Finding a Princess (Seven Sisters Book 1)

by Amy Richie

  “We need to get inside the Pillar.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, of course, but the next screech we heard chased away all concern over his strange words. “Where is it?”

  “Here.”

  He put his hand up into what seemed like just air, then suddenly a small column of glass appeared under his palm. Red words flashed briefly and a low clicking sound revealed an opening just big enough for him to crawl through. He pulled me in after him without a word.

  It was a tight fit. My face was pressed against the glass with Kristov's large body pressed firmly into my back. “Well, this is cozy,” I muttered darkly.

  He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. The Crellis directly in front of us parted and a creature unlike anything I had ever seen stepped through, howling loudly. There was no room to back away from the glass; I struggled against Kristov but there just wasn't anywhere to go.

  My heart sped up in my chest, making me dizzy as I was forced to stand there and watch the creature come closer to the glass. It's body was similar to a lion, only super sized and scales lined it's body instead of fur. Green, black, and red scales rippled along its muscular back and down to it's massive paws. Where a mane should have been, were thick black scales that formed an armor around it's neck. An ugly reptilian face peered through the glass; glass that could be shattered with one swipe of that massive paw.

  I sucked in a quick breath and held it there.

  Chapter Seven

  Kristov made no sound what so ever as the creature continued his inspection of the glass; my heart was nearly leaping out of my chest. How could he be so calm? To my great surprise, the creature only stayed for a very short time and then sauntered off back through the Crellis.

  “A Zeptor,” Kristov breathed the answer to my unasked question.

  “Where are we, Kristov?” I heard the fear in my voice, but I wasn't going to start crying. Not yet anyways.

  “Hurdesh.”

  “I...I don't...I don't understand.”

  “I'm not sure I do either.”

  My eyes slid closed. “Am I dead?”

  “What?”

  “I must be dead...or...or dreaming. Hallucinating maybe?” It was a testament to my fear that I was actually hoping for a hallucination.

  “No to all of those, and I didn't shrink you either,” he snorted.

  His amusement irritated me. “Is this really the time to be joking around? Just take me back to my car.”

  “We need to figure out why we came to Hurdesh,” he said instead of answering. “The portal should have taken us directly to Tontine.”

  “Maybe it has something to do with with these Zeptor things.”

  “No,” he dismissed the massive creature without a second thought. “Something is wrong though.”

  “So you keep saying.” As much as I didn't want to go out with the Zeptor, it was uncomfortable being crammed into the Pillar with Kristov. “Is it safe to go out there now?”

  “It's never safe to travel in the Jungles of Hurdesh.” I felt him squirm behind me and then red words flashed along the glass. They were gone before I could read what it said.

  “Sector Four,” he mumbled half to himself.

  “So what do we do?” Hopefully it didn't involve staying in here for very long.

  “The Pillar has been activated, a vehicle will be sent for us soon.”

  I rolled my eyes. Why did everything he say only create more questions? “How soon?”

  “Five minutes at the most.”

  Ok. I let out a much needed breath and immediately wished I hadn't. It was already really warm. I could handle five minutes. I pressed my forehead against the glass, trying my best not to think.

  Of course that wasn't possible, there were too many things to think about. So many things, in fact, that if I let myself start sifting through it, my head would definitely explode. I let my eyelids fall closed, willing my heart to go back to normal. It almost worked – until Kristov spoke, scaring me all over again.

  “It's been too long.”

  “What?” I jumped, jerking my shoulder into the glass.

  “First we come to Hurdesh, then the vehicle doesn't come for us.” I didn't have to be looking at him to see his scowl.

  “Maybe they got held up. It hasn't been that long.” Being in such close quarters didn't exactly make time fly by but I was sure it hadn't been that long. He said five minutes.

  “They would bring the Huvbots; they would be here by now.”

  “I hope I'm not expected to understand half the crap you babble about.”

  “We'll need to get to the Dome by foot.”

  “You said it was dangerous out there.”

  “It is.” He sighed deeply, rustling the hair by my ear. “You could stay here, Kalliope, and you would be safe. I could make it to the Dome and bring back a Huvbot to get you.”

  “But?” I could tell this wasn't the way he wanted this to play out.

  “But,” he hesitated, “there are too many unknown variables here. It has been clear for quite some time that there is someone out there who does not want you and your sisters to take the throne.”

  “And you think they are here?”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  I would have covered my mouth instead of just gasping like a dying fish, but I couldn't pry my arms free from my sides without way too much effort. “How will we even get to this Dome thingy without getting eaten by the lizard-lion?”

  “The Zeptor has exceptional hearing, but they don't move very quickly.”

  “So we can outrun it?”

  “Not likely.”

  “Kristov! Will you stop?” Why did he have to keep telling me all the ways we wouldn't make it out of the jungle alive? “Just tell me, do we have a chance or not?” I snapped. “If I'm going to die anyways, I'd rather my last moments not be in here squished up to you.”

  “We're going to make a run for it.” The amusement was back in his voice. I gritted my back teeth together in an attempt to not start yelling. Then we'd have the Crellis and the Zeptor on top of us. “We'll just have to hope the Zeptor is far enough away that we can make it.”

  “So there's only one?”

  “Six.” My mouth fell open. “But they're all males so they stay on their own territory.”

  “We're in Sector four?”

  “Yes.”

  “How far away is the Dome?”

  “The palace is in Sector Two.”

  “That sounds far.”

  “The entrance to the Eastend is in Sector Four. If we make it there, we can cut through to the palace.”

  “Alright.” It didn't sound like the best plan – run and hope we don't get eaten – but it was better than suffocating in a glass tube surrounded by a deadly jungle of colorful flowers and lions in the shape of a lizard. It was definitely better than that.

  “The ground is kept wet out here so the Zeptor can easily hear enemy footsteps.”

  “How do you know everyone out here is an enemy?”

  “No one from inside the Dome would have reason to come out here unless there was something to investigate. If they ran into trouble, they would wait in the Pillar until help came.”

  “Makes sense.” The king and queen must live in the palace here, of course they would need the best protection possible. Kind of genius to build a man-eating jungle around the Dome that housed the palace. Made sense to me.

  “Ready?”

  “Not really.”

  He reached around me to place his palm against the glass, bringing up the red writing again. “Kalliope?” He squeezed past me to step out first. “Stay close to me.”

  “Kristov.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Everyone just calls me Kalli.”

  He shook his head, but his lips turned up into a half smile. “Kris.” He held his hand out in the age old greeting. I took it in mine. If we were going to be dead soon anyways, we might as well be friends.

  Chapter Eight

&nb
sp; The moment my feet made contact with the squishy Earth, my heart lodged itself somewhere in my throat. Fear alone made my legs carry me forward. I knew with each step that the Zeptor would jump out at us.

  “How much further,” I panted desperately. If I expected an answer, I didn’t get one.

  My face crunched up in an involuntary snarl. Despite my sketchy childhood, I wasn’t used to much running – especially when my life depended on it. In fact, my life had never depended on running quite like it did in the jungles of Hurdesh.

  Kris stopped suddenly, without giving me enough warning so I ended up barreling into him. He stayed on his feet, while I ended up on the ground. I felt a sharp pain in my right thigh. I almost screamed but somehow managed to get back up and stay silent. Our lives depended on it.

  Kris’s eyebrow shot up severely but the ban on noise saved me any of his lectures. Besides, it was his fault. You couldn’t just tell someone to run for their lives and then stop.

  His eyes darted around us frantically, prompting me to do the same. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t miss the Zeptor if I saw it. Scrambling back to my feet, I winced at the pain in my leg. Hopefully, nothing was broken. I didn’t have time to be slow.

  “Are you ok?” Kris hissed close to my ear.

  I shoved him away with a quick nod. I wasn’t really a very tough person. Compared to most, I was weak and not brave. But I had grown up in a tough neighborhood so I was pro at pretending to be tough. No way would I start crying out here.

  Although clearly not convinced, Kris pushed ahead at a quick trot. Mostly, I was able to keep up and he stopped after only a few more minutes. “Why do you keep stopping?” I grunted.

  “We’re there,” he announced darkly.

  I jerked my head around, impatient to be somewhere that being eaten by a lizard-lion wasn’t a possibility. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Illusion charm.” Similar to the Pillar, Kris put his hand against invisible glass and red words appeared in thin air. A low hiss revealed a door that no one would possibly have known about – unless they were Kris. Or running into it.

  The instant we were both across the equally invisible threshold, the door sealed shut behind us. Until that click, everything on that side of the door looked exactly like the jungle we had just left. Complete with a glaring, angry Zeptor.

  I didn’t have time to jump back before the beast disappeared, along with the towering Crellis. In it’s place, a city of sorts sprawled out in front of us. My mouth fell open; it was all too much to take in. Had it even been a full hour since I was trying to decide to leave Kris on the side of the road or not?

  I instinctively tried to step backwards, but the glass was more physical on this side. And more visible. I followed the length of the wall to where it domed far above us. We were inside the bubble and the jungle grew wildly all around.

  “C…can the Zeptor get in here?” I asked the first stupid thing I could think of.

  “No.”

  A few feet in front of us was a low brick wall that wouldn’t have kept much out. Maybe a few rabbits but I really doubted the city was worried about their gardens. It was a boundary line, I realized, to keep people from becoming too tempting.

  “The Eastend is…” Kris cleared his throat uncomfortably.

  “Is what?”

  “A little less…civilized than the palace.”

  “What does that mean?” Were we going to walk in on a bunch of half naked people who hunted with straws and sharp rocks?

  “You saw how long the door took to open.”

  “Umm..it didn’t seem that long to me.” It almost chopped my finger off in its haste to swing back closed.

  “No one would willingly come here.”

  Including us, I wanted to remind him. We didn’t have any other choice. “Yeah?”

  He glanced behind us at the glass but shook his head quickly. “It would be dangerous to go any other way.”

  “So you think the guy who’s out to get me is here?”

  His eyes narrowed to regard me suspiciously. “Astute.”

  “It’s not hard to figure out,” I scoffed. “Big dude like you wouldn’t be afraid unless you don’t think you’ll be able to keep me safe. The only thing you couldn’t protect me from is this…black magic.” I made a face at my own words. Saying them out loud was like admitting it was true. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready for that yet. “Voodoo guy,” I finished with a shrug. “Or girl.”

  His eyes narrowed more until I was sure he couldn’t see at all. “Don’t talk to anyone in there,” he ordered flatly. “Don’t accept any gifts and don’t wander away from me.”

  “Got it,” I nodded. Irritation made my cheeks warm. Did he think I was stupid?

  “And above all else,” he snapped his fingers in front of my face so I would look up at him. “Don’t ever make eye contact with anyone.”

  I dropped my eyes with a scowl. “Can they all do…you know; compulsion?”

  “No.”

  “I thought…I would be like them.” My ears burned but I let the question hang there.

  “You are the Princess of Tontine.”

  As if that explained it all.

  “Then why no eye contact?”

  “Because you can do compulsion Kalli; just not well and I don’t want a bunch of Eastend trash following us to the Palace.”

  The insult didn’t sound right coming from Kris, but he offered absolutely no explanation; just turned on his heel and headed for the low wall. My sigh turned into a growl but I had no choice but to follow him.

  Chapter Nine

  The world changed yet again once my feet touched the ground on the other side of the wall. The land had been bare and flat as far as I could see before, with just a few buildings sprinkled on it. But now there was a whole city scrunched together under the giant dome.

  Washed out buildings of red, orange, and gray rose up to create a scene I wasn’t expecting. Kris said the royals lived here, but this place reminded me of my old neighborhood. And no one royal would ever live where I came from.

  Children that were playing in the narrow dirt road stopped to stare at us as we approached. Curious eyes searched from dirty faces, but they weren’t afraid. Kris pulled me along when I hesitated.

  “Who are these people?” I asked in a low voice. “Why are there no adults?”

  “This is the Zar orphanage,” he pointed to an enormous brown brick building close to where the children were playing.

  “The Zar orphanage?” My eyebrows shot up on my forehead. “As in the whole galaxy?”

  “Yep,” he nodded and turned away as if he wasn’t going to explain any further.

  “Why do they bring them all here?” I jogged after him, to keep up with his long strides. “Don’t they have orphanages on their own planets?”

  “Children with no parents have a high mortality rate anywhere else. When they come of age they’ll return to their home planet,” he explained without looking back.

  My heart squeezed tight with sympathy. I knew what it was like to grow up without any parents, but how much worse was it for these kids who were kicked off their own planets because of it?

  I turned back to watch two small girls playing with a small red ball. I had never had friends at that age. I didn’t meet Lana or the three amigos until I was almost ten. Even then, when I was very little, I knew I didn’t belong. Maybe other people knew it too – no one really tried to talk to me.

  “Kalli!” Kris’s voice jerked me out of my sad musing over a past I couldn’t change but was beginning to understand.

  “Yeah?” I asked in the same tone.

  “We need to keep moving.”

  “So the Eastend is an orphanage?”

  “No, this is an orphanage.” His thumb jerked back to the building we were leaving behind. “This is the Eastend.” He sprawled his arms wide.

  My eyes couldn’t take in all the sights beyond the orphanage. Dozens u
pon dozens of tiny markets lined an entire maze of streets. “Apples: I Kond.” “Beaded necklaces” “Sanchi : 16 Kond.” On and on the signs read. Most of the words I didn't recognize but the goods being sold were not entirely unfamiliar.

  “It’s like a street fair,” I whispered in slight awe.

  “You can purchase anything in the Eastend.” His eyebrows knitted darkly. “Anything for a price.”

  “It doesn’t look like an alien planet,” I commented distractedly. Everyone just looked like normal people to me. Shouldn’t there be green people running around naked with torches? And everything was in English. At least most of it.

  “It’s not an alien planet. This is Hurdesh.”

  “Everyone looks human,” I shrugged.

  “Yes.” I looked at him just in time to see his arched brow settling back into place.

  “I just mean…you know…alien planet – should have little green men or something.”

  “We are all human.”

  “Human?”

  “The people of the Zar galaxy are only slightly different than Earth humans. We can adapt more easily to our environment. I suppose because we’ve had to. Earth is perfect for the human body – there is no need to adapt.”

  “Then why don’t you guys live there?”

  “Not big enough.”

  I nodded my agreement. Of course it wasn’t big enough for the people of seven planets. Eight if you counted Earth.

  “It used to be a nice vacation spot for the wealthy though – the royals even had a home there; until the Earth humans began to breed.” His lip snarled up.

  “Yeah,” I muttered, “that’ll happen.”

  “Apples?” An old woman was abruptly in my face, coming from nowhere. I jumped back out of instinct, and tripped over the foot that Kris hadn’t moved. I fell hard on my backside, flaming up the sore spot on my thigh. I had almost managed to forget the injury I had sustained in the jungle.

  “Ow,” I mumbled pathetically.

  “Back away hag,” Kris ordered harshly. “We don’t want anything you are peddling.”

  As I was getting back to my feet, I noticed a large circle of blood on my jeans. I groaned lightly but there wasn’t time to go into full melt down. Or even if there was time, I couldn’t exactly pull off my pants here to examine the mystery cut on my leg. How did it even happen? My pants weren’t ripped.