The Wide-Awake Princess (9 page)

Kicking off her shoes, Annie waded to the deeper water and dove in headfirst. “Go back!” Liam shouted as he struggled to hold his head above the surface.

Annie swam faster, reaching out toward Liam with one hand, then the other in sure, steady strokes. She lost sight of him when the kelpie completely submerged, but when she ducked her head and looked around, she spotted the kelpie only yards away. She swam toward it; the kelpie saw her and struck out with its hooves, catching her with a glancing blow that spun her around in the water and left her dazed, disoriented, and out of air.

Annie surfaced long enough to get a breath before diving again. She saw the kelpie swimming toward the edge of a drop-off. Liam was trying to dismount, but the beast’s magic kept him on its back as surely as if he’d been glued there. Annie could tell that he was struggling for air and was beginning to look frantic. Afraid that she would lose Liam for good if they reached the deeper water, Annie swam as fast as she could, reaching them just as the beast was about to plunge over the edge. A few more quick strokes and she grasped the kelpie’s flowing tail, which she used to pull herself closer.

The kelpie spun around and snapped at Annie. Grabbing a fistful of its mane, she used the momentum of its next lunge to pull herself up and flip over its back, landing
in front of Liam. When he didn’t seem to notice her, Annie feared she might already have lost him.

It took only seconds for Annie’s presence to affect the kelpie. At first it twisted its neck and tried to snap at her, but then it faltered and shook its head as if something was wrong. Showing the whites of its eyes, it suddenly began to act as if it, too, were running out of air. With two powerful kicks, the kelpie surfaced. It was gasping for air, its nostrils flaring, when Annie pulled Liam from its back.

Although his feeble flailing made it harder to swim while dragging him, Annie was just happy that he was alive. When his flailing became strong enough to drag them both under the water, however, she began to lose patience with him. “Stop struggling or I’ll have to knock you out,” Annie told him, even though she doubted that she could carry through with such a threat. For one thing, they were too far from shore and there was nothing to use...

“Let go,” said Liam. “You don’t need to rescue me. I can swim.”

“I’m sure you can,” said Annie, “but you’re weak as a kitten now. I told you, stop flailing.”

Suddenly Liam went limp and became a dead weight in her arms. Annie shook him, worried that the kelpie might have given him a serious injury that hadn’t been fatal until now. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“You told me to stop moving, so I did,” said Liam, grinning up at her.

Annie let him go for a fraction of a second. His face went under and when he came back up, he spluttered and spit out a mouthful of water. “If you’re rescuing me, would you mind not dunking me like that?”

“Sorry. I had to change arms. You’re no lightweight, you know.”

“I’m fine now. You can let go.”

“Okay.” Annie let go and Liam sank, but he didn’t go far. They had reached the shallow water and he hit the sandy bottom as soon as he kicked his feet. She smiled when he gave her a reproachful look, and glanced back toward the middle of the lake. “You can stand, can’t you? That kelpie is looking this way.”

Liam scrambled to his feet and staggered with his first step. Taking his hand, Annie helped him out of the water.

Satisfied that the kelpie wasn’t following them, they trudged back to the campsite to collect their things. Although their clothes were dripping wet, the air was already warm and Annie wasn’t cold. “Do you want to rest or change your clothes?” she asked.

Liam shook his head. “I should be asking you that. Do you have a change of clothes with you?”

“Just an old gown. I wouldn’t want to try walking through a forest in it. The hem would snag on everything. It’s warm enough that this should dry pretty quickly though,” Annie added, squeezing the water from a sodden sleeve. She glanced up and saw that Liam was scowling
down at the ground where his sword and knife still rested. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe that kelpie fooled me like that. I’ve never gotten on a strange horse that just walked up to me before. And I left my knife! I could really have used that knife.”

“It was part of the kelpie’s magic to make you want to get on its back. The kelpie tried it on me first, but it didn’t work.”

“Huh,” Liam grunted. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? You stood up to it and I hopped right on.”

“All I was saying was that its magic couldn’t affect me. I probably would have gotten on, too, if I’d been a normal person.”

“Say, that’s right,” Liam said, his expression brightening. He bent down to gather his weapons; when he stood up he was scowling again. “You shouldn’t have done it, you know. Chasing after a kelpie could have gotten you killed. You don’t have magic to keep you safe.”

“Neither do you,” said Annie. “And if I hadn’t gone after that kelpie,
you
would have been killed. You know, instead of being rude, you could just thank me for rescuing you.”

“Thanks,” Liam said in a begrudging kind of way. “But you still shouldn’t have done it.”

Annie frowned and turned her back to him as she shouldered her sack.

Closing the distance between them in three long
strides, Liam reached out and gripped her shoulder, turning her to face him. “No, I really do mean it. Thanks. Most people wouldn’t have tried to help me like that.” He flashed Annie a quick smile, which made him look younger and tugged at her heart in an unexpected way. She found herself wanting to see his smile again.

Annie looked into his eyes and nodded slowly. “You’re welcome.”

“The road is in that direction,” Liam said, pointing behind her.

He led the way into the woods, stopping to hold branches so they wouldn’t hit Annie and offering her his hand when they climbed steep hills or crossed streams with slippery rocks.

Annie found his thoughtfulness touching; when she was younger she’d often played in the woods with pages and stable boys who treated her like just another boy. It also made her wonder about something he’d said earlier. “Did you really mean it when you said that most people wouldn’t have tried to help you? What about your family?”

“My family knows I can take care of myself, because... well, usually I can. My father always expected me to, because he made sure I knew how. Most people don’t know a fraction of what he does about weapons. He taught me everything I know about them, and... See this? He gave me this sword when I was eight years old. It was too big for me then, but he was so proud when I finally learned how to use it.

“My father is old now and hasn’t been able to do much ever since his horse threw him. It was a few years ago, but his leg never healed right and he has days now where he’s in so much pain that he can’t do much of anything.”

“What about the rest of your family?”

“I’ve never gotten along with my mother or my brother. It wouldn’t occur to either of them to help me, even if I was on fire and they were standing next to me with a bucket of water. My brother was always my mother’s favorite, and I... Wow! I can’t believe I just told you all that. I’ve never told anyone about my family before.”

“It’s okay,” said Annie. “You know about my family already. Your family can’t be any worse than mine.”

They’d been walking for little more than an hour when they stepped onto a hard-beaten path. “Here we are,” said Liam. “This is the road I was telling you about.”

“It isn’t much of a road. Are you sure it’s not a deer trail?”

“It gets better farther on. I told you, I’m really good at tracking. Directions, too. I’ve been this way before with my father. It was years ago, but I doubt things have changed much.”

“How far are we from Shimshee?” Annie asked.

“I’m not sure exactly where we are on the road, but there should be a sign up ahead with the distance posted on it.”

It wasn’t long before the road grew wider and had fewer rocks to trip them, and they soon emerged from
the forest onto rolling farmland dotted with small, clear-water lakes. They didn’t see any signs until they reached a crossroad and found two of them nailed to a tall post. The sign on the top was old and had two arrows, one pointing to the left and one to the right. The faded writing on the arrow that pointed to the left read
Kingdom of Shimshee, 12 miles
. The arrow pointing to the right read
Gallfield, 5 miles
. Under the arrows, someone had posted another sign that had been painted with fancy curlicues and flourishes. The sign read:

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! PRINCE ANDREAS OF
COREALIS IS HOLDING A CONTEST TO FIND
THE PERFECT PRINCESS TO BE HIS WIFE.
THE CONTEST WILL BE HELD AT THE
ROYAL CASTLE NEAR THE VILLAGE OF
GALLFIELD FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS.
ALL UNMARRIED PRINCESSES MAY ENTER.

Annie was reading the sign for the third time when Liam pointed to the left. “Look, Shimshee is this way.”

Annie sighed. “I know. We have to go find Digby. Too bad,” she said as she turned to follow Liam.

THERE WAS NOTHING to mark the border between the kingdom of Corealis and the kingdom of Shimshee except a white wooden stake standing at the edge of the road. A few nail holes at the top showed where a sign had once been posted.

“If I remember correctly, we’re only three or four miles from the city of Kenless, where the royal castle is located,” said Liam. “I think that’s where we should start looking for Digby.”

“Uh-huh,” Annie replied. She had mixed emotions about finding Digby. Part of her wanted Digby to come back, kiss her sister, and have everyone wake up; the other part of her couldn’t help but say—does it have to be Digby? If only Gwendolyn hadn’t fallen for
him
!

Annie was still thinking about how much she couldn’t stand Digby when she realized that she’d been smelling
something new and different for some time. “What’s that?” she asked, sniffing the air.

“We’re near the ocean now,” said Liam. “We should be able to see it soon.”

“I’ve never seen the ocean,” Annie said.

“Maybe we can go down to the beach before we leave.”

“I’d love that,” said Annie, “if there’s time.” She had never gone sightseeing before, and wouldn’t have thought of it if Liam hadn’t been with her, but having him there made the trip less of an ordeal, even when they didn’t exchange a single word.

The next hill was higher than those around it. Annie’s legs began to ache by the time they reached the top, but she knew right away that the climb had been worth it. The town that nestled at the foot of the hill surrounded a small port on three sides. Sailing ships rocked at their moorings while people scurried along the docks carrying heavy loads on and off the ships. Pennants flew over a castle that sat at the far end of the town keeping watch over the narrow streets. Just beyond the castle, a vast body of water spread out for as far as she could see, its undulating waves rushing toward the shore and lapping at the piers that jutted out from a gravel and dirt street.

Annie had never seen anything like it. The town itself seemed ordinary enough, but the ocean waves were almost hypnotic, and the limitless expanse was almost more than her mind could grasp. She stood there, open-mouthed and barely breathing, until Liam nudged her
and said, “I’ve been thinking, when we get down there you should let me do the talking.”