The Princess & The Thief

Chapter 26-Operation Breakout

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"I didn't ask for this,"
"You give me heart attacks,"
"I didn't want to care,"
"And then I saw you there..."
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(Warning: Violence)

Julie's POV

Julie herself wasn't quite sure how, but they made it to Luke's parents house in half the time it should've taken them.

A light dusting of snow coated the window seal next to Julie's bouncing knee. Since they'd agree more than two friends would be too much, especially since one was a princess, Alex and Reggie were the ones speaking with Luke's parents to confirm that he wasn't there. That he never had been there.

That was the first step.

Flynn alerted her to their return, and the flustered boys climbed into the carriage.

"God, that was probably the most excruciating conversation I've ever had." Alex rubbed his hands together to create some sort of warmth in the freezing cab. "Hey, we're friends of your son that you haven't seen in years and who was supposed to be here right now. You haven't seen him? Okay that's not good. No, stay here please, we're going to find him, I promise."

"I felt so bad. His mom almost started crying." Reggie added glumly.

"So he was never here?" Julie confirmed. They nodded. "Shit. Okay, let's go."

They were rolling down the drive to backtrack into the woods when Julie remembered something. She ordered an urgent stop to the boys up front.

Ignoring the protests when she stumbled out into the yard, Julie pulled her coat tight and raced up to the house. Heart pounding, her knuckles rapped on the front door.

A woman opened it not a moment later. Luke's mom. Oh god.

Okay, I have to do this, she convinced herself, smiling nervously at the woman whose familiar eyes sparked with alarmed recognition. Great, she followed the royal proceedings.

Before Mrs. Patterson could get a word out Julie thrust a paper into her hand. "Hello, it's great to finally meet you. I'm Julie, Luke's friend, I promise we're going to find him right now and we'll be back, but—this. He wrote this for you, he sang it for me once and I think you should have it." Julie closed Emily's hand around her song. "Please read it. Yes? Okay, I have to go. Again, nice to meet you."

Julie didn't wait for a response before leaving. She left Unsaid Emily with its rightful owner because Luke would've wanted her to. She knew he would.

Now she was going to find her dumbass.

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"Stop! Nick stop the horses now!" Julie cried to the current driver, jumping out of the cab before they'd even fully halted.

Disregarding all caution in the Bandit territory, Julie fumbled through the snow until she found it. How she'd spotted such a thing from the window of a moving carriage, she had no idea.

She brandished the grey toboggan for everyone else to see. Eyes widened at the sight as they all realized what she had.

It was no accident he'd never made it out of these woods.

And Julie was about to have a big fucking problem with a certain group of people.

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Anxiety and anticipation were wreaking havoc on her nervous system the closer they grew to the camp. Her knee practically had a mind of its own at that point, bouncing hard enough to make her look mental.