Chris,” Amalia sighed. “It’s us.”
There was the sound of a gaslight hissing on, and then Jes could see that Amalia was right. Chris sheathed his sword with a sheepish shrug.
“Hey, you were breaking into my castle before dawn. It’s my job to keep an eye on things while Mom and Dad are gone.”
Jes collapsed on the stone floor in a wet heap. “Of course they are. Did you get sent a regent, too?”
Chris scowled. “Yeah, this grumpy woman called Lady Indigo. I really don’t like her.”
“Does she have black hair and creepy pale skin and a really sharp nose and chin?” Jes asked.
“And a voice like nails on a chalkboard?” Amalia added.
“Oh, you’ve met her!” Chris nodded. “Can’t stand her.”
Jes shook her head. “I don’t buy identical triplets. Something weird is going on. Oh, and whoever they are, they’re planning on taking over the islands.”
Jes felt her eyes closing while Amalia filled Chris in and then argued with him about the best way of dispatching their foes. After a bit, Amalia shook her awake. “Chris is going to hide us in his top bunk and get us dry clothes. We need to sleep before we try anything else.”
How can you hide someone in a top bunk? Jes kept the question to herself, too focused on putting one foot in front of the other. When Chris had snuck them up to his room, the question was answered. The room was a good fifteen feet high, and his bed doubled as a play pirate ship. The top bunk was reached by ladder and was ten feet above the floor, with solid sides to keep someone from falling out … or anyone below from seeing in.
“Here, towels, night shirts, and just leave your dirty clothes with mine to get washed.”
“Won’t anyone ask how you got two extra outfits soaked and dirty over night?” Jes asked.
Chris shrugged. “Not really. That happens at least once a week.”
Jes felt like her muscles were turning into jelly. After Chris left to let them change, Amalia stood behind her on the ladder and helped her climb. She was pretty sure she was asleep before she hit the mattress.
Chris brought a picnic basket up into the Crow’s Nest—his name for his top bunk—around noon. Jes moaned and covered her head with the nearest pillow until the scents of the food got through to her. “Do you have cinnamon rolls?”
“Cinnamon rolls, meat pies, roasted chicken, some vegetables nobody will eat, cheese, and apples.” Chris sounded like someone who had slept a lot longer than either of them had. Jes decided to dive for the basket rather than hit him.
“We can’t use the tunnels to get to West Waveborn, and Queen Melia is the last person we have to turn to,” Amalia said, grabbing an apple.
Chris frowned. “But there were nine heroes at the beginning. Who were the other two?”
Jes and Amalia turned to look at him. “Nine heroes?” Jes asked.
“That’s what the song said. The night before last, Mom was complaining about everything that the song got wrong. It claimed that she and Queen Melia were sorceresses, and Dad was a wizard, and lots of other stupid stuff.” Chris shrugged. “The musician that sang it hadn’t written it, and I don’t know who did write it. But it said nine heroes, and I only know about our parents and Queen Melia. Donal’s father wasn’t one of them; he and Queen Melia were only married for a couple of months before he decided he wanted to be an explorer more than a prince consort.”
“Didn’t you ask her or your dad who the other two were?” Amalia demanded.
Chris shrugged again. “I was going to, but then there were these other things like explosives and battles to ask about, and then yesterday morning they left.”
Jes brushed her hair back from her face, then stopped. “My earring!”
Chris looked at her like she was crazy, and Amalia explained.
“It was from Queen Melia, and it let Jes listen in to the other one back where the conspirators were.”
Chris frowned. “Even if Queen Melia is gone, like our parents, I bet Donal has some way to get in touch with her. We just need to get to him. There’s the land bridge, but there’s a border crossing partway across.”
“How many guards?” Amalia asked, fingering the hilt of her sword.
“Usually two. Mom and Dad would be really mad if we hurt them, though.”
Jes imagined her two friends fighting fully grown, armed, trained guards. What would I be doing? Throwing rocks? She rubbed her forehead.
“We could take a rowboat, but that’s really slow, and somebody would probably see us. Maybe we could stow away on a smuggler’s ship.”
“Do you really think your parents would allow smugglers to land here?” Amalia argued.
Jes frowned harder, trying to follow some stray thought. Smugglers …
“Amalia, remember the stories about our great grandfather, Giuseppe?”
Amalia nodded. “A few of them.”
Jes turned to Chris. “When he was young, there was a disagreement between his city and the neighboring one, and there were custom stops between them that charged just crazy amounts. Grandfather decided to become a smuggler. Every week he’d go to one custom house with a string of donkeys loaded down with rags and straw. The custom officer would go through everything looking for something of value, but he never found anything, and Grandfather would go home later another way.”
“So, what was he smuggling?” Chris asked.
Amalia chuckled. “Donkeys.” She turned back to Jes. “You want us to smuggle donkeys?”
Jes shook her head. “I want us to smuggle ourselves.”
They didn’t even have to wash up for the role, just put on dry clothing and pack laundry bags full of rags. Amalia had kept their packs from completely soaking, so they had the clothing, and Jes’s emergency food was still in fair shape.
Amalia argued a little about leaving behind the caltrops and the flask of oil.
“They’ll make the customs people nervous,” Jes pointed out. “Besides, I bet Donal has lots of cool gadgets, and I’m sure he’ll share.”
“I can see the oil,” Amalia argued, “but my mini caltrops just look like a game of jacks. If Chris has a rubber ball to put in with them, no one will think twice.”
Chris, it turned out, had dozens of rubber balls of different sizes and colors. They were so busy bouncing for a minute that they almost missed the knock on the door.
“Up!” Chris stage whispered and walked slowly and loudly to the door as Jes and Amalia climbed back into the top bunk. Jes peered around a toy cannon and through a porthole in time to see him reach the door and open it.
“Your Highness,” a familiar voice said. Jes felt Amalia stiffen beside her. The woman—Lady Indigo—looked just like the other two, and she was frowning down her nose at Chris.
“Yes?” Chris asked.
Lady Indigo bowed. “I just wanted to make sure that you would be present for dinner tonight.”
Chris tilted his head. “I never miss meals. Unless I’ve already eaten them, but usually I’m hungry enough to eat again.”
Lady Indigo gave a tiny shrug. “I’ll see you tonight, then.” She stepped back out and closed the door. There was a tiny clicking noise.
“That’s weird,” Chris muttered. He shrugged and looked up at them. “So, are we ready to go?”
Amalia stuffed a small red ball into her bag of caltrops. “Mostly. But I think you want to try that door again. I think we’ve been locked in.”