Candy only realized the flaw in her plan as she was telling her parents about how she disobeyed them and went to the lowest level of the dungeons. But they'd understand once they heard the next part. Surely they'd understand.

"Wait, slow down, darling. You're telling us that you disobeyed our orders and went to the lowest-"

"Yes," the second the words came out of her mouth, she felt sorry. The surprised expressions on her parents' faces didn't help so she tried to take the subject off her going behind their backs.

"But you don't understand, mother. There is a boy down there - he's my age - I think . . . anyhow, he was wrongly sent there."

Her parents shared a look before smiling condescendingly down at her.

"Sweetheart, you must know those horrible criminals are all there for a reason," her mother sharply exhaled. "Now, let's forget this whole thing and go back to lunch. Oh, and darling, don't go down there again . . . for your own safety."

A small flame came to life inside Candy as she poked at her foie gras.

Candy waited until diner rolled around, only bringing it up again when her parents were in a happy mood.

"... have it handled. Don't you think, my darling?"

Candy sat quietly, careful not to interrupt to help her case. Maybe I should just give up now. It doesn't really matter, does it?

"Mother, father," the queen and king turned to her, each wearing their own kind of smile. The kinds of smiles she had seen her whole life when she tried to talk to them about something they didn't like. The "oh my, sweet little Candy, saying something so silly."

Of course, they would never say it out loud, but she knew what they must be thinking. "That poor boy was all alone in that dungeon cell, helpless and so . . . so kind," she lied. Why was she doing this again? "I don't think you properly understood me before but he needs your help. He's innocent, I'm very sure of it."

There was that look again, except this time, Candy could see a hint of anger hidden behind those fake smiles. And oddly enough, it pleased her in a twisted sort of way.

"Sweetie, I really thought we dropped the matter earlier? Did we not?" The queen looked innocently at her husband, taking the time to be dramatic by turning her head all the way so that she could face him.

The little flame inside Candy just got bigger.

"Yes - well no but-"

"Enough of this, dear. End of subject. Why don't you finish-"

"Listen!" Candy almost stood, her chair screeching across the floor and echoing off the walls. The queen and king were quiet, but not because they suddenly felt like listening. This was the closest thing to anger Candy had ever seen from them. Queen Alila took a deep breath, flattening her dress with her hands.

"Why don't you go to bed, dear," she carried an even yet firm tone, and Candy realized it wasn't a suggestion.

Sitting alone on top of her bed, Candy sorely regretting arguing further with her parents after that. They'd sent her to her room - grounded her. In a strange way, it pleased her to think that she'd actually gotten them to ground her. It wasn't intentional, but something about it . . .

A knock on the door rattled her out of her thoughts.

"My lady? May I come in?" Candy let a smile drift across her face hearing Joey's voice. He didn't wait for an answer, pushing the door open gently. The moment he saw her, a smile turned up his features.

"I thought I might find you in here."

"Believe or don't, Joey, but my parents grounded me."

He raised his eyebrows, but she could see that smile still hiding there.

"Okay, okay, it's a big deal for me."

"No, no yeah - yes - this is really a big-"

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She narrowed her eyes at him, making him quiet but he didn't stop smiling.

"What do you want?"

"I heard you'd been grounded and I wanted to give you company."

"I don't think-"

"It doesn't matter."

As much as she loved him, Candy hated it when Joey interrupted her. She shoved those emotions down and forced a smile. He started to step into her room when the sound of footsteps echoed up the stairs.

"Gotta go, my father will be missing me," he was still speaking as he bolted silently out the door. The footsteps belonged to a maid who came to help Candy get ready for bed.

But she wasn't done, and she wasn't going to sleep.

That boy needed her help, and no one was making her feel any better. Unfortunately not even Joey. She waited as long as she could possibly wait before pulling on some comfortable, sneaky clothes and slipping out of her room.

Her heart beat so loudly she thought it alone would wake the entire castle, but by the time she got to the kitchen, everything was going smoothly.

After grabbing a glass of milk and gulping it down as fast as she could, Candy hurried to the dungeon entrance, slowing so that the captain wouldn't see she was in a hurry.

"Princess? What are you doing down here so late?"

"Captain, I'm sorry. I just felt like getting something, a midnight snack, but I feel too afraid to go back upstairs by myself. Do you mind . . . uh . . ."

She waited until it hit him, putting on the best innocent look she could. After what seemed like a small eternity, he agreed to take her back to her room.

Her stomach flipped as her bedroom doors came into view. Her plan couldn't be going better.

"Thank you, Captain. You don't know how helpful this is," she smiled up at him as they walked to her door. About three seconds away from the entrance, she silently morphed into her dragon form - a sleek, purple dragon with a pair of deep blue horns and a silver underbelly. The thing was; she could control the colors on her scales, and after a childhood of practice, she'd managed to blend perfectly into her surroundings.

The captain stopped at her doors, and as he did she reached out and pushed him into her room. She was much stronger in her dragon form, and therefore pushed him across her room halfway. It gave her just enough time to shrink back to a human and lock the doors behind him.

Her heart somehow thumped faster.

She heard him rattling the doors behind her, but those doors were made to keep a princess inside. Her smile vanished the moment she heard the doors shatter behind her. Whoops. She turned around, faced with an angry captain of the guards, who was currently running at her full speed.

She panicked, frozen to the spot, giving him the perfect opportunity to grab her.

"I don't understand what you're doing princess but-"

For the first time in her life, she interrupted the captain of the guards, morphing into a dragon so that he was forced to let go.

She quickly turned human again to be able to flee down the stairs. Thankfully for her, the captain didn't know the stairs as well as she did, so it gave her the advantage.

The moment she reached the bottom step, she changed back, spreading her wings and thrusting herself forward. Although her head felt light and the world got fuzzy for a moment, Candy kept going until she reached the dungeon entrance.

She had to jump between forms on the way down but by the time she got to the bottom, the captain was far behind her. The first thing she noticed at the lowest level was that the keys were missing. No thanks to me, I guess. No problem.

"I haven't done this in a while so, please work!"

She didn't mean to say the words out loud. The space she was in was just big enough for her dragon form if she really squeezed herself and let her tail thump on the stairs. Taking a deep breath and feeling the acid gather at the back of her throat, Candy blew as hard as she could, aiming her fiery blast straight at the door.

Fortunately for her, it was wood, so she was able to knock it off its hinges and hurry inside. She didn't hesitate as she sprinted to the other side of the room, her horns scraping the ceiling with every bound. She ignored the shock and terror on the prisoners' faces, sliding to a stop when she reached the last cell.

The boy inside woke with a start, jumping to his feet the moment he saw her. She was more surprised than he was at the fact that he wasn't very surprised. She gave him a "friendly" growl, wrapping her talons around the bars of the cell and yanking the door off its hinges.

Even though she was both human and dragon, she could only speak the language of the species she was. She threw her head sideways, towards her back.

Hop on.

The boy seemed hesitant at first but the sound of hurried footsteps above encouraged him. She bent down as he grabbed her shoulder blade, jumped onto her shoulder, and then pulled himself all the way onto the back of her neck using her outward spines, smiling the entire time.

He's weirder than I thought.

It was funny to her that he was so small, he could ride her, but when they had met, he was taller than her. When they made it through what was left of the door, he jumped off so she could turn human again.

For a painful moment, the world spun around her and her head felt light.

"Princess, are you okay?"

Candy took a deep breath as the world cleared. She gave him a thumbs-up before starting up the stairs. Despite the noise overhead of frantic guards, she was sure she heard him laugh behind her.

They made it to the first level of the dungeons. He almost bolted out the door before she stopped him.

"Wait," she was out of breath, "you can't just run out into the open."'

"Why not?"

She glared at him, encouraging another smile.

"I - I'll take you the rest of the way."

"Oh, I don't think so. It's pretty obvious this going back and forth thing is too much for you, so let me take it from here."

She wanted to argue, but as she thought about it, if anything happened she could easily turn into a dragon. He was about to bound out of the place into the open castle, but she grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, you need me."

"Excuse me?"

"I know every inch of the castle, and you know every inch of your cell," she didn't have to say more to convince him.

"So what is your plan?"

She smiled.