by Louise Rose
“You’re sick!” I snap.
Isabella lifts her taser. “Now, now. I must advise you to behave yourself. I have the authority to make the next few days very uncomfortable.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“That’s the Archaic spirit!” she sarcastically replies.
Isabella retreats and I hear the familiar sound of the door locking behind her.
I run up and kick the door, knowing full well it isn’t going to do anything, but it makes me feel a teeny bit better.
“You think you’ve won,” I mutter. “There’s no way you’re getting away with this.”
I stare at myself in the mirror, seeing the utter mess I am. On my one cheek, three lines of blood streak my pale skin and my tears look like puddles under my eyes.
My eyes…they look broken. I look broken.
But I can’t be.
Romy, Archer, and Declan need me. My dad might think I’m just a tool for him to boss around, but I am my mother’s daughter. Apparently she was good at running away with precious things of his, like me. I can run away with the guys, too.
He has underestimated me…he might not see me coming because of that. I grin to myself in the mirror, not seeing a broken girl anymore. I see an heir, a warrior, a woman who won’t give up.
I see my mother.
I stuff my bed in that old classic way that is meant to fool people into thinking I am asleep and switch off the lights. It is unlikely to fool anyone, but maybe it might buy me a few extra minutes.
Ducking down on my hands and knees, I crawl over to the window, keeping to the shadows. What no one knows is that I have secretly been working away at the bars that are meant to trap me inside until they are loose enough for me to pull them out. I have left them in place until the time came for me to escape. I knew I would only get one shot, so I have been waiting for the perfect moment to escape.
That moment is now.
Cautiously, I pull back the curtains, trying not to let any extra light into the room as I sneak behind it. I softly take the bells off, leaving them on the floor. Carefully, ever so carefully, I open the window, thanking my lucky stars it is always kept well-greased, so it doesn’t squeak as I push it up.
I reach out and grab a bar, gently twisting it until it finally comes free. Slowly, I place it on the floor and take hold of the bar next to it. A few moments later, I pull that one out of the wall too. I do the same over and over until the window is completely clear. I pull myself up onto the windowsill, leaving my legs on the inside as I lean out towards the drainpipe.
Stretching out as far as I can, my fingertips only just brush the metal. Looking down at the ground, it looks further away than I remembered. It is a good thing the doctor is in the house–I might need his help once he is done with Archer.
Taking a deep breath for courage, I pull myself out a little further, trying to press myself into the wall as if I were Spiderman to give myself the illusion of security. This time I manage to get hold of the drainpipe with one hand. Clinging on for dear life, I twist my body so my other hand can also catch the drainpipe.
I stay where I am for a moment, heart pounding. Then, I pull myself out, bracing myself against the wall as I walk my feet along until I am wrapped around the drainpipe.
“All right, Ivy. You’ve got this,” I whisper to myself, as I slowly shimmy down to the bottom of the pipe.
After what felt like forever, my feet eventually touch solid ground. I am safe. I rest my head against the drainpipe, sending up a silent prayer to whoever is listening to thank them for watching over me.
But I don’t have time to waste. Isabella can go back to my room at any time. I have to get the boys and get us all out of here. For all I know, the ‘doctor’ my father had called in might be a torturer or an assassin and he could be doing terrible things to all three of my friends.
I creep along the side of the house, trying to make my outline as small as possible. The problem is that since I have never been given free reign of the house, I have no idea where my room is in relation to anywhere else. All I can do is go from window to window and briefly pop my head up, hoping no one inside spots me.
There is so much wrong with what I am doing that a real assassin might laugh at me. I wish I had time to come up with a decent plan, something which had half a chance of succeeding, but I could already be too late.
The first room I check is empty. The second seems to be a security room. Two guards are sitting in front of a number of screens, but they don’t seem to be paying any attention to them, their card game being far more interesting. My heart leaps into my throat when I see Declan and Romy on their own in a room together, both unharmed. Archer is on another screen. The doctor is just finishing up with him and from what I can make out; he is still alive.
Thank goodness.
I also see my room. I was right. My father has been keeping tabs on me. Still, on the upside, I have done a good job of stuffing my bed. It definitely looks like I am asleep or sulking at how badly I’ve been treated.
There is still time for me to find the boys and set them free. The only problem I still have is that I have no idea where they are. Archer looks like he is in the same room he was taken in when we arrived home, so he is on the ground floor, but if the other two are on another level, I don’t have a chance of finding them.
I move on past a few more rooms which are empty until I come to my father’s study. He is on the phone with his back to me, so I decide to listen in for a minute.
“I know, I know. It’s terrible to think that they have the audacity to strike at the Houses in the heart of our own territory. Whoever is behind this has just declared war on all of us and I swear that when we uncover the culprits, they will feel the full force of my wrath. They’ve kidnapped all our heirs and we have no idea whether any of them are dead or alive. I’ve only just been reunited with my beloved Ivy. To have her snatched away from us so cruelly is breaking my heart. I will not rest until she’s back where she belongs with her loving family.”
It takes every ounce of willpower not to let loose a tirade of swearing at what I thought of that. But my father could wait. I will make sure he gets what is coming to him when the time is right. First, it is the boys who need to be reunited with their families.
If that is my father’s study, then I know I’m not far from the room where Archer is being kept. Sure enough, it isn’t long before I see him sitting all on his own. He looks so defeated it practically breaks my heart.
I put my hand through the bars and tap on the window.
“Archer! Archer!”
Archer looks back, his eyes widening, and he slowly walks over to the window. He pulls it up so we can talk.
“Ivy! What are you doing here? Come to gloat?”
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“This is all your plan, isn’t it? Your sick idea of getting back at me for seeing Carly. I thought Milly told you, I had it all worked out. Carly is just a decoy. I had it all figured out so we can see each other without our families suspecting. Why couldn’t you have trusted me, Ivy?”
“Wait! You’ve got it all wrong,” I say. “I don’t know anything about this. It is all my father. He’s got some mad scheme to take over the town and pin the blame on someone else. He locked me up in my room. I put some pillows in my bed, but I don’t know how long they’re going to fool anyone. We have to find Romy and Declan and get all of you as far away from here as possible.”
“Really?”
The look of hopeful hurt on Archer’s face tells me everything I need to know about how he feels about me. Impulsively, I reach through the bars and pull his face to mine. The metal pressing against our cheeks is cold as I kiss him passionately.
“I’m going to save you,” I promise. “All of you. I just need to figure out where Declan and Romy are and find my way inside the house without anyone seeing me and get you out.”
I turn to leave, but Archer reaches through the bars to grab me.
> “Ivy, I need you to swear that if you find yourself in danger, you’ll run away. Save yourself, no matter what. Romy, Declan, and I are big boys. We can take care of ourselves.”
“Archer, you were shot a couple hours ago,” I remind him. “You’re in no position to take care of anything. There’s no way I’m leaving you here. Besides, my father needs me. I’m his heir. There’s no way he will do anything to really hurt me. He is just throwing threats around to try and intimidate me.”
“You really think so?”
“Yes.”
No. Not after the way Isabella was toward me.
Archer looks like he wants to say something else, but whatever it is, he decides against it.
“Look after yourself, Ivy. You’re far too important to me, to all of us, for us to stand by and let you get hurt. Protect yourself. If you need, go to my father and tell him everything. He’ll look after you. He…”
“He what?”
“He knows how important you are to me. Whatever happens, he’ll take care of you.”
“Okay.” I bite my lip as I consider everything he says. “If I can’t free you, I’ll go to your father for reinforcements. One way or another, I’m going to get you out of here.”
I quickly peck him on the lips one last time and leave. Five rooms later, I find Declan and Romy in a room and I nearly sag with relief.
I rap on the window.
“Hey guys!”
They both rush over and open the window.
“Ivy! Thank God you’re okay,” Romy whispers. “We heard your dad’s creepy aide talking outside our room about how she enjoyed pushing you around. We were so worried.”
“She’s all talk,” I say. “For all her threats, I don’t think she would risk damaging me in case my father thought she had gone too far.”
“I mean this in the nicest possible way, but your father’s a complete psycho,” Declan deadpans.
“That’s what I told him,” I grimly reply. “He’s got some crazy scheme to take over the town and pinning the blame on someone else. I don’t know what he’s got planned for the three of you, but whatever it is, it won’t be good.”
“So Archer’s still alive?” Romy asks.
“For now,” I say. “And I’m assuming that my father has a reason to keep him alive a while longer, otherwise he would have just let him die and not had the doctor remove the bullet. Whatever that reason is, it won’t be good though.”
“I hear that,” Declan nods. “Can you get us out of here?”
“I don’t know where you are in the house. My father never let me leave my room apart from when we threw that party. I can’t find my way around without getting lost and with all the guards he’s got stationed everywhere, they can find me at any time.”
“What about if you are able to get the bars off the window?” Romy suggests. “We can just climb out.”
“No chance. They’re not going anywhere.” I tugged on the bars, but I am surprised to see brick dust floating down. “Hang on a minute. They’re not as solid as I thought. Maybe if you push from that side and I pull from here we can get them out together.”
Romy and Declan start banging on the bars while I tug at them, bracing myself against the wall to get more leverage.
“We’d better stop,” Declan holds his hand up. “We’re getting a bit too noisy.”
I look around for something I can use as a lever and spot a metal pole lying on the ground not too far away.
“Hold on a sec.” I get the pole. Placing it near the base of the loose bar, I braced myself against the wall again, pulling with all my might.
“Cough,” I say to Declan. He coughs to cover the noise I was making as I yank on the pole and suddenly the bottom of the bar broke free.
“Can you squeeze out if I push the bar to one side?” I ask. “I don’t think we can risk pulling any of the other bars out. It’s too noisy.”
“I can try.” Declan climbs up onto the windowsill. It takes a little bit of wriggling around, but he finally gets his head and shoulders through. I help pull him out, as Romy pushes him from the other side until he is finally free. Then it is Romy’s turn. Slightly smaller than Declan, it is a little easier for him to escape.
“Archer’s just over here,” I tell them, picking up the pole to use it to free my other boyfriend.
Other boyfriend? As we race to get Archer, I realise that I have strong feelings about all three of the boys and if I read them right; they felt the same way about me. Maybe we weren’t dating exactly, but there is definitely something here we are going to have to work out when all this is over.
With Romy and Declan’s help, we are able to get the bars loose pretty quickly. We have to be extra careful because of Archer’s injuries, but it isn’t long before the four of us are standing outside.
“Okay, guys. You all need to get back to your families and tell them what really happened,” I say. “My dad’s already spreading lies about what’s going on, so if he finds out you’ve escaped, he’ll be coming after you all guns blazing.”
“The garage is over there,” Archer points. “I know where the keys are kept. We can all go together–safety in numbers.”
“Good call,” Romy agrees. The four of us run to the garage, well Archer more like fast walks. I half expect someone to sound the alarm at any moment, but luck is still on our side and nobody seems to notice we are gone. I guess the security guards are having too much fun with their card game.
“Yes!” Declan and Romy are both excited when they see my father’s car collection. That is until two guards step around the corner, stopping when they see us. Declan and Romy run at them, throwing punches before they can blink. In seconds there are two passed out guards on the floor and the guys nod at each other like it was nothing.
Am I the only heir who can’t fight?
“Don’t get carried away,” Archer says as Declan follows him to the keys. “We’re going to take the Bimmer. It’s the least showy so we’re less likely to draw attention to ourselves–the faster cars all have custom plates so it’ll be obvious we’ve stolen them.”
“Good call,” Declan answers.
Romy casts a longing glance in the direction of a nifty little sports car but follows the other three in the direction of the BMW.
“Wait!” I say, just as they are about to climb in.
“Can’t it wait, Ivy? We’ve gotta get out of here,” Archer suggests.
“I’m not coming with you,” I say. “It’s too dangerous. The way my father behaved, any of the other Houses might try to use me against him. I have to go into hiding for my own protection.”
“No, you don’t,” Declan snaps. “You can come to mine. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. You never have to see your father again. You belong in King Town with us.”
“I’m sorry, Declan. I can’t risk it. I care about you but I don’t know your family and they don’t know me. It’s best if I go somewhere nobody knows me.”
“But Ivy —"
“Let me go,” I whisper, pleading with him. “Please don’t put me in another cage. This is my chance to be free.”
“If you need to go…then go.” Declan steps away, a troubled look on his face, his words bitter.
I turn to Romy. “I wish we had more time together. There’s so much I want to say to you.”
“It’s okay,” Romy treats me to one of his sexy smiles. “Just try and keep me away from you. Running won’t always work.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I blink away tears as I stretch tiptoes to kiss him goodbye.
Finally, it’s Archer’s turn.
“I wish I had trusted you,” I say.
“I wish you’d trusted me.” He smiles sadly.
“Sorry,” I whisper, standing on tiptoe to kiss him tenderly.
We lean into each other, taking a few moments of comfort.
“You need to leave,” I say at last. “And I’ve got to go.”
“Take the Audi,” Archer advises, but he doesn
’t look happy about it.
“Oh, no.” I shake my head. “I’m not bothering with a car.”
I went over to where my beautiful new Honda is waiting, keys left in the ignition, helmet hooked over the handlebars. Straddling it, I pull the helmet over my head before I put my hand on the key.
“You guys better get out of here,” I say. “Because the second I fire her up, everyone’s going to know we’ve escaped.”
Archer gives me one more look, and he gets into the Bimmer. Romy starts the engine and the garage door rolls up automatically.
I turn the key and the Honda bursts into life. Clicking the visor into place, I kick the stand out of the way and speed out of the garage.
Guards come running out of the house, firing warning shots into the air. But it is too late. My beloved boys are already well on their way to safety and nobody is going to catch up with me on my bike.
My father is going to regret buying it for me. But that isn’t the only thing he is going to regret. I will make sure of it.
Epilogue
Archer Knight
Six months later…
Romy and Declan gather together in my front room, neither one of them saying a word for a long time. I don’t know why we fucking bother with these meetings every week, nothing changes. It’s not safe to get Ivy and we all fucking know it. We live off photos taken at a distance, off whispers from the guards who stalk her without her knowing.
We are the heirs to the most powerful town in the world.
And we can’t save her.
“How’s the shoulder healing?” Romy asks.
“It’s okay,” I say. “Dad hired a top physio to make sure I don’t lose any movement. And when I’m signed off by the medic, I’m starting shooting lessons. I want to be the one to put a bullet between Archaic’s eyes.”
“You’ll have to beat me to it,” Declan replies grimly. “I’m not letting him get away with the way he treated Ivy.”
“Speaking of Ivy,” Romy says. “Have any of you heard anything we need to cover up about where she is?”
