The Un-Rescued Princess; Chapter 3

by Maryam in A Land Of Desert And Sun

'My name is Jeffery Logan,' he began. 'Just call me Jeffery. Anyway, Adair here' -
'Wait! Why have you kidnapped me?' Jolinda said shrilly. 'I demand to know why!'
'You know, princess,' he paused, 'Or may I call you Jolinda?'
'You may CALL me Miss Darelian,' she said coldly. He shrugged, and continued.
'You may notice that your father's royal subjects have been in an uproar over the subject of your marrying the priggish Prince Wilfrid Cammington The Third.' 'Cummington,' she said absently. Jeffery ignored her cutting in perfectly. 'In any case, we decided to take you, or kidnap, as you say it, though I prefer it the other way. Any questions?'
Jolinda was speechless for a few seconds. Then, more quietly than she had spoken before, she said, 'I demand you turn this wagon - thing - back to my father's house and let me go! You have no right to keep me here!'
He just shook his head, and for another few moments there was silence.
'Then I'll just go myself,' Jolinda said, no trace of the uncertainty she felt in voice, for she had no idea how to get back, and no way to get get there. But she preferred overlooking that part.
Jumping lightly down, grimacing at how the dirt almost ruined her shoes, she started walking down the road. It was then that she noticed something strange.
No one was on the road.
It was completely deserted, and had there not been the one wagon Jolinda had been carried in, no vehicle would have been seen.
At all.
'We're over ten miles from the nearest town,' a voice came. 'Just so you know.' There was a hint of irony in it, as though the speaker, whom she recognized the boy called Adair, was secretly laughing at her. However, his face gave no trace of that, the main emotion displayed on it was just mere boredom.
He started twirling a blade of grass he held in his hand. 'Actually, I think you won't get close to that amount at all.'
'I never asked your opinion,' Jolinda said smoothly.
'But you need it.' He stood up on the roof and jumped down. 'It's really be better if you get back inside. For you.'
Adair turned his back and began walking towards the front, where Jeffery was. Then he paused, turned, and added, almost as an afterthought, 'And I don't think you should be nagging Jeffery about him getting you back home either. You've got no chance in his agreeing. We're experienced in this stuff, besides. And the only time it's remotely possible for him to take you back is when we end back up where you live. It's as simple as that.'
He shrugged.
'Again, just so you know.'

After she had heard Adair go inside, Jolinda scowled and pushed her hands deep into her nightgown's pockets.
She looked at the wagon, then at the empty road before her, then at the wagon again.
She scowled even harder, then made up her mind.
Biting her lip, she looked behind her at the direction her home was as she was walking back to the wagon.
She wasn't sure if she was making the right decision at all. And especially with that horribly annoying boy who, amazingly, thought he was better than she was.
Was he wrong.