Scott sat up.

“Wh- how did we get here?”, he furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed his forehead.

“You don't remember? Wow...”, Caroline scoffed.

“Well, I don't blame you. You took quite a beating.”, Crystal squeezed his shoulder.

“How much are we talking about?”, he gave her a panicked glance.

“Your dad had a knife.”, she sighed. “Alastor came quite a long time later. He was furious at Carter.”, she bit her lip.

“Did he..?”, Scott's eyes widened.

She shook her head. “No. Your dad's okay.

Scott scowled. “Alastor can't even get a job done...”, he sighed. “What happened next?”

“Caroline managed to pick the lock with a bobby pin. We carried you up here. We almost got spotted five times. Violet, here, healed you.”, Crystal explained, motioning with her head towards Violet, who gave Scott a small and awkward wave. “Which reminds me; you've already met Caroline, so that's my brother Tristan and that's Violet. Guys, that's Scott.”

“What? No friend this time?”, Scott rolled his eyes.

“When I introduced you as my friend before, you were sarcastic about it! Make your mind up!”, she laughed.

“Nah. I like getting on your nerves.”, he smirked. “Anyway, what's next? We can't stay here. Alastor will find us.”

“We should sneak out. It shouldn't be that hard. Tristan does it all the time.”, Crystal shrugged.

“Yeah, but when dad realises you're out, he'll get the palace under lockdown. It will be almost impossible to get out of here unless you have someone on the outside to get you as soon as you leave.”, Tristan warned them.

“Phoebe.”, Scott muttered.

“Are you sure you want to drag your sister into this? We could try something else.”, Crystal frowned.

“It's not like we have a choice here. Besides, she can take care of herself.”, Scott shrugged.

There was a really loud bang on the door. Everyone froze.

“Hide!” , Caroline hissed. “Who is it?”, she asked innocently as Scott rolled under the bed and Crystal hid in the closet with Violet.

“Princess Caroline, I was sent by your father to look for a pair of fugitives in your room. Please open up”, a guard said.

She opened the door.

“Of course! Did someone escape from the dungeons?”, she asked, pretending to be worried.

“I'm afraid so.”, he said, looking around. Tristan was lying on his sister's bed with his feet up against the wall and his head hanging down. “Hello, Prince Tristan.”

“Hey.”, Tristan replied in a bored manner.

“Who are the fugitives, if I may?”, Caroline asked.

“I'm afraid I can't say.”, the guard said.

“Then how am I supposed to know when I see them?”, she innocently batted her eyelashes at him.

The guard bit his lip. “You didn't hear it from me, but it's your sister and a friend of hers. They were apprehended a couple of days ago.”, he said in a low voice.

“Crystal is back?!”, Caroline acted surprised. Tristan widened his eyes to fake being shocked.

The guard nodded. “Now, if you don't mind, I have to look around.”, he added. Caroline let him in.

When you show people you have nothing to hide, they start believing it too; whether it's true or not.

The guard wasn't particularly good at his job. He seemed to be bored with it and only glanced around a bit. He didn't dare look in the closet in fear of being disrespectful to Caroline. He also didn't bother to look under the bed (he asked Tristan to do it because his back was achy).

Tristan tried not to laugh as he walked away from the bed. “Nothing.”, he somewhat failed to suppress a snicker. The soldier didn't notice.

“Well, then, I'll guess I should get going. Sorry, and thank you for your time.”, he bowed and left the room.

“The coast is clear, come out.”, Caroline sighed.

Crystal and Violet came out of the closet gasping for air and Scott gave Tristan a death glare.

“He made faces when he looked under the bed! I could have laughed!”, he explained, making Tristan double over of laughter.

“Scott, I don't think Tristan's face is funny enough to make anyone laugh, let alone you.”, Crystal shook her head, smiling lightly.

“I don't know whether to be glad or offended.”, Tristan frowned.

“Glad.”, everyone said at the same time.

“Definitely glad.”, Caroline added.

“Well, then... now I'm offended. Go to hell, guys.”, he crossed his arms.

“As if you know anything about hell...”, Scott muttered. Nobody seemed to hear him, though.

“Crystal, I think you have something in your hair...”, Violet bit her lip and tried to take it off.

"Ouch! What is it?", Crystal asked her, instinctively reaching for the back of her head.

Violet's eyes widened as she managed to untangle a tiny branch from Crystal's hair. “It's a branch. You had a small branch in your hair.”, she gulped. “How long have you two been living in the woods?”

"Several days.", Crystal admitted.

“Guys! That's not the point!”, Caroline interrupted them. “You said something about a sister.”, she turned to face Scott.

“Yeah, Phoebe. She could help.”, he explained. Crystal sighed in exasperation but didn't say anything.

“Are you sure you want to get Phoebe into this mess? It could get her in trouble.”, Crystal, repeated, trying to change his mind. Scott knew that this was all about Crystal feeling guilty for dragging him in this mess and that she still felt bad for what had happened with his mother, but ignoring that was his way of showing her that he didn't care about being involved in her family drama.

“Phoebe is her own person and she'll want to help. Besides, she really can take care of herself. I just need to write to her and someone will have to meet her at the gate when she arrives to explain the plan.”, Scott replied stubbornly.

“Alright. Write her a letter and let's get this over with.”, Caroline rolled her eyes.

“We still need to decide on who will go get her.”, Crystal reminded her.

“I can't. I'm a servant and not all of us are allowed near the gates. Besides, I'll be leaving in a day or two. I was supposed to have left ready, but with how things have turned out...”, she sighed, glancing at Tristan.

“My dad knows I tend to sneak out, so I'll probably be the first person to seem suspicious if seen.”, Tristan added.

“Still, we can't go because we're wanted, so that leaves us with--”, Crystal started, referring to Scott and herself.

“Fine! I'll do it!”, Caroline grumbled.

“You don't have to if you don't want to...”, her sister frowned.

“Yes, you do.”, Scott disagreed. Crystal glared at him.

“We could find another way.”, she tried to reassure Caroline.

«There is no other way.”, Scott shook his head. Crystal smacked his shoulder. “Ouch! Dammit, princess, stop doing that!”, he protested.

“Guys, enough. I said I'll do it. Just write the goddamn letter and tell me what I have to do.”, Caroline sighed.

“Let me write the letter first, and then we'll see about the rest.”, Scott told her.

“We need a plan first. What if we don't think of something before she gets here? Besides, she needs to know the basics!”, she argued.

“I still don't trust you.”, he shrugged.

“I'm just trying to help, dammit!”, Caroline snapped.

“And I'm just watching out for me and my sister! There's something weird about you. You know stuff.”, he glared at her. Violet gave Caroline a curious look.

Caroline looked taken aback by all the sudden attention. “I- I'm just watching out for my own family! You've met my dad! Do you really think I'd go unscathed if he finds out I'm helping you? Sometimes you have to put yourself on the line and not be a bloody coward!”, she regained her composure, changing the subject.

“Sounds like you're talking from experience.”, he crossed his arms, inquiringly.

“That's none of your business!”, she yelled at him.

“Enough! Both of you!”, Violet got in the middle of the whole thing. “Caroline, we need to talk. In private.”, she addressed the future queen.

“Fine.”, Caroline grumbled and followed her outside.

Violet crossed her arms as Caroline closed the door.

“What is it?”, the latter inquired.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. What kind of stuff do you know?”, Violet scanned her from head to toe.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”, Caroline lied.

“Of course you do. How did you know Crystal was in the palace?”

“Just a hunch.”, Caroline shrugged.

“Caroline, if there's something weird going on with you, you should tell me. If magic is involved, then I'm your best shot and I'm leaving tomorrow. If there's something I need to know, you should hurry up.”, Violet argued.

“There's nothing you need to know. Everything is perfectly normal.”, Caroline insisted.

“Fine, but make sure you don't regret holding back on this. I won't be here for long.”, the witch warned her and waited for a moment, hoping that her friend would open up to her, but Caroline only started at her stubbornly and didn't say a word.

Violet turned around and went back in her friend's room. She gave Crystal a glance that said that she hadn't forgotten about the talk the two of them were supposed to have. “Don't think I've forgotten about you.”, she mouthed at her.

Crystal gulped. “I haven't.”, she mouthed back. She felt nervous but didn't know the actual cause of her nervousness.

She had only just met Violet, but Violet radiated so much anxiousness, that Crystal couldn't help but feel stressed herself. The young witch seemed to be mysterious and the type of person that knew more than they let on. There were a ton of questions Crystal felt the need to ask her, but just couldn't bring herself to. She didn't want to seem as if she invaded Violet's space and, above all, she didn't want to seem ignorant.

Crystal Meadows wasn't ignorant, but she wasn't Crystal Meadows anymore, was she? She was supposed to be royalty, a Cornel, but she didn't want to. She liked her old self better.

Her old self was never anxious about anything; always carefree. Never felt trapped or hunted; always full of freedom. Royalty was a huge burden that Crystal couldn't bear to carry. Caroline had been born and raised into the royal life, and she seemed like she could barely cope. How could someone like Crystal, a so-called peasant, do better?

With all that had happened the past few days, she'd barely had time to let everything that happened to her village sink in, much less grieve for everything she lost.

She wanted to cry, but it wasn't the time.

“Done.”, Scott said, finishing the letter. Crystal had been so lost in thought that she didn't even notice he had writing it.

“Great. Now we just need someone to mail it.”, Tristan sighed.

“I will. I can pretend I'm sending it to Edgar.”, Caroline shrugged.

"Uh... Who's Edgar?", Scott raised an eyebrow.

“My suitor. Well, ex-suitor. We kind of conspired and made sure we weren't getting married.”, she explained. “Which also kinda got us both in trouble, but that's not the point. I'll just pretend I'm sending it to him. Dad will be so glad that he won't suspect a thing. Besides, by the time he finds out what really happened you two are going to be miles away.”

“Yeah, and you'll be in huge trouble.”, Crystal crossed her arms.

“It's worth it! You'll be in even bigger trouble if you don't get out of here!”, her sister reasoned.

“I've seen dad when he's merely upset and it's bad. He's going to be furious if he finds out that you and Tristan helped us!”

“Well, it's too late for that now anyway, so... At this point it's go big or go home.”, Caroline shrugged again.

“What's wrong with you?”, Crystal asked her softly, looking at her worriedly.

Caroline, yet again, looked taken aback but quickly regained her composure. “What are you talking about?”, she raised an eyebrow.

“You act like you don't care what happens to you anymore. What happened?”, Crystal reached to touch her shoulder but her sister pulled away.

Caroline glanced around quickly, glaring at Scott for a moment before turning back to Crystal to reply. “It's about Faith. I'll tell you later.”, she muttered, a lump forming at her throat as she choked back a sob and blinked back a few dangerous tears that threatened to spill.

Crystal frowned and nodded slowly and hesitantly. “Okay.”, she bit her lip, noticing Tristan and Violet look away awkwardly.

“Who is Faith?”, Scott not-so-discreetly whispered at Violet.

“Long story and not mine to tell.”, she muttered back at him. Scott nodded in understanding and turned to face Caroline.

“When can you mail the letter?”, he asked her.

“I could go now.”, she shrugged.

“Good. Will you?”

“Of course I will! You're too suspicious of others...”, she muttered, grabbing the letter addressed to Phoebe from Scott's hands and leaving the room.

“For good reason!”, he groaned as she slammed the door.

Caroline returned a while later.

“What's next?”, she asked them before they got the chance to ask her anything.

“Uh... We wait for her reply.”, Scott shrugged.

“Or, even better, we find a place for you to sleep that isn't here.”, she smiled a fake smile.

Scott snorted and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “Is that the best you can do?”

“You haven't seen anything yet. Stop pissing me off.”, she glared at him.

“Nah.”, he shrugged.

“How do you cope with this?”, Caroline turned to her sister.

“With patience.”, Crystal sighed.

“Hey! Princess, I thought we bonded!”, Scott complained.

“I'm just kidding...”, she ruffled his hair.

“Don't touch me.”, he pulled away. Crystal only snorted but left him alone.

After the sun went down, Tristan sneaked Scott in his room and Crystal remained with Caroline. They needed a place to sleep and someone to hide them, so they didn't really have a choice there. Besides, letting Scott and Caroline share a room would have meant the destruction of the palace.

They were too much alike to get along.

And the same way nobody noticed Tristan sneaking around with Scott, nobody noticed Cheryl sneak into King Daniel's palace apart from one person...

°~*~°

Cheryl had grown up in the palace, not as royalty but as a servant, which made her an expert in all the best hiding spots and ways to sneak and out of there. She knew that what she was doing was stupid, but it wasn't the first time she did something she knew would end badly.

She needed to warn him. Not see him; not yet. She wouldn't be able to leave again after seeing him.

No. That night she was only there to give a warning. Cheryl wasn't there to stay. Not yet, anyway.

She entered the throne room as quietly as she could. The moon shed light on a glass case she'd seen and cleaned millions of times before. For the first time in many years, she felt something familiar.

Within that case lied the King's crown. Daniel's crown. Next to it was an empty spot, the spot where the Queen's crown was supposed to be, but that had been long lost from the kingdom.

Cheryl slowly opened the case and then her bag, carefully placing the missing crown where it should be. She left a small piece of parchment in front of it and closed the case again.

She was about to let out a long sigh and would have probably teared up if she hadn't heard someone approaching. Her head snapped towards the door.

“Who's there?”, he yelled. She'd recognise that voice anywhere. She hesitantly ran for the window.

She barely managed to meet her husband's eyes as he entered the dark room, before climbing out of the window as fast as she could.

 “No! Wait!”, Daniel yelled after her and ran towards her, but it was too late. Cheryl had disappeared once again. He glanced around the room and froze as he noticed her crown in the case.

He slowly approached it and almost missed the parchment Cheryl had left behind.

There was only one word written on it; soon.

And he immediately knew there was one last obstacle, one last test, before they could be a family again.

But he knew that it also meant don't do anything stupid and the problem was that he already had...