The Lost Queen Book 2 - Kehlani

10. The Ship

We wake up late the next morning, and he messages Clark to bring him some clothes. I have my dresses.

We eat breakfast and leave without telling them.

He drives us out of the city.

"Why are you so quiet baby? I can tell something is bothering you." He rubs my knee. I have sparks shooting up my leg. I love his touch.

"I thought it was only going to be us."

"Yea, I tried. I sneaked out as best as I could, but they figured it out. Then they got the cars tracked. They knew where we were. At least we didn't get everyone. The rest of them stayed to watch the castle. We can ignore these people, and you can get some driving practice."

"I want to find out where my compass points. I guess it doesn't matter who follows."

"I'm sorry we're not alone, baby. I did try. That's what I wanted too. I wanted to hide and spend some time with you."

"We should make them go camping and sleep outside. I bet they wouldn't follow us after that."

"Yea, we should definitely do that. But princesses like to camp, huh?"

"I used to love camping. I would make a big fire, cook some fish, then sleep all warm beside it. I imagine camping is even different now."

"You would sleep on the ground by the fire?"

"Yes."

"Yea, it's different. People don't do that anymore. We have tents or campers now."

"Everything is different. Nothing stayed the same. Except the suns."

"It's evolution. It happens. People and things evolve."

"It evolved without me."

"You'll catch up, baby. I promise. Give yourself some time."

I watch out the window.

I must fall asleep. The next thing I know, he's waking me up to eat. After that, it's my turn to drive. I drive until everyone catches up to us. Then they decide we're getting a plane. Alden takes us to a big building where bird things are taking off. I stop moving completely and watch them. He ends up carrying me inside. I sit and watch out the window until he picks me up again. Then we go down a hallway and he puts me in another seat.

I stare out the window. "Are we in a bird?"

"Plane baby, and yes. We're going to see if we can get to the other side of where this compass is pointing. Then we'll at least know what it's between."

I don't hear anything he says. I stare out the window hard. He sits beside me and clicks something on my lap. Then we move. We seem to line up for something. I keep watching out the window. Then we take off fast. I try to jump on him, and it doesn't work. I can't get this thing off me.

"It's normal baby." He wraps his arm around me and holds me tight. "You're ok. You can watch out the window."

We lift off the ground. This is the weirdest sensation. I can fly as my dragon, but this is different. I grab his hand and hold it.

After we get up in the air, he takes the strap off me. Then I move over and sit on his lap. I need cuddles. I keep hold of him the entire time we're on the plane. When we get out, they decide whatever the compass is pointing at is over the ocean somewhere. So, we get on a boat.

I've been on boats before, but they were little. Wood strapped together to float, for fishing. This is not that. This boat is huge with bedrooms on it. He carries me to our bedroom and sits on a chair. I straddle him and hug him. I don't even know what else to do. I'm scared to even let go.

"You are overstimulated, baby."

We sit like that, and he rubs my back for about an hour. Then I finally get up and look out the window. All I can see is water.

The next 2 days are more of the same. Water everywhere and food in the dining room. We haven't had anymore kissing issues but I kind of want to. I like kissing him.

He must miss it too, because we go to the room after lunch and the first thing he does is give me a deep kiss.

I pull him closer and deepen the kiss.

He kisses my jaw and I glance at the compass. It's spinning in a circle. I pull him over to it. "IT'S DIFFERENT."

He rubs his eyes. Then he picks it up. It points straight down.

"Alright, I need to let Victor, Clark, and the guards know. I'll be right back." He walks out and shuts the door.

I go out on the balcony and look around. There's nothing but water that I can see. I kick my shoes off and jump off. I can't wait to see where home is.

I sink, and sink, and sink. Then I get grabbed by a very mad Alden. If he had a dragon, those eyes would be very red. He is glaring at me and won't let go.

The water is fairly clear and I have good visibility. I can see Victor and Clark sinking too. The guards didn't come though. They must be holding the boat.

Suddenly, everything lights up. I squint my eyes and try to see around the blinding light, but just too bright. Then the lights shift and point to what seems to be a long hallway. It goes behind some rocks.

I get down to the hallway and Alden has a death grip on me. The 4 of us walk in, and I guess there was a door at the end of it. It slams shut. We jump, and then the water is gone.

We stand there dripping wet.

Alden spins me so I look at him. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

"YOU CAN'T JUMP OFF A BOAT. WE HAVE TO MAKE A PLAN." Victor yells too.

Clark shakes his head, "Not a good time guys. Let's keep going."

Alden walks but doesn't let go of my arm. My lip quivers. I only wanted to come home. I didn't do anything bad. This is what we came for. And who are they? They don't care about me. Alden would go to someone else. I know he wants to go back to the werewolf land anyway. I doubt if the other 2 even know my real name. I shake him off and take off running.

"STOP RIGHT THERE."

I stop, turn around, and glare at him. "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO. I'M THE QUEEN."

"I'M THE KING."

"YOU PUT YOURSELF IN THAT PLACE BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY TOLD YOU TO DO. I AM THE HEIR. THE THRONE IS MINE AND I WANT TO GO HOME."

"HERE WE ARE. NOW WILL YOU LISTEN?"

"I DON'T HAVE TO. I'M THE QUEEN." I turn around and stomp down the hallway.

Clark looks at me. "Will you listen to us?"

"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW MY NAME. YOU DON'T CARE."

"We care, baby."

"NO YOU DON'T. YOU WANT TO RUN OFF TO SOME PACKLAND." I get into the main part of something and the lights turn on. It's quite nice. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO COME BACK TO ME. THEY DRAGGED YOU BACK. YOU CAN LEAVE NOW. I FOUND MY HOME. YOU CAN HAVE THE CASTLE. I'LL STAY HERE. I HAVE NOTHING TO GO BACK FOR." I turn down a very long hallway. "WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING?"

"The command area, Queen of Queens Kehlani Mayra. The ship must be taken to the surface to check for damage."

"Thank you... Walls." I scratch my head. "Where's the command area?"

"Follow the yellow lights." The lights turn yellow on the ceiling.

"You are very helpful. Thank you."

"Of course, ma'am."

I follow the yellow lights and the boys follow me. We get to the command area and there are stations everywhere. It even has a conference table in it. And windows, I can see right out into the ocean. I sit in the captain's chair. "Take us up."

Everything shakes a little and I can hear some stuff kick on. Then we rise. We get to the surface and I smile. I have a big boat.

"Offloading excess water. 30 seconds."

"Fine."

"20 seconds."

"10 seconds." The lights turn red.

"9"

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5" I glance at Alden and he's rubbing his eyes. Asshole.

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

We go even higher. Then we go into space. I run to the window and stare at the planet. "What is this?"

Victor stares out the window. "Did not see that coming."

A man walks into the room with us. He appears human, but I don't think he is. "Welcome home, Kehlani."

I run to him and give him a big hug. Clark knocks Alden down for some reason. I don't see why. I turn around and Alden is getting off the floor.

"The ship has sustained heavy damage by being underwater for so long. Repairs are needed."

Alden rubs his eyes. "What are you?"

"Artificial intelligence created by man."

Victor nods. "AI. But you are very advanced. We don't have anything like you."

"I was put in the ocean, from another place. Far more advanced."

"What do we do now?"

"Fix the ship."

I shake my head. "But how do we get down?"

"You will take a shuttle."

I nod. "I'm not leaving. But you can send them home."

"Of course."

"No." Alden crosses his arms. "We're not leaving you here."

I roll my eyes. "Fine. How do we fix my ship?"

"I need the correct parts to install. There is a lot of water damage. I can not make additional artificial intelligence. The food is gone. I will need seeds and livestock. The weapons areas are empty. Water got in and destroyed it. There are lots of areas that water got into. I will make a list of what I need. Bring it when you get it."

Clark looks at it. "Are there any other ships like this? Maybe they could help us fix this 1."

"It is unknown whether the other 3 have been found yet. I will send out a ping."

"Thank you. And how did water get into these areas?"

"They thought the ship would be found 500 years ago. The seals simply broke."

"Sorry, I got held up."

"At least you are here now, ma'am. The printout is done. Would you like to go back to the castle?"

"I guess. Have to fix my ship."

"I will get the list. Follow me."

"Are there dry clothes by chance?"

"No. There are very wet clothes here. Would you like some of those?"

"No, thank you."

"Of course."

Victor cracks up laughing. "I don't even know what to think."

Clark nods at him, and we get in a box. After a few minutes, the AI gets into a car that has no wheels. It sits about 20 people. We get in and I grab a window seat. Alden sits beside me like always. Then a bunch of beeps sound and a big door on the ship opens. We float out of it. Then we get closer and closer to the planet. We land by the front door.

I grab the 3-inch deep stack of paper that is our list and climb out of the shuttle. The AI and boys come with me. We go to my office. I sit the list down on the conference table and in walks Alkawn and Jenny.

"I guess we're switching offices." Alkawn sits down and reads the list. "What is this?"

"List of stuff to fix my ship."

"No, I mean, what is it? I have never seen or heard of anything on this list."

I throw myself down in my chair. "UGH." Then I rub my eyes. How am I supposed to find stuff that doesn't exist here? This is a pain in my ass.

After a few hours of discussing ideas, the consensus is, we should wait for the ping. Maybe it'll come back. Then we'll be able to contact them and get some help.