Lost Royalty by Kaitlyn Barnett (ap literature book list txt) 📖

Chapter Twelve: Wanted in Masks

 

It was late in the morning, 11 AM according to Bo, which was when I woke up. I never knew I could sleep for over 12 hours. I felt so refreshed and had no regrets. Thankfully, there was a bit of food in the fridge already there at our arrival yesterday. He and I were currently eating, just bacon. It was the only breakfast food we really had. It was more of a low-class food, but Bo said it was quite high-class here. It was a Delzen Hollow recipe. It was sweeter and had a worse texture, but I ate anyway because I wanted to cherish whatever I ate or looked like now. It feels like a game of survival rather than just living everyday life.

"How are you liking Delzen so far?" Bo asked me. I look up at him.

"From what I've seen, it's okay, I guess. I really do like the housing but I don't look forward to going outside in a mask, or going outside in general."

"Ah, I can understand. You know the other day how we were being chased?"

"Yes."

"I swear those guys looked familiar, and I think they are from Wrenwood because I've seen them there. I think they were looking for both of us."

"Really? I only heard them calling my name, but maybe you're right because I learned all about the different organizations in Iprellis and those people weren't apart of my city."

A sudden chill went through me.

"Well, what other organizations are-"

"Wait."

Bo looks at me, surprised that I interrupted him. He waits.

"Do you think Iprellis and Wrenwood teamed up or know you're currently with me?"

My roommate turns serious in which I haven't seen in a while.

"I actually didn't think of that somehow. You are probably correct, though. Even if they weren't teamed up with Iprellis, both cities are probably aware of our potential locations."

"Right, it all makes sense. I sure hope Tobi isn't secretly a spy or he told Iprellis or Wren-"

"Now you're starting to overthink it."

I fold my arms to Bo's response. I probably am, but now I feel more afraid actually thinking.

"I'm sure a rottyubin..."

"Wait. Is Crushah a language here?"

"Uh, I'm not sure but if Tobi spoke it then possibly. Isn't it used as a code or something?"

"Well, in Iprellis the law was changed by Cysara that it was to only be spoken by royals. My father, er, Manugar, would give guards orders in Crushah."

"I only know some Crushah, what was the word the leader said yesterday to you?"
I hesitated real hard before saying the translation of the word.

"He said rottyubin. It means runaway."

"I guess that would make sense with the law since he didn't say it in English.

Saying nothing, I finish my food. I know I probably should say something, but I didn't want to talk anymore about this. I feel drained the more I talked about anything associated with the evil Mother of mine. Bo must have gotten the message because he didn't say anything related after I ignored him. At least someone can understand.

I lay on my bed, thinking about what I could do today. Since I'm technically free I guess, I want to go out, explore, and feel like I can actually do something.

"What do you want to do today?" My roommate asks me from the dining table.

"I actually want to go out and possibly explore, but I wouldn't want to be seen."

"You'll be wearing a mask that Tobi gave me. He gave me two."

I never noticed that he had a mask, or even two. I didn't want to wear it, though. It frustrates me because I know I have to.

"Fine. Let me see it."

Bo goes to his closet and fishes around before pulling out the masks. I sat up from my bed and saw the mask. It was half light purple and half white. It looked like it would only cover the top of my eyes and around my eyes. I'm not sure how this would conceal me very much. But the more I look at it, the darker it gets. Maybe it does conceal me?

I take the mask from Bo and I go into the bathroom and look at the mirror. I put it on slowly and the reflection goes blank for a second. My reflection then shows me, but my face is different? It's me, but my eyes aren't mine. My eyes are usually a bit small and they are green. Now, they are slightly bigger but dark blue. It looks unnatural. What is this?
I look at Bo and he looks at me strangely.

"What the hell? Why do you look so different?" Bo asks, looking at me as if he's seen a ghost.

"I don't know, I thought maybe you would know? Is Delzen Hollow full of magic or something?"

"This is getting a bit strange, magic may be involved but it shouldn't be likely. Let's go ask Tobi."

I agree with him. I'm surprised to see him surprised. He puts on his mask and his eyes change from brown to green. It still looks unnatural.

I saw that Bo changed his outfit yesterday, so we must be good. I take the key and hide it in my pocket and we almost run.

"Wait wait, let me ask the receptionist," I say, stopping him as we reach the lobby.

"Excuse me?"

The receptionist looks up from her computer. She looks at me and smiles.

"Yes, who are you? I don't know if I've seen you before."

What? I don't even look that different except for my eyes.

"Huh? It's me, Lyrosa?"

"Are you sure?"

Bo takes off his mask, his eyes closed. He opens them and his normal eyes come back. I do the same.

"Oh! It is you guys! I'm sorry." Hyoa says, smiling.

"Ah, yes; but do you know why these masks make us look...different?"

"No ma'am, I was going to ask you the same thing. I actually never saw anything like that before." Her expression looks like fear and wonder.

"Oh, thank you. We were about to go ask the leader." I say. She nods and goes back to her computer. Bo and I look at each other and put our masks back on before heading off. In the corner of my eye, I saw Hyoa staring at me.

We leave the building and see quite a few people were out compared to yesterday. None of them were wearing masks. As we walked by, some looked at us in a very strange and inconsiderate manner. I felt very uncomfortable, but Bo was too. It made me feel a bit better. He also remembered the way to the town hall, but I didn't because mixed with my nervousness was my occasional forgetfulness. I hated it, but because of the people being in our way and staring at us, Bo was holding my hand. I tried to let go but he glared at me with those fake eyes of his and made me hold his. It didn't feel like he wanted to either.

I looked around as we were walking. I was curious about all the small billboards I have been seeing. It was advertising everyday products. Nothing about magic or anything like that, it was eerily normal. That's when I saw something that didn't belong. It was a small poster of some sort. It was paper, but it was on the corner of a blue billboard. Squinting at it, I saw that something was weird.

"Wait, Bo," I said, letting go of his hand. I scrambled to get to the poster as Bo was trying to make me stop.

I looked at the poster. My heart dropped. I felt skittish and suspicious of everyone currently around me. The paper read:

"Wanted: Lyrosa May Iprellanan, Runaway Princess of Iprellis. Bring back alive. Reward: $50,000."

Above those words was a picture of my face. The picture was of me smiling. I was in my normal Iprellis clothes. I think this picture was from a few months ago. Was it? Does it matter?

I collapsed to the ground, my hand on my heart as I stared at the ground. Bo helped me up, my legs trembling.

"Lyrosa! Are you doing okay?"

"Does it look like it, Boris?" I say, almost yelling. I would have shouted but I didn't want to cause a scene for multiple reasons.

"Come on, I'm sure it's somebody's job to put posters and stuff places. Nobody is here, they can't be."

We continued to walk but faster than before, but not enough to cause people to wonder. We tried to blend in as much as we could at this point.

Finally, we reached the town hall. We saw a guard at the entrance.

"Halt. Names?"
"Lyrosa and Boris."
The guard looked at us for a good while before finally letting us in. We rushed to Tobi's office. Thankfully, he was in there searching for something in his drawer. When he was done, he looked up at us simply in a neutral expression.

"Hello Miss Lyrosa and Boris, what do you need? I could have come to you guys."

Dang, we had forgotten about that. I'm glad though because now I know someone is out here, looking for me.

"Two questions. One, why does this mask change our eyes? All the citizens were looking at us as if we were crazy and Boris and I are very puzzled too."

Tobi nods and chuckles, "I bet. Listen, magic is very rare among cities and towns; but I used Delzen magic to change people's physical appearance a bit. With the masks, I put magic in it as it was being manufactured for situations like this. Trust me, certain people have come here and so I made the masks."

"Does nobody else know about this?"
"They do know that Delzen magic exists, but they were probably judging the fact that you two were wearing masks. People wonder about it because a lot of them know that runaways and people of that kind are rare, but can happen. I'm sorry that they were staring but I can't blame them. You guys do look different."

"Yes sir, unnaturally looking."
"Correct. The downside with this specific magic is that it makes things look unnatural, it can't be mastered because even the best magic-wielders in this town can't master it. Only those of Iprellis can." Tobi said.

My eyes widened, "Iprellis?"

"Yes, I thought you would know? Iprellis does use magic more than Delzen, but I believe it is still rarely. I don't know what kind of magic, though."
"Sir, I have never encountered any magic there. My Mother severely banned it from most people."

"I see. I can see why since this is your first encounter."

"Okay, okay. Apart from that, I saw a Wanted poster with me on it." I started to overthink things again, so I changed the subject. It was still important, right?

"Wanted poster? In Delzen?" The leader said, confused.

"Yes, sir," Bo said.

"Where?"

"I think it is a few blocks back, it-"

I was interrupted by a guard rushing into the office.

"Mr. Tobi! We have to hide Miss Lyrosa and Boris even harder than before! I saw that people in black suits and those in Iprellis uniform are here, sir!"

"What?!" Tobi said, turning into a serious stance.

"Come with me, NOW!" He yelled. We immediately followed him, and so did the guard. Bo held my hand tighter than ever, our palms both sweaty. Mine had to be worse, though. Everything regarding me must be worse.

Everything.