God Save the Queen (2 page)

Chapter 4

Confusion

I sat there, speechless,
clueless, not knowing what to say. Was I being “punk’d”? My eyes darted nervously around the room, looking for hidden cameras. This seemed unlikely, but so did being told I was the Empress of Russia. I decided I must have misheard what Kevin said to me. I wracked my brain, but I couldn’t think of anything else that sounded remotely like “Empress of Russia.”

“Look, we know that this is a little shocking,” the man named LaGard said, clearly trying to calm me down. It wasn’t working.

“Maybe we should start from the beginning.”
Kevin tried.

“
Oui
. That would be good. Please, Terrence.”

“Yes sir,”
the old man said as he got up from his chair. He too was clearly not Russian, because he had a too-obvious English accent. “You see, my dear, this whole thing dates back to when the Romanovs were ruling Russia. You’ve heard of the Romanovs, I presume?” I nodded. Nodding was the only bodily function that I could manage at the moment. “Perhaps you are aware that they wanted a son more then anything in the world?”

Again
, I nodded.

“Before they had their son Alexi,
the Romanovs had four daughters, correct?”

“Yes
.” Good, I was beginning to manage words now.

“Well
, my dear, that is actually incorrect. That is what the royals wanted us to think. The thing is, the Romanovs actually had
five
daughters.” Terrence paused to make sure I was soaking it in. I wasn’t.

“You see
, when their daughter Anastasia was born; she actually had a twin whom they named Nadia. But the tsar and tsarina didn’t want the public to know that. You see, it’s difficult for us to understand today, but the public clamored for a son to inherit the throne, not another daughter, and most definitely not two daughters. So reluctantly the tsar and tsarina agreed that they would give the twin, Nadia, away. However, their spiritual advisor, Rasputin, the so-called “mad monk,” warned that Nadia would only live until her first child was born, and that child would be a female. More ominously, he predicted that neither heir would live to see her child’s first birthday. We know what happened to the twin they kept, Anastasia. She was murdered, along with the rest of the royal family. But what of the other twin, Nadia? Yes, Anya, you are her descendant.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but he went on.

“When your grandmother was born, it was not a complete shock when
her
mother--your great-grandmother--was found dead three days later. The prediction had come true for her as well. And when
your
mother was born, her mother died before she saw her child’s first birthday. But after you were born, we found it strange that your mother had not yet fallen to this curse. We thought perhaps the curse had been broken. Your father was also of royal blood. He was going to be a duke.”

 
              Just hearing a stranger talk about my parents was making me feel sick. I never really liked to talk about my mom and dad, even with close friends; it always made me choke up. I think Terrence sensed this because his voice lowered to what seemed a more respectful tone.

             
“However,” he went on, “when we heard that your parents had been … killed in a car accident, we knew that the curse was back--just delayed for some reason. And so, since you were only four years old, we sent a Russian government official to live with you.” He then nodded toward Linda.

             
“Is it true, Linda?” I blurted out in frustration and confusion. “And you never told me?”

“
Anya, it was for your own protection,” she responded in an even, calm tone. “If I had told you, then the people who went after your parents would be after you next.”

My mouth dropped open.
“What did you say?” My voice sounded strange to my own ears, high-pitched and maybe a bit hysterical. “What people who went after my parents? It wasn’t just a drunk driver hit-and-run accident? They were--”
Murdered,
the word was
murdered,
but I couldn’t make myself say it out loud.

“You
must understand,” Linda said. “Knowing this would have been too big a burden for a young girl. You would have been living in fear.” 

“Well, I am
now,
” I shouted at her.

I settled back into the chair just as Kevin cleared his throat. “And it is because of this reason
that no one else can know about this as well. So when we leave for the palace…”

Things were happening much, much too quickly, and t
his was the last straw. “
Leaving?
I think you’re a little whacked in the head if you think I’m leaving.”

“Actually
, you have to if you want to rule a country.”

             
I could hear the irritation in his voice, and that angered me even more. Anger was the only thing that powered me right now. “Well, here’s the thing. I don’t
want
to rule a country. I want to stay here and go to school and maybe go to college and figure out what I’m going to do with my life--not have someone decide all that for me.”

“
Yeah, well,
here’s the thing,
” Kevin shot back, mocking me, “You have no say in the matter.” He was now standing, leaning over the table. “You’re leaving on Friday and you’re going to be on that plane whether you go willingly or we have to carry you on.”

I was standing
now, too. “I’d like to see you try.”

“That
will be enough!” shouted LaGard. There was silence. “Sit down, both of you.”

             
We took our seats again, scowling at each other from across the table. “I am very sorry, my dear,” LaGard went on, “but you must come with us. It is of the utmost importance.”

“But what am I going to tell my teachers--my friends?”

“We’ll take care of the teachers. As for your friends, you’ll simply tell them that you have to leave on family matters.” He stared me down.

             
I had no choice. There was nothing I could do. I was leaving on Friday for Russia, and my life was now going to change forever. I never in a million years thought I’d be content to be dorky Anya, but now I wanted it more than anything. I nodded.

             
“Then it is settled. Kevin, you will pick her up in two days.” Kevin nodded, though it was clear that he wasn’t happy about it either.

             
Then at least one good thing came from this
, I thought.

*
              *              *

             
The fact that I was leaving wasn’t the hardest part of the next two days, but the crazy rumors that had begun to circulate. One was that I had gotten the best grades in the state and was going to college early. I liked that one. Others were that I witnessed a murder and was entering the FBI’s witness protection program. The worst was that I’d been having a long-distance relationship with an older guy who had visited me during the summer, and I was now pregnant.

             
“Do people really have
that
much time on their hands?” I said, cleaning out my locker. “I mean, where do they come up with this crap?” I was leaving in two hours and all the rumors were finally getting to me.

             
“It’s okay,” Sadie said leaning against my locker. “Don’t let them get to you.”

Maggie and Sadie weren’t taking my leaving very well. Sadie kept fidgeting and every time someone would even mention the fact that I was leaving she would
zone out in some sort of trance. And Maggie… well, I thought she’d slow down a bit, but she just worked harder then ever before. I think it helped her cope. I finally got the last of my locker emptied out.

             
“Well,” I said, “that’s it.” Maggie and Sadie looked down at the box of my locker’s contents--trying to hide the tears, no doubt. “Come on, guys, you can help me bring this to the car.” My voice started to crack, which only upset me even more. Both nodded and we made our way to the parking lot. I stopped and turned around to take in the last glimpse of my school.

             
As I stood there, trying to absorb it all, Maggie was staring off at something in the school parking lot. “Maggie, what is it?” I followed her gaze to see what exactly she was gawking at, and then I found it. There was Kevin, leaning against a black BMW. Dressed in an elegantly tailored suit, he looked either like a GQ model or an international hitman--I couldn’t decide which.

“
Anya! Hurry up we have to go!” he shouted.

With that
announcement, about half the school started whispering.
Great,
I thought with a sinking feeling n my stomach. And it was my stomach that most of them were now staring at, telling me which rumor made it to the top of the list.

             
I put my stuff down, and slowly turned to Maggie and Sadie. “Well this is it, guys.” And then I was showered with hugs. I didn’t want to let go, hoping that none of this would actually happen, that they’d somehow realize they got the wrong girl and I could just get back to my normal, humdrum life. But then I felt an ominous tap on my shoulder. I let go and there was Kevin standing behind us with my box in one arm. “Come on,” he whispered. He gripped me by my elbow and led me away.

             
I could feel most of the people in parking lot still staring at my stomach. I wanted to yell, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer!” but that would only make a better story for them to tell. I got in the car and just kept gazing out the window. Kevin pulled out and started towards my house. I was fuming at this point. I couldn’t take it. This arrogant jerk was taking me to my palace of doom and if I wasn’t going to enjoy it, then neither was he.

             
“You know, you really couldn’t have made my situation any worse,” I muttered loud enough so he could hear.

             
“What are you talking about?” he grumbled.

“There were rumors going around that I was pregnant and that I was running away with my sweetheart.” When I heard Kevin chuckling
, I wanted to smack him. “What is so funny?” I asked, my anger rising.

             
“Nothing, it’s just,” he smiled, “you shouldn’t really worry what those kids say. I mean, you don’t
look
pregnant.”

Charming
, I thought. “Well, they wouldn’t be dragging my name through the mud if I wasn’t being dragged off to Russia, would they?”

             
Kevin’s smile vanished when we pulled up to my house. “Look, get your stuff and get back in the car pronto. I’m not going to put up with your bratty behavior through the whole flight, so my advice to you is, get happy and get happy fast.”

“
I’m not a brat!” I shouted at him, sounding exactly like a brat as I got out of the car and slammed the door. I huffed into the house and grabbed my suitcases that Linda had left in the foyer. She wasn’t at home, so there would be no goodbyes. We did all that at breakfast, and it was a tearful moment. Although I had been beyond furious when I found out that she had been working for he Russians all along, we had a few long talks at home afterwards, and over the next few days I had come to understand, even appreciate, the risks she had taken in caring for me. I started for the door with my bags and stopped. For a brief moment I entertained the notion of running away, maybe slipping out the kitchen door. But what was the point? Kevin would just catch me. I sighed, carried my bags out the door and got back in the car. We drove to the airport in complete silence.

When we arrived at the airport
, LaGard and Terrence were waiting for me. It’s odd, but I immediately thought of Marcel LaGard as “LaGard” and Terrence Surand as “Terrence.” Maybe it was because Terrence seemed warmer and more approachable, like a favorite uncle. Which doesn’t explain why I called Kevin by his first name, I realized. Maybe because I couldn’t always remember it…. Turson, that was it. But Kevin was closer to my age than LaGard and Terrence, so I wasn’t about to call him Mr. Turson.

W
e all walked in silence to the gate. By the time we boarded the private plane, all emotions had left my body.

I sat down
, feeling nothing, like an emotionless zombie. Everything had happened so fast that I had yet to fully comprehend what had happened to me. There was so much I was going to miss--my senior prom, graduation ... I was never going to experience those things normal kids my age take for granted every day. The sound of the captain’s voice telling us to buckle up finally snapped me back to unwanted reality. Soon I felt the plane lurch underneath me as it started to roll down the tarmac. I looked out the window and watched as the ground below me grew more distant.
It’s really happening,
I thought with a renewed feeling of dread. I was leaving the only home I ever knew and was now headed for the vast new, unknown part of my life.