Page 36 of A Valiant Prince

She shrugs. “I love seeing new things,” she says. “You know, the adventure of it all.”

I watch her excitement grow as Lucas finds an acceptable parking spot. We get briefed again by Pete before we’re allowed to get out of the car. Eventually, Anna places her hand over Pete’s mouth. He quiets immediately.

“Yeah, yeah. We get it, security, blah, blah, blah. We’ll be good, I promise. I’m pretty sure whoever is trying to kill us, won’t be looking here or suspecting that we’ll take a sudden road trip. Now, can we go?” she asks.

Pete nods, and we all get out of the car. The plan is to act like normal tourists. So, we do. There’s a formation to us but not one that a normal person would pick up on if they walked by us.

We walk a little way until the Canadian falls come into view, and Anna breaks the formation and runs over to the fence along the walkway. She leans over and looks out at the falls.

“Oh my god!! This is so cool,” she exclaims. I can barely hear her over the pounding of three thousand one hundred and sixty gallons of water that fall every second. I grin at the weird fact I remembered learning last time I was here.

“Can we go down there?” She points to where people are walking down by the falls. I nod and grab her arm.

“Stay next to me, Anna,” I say in her ear. She nods, and we walk toward the entrance to the pathway.

Anna’s enthusiasm for the day is contagious. She makes us all go on one of the boats that take you out to the falls and back. She takes selfies of us all in hats, sunglasses, and those ridiculous ponchos they give out for the boat ride.

We grab lunch and walk around some more, taking in every tourist attraction we come across. By dinner time, I can see Anna’s slowly winding down. And by the time the lights come on behind the falls, her eyelids are drooping.

“Are we ready to head back?” Pete asks, as we all lean against the railing and look out at the color display.

“Yeah, let’s head back,” Anna says, as she laces her arm through mine as we walk back to the car. She curls up against me once we are settled inside.

“Thanks,” she murmurs. “That was so much fun.”

“It was,” I agree.

“Sometimes, it’s really nice to just be me for a day,” she whispers as she falls asleep against my shoulder. Pete hands me a blanket from who knows where, and I lay it over her. She snuggles down against me, her head falling into my lap. She sleeps the entire way back to the house and doesn’t even stir when Hendrick stops the car.

“I got her,” I say to them. I unbuckle her seatbelt and walk around the car. I open the door and lift her into my arms. Pete closes it.

“She needed this,” he says quietly. I raise an eyebrow.

“What?” I ask.

“She needed a day to be her,” he says.

“So did I,” I say as I carry Anna into bed. She stirs as I remove her shoes, but quickly curls up under the covers that I wrap around her.

Something about the happiness and carefreeness of the day, feels like an ominous sign, as though something this good can’t possibly last. I can’t shake the feeling of it as I slowly fall asleep with Anna in my arms.

Chapter Eleven

It’s the click-clack of the keyboard that wakes me again the next morning. I look over to see Anna with those big earphones on, and I grin. She looks like Princess Leia.

I get up and walk over to her, placing my hands on her shoulders. She jumps.

“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me!” she exclaims, whipping around to face me as she sets her headphones down on her shoulders.

“Sorry,” I say, rubbing her shoulders.

She leans her neck to one side and then another as she turns back to face her laptop. “If you keep that up, then you’re forgiven,” she says. I laugh.

“Noted,” I say. “What are you working on?”

“Digging,” she says.

“Find anything yet?” I ask.

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