"Goodnight Grace and Sarah," I say curling up in my blankets. I should wait at least 20 minutes before I do a disappearing act.
~~~~~20 Minutes Later~~~~~~
Slowly rising from the cot, being careful not to wake them or make any sound. I slip my shoes on and cover myself in my cloak before leaving the room. I walk past the kitchen slowly, we just found a kitten, we named her Raven, and I need to be quiet as to not wake her. I open the door as carefully as possible, but a squeak comes out. One that sounds like army at war to me. I hope for my sake and Peter's that no one heard that. I squeeze through the door just as the moonlight begins to shine through the clouds. Covering my hair with the hood, I head into the clearing that leads to the Brooke. Carefully stepping over branches and moving to the side when I notice a shrub or a tree. The Brooke is not far from Rowan's house, but farther than it was from the Di Vienna mansion. It's hard to even believe that I had a life there. A life before all the drama, a life before all the danger and before all pain. Well except for drama and pain. Those things have been around me like a bee pollinating a flower. After about 15 minutes of walking and dodging bats, I finally make it to my destination. I see a dark brown haired boy looking towards me.
"If you weren't going to come in a few minutes, I may have gone searching for you. The royal guards and everything," he says with a smirk.

"No need. As you can see I have found my way over here. Not that I wanted to or anything. I was actually on my way to the market," I say sounding as sarcastic as I can.

Playing along Peter replies, "The market? At this hour? Are you meeting someone?"

"Me? Meet someone? You must be talking about my evil twin," I look around to try and think of a name, "Branch-a...Toadstool."

"Oh yes, Brancha Toadstool. I've heard so much about her, where could I meet her?"

"Right here," I say as I close the gap between us and give him a hug. "For some reason, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." We sit down, our backs against a tree.

"Me too," he says almost sounding hurt. But even if it were hurt, he quickly covers it up. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I don't know really. Just to see how you're doing and how your family is doing," as I say that last part he looks away from me. "Is everything okay Peter?"

"No...its just my sister....Sapphire. She's not doing so well."

"What's the matter? I'm your friend, you can tell me anything."

"She has the plague," he simply states. The plague?! I hope she is okay! I mean I've never met her, but no one deserves to get the plague.

"Oh my goodness Peter, I'm so sorry," I look in those beautiful brown eyes and all I can see is pain. Pain that had manifested itself into him. I pull him into another hug, but this one more meaningful. This one, warmer then the last. "I'm so sorry," I mumble repeatedly into his shoulder.

"She and Pearl are my best friends, you know? It's just hard to see her like that," his voice tells me that tears threaten to fall from his eyes, but he suddenly changes. "Why don't we talk about something else? To get my mind off of it?"  I oblige knowing that if I pressed further, he would only experience more pain.

"So, I hear that you are getting ready for the ball? Who are you inviting?"

"Well I've obviously invited you and your horrible family, no offense."

"None taken, they really aren't a family to me. Rowan and you are more of a family to me then they ever have been. I'm just lucky I've met you guys," Peter smiles at the last part and continues.

"Umm...and Celeste and her family. Of course there are more people, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind."

"Are you excited or nervous? I think I'd be more nervous then excited," I giggle.

"I think I'm exicervous. Excited and nervous," we both laugh at that and then fall into an uncharacteristic silence. It's not uncomfortable, it's nice actually. I sit there with my head against his shoulder, gazing at the moon above me. I begin to close my eyes and before I realize it, drift off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I begin to stir and as soon as I realize where I am I spring up. "Peter I've got to go, bye!" I don't even wait for an answer before I leave him, sitting there. I race back to the house, not caring if I step on branches. What if someone noticed I was gone? What would I say? After about 7 minutes or running, I finally make it back to Rowan's house. I slow down, and slowly open the door. Yes! It looks as if no one is here to bust-

"Where have you been?" Rowan asks incredulously.

"I...um...well you see I just-"

"I'm just happy that you're back," he takes me in his arms and I hug him back. "You had me worried. I thought someone took you or worse, you ran away."

"I would have never ran away. You guys are my family and family means no one gets left behind. And if someone tried to take me...well let's just say they'd have more than a black eye," I laugh and he laughs along with me.

"But really, where were you? And please tell me the truth. No matter how much it hurts." Dang it! Just when I was thinking about lying... I should tell him the truth though.

"Fine, I'll tell you. But don't be mad."

"I love when people say 'Don't be mad.' Let me tell you, it never works."

Nervously I answer, "I went to go see Peter. It's just I feel as if I haven't seen him in awhile and-"

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're safe. Now it's late, you should go to bed before everyone else wakes up." I am tired, even if I did sleep for a little bit. But I still had one unanswered question.

"I understand you being worried for me, but why did you check for me in the first place?"

"I...umm......"

"You know, you're such a creep sometimes," I say as I playfully punch him in the arm.

"I'm only a creep for you," he replies with a smirk. I blush as I head back into my room.

"Goodnight Rowan."

"Goodnight Azalea."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey y'all! I want to thank you for reading my story, and I am very sorry I haven't updated in a really long time. But to celebrate 10K, I want to write more! I've decided that this week until Sunday, I'm going to update at least once more, but hopefully twice. Thank you for reading, voting, commenting and adding my story to your reading lists! It really means a lot to me, so thank you all!!!!
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