The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 817

A little thrill goes through me as I look around the Land of Darkness and realize that I am, for the first time in weeks, outside of my stupid little cage. I glance back at the little nest of pillows and blankets that I left there – that I usually sleep in at night – and a laugh bubbles out of my throat. Because I’m free – at least for now – and I’m going to get some damn answers.

I turn to my left and stride away along the distance that I think is the hall I’ve walked down a couple of times at Gabriel’s side. I go to where I think the end should be and look left and right, trying to remember the layout of the castle. To the right is the more public parts of the palace – meeting rooms and all that – but to the left…

I take a deep breath and just go for it, knowing that experimentation is my best chance here. I stride forward a little more, reveling at the relative freedom, and then shift back to Atalaxia to see if I’ve made any progress.

A footman carrying a try about ten feet away from me shrieks and jumps straight in the air when I appear, staring at me like I’m a ghost. I grin at him and looking around, quite pleased to realize that I calculated correctly and am indeed in another hallway – one I haven’t been in before – that leads away from the public parts of the castle.

I turn a bit, recognizing the panicked shouts somewhere around where my room should be, and laugh as I turn back to the hall – taking in the relative length – and disappear again.

Then, in the Land of Darkness, I run forward, delighted as I go, desperate to get to the end of the hall. I meet another iron fence but barely notice it, flashing back to Atalaxia, stepping a few feet forward to the point where I’m beyond the iron fence, and then flashing back to Darkness and starting to run again.

I get the hang of it all fairly quickly, negotiating the palace, flashing back every time I need a point of reference for where I am, and starting to move quickly. I grin as I go, knowing this is going to piss Gabriel off a great deal and glad of it.

I get a great deal of pleasure from pissing him off. Because he deserves it.

By the time ten minutes has passed, I’ve made good distance in the castle and have learned a few very interesting things. First, that I actually cannot transition back to Atalaxia at a place where there’s a wall – I try to shift, but it just feels like I hit something quite solid and bounce back to Darkness. But all I have to do is step a bit to the side into an empty space and it works just fine.

The second thing that I learn is that I cannot shift to different floors in Atalaxia, though it doesn’t make much sense to me why I can’t. But once I realize this, I make quite a bit of stir when I dash barefoot and in a dressing gown down a servant’s stair. Servants gasp and step eagerly out of my way, staring as I go, though none touch or try to stop me.

The third thing I put together is that I have very little time before the Atalaxian royals figure out that I’m loose and come after me in full force. I don’t know if Pippa is simply keeping my secret or hasn’t found Gabriel yet, but I’m sure my freedom is limited.

So I exhale quickly and get to work, flashing from world to world, working hard to locate my people.

Finally, I find a long stretch of quiet hallway all with closed doors. It’s not the first I’ve found like this, but the others didn’t turn up anything useful.

Still, I have to try. I step up to one door and put my hands against it, flashing into the Land of Darkness and taking three steps forward and then flashing back to Atalaxia.

I find myself immediately in a guest bedroom – this one occupied. The aforementioned guest gasps in shock to find me suddenly standing in his room.

I stare at him for a second as he sits frozen on his bed, papers spread out all around him, just staring at me like I’m a mirage. But then my face breaks into a smile.