I am woken to many noises that next morning. The first is the pounding of the rain which can be heard even from here, deep, down in these tunnels. The second noise is the wind accompanying the rain, making the morning even more miserable than it would already be. The third and final noise is the humming Jasper is doing to himself as he seems to making his own breakfast.

I groggily rub my eye to check that what I am seeing is correct. And it is. Jasper is sat within his sleeping bag, eating the few berries that we have left and looking like he doesn't have one single care in the world. I think about rolling over in my sleeping bag, wondering if he wants privacy but then it is too late.

"Morning princess. How are you feeling today?" Jasper asks me in a cheerful voice, one that certainly confuses me.

"I'm okay, thank you. What about yourself. How are you feeling Jasper?" I ask not wanting to pry but giving him the opportunity to say something if he wishes.

"I am doing great thanks. The only thing is, I wish that your mother had never killed my auntie so then Max would have gotten us more food. These berries are not going to last us much longer. Nor am I if these are the only things in my system." He says to me and I can't help but feel confused.

The one thing that Jasper seems upset about this morning is his food. Not the fact that his auntie was killed live on television, by my mother. Or that he is a wanted accomplice in my disappearing act. It puzzles me that he is thinking this way.

I decide that he must not want to talk about what happened so I play along with his game. "I wish we had more food as well. My stomach has not stopped rumbling since we left... well since I left the palace. I feel like I haven't had a proper meal since then. What I wouldn't do for one." I smile at him but then realise that I genuinely mean it.

Before Jasper has time to respond, Max wakes up. I notice that he instantly looks over at Jasper to check how he is doing before fully getting up himself. I mumble a 'morning' at him because I am still feeling really tired. Yesterday was an exhausting day for everyone and it shows, well at least on Max and I it does.

"I assume you are going to try and get us some more food today?" Jasper asks him before even saying hello.

"Honestly Jas, I can't say that was very high on my to-do list. I thought that right now we had bigger concerns?" Max asks, seeming really confused.

"No, apparently we don't. Today we hate berries. We want more food to eat." I explain to him but it doesn't seem to help.

"Alexandria, can I talk with you for a minute?" Max asks.

"You may." I reply and follow him down another tunnel. "Something is not right. Jasper is far too cheerful to say that his auntie was killed yesterday. What can we do?" I ask him once we are out of earshot.

Max shakes his head at me with a confused expression on his face. "Honestly I don't know. I wasn't expecting him to be like this. Maybe this is just how he grieves? They do say that everybody grieves differently." Max says, mainly to try and convince himself that that is what is happening.

"Let's hope it is that then. We should get back to him though otherwise he will eat the berries that we have. You really do need to get us more food." I tell Max as we make our way back.

The next few minutes are spent eating, trying to get ourselves fuelled for the day. Hearing the weather outside doesn't rev up anyone's enthusiasm to go outside though but we do it. I follow Jasper and Max as they lead me through the rain and through a small field towards the start of the ocean tunnel. We follow the same order as before; Jasper goes down first, then I do and then finally Max after he has kept a look out.

I'm surprised to find out how different this tunnel is compared to the previous ones we have been travelling in. Instead of there being lots of other tunnels connected to this one, it seems to be just one main tunnel. It is also a lot deeper down in the earth than the previous ones. It also doesn't smell of human waste which already makes it my favourite.

I understand why people think it could be haunted though. There are railway tracks along the base of the tunnel where the trains used to travel across. It looks like they have just been abandoned over the years and left to rot. From where I am stood, there are no bends in tunnel either; it is just one straight track. That alone could be straight out of a horror film.

"How long should it take us to reach the other side?" I ask the two boys.

"Should take us a few days. Now we have to hope that there will be nobody waiting for us on the other side." Max replies and I can't help but gulp.

All of this would have been for nothing if we are caught now and I know for a fact that my mother wouldn't understand why I have done the things I've done. Jasper and Max would probably be shot down at first sight without being able to give any explanation as to what they are doing. And I would be dragged straight back to the palace, forced to help people by throwing big, extravagant parties while trying to out-do the royals from Shadowfell. The perfect princess life.

"Hopefully there won't be anyone then." I say back to him. "How are we going to go on from here then?" I ask, hoping that someone has some kind of plan.

"I was thinking of going back to the shop that I went too yesterday so I can get some food unless I find another one before that. There is no way that we can survive the journey to the Mainland without buying some more food to eat. Will you two be okay waiting down here for a while?" Max answers my question. I nod at him in response to the question that he asked us. I notice that Jasper does the same.

Max exits the tunnel, leaving me alone with Jasper. It has to be one of the first times since we first met that things feel uncomfortable between the two of us. I don't know how I should act around him or what I should say. Before yesterday I felt like we could joke about a lot of things but now I don't want to remind or upset him about Anita. I feel like I am treading on thin ice.

Instead I take my wig off for a while to let my head breathe. It seems like years have passed since I last took the wig off and the top of my head feels so warm. "I really miss bathing every day. That is probably one of the things I miss the most." I eventually say to Jasper.

"Really you miss bathing more food?" he asks looking really confused.

"Really food is the main priority in your mind?" I ask him back in return, while raising my eyebrow at him.

"Fair play. I do hope that Max brings us back something nice to eat though." I roll my eyes at him which makes him laugh. It makes me happy to see him like that although I am still worried that maybe he is moving on too fast.

"She was a traitor and I think a part of her always resented me." Jasper says out of the blue a few moments later.

"Who are you on about?" I ask even though I can guess the answer myself. I walk over to him and we both collapse onto the floor.

"Anita, who else?" he pauses before he carries on speaking, "Her salon was always rather successful while I was growing up. She would never come to visit as there were always people who needed their hair doing or make up applied. God forbid that she would come and visit us.

I would hear my parents talk about how well she was doing and I used to be so happy for her, I genuinely was. She had managed to build up her own little empire. And then I went and ruined it for her.

I don't think she ever wanted to take me in, she felt like she owed it to my mum even though she abandoned me. I really am grateful that she gave me a roof over my head and food on the table but she knows... knew that she could have done more in her life if she hadn't and I think a part of her always blamed me for that. And now I got her killed." He rants to me.

"You didn't kill her, my mother did. Or had someone to kill her, I'm not sure but either way it wasn't you. She was the one that reported us; she never had to do that. Please don't ever think that any part of this was your fault, if anything it is mine." I try and reassure him but I don't think that it works.

"I feel like I cause so much havoc in people's lives though. My own parents didn't want me and then neither did my own aunt."

"Well then, that is their loss, not yours. You have been the best addition to my life; it was so dull before meeting you. I wouldn't be without you now and you have helped me so much so please don't think badly about yourself. Grieve for your aunt because she wouldn't have taken you in if she didn't care, and then look forward to the adventure ahead. Alright?" I tell him and he nods at me in return. "Good."

Not long after our talk, Max soon returns with a few bags full of food and my stomach rumbles in delight. It is only now that I realise how hungry I am. "What did you get?" I ask him out of curiosity.

"I managed to get a couple of loaves of bread, some cheese, a few bottles of water and some nuts. We can't eat it all at once though; it has to last us until we get to the Mainland at least. Once we get there, I should be able to get food more often but for now this is all I could get." Neither Jasper nor I reply, instead we begin to eat some of the food that Max has brought.

It feels so good to be eating something that is so filling but because I haven't eaten much over the last few days, I don't eat much before I start feeling full.

"Are we ready to get going again?" Max asks after we have finished eating.

"Let's go." I reply back to him.

Jasper was right that it would take us a few days to reach the end of the tunnel. So far, we have been walking for a couple of days, taking breaks only when we feel that we need to. This tunnel just gets spookier and spookier the more we walk through it.

During the first day, we came across an abandoned train that was just lying on the tracks. According to Jasper, the passengers just left the train during its journey to The Island after it was reported that there was a passenger on board who had contracted the unspeakable disease. Nobody wanted to risk catching it themselves so they stopped the trains and just left. I soon learnt that this was not an isolated incident. As we kept walking down the tracks, we saw another three trains that had just been left where they were. Apparently the same thing happened then as well.

"Was this before they found a cure?" I ask after we passed the second train.

"It must have been, otherwise why would they have been so worried?" Max tells me and I guess that must be true. I can't help but shiver every time I go past one of those trains though.

There is a part of me that really wants to take a look inside one of the trains, to see what remains. Did everyone make sure to grab all of their belongings before running off or did they leave them there? How long has the train been sitting there for? So many questions but I doubt that I'll ever get an answer to them, at least not now.

Not long after the final train, I begin to smell something strange. At first I believe that it is only me who can smell it because neither Jasper nor Max say anything but it doesn't take long for the smell to grow stronger.

Covering my nose, I ask them "please tell me you can smell that as well?" and I realise that I don't need to wait for them to respond as they both have their noses covered as well. "What is it?" I ask, making sure that I am breathing with only my mouth.

"I'm not sure but whatever it is, it is vile. I hope it vanishes soon." Max replies while keeping his nose covered.

"It smells like something is rotting. Maybe it was something on one of those trains that we passed earlier?" Jasper suggested and I realise that could be true.

Just as I think that could be true, Max shakes his head at. "Can't have been otherwise we would have smelt it as we passed them, especially when we were right next to them. It must be something coming up that we can't see yet. You're right though, it does smell like something is rotting." Max says and then I realise what he said is true.

"What would be rotting down here? Could it be food?" I ask hoping that that is all it is going to be.

The smell grows even closer and I notice Jasper cover more of his nose. "That could be a possibility but it is more than likely going to be the carcass of some poor animal. It will be a rat or something." Jasper explains.

We keep walking and begin to gag as the smell looms closer and closer. Soon enough, we begin to see something in the distance and I almost sigh with relief, knowing that once we have passed whatever it is then the smell we begin to fade again. I am close to throwing up by the time we reach the cause of the smell and once I see what it is, I really have to stop myself from being sick.

"Is that what I think it is?" I croak between heavy breaths.

"If you mean a dead body, then yes it is." Max says.

It takes everything in me not to throw up right there on the spot. That wouldn't be very princess-like of me.

Jasper walks over to inspect the body, he mutters something about seeing how fresh it is. In my eyes, it doesn't look very fresh as there are flies swarming around the body and the most pungent smell surrounding it.

"We need to get away from here and quickly." Jasper says after inspecting the body and soon jumping away from it.

"Why? That person is dead. They can't do anything to us." I say to him but it doesn't matter as he is already running off so Max and I follow him. We only stop once we can breathe without smelling the rotting corpse. "Are you going to tell us why we had to run like that?" I ask him while we are all catching our breaths.

"I'm pretty sure that guy had died from the unspeakable disease. And even though he was dead, and looked to have been dead for a couple of weeks now, the virus could still be living inside him, especially as it looks like he never took the cure." He explains to us.

"Surely that is close to impossible though? The disease has pretty much been wiped out, hasn't it?" I ask them only to find them both shaking their heads at me.

"It has only really been wiped out in the rich areas and zones. The cure isn't even offered everywhere. That poor guy was probably trying to get to The Island to get it but never made it." Max says to me.

"More things I don't know about. I wonder when my mother was ever going to tell me any of this." I say to them.

"I think one of our main problems is that we aren't the only one who knows how to sneak into this tunnel. The dead guy obviously knew about it, so how many more people are there? We are just going to have to hope that we don't see anyone else, whether they are dead or alive." Jasper says and I realise that what he says is true.

We begin walking down the rest of the tunnel but this time we keep our eyes peeled to make sure that we don't see anyone and they don't see us.

A/N: it's #RoyalWednesday once again. Did you enjoy this long chapter? It's nearly 3000 words long!
I'll start writing chapter 30 in a couple of days which is crazy!!!

I was thinking of doing a Q&A for this book so if you have any questions about it, such as characters or places, then leave a question here. I'll start answering them in the next few weeks.

Any thoughts on this chapter then?

As always, vote and comment!
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UPDATE: I have just created a 'community' on the Amino app for Royal Blood. It's a place where we can talk about the book and discuss it. Basically it is like a fan page.
I think you may have to download the Amino app (it's free) and then search for 'Royal Blood By ShhBethsReading' and join that community. It will be a great way to get to know more people.

http://aminoapps.com/c/royal-blood-by-beth

Here is the link and if you want to know more then just PM me.