Princess Luna

Chapter 7 - Oh Amelia, where art thou?

Amelia’s POV

I knew that my father probably had a tracking device placed on my car, so like any gal who has watched a couple of human spy movies, I act as if I’m not aware of that, at first. I drive south as far as a town in the Seattle suburbs called Tukwila, and park near a hotel. It is not even 5 in the morning yet. Alex has fallen back to sleep in the passenger seat. I smile at the sweet expression on his face. He is such a handsome pup. I can tell he’s going to grow up to be a real heartbreaker.

I quietly get out of the car and walk to the bank where I withdraw as much money as I’m able to. Then I get back into the car and turn off anything that might allow my location to be tracked, then I text some info as well as instructions to the Bull Run Beta, Raghu.

Me: Code Orange! Leo is taken. Get the kids and DeeDee to the safe house. I will tell you where to take them once I reach safety. Then get the exterminator in.

Me: Hannah and kids must go. Jason is confirmed spy.

Then I text mom.

Me: Your mate is dead to me, unless he lets my mate go immediately and stops threatening to take Alex from us. He has gone too far this time.

Then I wait for Alex to wake up, while I plan what I will do next. Leo and I had discussed these things over the years, as a precaution. Being Royals means that we have a target on our back, although we rarely make any sort of a big deal about it. I prefer to live out of the spotlight for the most part. And with Bull Run being mostly surrounded by national forest and only a few tiny human towns nearby, we were a little out of the way. Anyone wanting to get to us had to go through security checks at the front gate. Although with so much territory, border security could sometimes be an issue.

I, however, would not be going back to Bull Run at present. My father would be able to find us far too easily. Instead, I would have to find a way to get to one of our other properties. Ones that we had bought with cash, in our children’s names, for just such an occasion, which would be difficult for my father to discover, and was therefore under the radar and the safest place to go.

Once Alex is awake, he and I eat breakfast from a nearby fast food restaurant, which he was excited about after eating the “hoity toity” food that he ate at the palace, and he told me about his dad taking him out for fish and chips last night. I get a little teary eyed at that, and then Alex asks why dad didn’t come too. I have to explain that grandpa is punishing him, and not letting him leave. Then I ask if he had anything on him given by his grandparents.

“Just my watch.” He says. And I have him hand it to me. I toss it into the car when we get back, then I drive over to the mall and purchase us both new phones and a few clothes for Alex as I hadn’t packed anything for him in my haste.

“Now Alex, before I give you your new phone, there are a few new rules you must be aware of,” I say, and explain to him in words a 10 year old might understand as to why he can’t talk to his friend Troy for a while, or tell anyone where we are for now. I don’t know for sure if Jason or Hannah had been using Troy to learn anything about us, but I can’t take any chances that someone might get the bright idea now to have Troy or any of his other friends ask some innocent sounding questions to discover our whereabouts.

Then we hop on the commuter train, and head back towards Seattle, getting down in the international district, where we buy bus tickets to Portland Oregon. About 4 hours later we reach downtown Portland, where we take a taxi to the bank where I keep important information in a safety deposit box. Including the keys to a condominium that is 4 blocks away in Portlands Pearl district, as well as more ready cash.

The condo is small, just 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a small balcony on the 5th floor of a tall skyscraper, but it’ll be enough for a few days while I figure out what to do next. We had bought this place years ago after we had the triplets in case we ever needed an “escape” from our regular lives. Since then we used it occasionally as a weekend retreat for Leo and I, but we just hadn’t had time in recent years. It wasn’t lavish, approximately 1100 sq. ft. and just the minimal amount of furniture for comfort, although the second bedroom did have 2 sets of bunk beds, since we only had 4 pups the few times we had stayed here as a family.

We shop for a few groceries, then head back to the condo, where I make spaghetti and meatballs and a green salad for dinner, and brownies for dessert. Luckily the condo’s kitchen has a few basic necessities for cooking, so once I had the ingredients, it was a simple matter to cook and serve dinner as well as dessert.

After dinner I grab my new phone, and first send a text to Raghu.

Me: Hey, it’s me. Got a new phone. Alex and I are safe. How are things at BR?

Raghu: fine for now. Hannah and kids grabbed a few bags of stuff and left. I said once we have their address we will have someone pack their stuff and ship it. They aren’t welcome here.

Me: good job!

Raghu: total of 9 bugs were found along with two hidden cameras. Including one bug in your bedroom. All gone now, we hope.

Me: Any other news to report?

Raghu: Nothing yet from anyone official. I’ve tried to text Leo and got no response.

Me: Inform me at once of any developments, thank you!

I hope whomever was listening in on our private bedroom moments were highly embarrassed having to listen in on our very frequent sexy time. We knew not to talk about anything important without plenty of noise for interference, often in the bathroom with the shower and a loud fan running, or with the radio blasting.

Just before 8 pm I send a text from me with the “security code” that Leo needs to use when I call. If I don’t give them any time to record Leo saying something, they will have to keep him alive, and that is my main goal. I don’t use my phone, however. Several years ago we bought several burner phones, that we kept in a box in the cupboard above the frig in all of our properties. I have one of them charged and ready to use.

I leave Alex in the condo watching some ridiculous cartoon on the TV while I go to an outdoor lounge area to make the call. I don’t want my father to be able to trace the call to our apartment.

I make the call. Leo picks up within a few seconds.

“Leo, what is the code?” I ask.

“Well, I don’t know,” Leo asks me. “You like a lot of toppings on your tacos. Do you even have a favorite? Is it guacamole? Or salsa? Lime juice, maybe? Chipotle sauce?”

“I’ll accept any of those answers,” I reply. “How are they treating you?”

“Other than being shut up in a prison cell with nothing to do or look at, my leg in a silver coated shackle so I can’t shift, alone and mostly starved for the greater part of the day, I’m fine and dandy.”

“They are starving you?” I ask, alarmed.

“Not entirely. The meals got better as the day went on. Apparently they hadn’t planned this arrest properly or something, and had to get organized after the fact,” Leo tells me.

“Have they said what they want?” I ask.

“The king wants to raise Alex, and he’d love any reason to get me out of the succession,” Leo says, confirming my suspicions. “I wish him luck with that last part, as long as it doesn’t involve my death.”

“Well, Alex is far too young. I will not consent to anything like that until he comes of age. And then, young Alex will have to agree. So my father is out of luck for the time being.” I say, and I hear Leo agree. “In then meantime, he can’t find me unless I want to be found. And he can’t hurt you without incurring my wrath. I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can, and I’ll call you every night in the meantime.”

Then I hang up the phone. And I try not to cry as I head back to the condo.