And then she got right back to pulling me to safety. I know it’s going to break her when she finds out we lost. The time ran out twenty minutes ago, and I haven’t had the heart to tell her. I don’t even care about the money, because as long as I have her, the rest means nothing. Not that now is the right time to tell her that. Not while I’m a two-hundred-pound weak burden to her. That type of confession is made at the perfect moment, when you’re able to stand on your own two feet and swoop her up in your arms and carry her off to bed.
“How much time do we have?” Arabella asks.
When I don’t answer right away, she stops in her tracks. “It’s over, isn’t it?”
Dropping the strap, she takes a few steps until she’s standing next to me.
I look up at her, seeing her bright pink cheeks and an angry red line across her forehead where the weight of the stretcher has been resting. I honestly don’t think I’ve loved anyone more than I love her at this very moment. I unclip the water bottle from my backpack and lift it to her.
She flops onto the road next to me and tips the bottle back, sucking it down in long gulps. When she lowers it, she gives me a sad smile. “It’s all right, Will. You can tell me.”
“We ran out of time.”
Blinking quickly, she says, “I’m sorry, Will. If I could go back, I’d never—”
“Hey, don’t start beating yourself up, okay?” I reach out and take her hand in mine. “You’ve been amazing today. I mean, truly incredible. Beyond what I thought was possible.”
The corners of her mouth curve up the slightest bit. “Thanks. But I really wanted you to be able to get your brother’s boat back.”
“No biggie,” I say. “He’s the kind of guy who will appreciate the thought.”
“You can’t sail around on a thought,” Arabella says, letting her shoulders drop.
“You know what?” I ask, squeezing her hand. “Last night, all I could think about was how I wish I’d lived my life before now. And I didn’t care if I had more money or a huge following for my show or my own line of outdoor gear—although that would be very nice. All I could think about was how much time I’ve missed out on with the people I love, and that if I had it to do over, I would have made them a bigger priority.” I stop for a second and wince as the pain in my leg starts to throb more. “It’s so cliché, right?”
“No, it’s a universal truth. And somehow all universal truths end up being turned into clichés. I think it’s done by cynical people, to be honest.”
“God, you’re smart.”
“If I were smart, I wouldn’t have eaten those bloody berries. And I wouldn’t have lied about it. I would have fessed up straight away so you could have mixed up some magic elixir or something.”
I’m about to tell her I’m in love with her, but before I can, she looks down at my ankle and gags. “We should go. You need a hospital.”
With that, she gets up and sets back along the road, dragging the useless lump of man behind her.
Dark clouds move in as evening draws near. The sky grows dark and it starts to pour, making the ground slippery and Arabella’s task much more difficult as mud cakes itself to the stretcher, adding extra weight. We’re both drenched by the time the sound of cars and voices can be heard above the pounding rain. Arabella uses what I’m certain is the last of her strength to drag me up one final, muddy hill. She stops when we get to the top and I hear her breathing hard. “We made it, Will.”
“It’s them!” a man shouts.
Suddenly the sound of camera shutters clicking, feet running, and people yelling takes over the quiet of the forest.
“We need an ambulance!” Arabella yells.
“Princess Arabella!” Dylan’s voice overtakes everyone else’s, and I turn my body so I can see what’s happening. Dylan is hurrying next to her while Tosh aims a camera at her face and Mac holds the boom mic over her head.
“Ambulance, now!” Arabella barks.
“Sure, sure,” Dylan says. “But first, can you tell us how you feel now that you lost?”
Arabella reaches out with her left arm, grabs Dylan’s face and shoves her hard. My mouth drops as I watch Dylan fall back and land in the mud. Arabella waits until she stops skidding, then says, “That’s how.”
Mac and Tosh burst out laughing and Arabella keeps going.
“Yes! Love that passion!” Dylan yells from the ground. “Great television!”
“That was great, all right,” Tosh says.
“She totally had that coming,” Mac adds.
A siren sounds nearby, and soon, an ambulance pulls up next to us. Arabella stops and drops the reins, then I hear her telling the paramedics what happened.
Tosh comes up to me with the camera. “Saved by a princess, hey?”
“Yup.”
Mac walks up and glances at my ankle. “Wow, that is disgusting.”
“What, this?” I ask. “It’s nothing.”
“Enough chitchat,” Arabella says, walking over to us. She smiles down at me while the paramedics get to work. “Told you I’d be carrying you out of here.”
Chuckling, I say, “So, you did.” I reach up and take her hand, squeezing it. “You’re amazing, Belle.”
“Step aside, please, miss,” one of the paramedics says.
I look up at him. “She should be taken to the hospital too, for exhaustion.”
He glances at me, then points to a small group of people who are coming toward us on foot. I recognize the man at the front of the pack from his picture on Avonia’s money. King Winston.
The paramedic looks down at me. “I think they’ve got her covered.”
A moment later, I’m lifted onto a gurney and the medical crew rushes me into the back of the ambulance. The last thing I see before the doors close is Arabella waving at me as a crowd of reporters surround her.
31
Soft, Warm Gingerbread Cookies, Soul-Crushing Nylons, and Shocking Revelations
Arabella
BUT FIRST … BREAKING NEWS WITH VERONICA PLATT
“We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you news from Zamunda, where Princess Arabella has been found alive.” Veronica pauses and waits while the breaking news opening sequence plays. When it ends, the camera zooms in on her.
“The entire kingdom can breathe a sigh of relief this evening as an unrecognizable Princess Arabella, seen here in this footage taken a few minutes ago, makes her way out of the jungle, pulling ABN’s own Will Banks of “The Wild World” on what looks to be a makeshift stretcher. Giles Bigly is on scene in the village of Mbambole. Giles, can you tell us what the atmosphere is like there?”
“It’s like something out of Apocalypse Now, Veronica,” Giles answers, sounding more excited than he ever has on television.
The video of Arabella coming over the hill starts up. Giles gives a giddy commentary. “The woman pulling the stretcher with her forehead is Princess Arabella herself, who appears to have turned into some sort of violent, fierce soldier out there. The man she is dragging is Will Banks—the heartthrob adrenaline-junkie-slash-nature documentarian. You know, the one you fancy.”