“Oh my God.” Jess’s voice followed me as I walked into my room and I couldn’t help but snicker.

Chapter Five

A Royal Hidden Among Us

—Minnesota Daily

Something beeped in my room and I groaned. I rolled over, thinking it was probably just the e-mail notification on my phone, but it beeped again. Without opening my eyes, I felt along the bedside table and grabbed my phone. Cracking open one eye, I read the messages.

Unknown: Don’t go outside.

Unknown: I’m sending someone to help.

Sitting up in bed, I rubbed the crusty mess out of my eyes and glared at the phone. Who the hell was telling me not to go outside? Who was sending someone to the house for me? I looked at the number again and my brain kicked into gear. I checked my outgoing calls, and sure enough, it was the same number. My heart rate picked up as I realized Alex was contacting me.

I swung my feet over the edge of my bed and gasped when my warm toes touched the cold hardwood. I slid into my slippers and opened my door. Sounds of the TV drifted to me from the living room, so I padded out to see who was awake. Jess was sitting on the couch, curled up under a blanket and staring at the TV with large eyes.

“What got you out of bed so early?” I sat down next to her and tugged some of the blanket over to cover my legs.

Jess just pointed at the TV. I looked at the bright screen through slitted eyes and gasped. “Why is there a picture of our house on the news?” A sinking feeling filled my gut. The next picture flashed onto the screen answered my question. It was me and Alex outside the Parallel, his hand on my shoulder. That was followed by a picture of him helping me put on my oversized coat. “Oh no. Oh no.”

“My mom texted me at five this morning.” Jess looked at me with large eyes. “I didn’t want to wake you up—I figured you’d need your sleep to deal with it.”

“Alex texted me.” I held up my phone for her to see.

“He’s sending someone here? That’s good.”

“Why is that good?”

“How do you think the news station got a picture of our house?” Jess cocked her head to the side.

“You’re kidding.” I turned and looked at the closed blinds. “They’re really sitting out there still?”

“Three news stations.” Jess nodded. “Bert checked earlier.”

“Three news stations?” Part of me wanted to go peek out the window, but the saner part of me just wanted to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head. “Where is Bert?”

“Back in bed. He has a class in a couple of hours.”

I groaned. I had classes to teach today and Dr. Geller wasn’t going to be back until tomorrow. “Oh, today is going to suck.”

“What are you going to tell Prince Yumm—”

“Don’t call him that!” I slapped her arm. “What if you see him again and that accidently slips out?”

“Well, he’s already seen me in my nightshirt—it can’t get much more embarrassing.” I glared at her and she rolled her eyes. “Fine. What are you going to tell Prince Alex? He saved you from opening the door to some media-type person while still in your bathrobe.”

“It’s his fault I’m in this mess.”

“No it isn’t—it’s his aunt’s. Or more importantly, it’s whoever sold those pictures fault.” Jess scooted down into the couch cushions and glared at me. “You should blame them. He was just watching out for you.”

“You’re right. I’m going back to that restaurant and tearing the hostess a new one. It had to have been her. Lousy tramp.” I glared at the headline scrolling under the pictures. “You’ve got to be kidding. A Royal Hidden Among Us? That’s the best they could do? Why does it even matter?”

“Um, hello? Because nothing cool happens here and Alex is a serious hottie. He’s only the most eligible bachelor in the world.” There was no arguing about Alex’s hottie status, so I focused on something else.

“Why are they acting like I knew I was a royal? Do they just report whatever they want without checking facts?”

“It’s like a big game of Telephone. One station reports something with a tiny fact wrong. Then the next station just reports what they reported. The next one reports what the second station reported, but draws conclusions that aren’t right, and so on and so on.” Jess shrugged, the blanket falling off her shoulders.

“That’s terrible. And scary.” I looked back at the TV. “Not to mention it pisses me off.”

Jess stared at me. “You know, you haven’t said much about it. About being royal.”

“That’s because I came home, went to sleep, and woke up to people watching my house like Elvis had come back from the dead.” Jess just stared at me. I leaned my head back against the cushion and sighed. “Fine, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I have no proof, really. It’s not like I can ask my mom.” My throat tightened and I had to pause. “They seemed pretty convinced and I can’t imagine they would have come to me if they weren’t sure. It’s… a lot to take in. They want me to go back with them.”

“Go back with them?” Jess sat up a little. “Wow.”

“I don’t know if I’m going to do it.”

“Are you crazy? Of course you’re going! You have to!” Jess stared at me like I was losing my mind. “You need to know more about your family. And imagine what all you could do as a royal.”