"Pele Puer of Hortus, where have you been?"
Uh-oh. I slowly turn around and try to avoid the angry—no, outraged—tomato red face with foamy saliva gathering in the corners of the lips. Wow, even his eyes look red.
"Good morning, Dad."
"Drop it." He reaches out and snatches my wrist, squeezing it tight until it feels like he's cutting off my circulation. "You know you are not supposed to leave without permission from me or without your guards. You know that, Pele. You know the rules, and here you go breaking them."
"Dad," I whisper, wriggling my arm. "You're really squeezing me."
With an loaded sigh of anger and some other parental emotion, he tosses my hand back at me. The spot he was squeezing is red and hurts, with finger marks where his hand was. I rub it as my father continues to give me a tongue lashing.
"Things aren't always what they seem, Pele," he rants. "Sanguis is getting dangerous, especially with those Airbloods getting bolder. There have been three sightings of those windbags crossing our border. Three! And we all know what they want is—"
"—Chaos," we finish together. Then he goes off again, but I don't pay too much attention. Instead I gaze around the hall of the southeast wing, at the familiar plum colored walls surround us and the gold-plated floor below our feet. Scattered down the hallway are cushioned chairs, candelabras, vases of flowers, and at the end is a fork. The one to the left goes to my room, the Ruler's Gallery, and the library. To the right is the throne room and one of the many paths to the ever paranoid King Groland and Queen Ralia's bedroom.
Dad shoves my shoulder. "Listen to me. Are you listening, Pele?"
I nod even though we both—along with the poor courtiers and maids in passing—all know that I wasn't. But the lectures are always the same. "Yes, sir," I say.
"Good." He claps my shoulder and pulls me into his massive chest for a huge hug. "However, I've noticed that your bird is missing."
The fact hasn't escaped me. "I know where he is," I lie. "And I've noticed that your cat is gone too."
"Macula?" Dad lets out his heavy, heartily laugh. "She's taking a walk out back."
"With Clavo?" While the king's Vinculum is a sleek and sly cheetah, my mother's is a large tiger called Clavo. Both have rather... intimate emotions towards each other, and even though Vinculum don't usually mate, the two are never too far away from each other. My parents are always trying to drop one joke or another about having cheetah-tiger cubs.
"Macula does whatever she wants, when she wants," Dad says. "But that still doesn't let you off the hook. Stay in your room for the rest of the day, and don't leave your wing until I say so."
He's actually letting me off easy, no dirty chores or anything. At least I'll find something to do. "Sure."
I can feel his eyes on my back as I walk away. I wonder where Mom is.
Need foodss.
I forgot all about Sey! "Mother Earth, I'm so sorry." I pick him up and start cooing him, glad that my dad didn't notice him. "You're such a patient little reptile. I'm going to get Elang to hunt down some mice when he comes back. You should like mice, yes?" If Elang does ever come back.
I is ssleepy inssstead.
What? "You literally just said you were hungry," I say. This snake better make up his mind by the time we get to my quarters or else I'll feed him grass.
As I make my way down the near empty hall, a feeling of dread washes over me. Elang really has been gone for too long. Way too long for it to be some kind of joke, and way too long for him not to be by my side, especially now that I'm in the Terra.
Eventually I make it to my room, a trail of what-ifs and outlandish theories at my heals. As I open the door, I'm melted with bright white walls. My eyes find my bed, the sheets covered in all earthly colors except for my pillow, which is the color of the sky. Nothing is out of place and I feel assured that everything is in order. Which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why wouldn't everything be in order? Would somebody be in my room? How would they even know where I sleep, since my parents are adamant that I change it practically every night?
"Over here, Sey," I say while walking to the massive hole in the center of my room. The first time I came in here I was tempted to sleep in the cutout floor. But then I decided to start planting there, and so the beginnings of a garden were what greeted me every day. There are mostly harmless plants like lemon grass and tomatoes, but there are also ropes of ivy and vines. The thin, green ropes that creep from under my miniature herbal farm and crawl throughout the rest of my room are fine, lazy and messy as usual.
Everything is okay, so why am I worrying so much? My parents' attitudes must be rubbing off on me.
"Princess?"
"What—?" I turn, but then a hand comes out of nowhere and slams against my mouth. I only get to look at the captor's caramel, biracial skin—the same shade as mine—before they slap a blindfold over my eyes. I start squirming and kicking and biting, then stop. A familiar voice whispers in my ear as a soft breeze goes through the room, giving me instructions. My eyes grow even wider as I realize that it's my plants talking to me. I take a short break from fighting and listen as they quietly tell me what to do.
"Gods above. Are you conscious? Did I knock you out or something?" He shakes me. I bite his hand.
"Oh, you're okay," he says. "Good, because I really needed you unharmed. Something about a higher up and collateral damage..." he starts to ramble.
Do it now. I concentrate on my task, trying to ignore the uncomfortable squeeze in my chest, the—
My face stings as a few leaves from my vines slap against me. However I don't break my thoughts keep them hurling around my captor. His hands and the blind fall off me, and I am able to fully gather control of...this, whatever it is. I bring my hand up, as my young plants told me to, and the vines that are scattered all over my room slink over to my attacker, wrapping themselves around his legs and dragging him down. The kidnapper lets out a curse.
Wait, was he here to kidnap me? The thought is even more terrifying than a stranger sneaking through all of Terra's security and my parents.
A sharp pain jabs my arm, seeming to drain half my energy all at once. My eyes droop and I realize that this onslaught has taken a lot of energy from me. I ease off my control, but it doesn't slow the prickly vines. They're wrapped around him so that he's wriggling on his side. Blood drips from his silvery blue, long-sleeved jacket and through his white pants. Some of his puffy brown hair is lying around in fuzzy clumps from where maybe the vegetation got a little too rough. Fatigue hits me like a wave as the vines thicken in size, especially as a single poison ivy rope creeps up and around his neck...
"No!" I yell. I hold my hand out and silently ask the ivy to retreat, along with most of the others, but not enough to let him move. It tries to ignore me, but I force it to move away, the effort making my knees shake.
While herbs and edible plants are excited and bursting with new ideas like children after reading action filled books, vines have sinister minds of their own. It takes a certain type of person for them to listen to, nevermind obey, which is why they're good at security. But I'm not going to let these blood thirsty plants kill somebody on my watch.
"Sure can handle yourself, Princess," the kidnapper says. "Good for you."
"Who are you?" I ask quietly. I'm in no hurry for someone to come in here and find this mess. If word got out, then what would the rest of the Rosebloods say? Surely if a conspicuous looking guy can waltz right into the palace, what's to stop more people from wandering into others' homes? "Tell me your name."
He smirks at me. "I'm Sey for the moment. Wonderful to meet you." He leans his head forward in what I think is a small bow.
What? Something clearly isn't right with him—oh. Oh, Mother Earth, what did he say? My eyes struggle not to look around for my snake friend. But I already know.
He isn't here.
Quickly, before I completely lose it and give this intruder something to talk about, I take a second to get myself together. Barely.
Names aren't important right now. Just who sent him and why.
"Why...Why are you doing this?" I ask. "No, what are you doing? Who even are you and how did you get past the guards!"
Sey makes a "mmm" sound and tilts his head as if he's debating on giving me an answer. Then he shrugs. "You're as good as dead anyways. Might as well tell you. But I'm warning you, it was actually kind of difficult and maybe a little gross, nothing you'd like to hear Princess."
"Get to it," I say, still keeping my voice quiet.
"These vines are tight. Can you loosen them so I can at least breathe?"
He must really think I'm stupid. How would I ever fall for this—the oldest trick in the book? Not even a fish would blink at his ridiculous offer.
But.
There's always a but. It would be near impossible to get up and move with all of the vines around him. They'll even get a better grip on Sey if they think he's going to move. I quickly work to triple bolt my bedroom door with a mix of stone and poison ivy. Now there's no way to escape from that side, and the only other way to get out is through the window, at least a story from the ground. If he were to jump, it would be the last thing he'd do for a while. I sigh in my head. Maybe I am an idiot.
Slowly the vines loosen, but just enough for the red marks on his skin to go away. Sey grins like a cat.
"I can feel my fingers now," he drawls. "Thank you, Princess. I should be forever grateful, but I'm not."
That last bit wasn't needed, but that doesn't matter right now. "Answer my question," I say.
"Right, right, right. It was about avoiding security, correct?" I roll my eyes. "Okay. You wouldn't believe me—believe me, you won't—but it seems that a few of the guards here aren't as qualified as they should be. It was easy to take them down, especially with all these plants around here. By the way, a group of friends and I found a patch of poison ivy in the gardens. Quite dangerous, but when in Hortus, do as the Hortusians."
If Elang we're here, he would urge me to hit the man who says he's Sey. But he's not, and now I'm scared and anxious and unprepared, not to mention slightly annoyed.
"Just tell me," I say.
He tosses his hair dramatically. "I was telling you, Miss Impatient. I'm even advising you on how to strengthen your home's defenses, which suck. A lot. Like, it wasn't even funny how simple it was to break in. Okay, maybe a little, but—oh, I'm wandering off again aren't I?" He must finally see the look on my face. "Well, back to your question. It took a while to get a feel for this place—I had to sneak in to get a feel for the layout, which included scaling your incredibly cheap-looking wall, and totally not steal anything—but when I did, it seemed simple to just let you, dear Princess, smuggle me in."
Mother Earth, I was never aware of how annoying people are. I have to go over his whole ramble in my head to just sort out what is important and what isn't. Maybe this is an interrogation tactic; to confuse the person asking questions. Or maybe I'm just a crap interrogator. Maybe it would be a better idea if Macula of Clavo did it.
Please don't move, I silently beg before going to my door, undoing the extra locks, and poking my head out.
"Hello?" I call. "Hey? Anyone out here?" Anyone doing their job? "Hey!" I shout. Honestly, where is everybody?
"Hey!" I shout again. This time I add in a few screams. Sure enough, the heavy treads of Terra guards cone thumping down the hall.
Oh, great, I think. Now they come. Maybe I actually should tell my father about the surveillance here.
There are three of them in front of me. Behind me, I can hear swearing.
"Princess?" the guards ask.
Without answering I go back into my room, leaving the door open enough for them to get through. One of them gasps when they see Sey wriggling and writhing on the floor.
I ask the vines to retighten themselves again, but they don't. I ask them again, then I command them. They don't move, as if I'm not here. Something's not right again.
"Guards," I start to say. They snap to attention, but then a bright blue flash blinds me. It makes my vision a little fuzzy, but when I can finally see clearly, it's a delusion. It better be, because there is no way what just happened just happened. Sey the snake slithers in circles on the ground before I realize that what I'm seeing is real. Impossible, but real.
"Hey! Come back!"
The snake makes haste across my room, sliding its way to my window. I lunge for it, and it makes a squeaking noise as my fingers wrap around its tail. It bites and wiggles, but I keep my grip. Suddenly, another bright flicker flares up, and I'm now gripping blue bird feathers.
How?
Suddenly a blur of color streaks across my line of sight. Sey the bluebird struggles to flap its wings at first, and barely clears the window. I almost fall out of it trying to grab the creature as it clumsily flails out of my reach. He's gone.
Caw! Caw!
"Elang!" I shout with joy and confusion as a giant black bird of prey swoops upon the smaller of his kind. The two birds clash, all talons and claws, beaks and bills until one of them lets out a strangled shriek, and they both go falling down.