‘You can’t escape.’

Lucy shot up from underneath her bed covers, hyperventilating as her brain scrambled to decipher her surroundings. As the world began to come together, she realized the sun was shining from a near window, the room was empty, and her form was normal.

“Are you alright?” A soft voice managed to whisper.

Whipping her head to the left, she realized her assessment was wrong, as standing there was Alex.

“Bad dream?”

“Yeah. What happened last night?”

“I could ask you the same thing. You just vanished for an hour and then suddenly you were back on top of the tower.”

“The last I remember, I was arguing with Elizabeth then I was swallowed by darkness.”

“You might want to share this with the others.”

Nodding, Lucy Jumped out of bed, put on her shoes, and headed for the dining room. Turning her head back before opening the door, she could see Alex heading downstairs.

“Not coming?”

“No.” She hadn’t stopped.

“Why? What about breakfast?

The girl didn’t answer, continuing her descent.

“Lucy!”

The girl couldn’t make it halfway into the dining room before a rampaging Xandir grappled her, his merciless hug threatening to snap her in half.

“Xandir, I’m sure she appreciates it, but could you not break her like a board?”

At Hayley’s request, the teen relinquished his companion, allowing the others to continue where he left off.

“I’m sure we have many questions for Lucy, but let her eat first ya’ll!”

Taking her seat, Lucy could see that everyone was here, including Elizabeth, taking Alex’s seat with a lantern sitting on the table.

Empty plates were still scattered across the table, all except for the one in front of her, stacked from floor to ceiling with fresh pancakes. Her instinct kicking all other thoughts to the curb, she dug into the skyscraper, its contents all perfectly buttered and coated in sugary syrup. In record breaking time, her plate joined the rest.

“Where did you go? We searched all over for you, but you just vanished and then suddenly came back.”

“I had an argument with Elizabeth.”

“We know that part. Safe to say, I think it confirms that I am the superior princess without question.”

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out in response.

“Well, after that, I just fell into this weird gray place. There was nobody there, nothing there. I got scared and then I fell into another place; this one had all sorts of monsters in it.”

“Oooh, what kind what kind what kind what kind what kind?!”

“Uh,” Lucy hesitated, partially thinking how best to describe the surreal encounters, but mostly taken aback by Xandir’s giddiness, “they were bizarre.”

“It can’t be worse then what we went through last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“We thought you ran away! We searched high and low for you last night. Clyde and I fought a horde of carnivorous vegetation.”

“Dustin and I beat up a werewolf!”

“Speaking of: Dustin, Hayley didn’t swear, did she?”

“She did say the ‘S’ word.”

“You rat!”

“Now now Hayley, it’s good to tell the truth. It’s also unbecoming of a princess to swear.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“So you all went looking for me last night?”

“Yes, even me and Alex. We fought a crow most fowl.”

“Oh no, did Xandir encourage you to start again?' Clyde shook his head so hard his hat nearly flew off. 'Whatever, let’s just get to the part where Elizabeth found her.”

“She did?”

“Yes. Well, more like you just appeared on top of the tower. I didn’t see you come back, you were just there.”

Getting up from her seat, Elizabeth grabbed her friend by the hand, pulling her out of the room. Just before they disappeared from view, Lucy could see Clyde shaking his fist at a grinning Westin and Xandir holding back a rabid Hayley as Dustin cowered behind his chair.

“We need to talk.”

Elizabeth had stopped in the middle of the garden, letting the breeze caress her magenta hair and the water babble into her ears.

“Are you going to yell at me some more about how I’m a freak?”

“No! Look, I’m sorry about what I said last night.”

“You shouldn’t be. Maybe you’re right, maybe I am a freak.”

Lucy’s head shrunk downward as she gazed dejectedly at her body, rubbing her arm all the while.

“Even if you are a freak, you’re still my friend.”

“But why?” Lucy lifted her head back up, now staring into her friend’s eyes. “I kidnapped you, I punched you. That’s not what friend do.”

“I punched you too and scared you half to death. That’s also not what friends do, right?”

“I guess. I still feel like my mother for what I did.”

“Besides, you’re still forgetting something?”

“I am?”

“We’re free.”

“Um, yeah. I didn’t forget that part."

Lucy was now confused, wondering if she had truly forgotten something or if Elizabeth had lost her mind.

“We’re not in Lumina. I’m not stuck in that castle, you’re not stuck in the city. We can go anywhere we want now!”

The sin pondered those words, gradually realizing the weight they held.

“If you would, could you take me somewhere? I don’t mind living here -I like the food and your friend are funny- but I’d love to see the world.”

“Not today.”

“Why?”

“I feel like I haven’t had a second to think since I got here. It’s just been going places, screaming, eating, sleeping, and helping the others. I want to relax for the day.”

“I can wait a day.”

“Well…I can take you somewhere.”

Upon returning to the third floor, the two could see it was vacant, not even a disgruntled cowboy remained. The second floor was strangely absent of conflict, the first bereft of one seamstress. With a powerful kick, the entrance was now wide open, the poor doors crying as they relented back.

The sun had toasted the air to perfection, creating a climate akin to wrapping one’s self in freshly warmed blankets on a cold night. The wind only occasionally flew by to offset the temperature, never allowing the heat to layer.

Following her path mechanically had betrayed the underlying excitement building in Lucy’s mind as her imagination brimmed with possibilities. As the mountain trail grew steep, the girl couldn’t retain her concentration on the rocky path, so she kept watch over her friend. Despite being a princess, Elizabeth kept pace through the incline.

“This is it” Lucy had stretched her arm outward to present the view.

“It’s incredible.”

Elizabeth was overwhelmed by the vast outstretch of country in her gaze, drinking in everything in, yet never finding the bottom of the well. There was the giant city below, a field to her left, various forests and towns in front of her.

“Hey you two, what are you doing out here?”

Lucy was perplexed at Dustin’s question.

“What do you think?”

“You're heading to a town.”

“No way, we came to hang out with you!” She half-lied.

“What?! Really?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Elizabeth pitched in.

“Well, no one really comes to just sit with me.”

“No one? Why?”

“They’re too busy or something. I don’t mind, being alone is nice: you don’t have to listen to anyone but yourself.”

“Must be nice to just hear yourself think.”

“Nah. The problem with listening to yourself is that once you relax for so long, you’ve heard everything you have to say. After that, it gets boring and lonely and you start to feel crazy.”

“I think I wouldn’t mind listening to myself. I feel like my life has been going a mile a minute over the last two days.”

“You have been doing a lot. I think if anyone deserves the rest, it’s you.”

“So, what do you do, Dustin?” The princess inquired.

“Nothing much. If the others need help, I might get to it, I might not. Usually it’s too much work, but occasionally I patch holes in the tower or fix the toilets and clean stuff. You know, once in a blue moon.”

“You sound rather lazy.”

“How much work do you do as a princess?”

Elizabeth was about to retort but couldn’t come up with a response.

“Dustin, are all the other sins like me?”

“How so?”

“Did they have to do something to prove themselves?”

“Not really. At least, I didn’t have to do anything. The day Jade came to me, he simply asked me to follow him; I did and ended up here.”

“Wait, what about your family?”

Dustin angled his head down, letting his messy black hair wash over his eyes.

“I ran away. I didn’t like them and they didn’t like me.”

“What if they miss you?”

“They don’t. My dad would always ask me to work the farm. I would work in that stupid field until I fried and then I would get yelled at cause I didn’t work hard enough. Then mom would ask me to clean things and yell at me afterwards cause it wasn’t good enough. The only thing they miss is having something to yell at.”

“I don’t think we’re all that different, Dustin. My mom would always act weird and my dad was never around. The only one who cared about me was my brother, Matthew.”

“I didn’t have a dad, he ran away when I was a baby.”

“Wait, a king ran away?”

“I know it sounds odd, but that’s all I’ve heard about him. Mom is so busy being a queen I mostly just live with my babysitter Edward. And Lucy of course.”

“At least you two have each other.”

“You have the other sins and us. Don’t forget that.”

Dustin turned his head, shaking his messy hair to reveal a wide smile.

“Thanks. I guess now I have something new to tell myself.”

As the day passed, the trio returned to the tower. As they did so, Xandir and Clyde had returned from the forest.

“Hey…Xandir was it?”

“Your bed has been completed! And yes, it is.”

“What were you guys doing in the forest?”

“Well Lucy, We were off wrangling maple syrup.”

“Why didn’t you just steal some?”

“We figured we’d do it the honorable way!”

“And also Westin was busy.”

“But it was several hours well spent. Behold a days work!”

Xandir had held out a bucket filled an inch deep with maple syrup.

“I can see I wasn’t the only one doing nothing all day.”