Bluebirds Without Wings | Julie and the Phantoms

A Scowl and A Smile

Luke stood at her door for a while before Reggie and Prince Carlos came up to the hallway. "We brought you food," Prince Carlos said with a grin, handing Luke the plate in his hand. "Don't listen to my sister." Luke already hadn't. "She will be nicer soon." He hoped.

"Thank you, Prince Carlos," Luke smiled as he received the food. He hadn't given himself the chance to take in how wonderful it had smelled when he thought he was going to eat the first time.

"I'll be in my room taking a shower," Prince Carlos told Reggie before going into the door across from Julie's. He peaked his head out after a second and said to Reggie, "We can play that game later." He shut the door again after Reggie gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Reggie turned his attention to Luke and nodded his head towards the food.

"Get to eating," he told him. Luke didn't have to be told twice.

After a few bites, Luke asked, "Are we allowed to have food up here?" Reggie shrugged.

"It was the King's idea, so if they tell us anything, we can blame him."

Luke laughed at the thought. "Snitch on the King?" King Raymundo was as kind as he seemed in all the news he had read on him. It was no wonder the people always talked about him with such tenderness.

"I wouldn't call it snitching if it's the truth." Reggie pulled out his phone and started playing a game while Luke ate the food on his plate. It was piled up, more than the servings they'd get at the academy. He didn't realize how hungry he had been for years. His mom would probably cry at the thought.

He put the plate on a maid cart down the hall, Reggie shaking his head in disapproval. Luke looked at Reggie with his brow raised when he returned. "What?"

"Can't walk down to the kitchen to put it back?"

"We can't leave our posts."

"I'm right here," Reggie said. "Remember they told us at least one of us has to up and functioning when they're together."

"If something happens?"

"The kitchen is a five-minute walk." Reggie walked to the cleaning cart and took the plate, handing it back to Luke. "There. Go take it. No excuses." Luke sheepishly received it and started making his way to the kitchen, hoping not to run into anyone important- or anyone at all. Reggie had been a house cleaner for a year when he was fourteen to pay for his academy training, so he didn't appreciate messes. He had only stopped when the higher-ups decided he was too gifted to be at risk of getting kicked out, so they granted him a free education.

Luke peaked his head in the small family dining room that was now empty, taking in the golden hour rays that lit up the room through the ceiling tall windows. It was ethereal without all the tension. He didn't know what urged him to look inside there, but it gave him a sense of peace to have seen it like that. He walked out again and made his way to a noisy room where he could hear loud laughing from the inside. The minute he walked through, a couple of maids and chefs straightened up as if the King had walked in.

An older man looked at him and sighed in relief, "It's one of the royal knights." They all relaxed and went back to their tasks, Luke standing there awkwardly with the plate. He looked around for a moment until he caught the eye of a blonde woman who smiled. She seemed motherly with her rosy cheeks and dirty apron.

She walked up to him and asked, "Need something?"

"I came to wash this," he said, pointing at his plate.

"I can take that from you," she said. "Has the Princess eaten anything?"

"I don't think she ate at dinner," Luke said, scratching the back of his head.