, right?" Liz looked at him in disbelief. "You want to stay with that... That ass? He's a bastard! And you want to stay with him?"

"H-he's kind of mean but he knows what he's doing out here. And... Well, y-you two don't. I don't know where we'll go but I'm staying. I'm sorry." The blonde looked over at Shawn with eyes full of admiration, and unless Liz was mistaken, a little bit of lust. Well, the innocent boy did have dirty thoughts. She watched as he bit his lip, trying to hide a smile, and followed his eyes down to Shawn's butt.

Shocked, and partly horrified, Liz hit the prince's arm. "For fucks sake," She hissed at him. "I get that you like him, but you don't have to stare at his ass!"

"It's..." Ethan tore his eyes away to look up at Liz. "It's kind of a nice-"

"Hey, bitches!" Shawn was speaking to them. "Sorry to interrupt your little chat, but are you coming out or not? The non-human already did." He pointed at Rose, who was beside Shawn smiling and waving. She didn't even look uncomfortable on the spiky grass.

"Where's all the people gone?" Ethan asked as he stepped outside casually. "L-last time there was a lot, and they all said goodbye to me, so where have they all gone?"

"People?" Liz went pale. "There's going to be people?"

"No, Ginger. It's all good. No people." He impatiently waved his hand. "Come on, we don't have much time. He's going to find out at any moment."

"Ginger?" The princess hissed, but she took a deep breath and cracked her fingers individually. Ethan was standing beside Ethan, smiling. He mouthed at her, saying she could do it. Rose was smiling as well, but it wasn't a comforting one. It was more a proud one. And Shawn was just glaring at her. Though most people wouldn't find it comforting to have them all there, Liz did.

She stared down at the ground. First time. In six years. She was going to leave the castle. Her father might get to her. She wouldn't have a warm bed to sleep in.

But she had Ethan, that prick Shawn, and of course... Liz looked up and licked her lips, her eyes meeting with Rose. The woman held her hand out. "I've done it, your Highness. I think it is your turn."

Liz took Rose's hand, and she stepped out into the real world for the first time in six years.

And suddenly, she was vulnerable again.