~Part One~

Sometimes people just know what they are meant to be, but there are others who have to discover their destiny. This is a story about a girl who never quite knew what she wanted to do or who she wanted to be – and it all began with a mysterious package….

I heard a package dropped by my door, so I went outside to see what it was, although I couldn’t remember ordering anything.

I picked up up the package and read the address. There was no name, no return address, and it wasn’t even supposed to be delivered at my house.

I figured it was probably supposed to be delivered next door, so I walked over, but once again, the address on the package didn’t match the address on the package.

I was very confused. I knew the package was supposed to be delivered to a house somewhere on this street, and according to the address it should be right by my house. I decided to go to the post office so I could ask my mail carrier about it.

“Hello! May I help you?” A lady at the post office asked.

“Yes, I’d like to speak to my carrier. He delivers on Cherry Lane.” I said.

Oh! I’m very sorry, but he was fired just today.” The lady replied. Then I noticed her look at my package as if she knew what it was. “Did you have a question about the package?” She asked.

“Um, no, thank you. I’m just gonna take it home now.” I replied and walked out.

I didn’t know what to do. I received a package that wasn’t supposed to be delivered to me with an address on it that I couldn’t even find. I decided to call city hall to see if this address existed in their city plans. Unfortunately that didn’t work out so well. The lady on the phone sounded very suspicious and was insisting that the address didn’t exist.

I stood in an empty lot between my house. “The house should literally be right here!” I said and stomped my foot.

As I stomped my foot, I guess I must’ve triggered something in the ground.

I jumped back as I watched something sprouting out of the ground.

A huge fence appeared. I saw a little door in the corner with the address from the package on it.

I was a little scared, but also curious. “Well, I guess I’m going in there…” I said to myself and made my way to the strange little door in the fence. I didn’t know what was there or what I was getting myself into, but I just knew that I needed to go in there.

~Part Two~

I opened the door and I saw a staircase that went deep underground. This all just kept getting weirder and weirder. After walking down the stairs, I walked through a dark hall until I finally came to a room where I saw two ladies standing.

They seemed to be having an argument with one another, so I stepped back and listened to what was being said. “I am the princess, detective, and I want to leave this underground house right NOW!” The more nicely dressed girl screamed. “You listen here – it is my duty to protect you. Now unless you want to be captured as well, you will do as I say, alright?” The one, who I supposed was the detective explained.

“Ahem.” I said as I walked into the room.

The detective turned quickly and sharply towards me. “What are you doing here? How’d you get in here?” She asked forcefully. She asked the second question so quickly that I didn’t even have a chance to answer the first.

“Um… I was just – um…” I honestly didn’t know what to say. How could I know if I could trust these people?

“Speak up! What’s your name?” The detective asked again. Then I noticed her gazing at my package.

I tried to tuck the package back a little more without being so conspicuous. “My name is Allie Gramer. I’m trying to locate the owner of this package.” I said simply.

“I am detective Monica Jones. Now tell me, how did you find this place?” Monica asked. I told her all about the strange package and how I stomped my foot down and all of a sudden a huge fence appeared. She listened intently, glancing at the package from time to time.

When I was finished with my story, she pointed to the package and asked, “Is this the package?”

I nodded and said, “Yeah, but I suppose it’s yours now.”

I handed her the package and she looked at it closely. “Father..” She whispered to herself.

At long last, the fancy girl spoke up. “Excuse me!” She said loudly.

Monica outstretched her hand towards the girl and said, “Oh, yes, allow me to present, Princess Katrina of Riverdale.”

Princess Katrina walked up to me and said, “How do you do?” I did an awkward little bow and said, “It’s an honor to meet you.” I felt so awkward! I didn’t know how to speak to a princess! “Allie, you must understand that I am working on a top secret case. No one must know about me, or the princess. Do you understand?” Monica explained. All I could do was nod.

Katrina began telling me how royal and special she was, but I was hardly listening. I was much too interested in the package Monica was opening.

She unwrapped a tiny crown and read us the note:
“Detective Monica Jones,
A new princess has been born. He will seek her out next. Go to London. He is already on the move. Leave immediately.
~HMJ”

Monica sighed and looked away.

Then Katrina walked over to her and whispered, “What shall we do now?” Monica rolled her eyes as though it should be obvious to her. “We do as the note says. We must leave immediately for London.” She said seriously.

“And you are coming with us.” Monica said as she pointed towards me.

“What? No way! I’m not a detective! I don’t even know what’s going on!” I shouted.

Monica came close to me and said in a low, serious voice, “There is a man traveling all around the world capturing every single heir to all the thrones in the world. We don’t know his purpose, we don’t even know his name, but the agency has labeled him as Simons. I’ve been working on this case for a year now and every government agencies are working with me to help keep this case top secret. Katrina is one of the last remaining heirs that I am doing my best to protect. Now you know everything, and I do not know if I can trust you to keep this all a secret. You’re coming with us, Allie.”

Monica and I stood in silence for a moment as I thought this whole thing over. I was scared, but I was also a little excited. What an adventure this would be! At long last I said boldly, “Alright. I’ll go.”

~Part Three~

 

We left almost immediately after I had decided to go with Princess Katrina and Detective Monica to London. We traveled for hours without stopping. My feet and back ached, and my stomach was growling. Why didn’t we at least bring food??

“Everyone, HALT!!!” Katrina yelled with frustration. Her yell startled me so much, that it made me jump! I think Monica must’ve been used to it since she just seemed to sigh and turn around to see what was wrong.

“What on earth is the matter with you?” Monica asked.

“I can not go one more step! My feet are hurting me far too much. I fear that the next step I take, I will collapse!” Katrina said, quite exaggeratedly.

Monica slowly turned her head and rolled her eyes. “Is Katrina always like this?” I wondered.

I walked over to Monica and said, “We have been walking for hours without stopping. My back and my feet hurt and I am starving. Where on earth are we walking to anyways?” I asked. I could tell that Monica was trying not to be annoyed by my complaining. “We have to get to the airport. We are walking because we don’t have a car and it is too dangerous to sit in a taxi with Katrina. She couldn’t not say that she’s a princess or mention this case if her life depended on it.” Monica explained. I could definitely believe that.

“Hey! Are you two done whispering? Did you forget about ME? And another thing, I am FREEZING!” Katrina stated while raising her voice. I was so cold that I had forgotten I was cold. I forgot how cold it had been getting at nighttime, and it was almost night now.

Monica walked over to Katrina and started to take off her jacket.

“Here, where this.” Monica told Katrina, and they each switched jackets.

“Is that better?” Monica asked.

“Hm, I suppose. Thank you, detective.” Katrina said, although she didn’t sound very satisfied.

“Alright. We need to keep moving, I’m hoping to reach the airport before dark.” Monica ordered.

She walked away and Katrina just watched her. “Well, are you coming?” I asked. Katrina flashed me a look that said “Don’t speak to me.” But surprisingly she followed after Monica. She probably realized that she really needed Monica to protect her.

We walked on a while longer, and then Monica said, “We’ll rest here tonight.” I guess she changed her mind about reaching the airport before dark. I sat down next to Monica and we both stared at Katrina who was currently battling….

Grass. “Ouch, stop poking me!” She yelled at the grass as she tried pushing it away.

“Katrina, it’s just grass, it won’t hurt you. You can either sleep on top of the grass, or on the cold, hard ground. Which do you prefer?” Monica asked and I stifled a giggle.

Katrina just glared at her.

“Get some rest, Allie. I’ll keep watch tonight.” Monica said and walked away.

Monica seemed very troubled, so I decided to talk to her and see what was wrong.

“Monica, are you okay?” I asked. “Yes, I’m fine.” She said with a sigh, then turned to face me.

“You’re going to need to be brave, Allie. I don’t think you fully understand how dangerous and risky it can be to work on a case such as this.” She said and placed her hand on my shoulder.

“We need to stick together. No matter what.” She said, and as I gazed into her eyes, all I could see was worry. I nodded and said, “I will do anything you tell me to.” And for the first time, I actually saw her smile.

Then, within an instant, her smile was gone and she spun around quickly. “What is it?” I asked. She shushed me and said, “Wait here. I heard something.”

I watched her as she looked all around. Then I noticed her squint her eyes and widen them again. She had seen something.
She ran back towards Katrina and said, “We need to get out of here! Now!”

“What is it? What happened?” I asked, quite panicky.

“Someone’s on to us. Now run. Run!” She yelled and dashed off with Katrina right behind her.

I didn’t know what was happening. Who was on our trail, and how did they find out? All I knew was that we were running for our lives into the dark, cold of the night.

~Part Four~

 

We ran all through the night, and by morning we had reached an old beach. Katrina plopped herself on the sand, I almost thought she had fainted, but I realized she was just faking. I understood her being exhausted from running all that time, though. We only took a few breaks. We didn’t have any water, food, or sleep. Boy, I sure could use some sleep.

“So, what are we gonna do now?” I asked while trying to catch my breath.

“We’ll have to take a long way back so we can get to the airport. We don’t want to go back the same way we came. I don’t want to risk running into that person.” Monica spoke quietly. I knew she was worried and probably just as tired as all of us.

“I wonder who that person was.” I wondered as we both stared at the ocean. Then from behind us, we heard a voice say, “Are you lost?”

We all jerked around, but Monica was the first to speak. “No, not at all. Why do you ask?” She tried hard not to sound too suspicious.

“Oh, well, it just didn’t seem like you all meant to be here. You aren’t exactly dressed for the beach.” The woman pointed out. She was right. I was wearing cowboy boots and Katrina was wearing a dress. That’s not exactly how you dress at a beach.

“You aren’t exactly dressed for sixty degree weather…” Katrina mumbled. “Katrina!” I snapped.

“No, you’re right. I don’t look dressed for this weather, to you, but for me, I’m dressed perfectly. It’s very cold where I come from, so this weather feels great to me.” The woman explained.

“What is your name?” Monica asked the lady. “Corinne.” She replied. “Well, Corinne, we’d better be going. Thank you for checking in on us.” Monica said, and began to walk away.

We hesitantly followed Monica. Something didn’t feel right about Corinne and I wanted to find out more about her!

“Halt!” Corinne shouted. We all quickly spun around to see her pointing a gun. Katrina immediately whimpered and put her hands in the air. “What do you think you’re doing?” Monica asked and began walking slowly up to her.

“Don’t worry. I just need to ask you a few questions.” Corinne explained.

“What do you want to know?” Monica inquired.

“I want to know your name and your line of work.” Corinne stated.

“I’m Detective Monica Jones. I believe that answers both of your questions.” Monica said.

“I’m the one who was following you, Detective. I heard something about a case. What case is it?” Corinne asked forcefully.

“A top secret case. People are disappearing.” Monica said while looking all around her to be sure nobody else could hear. Corinne lowered her gun. “The disappearing heirs?” She asked, but I knew she already knew the answer.

“Yes. How do you know about this? Are you a detective as well?” Monica asked through whispers. “No, I’m not a detective. I know because, I used to help with capturing the heirs.” Corinne explained hesitantly.

“This is all part of his plan then, isn’t it? You’re trying to stall us so he can get a head start on making his next move!” Monica said that last sentence a little too loudly and quickly looked around to see if anyone heard. She was really lucky.

“No, not at all. I’m done helping him. I want to help you now. Will you trust me?” Corinne asked hopefully. I trusted her, but would Monica?

“Fine. We will head to London.” Monica said.

“If you want to get him, then going to London is not the place to go.” Corinne explained.

“My father ordered us to go to London. He said that would be his next move.” Monica reassured her.

“That newborn princess was made up by me to throw you guys off. If you really want to get him, then we need to go to Manhattan.” Corinne stated. Monica sighed and said, “Very well. I said I would trust you, so it looks like I’m going to have to keep my word.”

Corinne nodded her head in thanks at Monica. “Well, then, let’s go hop on the four o’clock train for Manhattan!”

~Part Five~

 

After walking for several miles, we finally made it to the train station. Unfortunately, the train we needed had already begun moving, so we had to chase after it and jump on. Not fun at all. We were on the train for six days and hardly any of us spoke a word. “So, where did you come from, Allie?” Corinne asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Oh, I’m from California. I have a lot of farm animals and I must admit that I am worried about them.” I replied simply. I honestly didn’t feel much like talking.

“And what made you join up with Detective Jones?” Corinne questioned.

“Well, I found a package on my porch and it led me to Monica and Katrina. I never really felt like anything special, and when Monica told me I had to come, I agreed. I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to possibly find a job…” I said, looking at Monica. But she didn’t move. I didn’t even think she heard me.

“We should get off the train now.” Monica said, rising to her feet.

Corinne scooted over to the window and peered out. “Hmmm…. Yeah, we could jump off now.” Corinne said thoughtfully. I noticed Monica roll her eyes. Corinne and Monica didn’t get along so good. They disagreed about almost everything and I believe that’s why things felt so awkward.

“Wake up Katrina, Allie.” Corinne ordered.

I looked over at Katrina who was sleeping peacefully. “Why do I have to do this? I don’t like having to wake people up!” I said to myself. I stepped closer to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“What happened?” Katrina asked suddenly and loudly. “Um- nothing happened, you just need to wake up.” I replied.

Katrina slowly stretched herself across the seat. “I don’t wanna get up!” She moaned.

“Hurry up! We need to jump off now!” Monica said with frustration.

We finally managed to get Katrina off of the train, but we really just got into more trouble.
“We should head back this way.”
“We need to go this way.” Monica and Corinne said in unison.

“Excuse me?” Monica asked with a tone of annoyance.

“I’m sorry, Monica, but we need to go that way.” Corinne stated.

“Monica, maybe we should listen to her.” I said, joining the conversation.

“No, we need to head back because we took too long to get off.” Monica replied to Corinne. They stared at each other for the longest time. Monica was angry and Corinne looked frustrated.

“So, are we gonna get going?” Katrina asked.

“I’m waiting for her answer!” They shouted at the exact same time.

“Look, Monica, I’m the only one here who knows where he’s hiding. If you want to find him, then you need to follow me.” Corinne explained.

“Well, you must be confused, because we should have gotten off of that train several miles back. So, we need to go back.” Monica pointed out.

“That makes no sense. If we had gotten off back there we would’ve been heading this way, not going back. If we were going back, that would take us back to the train station! We need to go forward!” Corinne yelled.

“Fine. You go your way and I’ll go mine.” Monica said. I don’t think she heard a word of what Corinne had said.

“Very well. If that’s how you want it.” Corinne said, but I knew she was disappointed.

“Whoever would like to join me is welcome to.” Corinne added and then walked away.

We all watched her for a few moments. I couldn’t believe Monica was being so ignorant! She just had to be right.

“You can go with her, Allie. I know you want to.” Monica said seriously.

I thought for a moment. Should I really leave Monica and Katrina to go after Corinne? Or should I stay with them and let Corinne go alone? Either way, I’d be being a bad friend to somebody….

~Part Six~

 

After thinking for a bit I ran after Corinne. “Hey, wait up!” I shouted and Corinne spun around to face me.

“Allie!” Corinne exclaimed with surprise. “I didn’t expect you to come.”

“Well, I’m not exactly coming…” I began then continued, “I want you to come with us. Monica is just in a bad mood and I have a pretty strong feeling that she was gonna come your way once you were well out of sight.”

“No thanks, Allie. Monica and I don’t get along so well anyways.” Corinne said.

“Well, couldn’t you at least try to work it out? We’re all going the same way anyways, so we might as well go together.” I said hopefully. Corinne smiled. “Very well, I’ll come along.”

Even though Corinne had agreed to come with us, we still lost a lot of time. It took quite a while to convince Monica to allow Corinne to come along – and lead the way. I can’t tell you how relieved Katrina and I were when they shook hands and said, “Let’s get going.”

At last we came upon a large deserted warehouse. “This is it. We’re gonna have to work together and be extremely quiet if you want to survive in there.” Corinne explained softly.

Katrina put her arms around Monica and whimpered behind her. “Alright. Allie, you need to stay here with Katrina.” Monica ordered.

“What? No, I’m going in there! I didn’t come all this way just to be Katrina’s body guard!” I said.

“Katrina is an heir. She needs to be protected and I need to go with Corinne to collect him, so you need to stay here with Katrina.” Monica stated firmly.

“Well, why can’t Katrina come, too?” I argued.

“Monica, perhaps Allie should come. I’m sure Katrina would be fine here alone.” Corinne offered.

Katrina turned her head towards Corinne. “No, no, no.” She whimpered. Monica was silent for a bit and then said, “Alright, Allie. You go with Corinne and Katrina and I will wait here for the both of you.”

“But, Monica, you’re the detective! You should be there to nab him!” I said, now thinking that she should go and I should stay.

“It’s okay, Allie. If you want a job in the detective agency, then you’re gonna have to learn how to catch the ones we’re after.” Monica explained.

I didn’t know what to say. Would she really give me a job if I did well? “Thanks, Monica.” I said gratefully.

“Good luck, you two.” Monica whispered.

Corinne opened the door and I followed after her. We were in.

~Part Seven~

“There he is.” Corinne whispered as softly as possible.

I looked where Corinne held her gaze and I saw a man frantically digging through dozens of papers and folders.

“Hey, Joshua. Still looking for that notepad?” Corinne asked jokingly as we stepped over to his desk.

“Corinne! What are you doing back here? I told you to leave!” Joshua shouted.

“And I did, didn’t I? And once I left I met up with a detective who’s on the hunt for you. You see, I’m working for someone else now.” Corinne stated.

“We’re both armed, so if you know what’s best for you, I’d give yourself up right now.” I said, trying to sound like a detective.

He laughed like a maniac and said, “Very well! Very well, I SURRENDER!!” He yelled at the top of his lungs as he raised his hands in the air. He seemed totally insane.

“I’ll keep an eye on him, you go get the heirs.” I told Corinne. She nodded her head and left.

“So, you got a family?” Joshua questioned with a sad look behind his eyes.

I inhaled deeply and said, “No. Not anymore. I was adopted as an infant and now my family is gone.” I explained and turned my head away. I hardly ever talked about my family, and it hurt to mention them.

Joshua’s eyes widened as he rose from his seat and stepped over to me. “Don’t get any ideas of attacking. As I said before, I’m armed.” I said firmly, though inside I was a little frightened.

 

He pushed my hair away and his jaw dropped.

“After all my searching, I’ve finally found you!” Joshua exclaimed

“Ummm.. What are you talking about?” I questioned slowly.

“You might want to sit down.” He said gently and pulled me to his chair.

“Alright, I’m sitting. Now, what are you talking about?” I asked again.

“Many years ago, in a faraway kingdom, a stable boy fell in love with a princess, and she loved him, too. Later they were married, even though the king and queen did not approve. After a few years of marriage, the stable boy, who was now a prince, had to go away for a long time to battle off their enemies.” Joshua explained, but I wasn’t understanding why he was telling me a fairy tale.

“What on earth does this have to do with answering my question?” I asked, getting frustrated.

He ignored my question and went on, “While the prince was away, the princess gave birth to a newborn girl, but the princess died shortly after her child was born. When the prince rushed back at the news of his wife and newborn daughter, he was informed by the princess’ parents, that his daughter was sent away to an orphanage and they would not tell him where. And because he wasn’t royalty to start with, they had him sent away, never to return. He was no longer a prince.”

Just then, Corinne entered the room and said, “Alright, you ready, Allie?”

Although I kind of wanted to hear how this fairy tale would end, I rose from my seat and said, “Well thanks for the story, but we need to get moving.”

“Wait, I just need to tell you one more thing! That prince in the story is me. And you have the same birthmark as the princess, my wife!” He said, raising his voice.

“What are you talking about? Do you even grasp how insane you sound?” I shouted.

He sighed and said gently, “Like a mad man I’m sure. But Allie, I am your father.”

DUN! THE END!!

 

~Jaclynn~