The Princess Switch

Escaping

                                                                                            Chapter #24

Chapter #24

I sat down on a lounge chair, and he followed my example, obviously taking it as an invitation.  He stared at me; he expected me to make the first move in our precarious game of cat and mouse, where the mouse and cat changed as we progressed.

After I made no move to begin, Derrick cleared his throat and said, “my dear princess, I just want you to know that by assisting me in my escape plan, you will provoke the Queen’s wrath.  If you agree to help me, it is quite likely that any ties that you had made with our people will be broken off immediately.”  He paused, letting me think.  

I breathed in slowly; realeasing deep breathes helped me think.  Was I reallly willing to lose all of my connections, friends, acquaintances, and everything else just to help this prince that I had only known for a few months?  Even if he had saved my life, and even if he was maybe attractive.  Then I realized that I probably would.  First Jean, now this boy!  My life is taking a turn for the worse.

“I acknowledge that,”  I stated, trying not to show my emotions.  “Now how are we going to get you out of the castle?”  

We stayed up  all night in my locked and barred room, devising a plan for his escape.  We both found ourselves perplexed by the castle’s security.  Then, a servant knocked on the door.

“Quick, hide!”  I hissed at the prince, who was now scrambling over my couch towards the wardrobe and bed.  

“Coming!”  I yelled at the closed door, trying to help Derrick find a hiding place while being quiet.  Finally, I squeezed him into my dirty laundry hamper.  He tried to tell me something as I was pushing him into it, but I quieted him and closed the top.  

I took a deep breath; I opened the door to find a stout middle-aged woman with greying hair and lots of wrinkles.  

“Yes?”  I asked her, closing the door behind me so that she could still see the slightly rustling laundry bag.  

“I am here to take your dirty laundry away to be washed, ma’am.”  The short woman told me while curtseying.  I knew I was in trouble then, and my mind scrambled for excuses.  She reached over for the doorhandle, but I jumped in front of her, becoming a barrier.

“I’m kind of busy right now, so if you could just come later, that would be great.  Just come back tomorrow, and then you can have all the dirty laundry you want.”  I begged; she was not buying it however, and I could only keep her off for so long.

“Well, miss, I would if I could, but we only do the laundry today, and well, I am sure you don’t want to leave it in there for another week.  It will just start overrunning your suite.  Now please just let me in,”  the lady was beginning to grow irritated with me.

Then, an idea struck me.  “Wait.  Where do you take the laundry?”  She gave me an odd look as I questioned her.  The woman raised an eyebrow, but still attempted one more time to sneak past me into my room before answering me. 

“Well, that is a very odd question for you to ask.  Why, do you need your laundry to be done in a special place?”  She mocked.  “We take it outside of the castle to the countryside and then....”  She continued to talk about how the launders only used pure mountain water to clean our clothes, making plenty of rude side comments about how it probably wasn’t good enough for me. She said I should hire my own launders just to clean my clothes, which she also hinted were frivolous and overdone, even though they were probably the plainest clothes at the palace.