The world as I know it is ending, regardless of what happens today. I don’t even know how to look ahead beyond the next few hours. I don’t know what life is going to look like. If I’m even going to be alive. I hug my knees to myself and try not to think about anything at all. It’s hard.
Time drags on, and I don’t know if it is a good thing or not that I can’t check my phone every few minutes to see how slowly the time is passing.
The door opens one more time, and Felix stands there. “Come with me, Fredericka.”
He didn’t call me Princess. Is it already all over?
“Where am I going?” I ask, though why I should be at all reluctant to leave this empty room is beyond me. Maybe it’s that I don’t want whatever might happen next to happen.
“Time to see Pappy.” He takes me by the arm and leads me out of the empty room to the one next door. This one is furnished with a sofa and a table, and standing in the middle of it is Pap.
“Fritzi!”
He is upon me in an instant, hugging me and kissing me.
I bury my face in Pap’s shirt, inhaling the scent of him, sweat and cologne and a hint of tobacco, memorizing all of him in case we are separated again. I don’t care what happens next. I’m with Pap, and that’s all that matters.
“My precious Fritzi!” he keeps repeating as he strokes my hair.
26
Very touching reunion,” Felix says, his voice hard. “But there’s really no time for that.” He grabs me by the arm and separates me from Pap. I don’t want to let go of him, and I can tell Pap feels the same way, but then I feel cold metal touching my forehead again. It only takes a second to realize it’s a gun. The way Pap backs off, looking horrified, confirms that.
This has happened one too many times. I’m with Pap now, I’m supposed to be safe. I think I’m going to throw up.
“Now, Frederick,” Felix says, his voice the epitome of reason and compromise. “There is a little matter of a paper that needs to be signed. Why don’t you go do that now? That is if you don’t want anything to happen to your little princess.”
“What paper?” I manage to ask. I’m not sure how my voice sounds so calm and steady. I don’t feel calm and steady.
“Abdication papers. Your pappy signs them, and we can move on to having an elected government like all modern nations.”
So, just being out of the country doesn’t mean he’s automatically abdicated. There is still a chance. Pap is moving toward the table, his shoulders hunched. He looks defeated. He wouldn’t do this, he’d fight it, if he wasn’t worried about me. I don’t want to be the reason the monarchy is ousted after eight hundred years.
I have to fight back.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a phone in Felix’s shirt pocket. Is it mine? Without giving myself time to think about it, I grab the phone out of his pocket and start filming before Felix has a chance to realize what I’m doing.
“If the king abdicates, it is because there is a gun at my head.” No time for anything more. Felix is already reaching for my phone, but with a speed that comes from practice, I upload the video. He grabs the phone from me, throws it on the floor, and stomps on it.
I flinch, and the gun barrel pushes into my temple. I really hope the video finished uploading before he did that.
“That was not very wise,” he says.
I don’t know. Seemed like my best option under the circumstances.
“Now everyone will know that it’s not a real abdication. Even if you kill me, it won’t count.”
“Oh, it will count!” Felix growls.
“I’ll sign,” Pap says. “Leave her alone.”
“You sign, and we’ll discuss.”
“Don’t sign!” I say.
Pap looks at me. His eyes have a haunted look I don’t ever remember seeing there before. “Fritzi, you matter more to me than being king, don’t you know that?”
“Let your pappy sign the paper,” Felix says, pushing the gun harder against my head.
There’s a gun at my head.
He’s going to kill me.
Any second now.
I throw up all over the floor.
Felix jumps back, away from me, moving the gun. Pap rushes toward me, taking me in his arms. “Oh, my poor girl.”
He looks up at Felix. “Can you bring her a glass of water or something?”
He doesn’t look like he’s going to, but he takes in my smashed phone and the mess on the floor, and I suppose he figures we don’t pose much of a threat, so he leaves the room, locking the door behind him as he goes.
Pap holds me, carries me to the sofa, and rocks me, soothing me. “Oh, my feisty Fritzi. ‘Though she be but little, she is fierce.’” He smoothes my hair.
I let him hold me. I cry in big gulping sobs. I can’t believe I threw up on the floor. It’s so disgusting.
“We have to get out of here,” I say.
“Hang tight,” Pap says. “Let Felix bring you the water.”
“He won’t,” I say.
“He will,” Pap asserts.
“We need to check if the phone still works. We can call 911 for help.”
Pap checks the phone, but it’s no use. It’s beyond repair.
Felix brings me a glass of water, and someone else comes in with a mop to clean up the floor, and then they leave us alone again.
Pap and I stay on the sofa, his arms wrapped securely around me. I feel safe like this, but a part of my brain acknowledges that I’m not really safe. Not yet.
“Has he hurt you at all?” Pap asks.
“No. Just tried to scare me.”
“He certainly scared me,” Pap says, “with the videos he sent of you.”
“The one where Mam said to abdicate? She didn’t mean it. We were forced. They had guns. We don’t want you to abdicate.”
He gives me an extra squeeze. “I know. You were very brave, but you don’t have to protect me, sweetie. It’s my job to protect you.”
“I don’t want you to stop being king,” I say, sniffling into his shirt.
“You know, you will always be my princess, whether I’m king or not.”
“It’s not about being a princess.” Though, honestly, part of it is. I like being a princess. “It’s that Colsteinburg is our family’s heritage. It’s our country, handed down from generation to generation to guard and take care of. We can’t just give that up. Not without a fight, at least.”
“I’m afraid I’m not a very good king.”
“You haven’t had a lot of practice,” I say. I’ve given this a bit of thought. “You weren’t expecting to have to take over so soon. But you can do it. You know what King Franz and King George did. You know how. And we’ll help.”
Pap kisses the top of my head.
“Yes, I suppose we do have something worth fighting for,” he says.
We sit in silence for a minute, just enjoying being near each other again.
“Are we going to fight back?” I ask.
“I don’t want to risk anything happening to you, Fritzi,” Pap says.
I appreciate that sentiment. “Then what are we going to do?”
“We’ll try negotiating.”
I suppose it was the only option other than completely giving in. We can’t fight back, not against guns.
The door opens, and Felix walks in. “Is she feeling better?”
“Yes, thank you,” Pap answers.
“Good. Now, let’s get down to business. It’s time you signed that paper.”
“If I sign, it will be under duress.”
“I don’t really care, as long as you sign it.”
“And what do I get out of it, if I sign?” Pap asks, starting to sound more like a king.
“Your little family gets to stay alive.”
He nods. “And?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“Not really.”
Felix frowns, looking frustrated. “What more do you want?”
“I would want a
guarantee of continued safety for myself and my family.”
Felix shrugs. “Eh, that is not up to me.”
Pap gives me one more squeeze, and then he stands up. He is taller than Felix by several inches, and more muscular, and in general, much better looking—though I may be a bit biased.
“I will not give in to blackmail,” Pap says, sounding strong and confident. I want to cheer for him.
“Sure you will,” Felix says, his voice smooth and slimy.
The door opens once more, and this time, there are uniformed men with guns. Pap grabs me to him, but it is Felix who looks afraid this time, and with good reason: the guns are aimed at him.
“King Frederick, I assume,” one of the armed men says.
“Yes,” Pap says with surprising calmness.
“There’s a car outside that will take you and your daughter to safety.”
Pap takes me by the hand, and we walk past everyone. Outside, we find a black car with a driver waiting for us.
“King Frederick?” the uniformed driver asks.
“Yes,” Pap says. We climb into the back of the car and find Ambassador Hart waiting for us.
“I finally got State Department protection for you,” he says with a wink to me.
27
The car brings us to an imposing building in the middle of Boston. Pap steps out of the car first and holds out a hand for me. I get out of the car, and he takes my arm as if I were as old as Georgie. Surrounded by security, we enter the marble and glass lobby. We barely pause before being put in an elevator and going to the top floor. There, the same security guards usher us into a reception room, where Georgie and Mam wait for us.
Mam hugs me so tight I think she’s never going to let go, but then she does and she’s in Pap’s arms, and seeing the two of them together makes me so happy that tears come to my eyes. They should never be apart again. They are like two halves of a whole; when they are apart, they are just not themselves.
Georgie puts her arms around me and hugs me tight. “I was so worried about you,” she says.
“What happened?” I ask. “How did you get away from Hans and the other guy? How’s Henri?” That should have been my first question, but there are so many things I want to know.
“Henri is alive,” Mam says, sitting on a sofa with Pap. “He is in the hospital. He is expected to recover.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
Georgie and I sit on a sofa across from Mam and Pap. Mam and Pap haven’t let go of each other, and neither have Georgie and I. We are all together, and we’re taking no chances. We are alone, the security and Ambassador Hart apparently all giving us a chance to reunite in private.
“What happened at the house?” I ask again.
“It was all rather frightening and chaotic,” Mam says. “But eventually, once nearly the town’s entire police force showed up, the men gave themselves up and an ambulance crew got in to take care of Henri.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” Pap says. “I thought getting you out of the country would keep you safe. I didn’t realize they would track you down.”
I hang my head. They tracked us down because of my videos. It’s all my fault.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I wanted my videos to help save the kingdom. I didn’t know they would help them find us.”
“But ultimately,” Mam says, “those videos saved the day. That’s how we found you. The geo-tag on your last video led us to you.”
“Really? That’s how you found me, Pap? You watched my videos?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” Pap says. “The only videos I saw were the ones Felix had his conspirators show me.”
Slowly the story unfolds, of how Pap, in hiding in Colsteinburg and unsure who to trust, was presented with the videos that Felix made. With no choice but to try to save my life, Pap flew to Boston, where he was met by Felix, who took him to that office building but didn’t tell him I was there. Once Pap had gone off with Felix, Ivan found Mam and Georgie. They spent a sleepless night working with the police and state department trying to locate me. They had the information from my cell phone call to 911, and the police report Bethany and Kim had made, but everything had been a dead end until the video I uploaded. With that final piece of the puzzle, they were able to find me and put the rescue team in place.
A warm feeling of satisfaction goes through me. My videos saved our lives. I did something to save Pap and the country. It’s a good thing I never turned off the geo-tagging.
If I still had my phone with me, I’d make a new video, one to let everyone know that I am with Pap and things are finally going in our favor. I wish Felix hadn’t smashed my phone, but I suppose if it saved our lives, it was worth the sacrifice.
“Speaking of videos,” Georgie says. “Did you see this one?”
She takes out her phone and shows me a video tagged #FeistyFritzi, but it isn’t one I made. Instead it’s from Bethany, of all people.
“I’m Bethany,” she says, “and I thought that princesses were spoiled and just looked out for themselves. I was wrong. To be a princess means to worry about others above yourself. Thank you, Princess Fritzi, for saving my life. Now we must save Fritzi!”
“How did you save her life?” Pap asks, looking at me with a mixture of interest and concern.
“Well, you see, when Felix took me, I escaped. I jumped out of the car and got away.”
Georgie squeezes my hand. Pap’s eyes fill with pride, Mam’s with worry.
“And then I saw Bethany, and when I was talking to her, Felix caught up with me. I ran, but he grabbed Bethany and threatened her. I couldn’t let her be hurt because of me, so I went with him. I didn’t want to because I knew he wanted to use me to trap Pap, which he did, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
The next moment, both Mam and Pap are in front of me, holding me.
“You are a brave girl,” Mam says, her voice full of love.
“You did the right thing, Fritzi.” Pap says, “That girl is right.You know what it means to be a princess. I’m so proud of you.”
“Even if it means the end of the kingdom?”
Pap holds my hands in his. “The end of the kingdom is not your fault. If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine. I was not a strong king.”
“You talk as if it’s over!” I say. “You didn’t sign the abdication papers. We can still win.”
“This is something I need to discuss with my advisers, and I will. But first, as a family, let’s talk about it.”
I don’t like the sound of that. It sounds like he’s willing to give up.
“We can fight for the country, and if I find that there is enough popular support, I will,” Pap says. “I will not abandon Colsteinburg because a few people are dissatisfied. By the same token, I will not continue to rule if the majority of people do not want me. I am not, nor do I wish to be, a tyrant.”
“But what will we do if you aren’t ruling?” I ask. “Where would we live if not in the palace?”
“I’m not sure we’d stay in Colsteinburg if we weren’t ruling,” Pap answers.
Georgie nods, as if understanding this incredible statement. “It might be awkward,” she explains to me. “It would be easier if we weren’t there.”
I do not agree with that at all, but this probably isn’t the time to argue the point.
“But if the people want you to stay king, then you will, right?”
“I will try my best to,” Pap answers.
Then I can’t stop making the videos. Not yet.
Georgie’s phone is in her lap.
“Can I use that to make a video?” I ask. “Felix smashed mine.”
“Sure,” Georgie says.
“We’ll get you a new phone as soon as it is practical,” Pap says.
I wonder what it would take for it to be practical. Can we just go shopping today? Are we hiding? What is really going on? Do I even want to worry about that yet?
I turn on the phone’s video.
>
“Hallo, Prinzessin Fredericka here.”
“And Georgiana,” Georgie adds.
I point the camera toward my parents. They grin and join in. “And King Frederick,” Pap says.
“Queen Cassandra,” Mam adds.
“We are safe now, and all together, and we will come back to Colsteinburg if you want us to. Are you with us? Prost!”
Ambassador Hart walks in while I’m uploading the video to my accounts.
“Have you made a lot of these videos?” Pap asks.
“She’s been single-handedly convincing the people of Colsteinburg to back the monarchy,” Mr. Hart says. “Since she’s started posting those videos, there’s been a significant turnaround in public opinion. When Orcutt started, he was able to tap into a vein of dissatisfaction, but Fritzi has reminded people about good things. She’s given you a fighting chance.”
“I did?” I say.
“That’s my Fritzi,” Pap says, and I feel very proud.
He insists we show them all the videos. I see tears pool in Mam’s eyes during some of them. In the end, Pap puts his arm around me.
“I’m very proud of you,” he says.
“She’s really growing up,” Mam says, and she sounds almost sad about it. “I guess I can’t think of you as my little girl any longer.”
“You can always think of me as your little girl,” I promise. I’m not ready to be grown up quite yet.
Out intimate family moment is broken up as more people come into the room. They introduce themselves, and Pap and Mam join them at a conference table. If he’s going to stay king, he’s got work to do.
“Girls, you may sit with us if you like. This is your future we’re discussing,” Pap says.
Georgie takes my hand, and together we head to the future, whatever it may bring.
28
We are going home. That’s the one thing I’m able to take away from the meeting at the conference table. It’s the only thing that really matters.
Mam and Georgie packed our backpacks before leaving the townhouse, so there is no reason to even go back. The security team escorts us from the building and into a minivan. The van weaves in and out of the city streets and then gets on the highway. I remember the ride from the airport when we first got here and know it shouldn’t take long to get there, but instead we seem to be leaving the city behind.
Once Upon a Princess Page 17