I wasn''t the first to wake up on the day that we were going to take Mom home. Shortly after I got out of my bed, Dad opened the door to check on me and Elya and saw me opening the window. He had dark circles under his eyes, how little had he been sleeping while we were here? What was there for him to do besides sleep? He clearly didn''t enjoy whatever activities we had planned for every day just to kill some time.


    "Make sure you don''t wake up Elya."


    I nodded in response.


    The next hours after sunrise were spent cleaning up the rooms that we had stayed in for the past three months. I finished early and asked Dad if I could take a walk nearby.


    "Get back here in about an hour. That''s when we''ll be going to pick up Mom."


    I nodded at him and went for the door, but he spoke again before I opened it.


    "Hey, Aryet."


    "Yeah?"


    "I''m going to be away for a while after we go back to the House. I need to find some... medication for Mom. The cursificier that we hired was able to help Mom, but she''s still very sick. I need you to take care of your sisters while I''m gone. Mom will be there, but she''s not going to be the same as she was, at least not until she''s fully healed. For however long I''m away, I need you to be there for Elya, Liza, and Idrel, especially Idrel. I know that she still hasn''t been coming out of her room often. Can you promise me that you''ll help them if they need it?"


    I nodded at him.


    "I just need you to say yes."


    "Yes, I promise."


    He gave me a smile in return, but it didn''t seem like he was happy.


    I walked around the east of Prymdor, going through various markets and crowded streets, eventually to a large road that cut right through the middle of the city. This road led straight from the palace to the north exit gate where we had come in. Just as I was about to cross the road I felt a hand on my shoulder and I was pulled back. I looked behind me to find a guard who looked very angry with me.


    "Don''t go into the road while the royal carriage and its guards are passing through!"


    Royal carriage? What royal carriage? I heard the sounds of trumpets from the palace and saw hundreds of other people lined up at the side of the road. All of them were cheering for the carriage that was passing by, I couldn''t see who was inside it. The hand on my shoulder pulled me back once more when I tried to get a closer look at the carriage coming by.


    "Hey! What did I just say? If you go in front of the carriage again I''ll take you to the nearest prison and you''ll have to stay there until we find your parents! Do you understand?"


    I nodded at him.


    After he had let me go the carriage was already near me. I looked inside the carriage as it went by and I could not see anything at first, but then I saw eyes peeking over the windows on the doors of the carriage. They were looking right at me, and I stared back as the carriage passed by. The person I was looking at disappeared, but then the carriage stopped. The carriage doors opened and a boy about my size stepped out. The sounds of all the people on the side of the road couldn''t be heard over the trumpets, and soldiers repeating a phrase that I only was able to hear once.


    "All hail the Prince of Melantia! All hail the future King!"


    The boy that stepped out ran over to me, with many guards right behind him. There was a man in robes following him saying something that I couldn''t hear well until he got over here.


    "Your majesty, this is a random girl, you could be hurt! Please get back in the carriage."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    A large man got out of the carriage after him, and the chants of the soldiers around me changed.


    "All hail the King of Melantia! All hail his majesty!"


    I was so distracted by this large man that I didn''t notice the boy right in front of me.


    "Hey, are you listening?"


    "What? Sorry, it''s so loud."


    "I''ll fix that."


    He ran over to the man behind him and spoke to him. That man then screamed as loud as he could.


    "QUIET!"


    Every single noise around the road had stopped, even those who were on the street behind me stopped what they were doing to look at the Man who had just screamed. The only time I had heard someone nearly as loud was when Mom and Dad were fighting back when we saw her when she was sick, but even then it didn''t sound the same. He was powerful, everyone looked at him, and I didn''t know whether to be afraid of him or whether to be excited that I was able to meet him.


    The boy ran back over to me, and this time I was able to hear what he was saying.


    "Hey, do you want to see a cool trick of mine?"


    "Sure?"


    "I have this coin here, and I think that I can tell you what side it will land on every time."


    "There''s no way you can do that."


    "Really? How about this, if I don''t tell you what side it will land on correctly ten times in a row, I''ll give you a thousand Melus."


    Several people started talking quietly behind me, I couldn''t hear what all of them were saying but they were clearly surprised that this boy was offering me so much money.


    "What if you do say the side it will land on correctly ten times? What do I have to do."


    "You have to come with me in my carriage."


    "Alright, deal."


    There was no way he could predict a coin flip ten times in a row, I hadn''t seen anybody even do it twice in a row. He made his first flip.


    "Tails"


    The coin landed on tails. He flipped it again.


    "Heads."


    The coin landed on heads. Lucky guess, he wouldn''t make it much farther though. He flipped the coin again.


    "Tails."


    The coin landed tails. Alright so maybe luck is on his side today, ten times in a row is still a lot, I didn''t have anything to worry about. He flipped the coin for a fourth time.


    "Tails"


    The coin landed on tails. Four times, I still had six more chances to win. He flipped the coin another time.


    "Tails."


    He predicted it correctly again. Three tails in a row and he got it right. Was he actually going to get to ten? I just agreed with what he was saying because he said he would give me a ton of money. What would I do if I had to go with him? He flipped the coin for a sixth time.


    "Tails."


    That''s another one correct. I can''t just go with him now, I have to get back to Mom. Where is he going to take me? He can''t just keep me away from my family forever, right? He doesn''t even know who my family is, how will he ever get me back to them? Seventh time.


    "Heads."


    Does he plan on getting me back to them? Was I betting away my entire life to him if I were to lose? Is this some sort of rigged coin? How is he guessing it correctly every time? If I knew he had some sort of vision into the future I would''ve never agreed to go with him forever. When did I agree to go with him forever? Eighth.


    "Tails."


    Is this my new life happening right in front of my eyes? Maybe being in the royal family wouldn''t be so bad, I could escape worrying about my future. I wouldn''t have to constantly check on Idrel or stop Liza from being mean to Elya. But Dad asked me to take care of them, I can''t just leave that all behind! Nine.


    "Tails."


    Please get the next one wrong, please say that you were lying about taking me with you. I have a family to get back to, I can''t be spending the rest of my life with some boy that I just met! Please, just whatever you do, find some way to not force me away from them! I don''t want to leave them all behind! Ten!


    "Tails."


    That was it. My life was now over. If I tried to run away he''d probably send the guards to chase after me, and I''d be forced to stay with him. He didn''t look extremely happy, like he had just gotten some miracle, but he just grinned at me, like he expected it to turn out this way.


    "Alright, let''s go to the carriage."


    As he turned around the man who now seemed even larger than before was right behind him.


    "Searle, you can''t just take this little girl with you. Think of something else."


    The boy looked at the man behind him the same way that Liza would look at Mom and Dad when she wanted something. The man did not say anything, he simply stood still looking back at the boy until he turned back to me. He walked up to me and he whispered in my ear.


    "I wasn''t actually going to take you with me. I wanted to see something happen."


    "What?"


    "You looked like you were trying to run away from something, or someone. Do you still want to run away from them now?"


    I didn''t, I wanted anything but to be taken away from them.


    "No."


    He backed away and I saw that he still had the same grin on his face. I''m sure he was very happy that whatever experiment he was doing was a success.


    "Alright, I won''t force you to come with me, but in return, you need to remember my name until the next time we meet."


    "What''s your name."


    "Searle Windheim the Second. You got all that?"


    His grin changed into a smile, and it was comforting. When was the last time somebody had just smiled at me without any meaning behind it, without giving me any reason to think that they weren''t truly happy? It felt nice to look at his smile, and I felt that I was smiling back.


    I nodded at him.