Julie got dressed a few hours after dinner. Luke still seemed adamant about taking her, but he didn't bring it up as if he was hoping that she'd forget about it. Julie didn't. When the sun was completely down, and she knew Carlos was asleep, she peeked out her door and saw Reggie and Luke thumb wrestling. When she opened it, they separated and slid back to their sides of the hall.
"I know you guys mess around here," Julie laughed at them. Reggie sheepishly chuckled, and she realized she had never had a conversation with him. She looked at Luke and said, "Are we going?" His face fell in almost horror, and it amused her.
"Reggie said no," Luke stammered out of nowhere, pointing at the knight across from him.
"I did not, Your Highness," Reggie crossed his arms. "If anything, I'll go with you guys. There was this girl there, and I want to see if she's there today." Julie looked at Luke who was mouthing things to Reggie, his eyebrows furrowed, and Reggie mouthed back, his hands up in defense. She couldn't read their lips from the side.
Luke looked at Julie and then turned his eyes up at the ceiling. "Princess," he started. "We'd have nobody to guard the Prince, and if someone comes up here and see's us missing, it'd be a big deal." Julie then remembered that someone in the castle owed her a favor.
"Wait here," she told them and started walking away. She could hear Luke mutter an oh no, and it made her smile. She walked downstairs and peaked at the faces of a few guards and two knights who bowed to her when they saw her. She thought it was nice that Luke and Reggie didn't do that. They probably weren't taught to, and she wanted to keep it that way.
There was a lot more guards at the castle now that the knight academy was expediating their training that was meant to last years. And according to a certain maid, it meant that he was working at the castle again. This time, with a guard uniform.
She walked to the glass door in the sunroom, stepping outside. A young blond met eyes with her and grinned. "Julie," Nick said. She forced him to drop the title when they were kids.
"Hi, Nick" she told him, grinning wide. She forgot how warm he made her face get when he was around. "Remember you owed me a favor?" she asked him. He nodded, showing her his wrist where he still had his late father's watch. "Well, I'm here to cash it in."
"Like I said," he gave a mock bow, "anything you need."
"Follow me," Julie said, taking his hand and leading him away. She knew it was dangerous to leave that door unprotected, but she needed it that way if she wanted to get out. She led him down the hall and into a secret passage so the other guards wouldn't see. Nick squeezed her hand in the process. She tried to ignore the flutter in her chest, not wanting to revive the feelings she had killed more than a year ago. It took her long to do so. She didn't squeeze it back as much as she wanted to.
"What am I doing exactly?"
"Keep watch of my brother for a bit. I'm sneaking out and taking his guard."
"Since when are you a rebel?" Nick chuckled.
"A few hours ago."
She let go before they got to the second floor, remembering Luke's handsome face, anxiously risking it all against his will. She knew nothing would happen to him or Reggie if they got caught. But she needed to get out. Somewhere she hadn't seen. It'd be like finding a new bird for the season. Not just another crow or woodpecker.
Luke was watching them closely at they approached, looking Nick up and down. "He's your solution?" He sounded rude, but she figured it was his fear. Reggie was behind them, texting away on his phone and ready to go, changed out of his uniform already.
"Yes. This is Nick. I trust him."
Reggie looked up from his phone and smiled. "I remember you. You were in the academy with us."
"That would be me," Nick grinned, giving Reggie a fist bump. Luke watched them with an eyebrow raised, almost scowling.
Julie nodded her head at Luke and asked, "Are you going in your uniform?"
He looked down and put his hand to the side of his hip where Julie assumed he was hiding a gun. "Yeah. I'll feel better."
"Okay then," Julie couldn't help but smile with her teeth. "Let's go." Luke looked at her with a straight face, his arms crossed, but she still felt happy. "Come on," she waved her hand at him. A small smile broke, but he tried to hide it as he started walking ahead. Reggie went to her side, and she turned to wave at Nick. "Thank you."
"No problems, Jules." Luke looked back for a second, but he turned back around without comment.
Julie sped up to be in front of Luke, pointing at the secret staircase she had walked in through with Nick. She put a finger up to her lips to tell them to be quiet, and Reggie made a motion of zipping his lips. The three snuck down, walked to the sunroom, opened the glass door, and Julie started making a run through the garden. Luke and Reggie started running next to her with ease as she struggled once they got to the woods.
She stopped once they were tucked inside, leaning against a tree to catch her breath. The knights were fine, Reggie squatting down to pick up a rock. Luke looked around and raised an eyebrow at her. "There's a way to the town through here," she told them.
"What side of town?" Luke asked.
"Cemetery." Luke's eyes went wide with recognition. "Yeah. This is where I was."
Reggie stood up and told her, "Lucky you, Princess. The club is close to the cemetery."
"Where is it?" she asked. "I've never seen it."
"You have to know the right people to get in," Reggie said. "And you know us." They started walking through, Julie telling them the walk would take over twenty minutes. They passed by her favorite clearing, but they only walked by it.
"So," Luke spoke for the first time. "Nick." There was a tinge of bitterness in the way he said his name. "He doesn't call you by your title?" Julie looked up at him, walking in between him and Reggie.
"Doesn't have to," Julie told him. "He's been my friend since we were kids. His mom works in the castle, and his dad was a knight." Emphasis on the was.
"If we become friends can I call you Julie?" Reggie asked. Luke reached over Julie and smacked Reggie on the back of his head. "Ow!" It made Julie realize how much taller he was than her. She's never had him so close, his shoulder occasionally bumping into her.
Julie laughed, "You can."
"See," Reggie said, reaching over to smack Luke who dodged his hand. "She said it's fine." Luke stayed silent and continued walking, still not leaving Julie's side. "When will I know that we're friends." Luke sighed, but he didn't say anything.
"You'll know," Julie assured him.
"Nice," Reggie said joyfully. They kept walking, the night sounds of crickets and winds surrounding them. Julie didn't realize how much safer she felt with them around until she realized there was no pounding in her chest. She hadn't felt that nest of safety in a long time. Reggie said, "I think Nick was good. Surprised he's not knighted yet."
"There's a max amount of knights we can have in total," Julie told them. "We retire some, we get some. I think they forgot when they started speed graduating oldest to youngest." Luke and Reggie were the first to go through the expediated process.
"We never got our knighting ceremony," Reggie sighed. "We got a text."
"I'll make sure you guys get one after all of this is over," Julie promised him. Her dad wouldn't say no to that.
"Thanks, Princess," Reggie said with a beam. "Can't wait." She thought that Reggie was talking a lot, but she realized he spent all day with kids and probably missed conversation with people his age. "We didn't really get to know Nick that much during the academy. We all had our own crews." He knew how to keep conversations going.
"Luke and you had a crew?" Julie realized her slip up almost immediately. She turned to Luke who had a small smirk on his face.
"We friends already?" Luke asked her in a cocky tone. Who knew the silent knight was so smug? Julie rolled her eyes and looked at Reggie who had wide puppy eyes and a frown.
"That's not fair," Reggie whined, not picking up that her dropping the "sir" wasn't on purpose. "You spend more time with her."
"That was an accident," Julie said. "Apologies." All she did was apologize to him.
"I see... But no," Reggie said. "We didn't really have a crew. We had a third friend, but he quit. You might know him, actually."
"Who?" Julie raised an eyebrow.
"Alexander Mercer. I believe his mom is chill with your dad... The King." Julie smiled at the idea of her dad being chill with Lady Ann Mercer.
"I know of him," Julie said. She recognized his face while he was playing the drums in the video. "I've probably only seen him in passing."
"You might meet him," Reggie said. "He's always there. We would still hang out after training."
"Did you guys ever sleep?" Julie asked.
"They made us go days without sleep," Reggie waved it off. "It's nothing. That's why I'm losing on my sleep tonight."
"The kids are going to run you over tomorrow," Luke told him. "And I get first sleep tomorrow." They kept talking and Julie started blocking them out. She got really good at that after her mom died.
The boys had this system for their knighthood she didn't recognize, and it's been right outside her door for two weeks. Their bond made her smile, it reminded her of her and Flynn. She wondered what they were like as a trio.
They got out of the woods, and Julie showed them the hole in the cemetery fence. She smiled at Luke when she pointed at it, and he gave her a small smile, too. They snuck through, and Julie pulled up her hoodie once she started seeing people. She didn't think the people would care, but she didn't want a royal knight, especially an older one, to see her. She technically had a curfew, and her dad would think this was another way of acting up when in reality, she needed to learn to breathe somewhere new.
Reggie started walking ahead, leaving Julie and Luke behind him. There was a windowless building, and Julie knew it was it. Luke still walked close to her, asking her, "Are you ready for this, Princess?" Julie stayed still in time for a moment, staring at his smile.
"Yeah," she whispered. "I am."
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So maybe writing ahead has thrown me off more than I thought it would lmao. I forget you guys are back here, and I'm already on chapter 16. The good thing is that I'm catching a lot of plot holes I get to fill in. The next chapter is really fun, and I can't wait for you guys to read it! My school schedule isn't really busy right now, so except updates every 3 to 4 days. Thank you for reading! <3