I opened my eyes with an audible gasp that sounded as if I had been deprived of air until I opened my mouth. My eyes caught on the harsh scratches that cut through the dark, metal ceiling; they easily reminded me of a feral animal being kept in a cage.

I quickly leaned forward from my lying position on the ground and was happy to find that all signs of my headache and nausea were gone. I felt completely and utterly normal. I was still tired, but normal nonetheless.

"Elena?" A warm voice called from behind me.

I turned my head and immediately popped open my mouth in a scream.

James was half-naked.

I quickly clamped my hand over my mouth and turned my head away with my eyes sealed shut.

"James?" I calmly asked with a red heat rising in my cheeks. "Where is your shirt?"

"Good morning to you too," he smirked as I heard his footsteps come up behind me.

"I'm serious," I said as I turned around, with a very small, yet uncontainable smile. "Where is your shirt?" I coughed intentionally as an onset of laughter rose up in my chest.

"Right there," he smiled pointing to my thigh.

I looked down and saw the familiar piece of white fabric tucked underneath my leg. I couldn't help but glance between James and the fabric in both shock nd confusion.

"I-I don't know how that got there," I eventually let out with a frustrated frown.

"Easy," James grinned. "I put it there."

"You what?!" I jokingly yelled as I balled up his shirt and threw it at his bare chest.
"Hey!" he smiled, "You should be nice to that shirt. It was a very kind pillow to you last night."

I stared at the dirtied, balled-up shirt in his hand questioningly.

"Pillow?" I broached with raised eyebrows.

"Yes," he elegantly said, unfolding the shirt and pulling it over his head. "Pillow."

"You should remind me to thank it," I said, brushing my dark hair cleanly behind my back and away from my face.

James stared at the motion; he looked content until his eyes caught sight of the glossy sheen coating my hair. His lips turned down into a subtle frown.

"Thank you," I said, clearing my throat, hoping to ease the tension between us. "For the shirt."

James' eyes remained locked on my greasy hair. "You can thank me once Conner breaks us out of here."

"What?" I spat out, glancing discreetly up to the far corner of the ceiling, expecting to find a security camera.

"I said you can thank me-"

"-I heard what you said, James," I whispered harshly, expecting someone to eavesdrop on us at any moment. "What are you talking about? Conner can't find us. Not here," I said motioning around the closed, spacious cell.

"Umm..." James awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he looked to the ground, avoiding my stare. "I have something I need to tell you," he spoke slowly, almost embarrassed.

"Yes?" I quietly wondered as I couldn't imagine anything that James could have hidden from me that was actually be any of my business.

His eyes remained focused on the ground, while he hesitantly opened his mouth. "Conner followed us after we left the Mothership."

"How do you know?"

He sighed, as he finally turned around to face me.

"I saw his and his quadrant's pods flying on our path on the tracker, before we left the ship. I figured we could leave before they landed."

"But why is that a bad thing?" my voice softly wondered against the silence.

James gently furrowed his eyebrows, as if he didn't understand the question.

"If Conner was following us, he knew we were gone. And if Conner knew that we were gone, then my parents most certainly knew that we were gone," he said with pursed lips.

My eyes widened in realization.

"You parents hate me, don't they?" I quietly said, turning my head ever-so-slightly towards the floor. I know I shouldn't care what they think, being murders and all, but I do.

"No," he quickly said with a twisted expression. "Why would you think that? If they were going to hate anyone, they would hate me for bringing you here, for putting you in danger." His face darkened as he stared off into the distance at something that I knew wasn't there. It was becoming increasingly apparent that James was blaming himself for our current predicament.

"I put myself in danger," I suddenly said, with a newfound power in my voice. I brushed the dirt off of my jeans and pushed my body away from the cold stone, so I was standing across from James. "I put myself in danger the moment I chose to get onto your parents' ship. And I put myself into an equally dangerous position the moment I choose to enter that pod with you. It isn't fair for you to assume the blame; if anything, this is my fault," I sighed, bracing my body against a nearby wall. I mindlessly stared at the dull-colored walls that were a mixture of gray with touches of reddish-brown brushing the stone every here-and-there. It was utterly and completely boring.

"Hey," James said, walking to my side so his leg brushed against mine, "This isn't your fault, okay?" he spoke softly as he gently turned my face towards him with the palm of his hand until my eyes were boring into his. Their strikingly beautiful color still made my heart flutter out of my chest.

But, his attempted distraction wasn't enough to deter the weight that had been growing in my chest since the moment we left the ship. It started out as a whisper, barely noticed or acknowledged; but, as more time passed, flames licked up my chest and burned my insides, until it felt like I was suffocating in guilt.

"I know," I lied to him quietly, as a loud noise clattered down the hallway, jolting James and I out of our almost comfortable position.

"Get up prisoners!" an annoying cheery voice yelled down the hallway as a formation of a dozen soldiers in black entered the cell block.

"Must you yell?" James glared at the round-faced and freckled boy. He didn't look much beyond his teen years.

"Oh! Guys! This is the bratty prince I was telling you about! Wave hi!" he cheered in absolute glee. It was absolutely horrifying that he could find so much joy in such a sickening place.

"Shut it, George," Bryan commanded in one swift cutting motion with his hand. "Everyone else, secure the prisoners into custody and follow me. Only me," he ordered sternly.

None of the soldiers argued as they opened the cell door and secured every limb on the upper half of our bodies that could aid in our unlikely escape. James and I silently agreed to do the same. There was no reason to put ourselves in unnecessary danger. That would be stupid.

After triple checking the guards' restraint on our bodies to make sure we couldn't move beyond what was absolutely necessary, Bryan motioned his hand forward, and the guards led James and I down a familiar, dark hallway.

We stopped in front of a basic door: white, wooden, beaten frame, nothing out of the ordinary. Bryan silently opened the door as my body stood stiff and tense in both fear and shock. I don't know what I'm walking into.

They can't kill us, right?

Right?

The door opened to a wide, white room that was filled with a series of white countertops, two medical examination beds, and a few unknown machines that I assumed were for medical purposes. Three men in white lab coats were quietly muttering things amongst themselves as the guards dragged us into the room.

As soon as my sneakers squeak against the title, I intentionally turn my head away from the gathered men, and immediately stop my feet in my tracks. The motion even takes the guards holding me by surprise.

"Meila? Dylan?" I gasp in horror as I stare at an additional twelve guards that are holding my sister and Dylan hostage. Just like me and James.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dylan angrily thrashed as he thrusted his body forward against his guards' grip. He is easily forced back into place before I can bat an eyelash.

An elderly man in a floor-length lab coat pulls away from the small group and glances over the four of us, lined up in a row, with a neutral expression. "Time will tell," he says modestly, before motioning Bryan forward.

"Which of the girls were affected first?" He asked softly in a voice that was silky like a snake.

Me, I thought to myself in a panicked voice. It was me. I was affected first. My body quickly turned as white as a sheet as the blood drained away from my face.

Without turning his back away from the scientist, Bryan slashed his right hand through the air, silently ordering my guards forward. Just as they began to drag me into the center of the room, because I most certainly wasn't going to go willingly, a quiet, clear voice commanded the room's attention.

"I was affected first," Meila stated as an irrefutable fact. Heck, I knew she was lying, and I almost believed her.

Bryan turned around deliberately and slowly, until he faced Meila with a cold, motionless stare. He didn't speak.

"I was affected first," she commanded again, adding more strength and authority to her feminine voice. "Not her. Take me."

Dylan tried to reach out his hand towards her. "Meila," he warned lowly with new lines painting his forehead.

"It was me," she harshly spat out, drowning out Dylan's words of concern.

My guards didn't stop moving.

I slowly cowered into their grasp, until my body was hunched over and crippled. I finally looked like how I felt: guilty and broken.

"It was me!" Meila's desperate scream rang  across the room like a lightning bolt. But like all hope in this place, it was futile.

"Do not mistake your ignorance with my own, child. I am informed and well at it," with a hard, unwavering voice. "Besides, your turn will come. Don't fret it," he ended with a distinct hiss.

The piercing noise briefly pulled me away from my thoughts and I paused. I am forgetting something. But what?

It was only now that I noticed that James was being unusually silent. He is never quiet, which is concerning in itself. I cocked my head to the side as much as I could manage, in my restrained position. James was struggling and fighting against his guards with every muscle in his body, and he was most certainly failing. His cheeks were flushed red and there were beads of sweat lining his forehead; he looked exhausted.

"I'm going to kill you," he spit out in fury as he thrashed against his guards. "Don't you dare touch her, you filthy, arrogant bastards."

The old man rolled his eyes deliberately at James and waved my guards forward to the examination table. "I will keep your request in mind, your highness," he said, bored.

With one strong shove, I was forced to stand beneath the old man's bored gaze. It felt like he didn't actually see me; he saw nothing.

"Please don't," I softly whispered to the floor, avoiding the towering man's eyes.

He gently lifted my chin with a cold, hard finger and raised his eyebrows in concern. "Don't what? I'm not here to harm you, Elena James, or your friends," he paused, "I am a scientist, and when you and your sister were affected by a centuries old machine; you aroused our suspicions, which is why you stand here now." He motioned the guards holding me kindly away from me so I was only being supported by my own, two feet. It felt nice; it almost allowed me to feel some edge of comfort.

He reached out an unblemished, perfect hand towards me in a slow, kind gesture, and silently pleaded to me with wide, grey eyes. "If you will..." he said, briefly glancing at the white countertop behind him. "I-I need a small blood sample to run a test," he stuttered out in a nervous voice. I found the action to be rather surprising because he didn't strike me as a person who would stumble over his words. "It will hopefully tell me why you had a reaction to the machine."

"Oh-" I paused in momentary shock. "That's it?" Is he being serious?

"Yes," he frowned, glancing over my face. He was visibly disappointed in my lack of intelligence. "If you give me your arm, we can be done in a minute."

"O-Okay," I sighed, turning my head away as he reached into a white drawer and pulled out a syringe and tourniquet.

Close your eyes and it will be over, I chanted to myself as I felt the strong tug of the tourniquet tie around my upper arm. The pressure and throbbing in my arm from the tight fabric was a constant reminder of the blood that was pumping throughout my body; just the thought of it made me want to throw up or pass out. Maybe both.

One, two, three, four...five, I slowly counted in my head as I felt a brief, but very noticeable pinch inside of my elbow. Just a few more seconds, I reminded myself as the thought of dark, oozing liquid threatened to spot my vision with black dots.

"Done," a distant voice called to my left.

I looked up, and sure enough, he was holding a small vial filled to the brim with my blood. The sight made me lose my balance and stumble backwards. After catching my breath for a long moment, I regained strength in my legs and was able to hold myself upright.
Thank goodness, I muttered gratefully under my breath.

I looked up in the old man's direction, but to my surprise, he wasn't looking at me.

"So, who's next?" He asked to a bloody, quiet room.

***

Meila volunteered to go first, getting her blood drawn in record time, while the boys and I waited patiently off to the side. With the whole "imminent danger" factor removed, we each settled into a relatively relaxed position, though that was more reflective of our physical exhaustion than our trust of the old man.

Dylan insisted on going after Meila, to which no one protested, and James followed soon after him.

"Be careful," one of James's guards smirked. "You've got royal blood over there."

James cocked his head to the side to give the burly man a furious, yet equally annoyed glare. "Shut up."

His response made my body shiver. I've never seen this side of James before. It made me sad; he must not be used to such disrespect and aggressive treatment. At home, people probably praised the ground he walked on. Here, they spit on it.

"Apologize, Gary," the scientist said smoothly in a strangely calming voice, while he took the last few drops of blood that he needed.

The guard chuckled with a deep sound rising inside of his chest. "My apologies, your Highness," he choked out between laughs.

The old man frowned in his direction, before releasing a tired sigh. "Your apology will suffice today, Gary," he paused. "Don't count on it tomorrow," he added with an underlying threat.

The guard rolled his eyes, before returning his face to a stony, stoic expression that showed no emotion

After untying the tourniquet on James arm and screwing a blue cap onto the tube of blood, the old man gestured dismissively to the guards, commanding them to leave.

"You can't be serious," Bryan scoffed as the bored guards pulled away from the four of us and made their way out of the lab. "Wait," Bryan hissed in a cold voice, forcing the moving guards to halt in their tracks.

"We are quite capable of handling ourselves," the scientist arrogantly preached as he nodded to his two peers that were inserting drops of our blood samples into different machines.

Bryan lowered his eyes into a hard glare. I was certain it was going to cut the old man in half. "Their escape it's on you, old man," he hissed angrily under his breath before turning a corner and stalking out of the room with angry feet. The remaining guards followed after him with a certain amount of hesitation that almost made me feel sympathy towards them. Almost.

With the two dozen guards now gone, three of us were left awkwardly perching against the nearest wall, while James awkwardly stood next to the scientist who was holding up and observing James' vial of blood.

"So fascinating," he murmured to himself in absolute wonder. He turned to James with a wide and oddly inviting smile. "You truly are a rarity, your Highness."

James glanced over the man hesitantly. "Thank you?" he said in a voice that was clearly unsure of himself. I couldn't blame him; the man's compliment was weird, not to mention strange.

"Oh my gosh!" a young male dressed in a knee-length lab coat gasped out as he held up a newly printed paper to the ceiling lights. "Andrew," he said excitedly to the old man from a nearby counter, "You aren't going to believe this," he said, waving the parchment in the air, beckoning the old man to come forward.

He mumbled something darkly about young kids and their overbearing enthusiasm as he made distinct steps towards the young man and the parchment. "Let me see," he squinted, reaching his hand towards the paper. The young man handed over the paper with ease, encouraging Andrew to look at the bottom "sequence", whatever that meant.

All four of us leaned forward, desperately trying to peer our way around the old man to see what was on the paper. I could only make out a few letters before the old man ripped the paper towards the ceiling so he could get a better look at the printed parchment.

"Why call me, Einstein!" he chanted towards the ceiling, before dropping his arm and turning to me with a face full of curiosity and wonder. "Incredible," he whispered in awe as his eyes passed over every feature of my face.

I cleared my throat, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "Excuse me?" I softly wondered. I sounded like a small child; I was sure of it.

He gave me a wide and overtly kind grin, gesturing me forward. "Come! Come!" he said enthusiastically, inviting me to stand beside him.

Logical instinct would order me to refuse his offer and stay safely against the utterly plain, white wall. But, something about his enthusiasm, something about my curiosity, begged me to move forward and hear what the old man had to say. It was against my natural instincts to resist him, so I didn't.

My sneakers squeak against the white tile until I stop in front of the strange, old man.

He smiles down at me fondly, as if seeing an old friend for the first time in decades, before turning to face my friends. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Come. This story is for all of you."

"Story?" James curiously asked as he took his place comfortably to my side. It provided me with instant comfort.

"Yes, your Highness, a story," he smiled with an all-knowing grin. "It turns out that you aren't the most interesting person in this room, after all. Isn't that right, Elena?"

Everyone in the room turned towards me in an instant, expecting some sort of reaction that would validate what the old man had said. But, I didn't react to them; I just stared forward and did everything in my power to wait and hear what the old man had to say.

This is going to be good, a quiet voice whispered to me as the scientist opened his mouth and began to tell us a story about a queen and her lost kingdom.

How strange.

AN: Fifteen chapters down guys! I don't know how many chapters are left, but if I had to guess, I think there will be anywhere between twenty and thirty chapters total, so we are almost done(kinda)! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write, but I'm not going to lie. I feel like the writing might have sucked a little bit; I don't know. But we are going to move forward.

I have some exciting news for you guys! There is going to be a contest, that will end once the last chapter is posted (not the epilogue) and the winner will not only get a shoutout, but an honorable mention on the last page of my book (unless there is a sequel announcement. Also, if you are interested, you can win a signed book cover which I will pm to you. There may be more prizes, so stay tuned! Anyone can enter. Since each person may have a different set of skills, there will be two different way to enter: drawing (includes photo editing) or writing. For the drawing portion, you may draw a portrait of any of the main characters (Elena, James, Conner), or multiple if you feel up to the task. Also, you may design a book cover for this story that incorporates some element from the story, and shows an underlying theme. Have fun! Lastly you can design a star map of the different kingdoms or a floorplan of the Mothership (you can also draw a picture of the Mothership if you want to). For the writing portion, you can write a scene between any of the characters that showcases the core traits of those characters. You can make it humorous or amorous! its completely up to you! The characters don't have to be the main characters, they just have to be in the book. You are allowed to make up additional characters or use fictional ones (like Spongebob), you just need to make sure you have at least one character from the novel. Feel free to ask me any questions about the contest, and I will be happy to answer! I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Ok, moving forward, I have to say how grateful and thankful I am to all of you that take the time to read my book! When I first started writing this book as a hobby, I never expected the overwhelming, positive response from you guys and sometimes it makes me teary-eyed with joy. Thank you for reading my book :)  hope you guys continue to enjoy the story as much as I do!

Lastly, I've have to take a survey on something that I have been playing on for the last few weeks, and I am curious about. Would you guys be interested in me creating a youtube channel dedicated to my writing (the process, how I come up with my characters, how I get my ideas, how I overcame my writers block after not finishing four books, with some random videos here and there)? I am a silent reader myself so I can't blame you guys for not responding, but...I'm curious. Would you guys be interested in that? If so, feel free to drop a thumbs up or any comment below to let me know. I would greatly appreciate it :)

Have a great day guys and stay tuned for upcoming updates!

-Elly6431