Evangeline

Chapter 12

"It's not far," Jonathan coaxed. "Just jump."

I didn't have any idea how he managed to find this passage out of the castle after a little snooping, but he was right. It led right outside and it wasn't too difficult to get through. It was just this last jump that was a little scary. It wasn't night time, so we weren't in total darkness, but we were in a heavily shadowed area and the ground was harder to see.

It was a very good thing he told me to wear something besides my usual dresses. A dress would have been ruined after going through the dirty passageway, and jumping without killing myself would have been impossible. Instead, I wore small men's clothes. I'd ordered the servants to bring them and had worn them under my dress. Once I was concealed, I'd taken the dress off and stashed it so I could put it back on when I returned.

"I promise I'll catch you," he said after a minute where I didn't move.

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to do as he said and jumped. I didn't scream completely, but I did make a strange squeaking noise, and I felt stupid about that when my feet hit the ground. It really wasn't very far.

"See?" Jonathan laughed and released me, having caught me like he promised.

"I guess I'm not quite as adventurous as I thought."

"I wouldn't say that," he disagreed. "You've already done a very brave thing by leaving the castle."

Pleased that he thought I was brave, I smiled. "So, what did you want to show me?"

"It's a little ways from here," he said. "Did you bring a hat?"

"A hat?" I looked at him curiously.

He smirked. "You're a little conspicuous like that," he said, handing me his own hat. "People might wonder."

He was right, of course. Women didn't dress this way. I might not look like a man, but if I had a hat on and I kept my head down when I was around other people, they might not look closely enough to realize I was a girl. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about putting my hair up.

Ready to get to his surprise, I put the hat on. Smiling, he took my hand and led me through the shadowy space.

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"How far is it exactly?" I asked. We must have been walking for an hour and Jonathan showed no signs that we were nearing whatever it was.

"Not much further," he said over his shoulder. "You'll see in a few minutes."

Content with that, I kept quiet as I followed him through the strange area. I'd had no idea what to expect, but the place I found myself definitely wouldn't have been it. We must have been in the one of the poorer areas of the kingdom. Technically, I think it was still a middle class neighborhood, but it seemed to be the more impoverished section of it. I'd have been afraid to be here at night or by myself. I hoped Jonathan was serious when he said we weren't far from his surprise because sunset wasn't that far off. Maybe another hour or two at most, and I wanted to be far away from here by then.

"This way," he said, briefly glancing back at me before he turned a corner. He walked a few feet down the little street and went into the second door along the wall.

It seemed a little strange that he just went ahead without waiting for me or allowing me to go first, but I didn't think too deeply about it. Not wanting to stay out here alone, I hurried after him, entering the darkened room and shutting the door behind me.

The excitement I'd felt since yesterday when Jonathan told me about this plan, dimmed as I took in my surroundings. It was a regular little house, and it seemed to be just one room. To my left, there was a small kitchen area. A bed was to the right, and there was a large table, taking up most of the rest of the space. Jonathan was sitting in a hard-backed chair, straight ahead of me, near the wall. He looked relaxed and strange somehow.