Paying the Price

Chapter 8: June

I can't believe that my siblings convinced me to do this.

We're going to die.

Today was the day. We had woken up super early and it was still dark out. The four of us were in Janae and I's room all packed up and ready to go.

Out of all my siblings, I had done the least amount of work over the past two days. I had been the diversion and have spent most of my time in here planning things out for the next few days.

Right now our main goal was to get out without getting caught by mother and father.

The guards knew we were leaving but getting caught by our parents would be detrimental.

"Okay is everyone ready?" I asked.

I got three nods from my siblings.

Janae looked a little hesitant and said "I'm scared."

Oliver then burst out laughing "Janae, why are you scared? This was literally your idea!"

"I don't know, it's just, who knows what it's really like outside. It could be a death trap." She said.

"I mean why would mother and father keep us here if it's safe for us to go outside?" She continued.

"Because Janae they are not good people. I promise that I will always keep you safe. Nothing is going to happen to you." Oakley said and pulled me and her into a group hug.

"Well now I feel left out," Oliver came and joined our hug. "Everything is going to be okay."

We were interrupted by the sound of trumpets and bells which indicated our parents were about to leave.

The plan was to let them get out of the gate and down the hill enough where they couldn't see us and then to go.

Oakley opened the door for us and said, "Come on, we have to tell them goodbye first."

The four of us lined the walls of the main hall and watched as mother and father came down the stairs and walked out not even regarding us.

Once they had walked out the doors we all rushed to the window to watch them as they made their way to the gate.

They walked to the gate and got into their carriage which would take them to their train station.

I honestly have no clue where they are going and I certainly have no clue what they are going to be doing when gone.

We watched as they rode down the hill and out of sight.

Oliver lead us away from the window and back into our room "Come on we have to hurry!"

I think he was the most excited out of all of us.

We went back into our room and grabbed all our things. We tried to keep everything to a minimum so all we had was a backpack each.

They were slammed full and all super heavy but I think Oakley and me had the heaviest. I had a bunch of cans and water bottles in mine.

We put our bags on and headed out the front door. Oakley lead us while Janae and I were in the middle and Oliver held up the back.

We made it out the door and to the gate.

"Your highnesses, I thought you were to leave with your parents?" The gate guard asked a little confused.

Thankfully Oakley had already come up with a plan.

"Yes sir, we just had to get poor June cleared with the doctor before we left." He pulled me next to him. "She has been terribly ill the past few days and needed to be checked before we left which cause a bit of a delay for the four of us. Not to worry though our parents needed to get ahead anyways and we will be meeting them at the train station.

"Oh no I'm so sorry princess," he bowed to me. "I'm glad you are doing better and I hope all four of you enjoy your trip."

"Thank you, sir," I said with a smile.

And then we walked out.

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I have always believed that outside was a dark, and scary place with millions of sicknesses ready to swallow me up like a monster.

But so far outside has been nothing but the complete opposite, it's actually quite nice.

We have been walking through the forest for almost all day and we knew it would be getting dark soon.

We have been in the same line since we left and have been trusting Oakley to lead us to the right spot.

He had planned all our stops and exactly how far it would take us to get to each place.

We were trying to get to a small village that was a few kingdoms down from ours in hopes of not being found.

Oakley had predicted that it would take us about a week to get there and that the first day would be the longest.

We were all exhausted from having to wake up early and walk nonstop all day today and when Oakley said we had gone far enough to stop we all let out a sigh of relief.

Oakley leads us around a corner, "Up here there is a waterfall and a cave where we will be staying tonight."

And sure enough there it was a huge waterfall.

"That is the prettiest thing I have ever seen in my life," Janae said in awe.

Oakley smiled and continued walking, "Come on, you haven't seen anything yet."

He lead us beside the waterfall and into a cave covered in crystals.

I looked around in total disbelief at how gorgeous the place was."How on earth did you know about this place, Oakley?"

"Well, I found some maps of the surrounding areas, made copies of them, and then found this place marked as a crystal cave and waterfall. It was the perfect distance for the first day and since I made copies of the maps and left the originals, no one will know which way we went."

Oakley had really thought of everything.

"Now come on, it's getting late and we all need to eat and sleep," he said.

We made our way inside and sat in a circle. We all opened up our bags and started to pull out the things we needed.

I brought our our food and water bottles, "Drink right now everyone, no one better get dehydrated."

We ate our food and got out our sleeping bags. We slept in a close square to stay warm.

"Goodnight everyone, sleep tight"

AN: sorry this was a late update I was in the hospital yesterday LMAO. I'm all good now.

LOVE YOU <3