We Need to Go

*Hezzlie*

I have to get out of here.
I’m not sure how to do it, but there has to be a way. A few days after the queen across the mountain range was killed by her own daughter, I leave dinner with nothing on my mind except for how to get out of this fucking castle.
I go to my room only to find that my brother is thinking the same thing. He doesn’t know, but then, I’ve literally just shut my bedroom door when he slips inside, closing it behind him. “Have you talked to them?” he blurts
I shake my head. “No. I spoke to my mom. There’s a lot going on over there.” That’s all I can tell him. I’m not going to mention that they’ve found stairwells that lead under the house or that my mom updated me after her initial call that she’s hearing rumors that the doorways that lead into the house or under it are protected by magic. I’m sure it’s difficult for Mom to even talk about such things; she’s not used to talking about magic, and she still doesn’t know that I can turn into a wolf at will.
Aiden sighs and walks across the room, sinking down into a chair. “We need to establish a plan. I’m just going to have to convince Rowan that he needs to trust me.”
I scott and sit down across from him. “Good luck. He won’t trust you. He doesn’t even trust me and I’m his ma–most recent house guest.” I try not to make a face. Shit! I’ve just slipped up and almost told my brother that Rowan is my mate.
Aiden doesn’t blink. “Well, just because he doesn’t trust you doesn’t mean he won’t trust me. He probably knows by now that Mara found her mate. When he sees that I can break her out of this trance, maybe he’ll see the value in having me there. I’ll convince him that I’m on his side, that I want to kill our father as badly as he does.”
“No offense, Aiden, but I don’t think anyone wants to kill our father as much as Rowan does.” It’s weird to me to be talking about being involved in killing a father I just met, but that’s where I’m at. I have no reason to want to protect him, and he’s done horrible things. Hearing him laugh about the queen’s death still makes my stomach roll.
“We need to sneak out. Tonight.”
As Aiden is speaking, the bedroom door opens again. Doesn’t anyone around here believe in knocking? And Abby trots in. “What are you doing tonight?” She’s heard part of our discussion, but hopefully not enough to know exactly what he said.
“We were just talking about how everyone was on edge tonight,” I say, motioning for Abby to join us. She pulls up a chair. “What’s up?”
She grunts and drops down in the chair in a very unladylike fashion. “I just had a huge argument with my dad. He said I couldn’t talk to you anymore, and that there was no reason for me to keep going to your room when you clearly know how to get there by now,” she explains. “But I told him we are friends, and if he doesn’t like it, then he can suck it. Well, he didn’t like that. I stormed off.”
I blow out a long breath. “Do you think that he’ll come hunt you down?”
“No,” she says quickly. “Mom asked him to give me some room. I think she’s pointing out to him that Aiden has been spending a lot of time with you lately, and that’s making him rethink the situation. He might not think you’re such a black sheep if the heir to the throne is a friend of yours.”
I’m not sure what to say. I look at Aiden for a moment, and while I could use the mind-link to talk to him, I wonder if he can read my expression. He gives me a solemn nod, so I return my attention to Abby. “How close are you to your mother?” I ask her. She’s never really talked to me about it. She mostly talks about how much she doesn’t like her father.
Abby shakes her head. “We don’t get along well, but she doesn’t want to deal with me most of the time. She’d rather just let me do whatever I want to and wash her hands of it. Why?”
I look at Aiden again, and he nods. She turns her head to him then back to me. “What’s going on?”
Again, I draw in a deep breath before I tell her, “We’re talking about doing something drastic, but it might be best if we don’t talk to you about it unless–”
“I want in,” Abby blurts without hesitation. “What are you going to do? Are you going to leave?” She looks at Aiden. “Are you going to run to Moonstryker?”
My mouth drops open. I stare at her and then at my brother. He doesn’t nod this time, but I can’t read his mind. I shrug at him, waiting for him to jump in. After all, he knows her a lot better than I do.
“Yes,” Aiden finally tells her. “Yes, that’s what we’re going to do.”
I can see the excitement in Abby’s face as she grins at each of us. “I want in,” she says again. “When? I wanna go, too.”
“Abby, it’ll be dangerous,” I remind her. “We’re going to have to sneak out and run. We’ll have to run all the way there, across the mountains.”
“I have a friend in town,” Aiden tells me, keeping his voice down. “He’ll park a car for us in the woods, in the forest. We won’t have to run the whole way. But it will be difficult to get across the bridge. They’ll probably close it down.”
“How will we get across then?” Abby asks.
Aiden stares at me. I take a deep breath and shake my head. He’s the only one I’ve told, and I don’t want to trust that information with anyone else–not even Abby.
But my brother nods, and I reluctantly lift my hand. A moment later, it’s glowing.
“Oh, my… Goddess,” Abby whispers as I extinguish the light. “You… do have magic?”
I nod.
“Wow.” She’s speechless–for once.
“We’ll have to go in the middle of the night,” Aiden explains. “We can’t really take anything. We’ll need to shift once we get over the fence. Just a backpack with a change of clothes. Phones can be traced. We shouldn’t take those either.”
I think about how excited my mom was to buy me that phone, but it’s fine. It’s just a thing. “Okay.”
“Tonight.” Aiden pushes his chair back and stands. “Two o’clock. Meet me downstairs by the south door.”
“The–what?” I ask.
“I’ll meet you here,” Abby assures me. She knows I get lost better than my brother does.
As Aiden reaches the door, he says, “Neither of you can tell anyone. Hezzlie, don’t tip them off that we’re coming either. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it–literally.”
Again, my head rocks back and forth. “Okay.” I feel like I should warn Dean, but I’ll be able to do that when I get closer, through the mind-link. I can’t tell Rowan. He might not want me to come, and I can’t handle that.
Aiden manages a narrow smile and then leaves. Abby turns to me and squeals. “This is so exciting.”
“I’m terrified,” I reply, honestly. “We could die.”
“We won’t. You have magic.”
“Untested magic,” I remind her. “I have no idea if I can hurt anyone with it or even help us.”
“You can.” She pats my arm. “I trust you. I’m going to go. I want to see my mom again, but I’ll make sure that I don’t tip her off.”
“Okay.” I trust her.
Abby stands and hugs me and then walks out the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
It’s almost 10:00 PM. I have four hours left in this room. I’ve got to figure out what the hell I”m doing and then everything will be up in the air again. I want to be confident and excited, but I’ll be lying if I don’t admit I’m scared.
I’m scared shitless.