Chapter 1

"Wynnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"

I cringed.

Seriously, the only person who would draw out the "N" of "Wyn" would be either the professor, Professor Helium, or Ellen. And sometimes Lochinvar, but seriously, the guy stays away from me.

I had been currently hiding in the poky rose bushes by the inside moat, hiding from..... well, I guess I was hiding from about everybody. There was always SOMEBODY who was wanting me to do SOMETHING. Either it was Ellen--"Wyn, let me borrow your clothes!"--or Dad--"Wyn, stop acting so weird!"--or Mom--"Wyn, you're so pretty but you act all boyish all the time!"--or Professor Helium--"Lady Wyn, what on earth are you doing?!"--or, on rare occasion, even Lochinvar--"Girl! Whatever your name is! Stop trying to touch my horse!!"

Really, I only felt bad for the horse.

But when I heard my name being called, I knew it was the two worst of the possibilities--the professor or Ellen.

(OK, that's not entirely true, because Lochinvar would've been the worst.)

So I stayed where I was, my brown hair snaggled in the brambles, my boyish clothes clinging to me from the heat of the burning sun that seemed to just LOVE to burn my skin.

(No, it didn't tan. How unfortunate for me.)

"Wyn! Wherever you are, stay there, because Lochinvar's here and I don't want you getting in the way!" OK, that was definitely Ellen.

OK, so I don't know about you, but when somebody tells you to stay put, do you want to stay put?

No.

And so did I stay put?

No.

I quickly pulled myself out of the brambles and snuck through the Golden Orchard (there were more, but this was the only one that was off-limits for everybody except the presiding family aka me and MY family), hiding the tall stone wall as I reached it.

I heard the trumpets go off and the cry off "lower the drawbridge!" and knew that Lochinvar and his petty band of knights had arrived.

How lucky us. Not.

Anyway, so I quickly dug the two arrows out of my pocket that I'd unwittingly taken from the gate guard and started to climb the wall, digging the arrows into the mortar.

(If you're thinking of Flynn Rider from Tangled, you shouldn't be thinking it. Because I couldn't possibly have gotten the technique from him because, of course, I'm sorry to say we don't have TV!)

Anywayyyy, so I reached the top of the wall and glanced over. Lochinvar had just dismounted his steed right underneath the gateway into the castle's grounds. I couldn't believe it! His horse was just right underneath the wall.

An idea was formed. A devilish grin lifted the corners of my mouth.

As Lochinvar was busy doing lovey dovey words towards my sister Ellen, I threw myself onto the wall and then jumped off and landed right on Lochinvar's horse.

Wearing my peasant clothes as I was, Lochinvar and the rest of the company immediately assumed that I was NOT the Lady Wyn.

"Yaw!" I cried, spurring Lochinvar's horse into a gallop.

We sped off down the lowered drawbridge. Confusion and chaos reigned behind me.

I couldn't help but laugh as I raced off into the countryside.

Dad, by the way, wasn't going to be happy. But at least I wasn't going to be caught for awhile.

After all, Lochinvar was always bragging that his horse was the fastest in the land.