“We’ve been locked in here for three weeks, how in space do you wake up cheerful every day? “

Rex had been whistling as usual, and despite herself, Anrianna felt buoyed by it, despite their incarceration.

“Well,” came Rex’s reassuring voice through the thick brick wall between their cells, “it has a little something to do with what I was about to share with you before we were captured.”

“How you knew about the trap, you mean?”

“Sort of. I’ve been reluctant to bring it up because we might have avoided all this if I’d told you sooner.

“I’m not the Rex you think I am. I came from the future to save myself, but instead I got myself killed.”

He explained what had happened and how past Rex had died.

“Oh Rex, that’s dreadful! I couldn’t bear it if you… were gone.”

The Princess hated, more than ever, the solid brick between them. She wanted to give him a hug.

“So how have you been so cheerful?” she finally asked.

“Because every day I’m here with you is another day I know you’re alive. In my future you’ve gone, disappeared without a trace, and we don’t know where to find you. Back in time I might be dead and locked in a tower, but at least I know where to find you.”

“The future sounds ghastly. Can we not go back in time and put it right?”

Anrianna was sure she felt a draft from the long sigh from the next cell.

“The Professor is working on it, but I can’t risk losing you again. If it comes to it, I’d rather have you safe.”

The Princess smiled. “I wouldn’t exactly call this safe,” she said.

There was silence for a few moments. Anrianna wondered what Rex was doing, as she’d expected a snappy reply. In the stillness and quiet she heard a scratching sound. It was familiar and she wondered if it was the same sound she’d heard each night in her fitful sleep.

The sound gave way to the louder sound of stone on stone. The wall bulged. No - not the whole wall, but a single large stone. She jumped back.

“Rex?” she started, “I said I wouldn’t exactly call this safe…”

The rock slid out of its place in the wall between their cells. In the gap stood Rex, shirtless, trickles of sweat cutting through the dirt on his arms and face. Rex, stronger than ever. He held out his hand to her.

“Well we’d better get you out of here,” he said.

She grabbed his hand and he turned and led her back into his cell. Leaning into a rock on the adjoining wall, he pushed with all his might and Anrianna leaned in to help. The rock juddered and jumped forward. Pushing harder, they forced the rock further out. Stepping back from it, Rex motioned for the Princess to back away, and gave the rock an almighty kick.

The rock broke free and tumbled down the castle wall and into the moat below. Wind rushed through the cell from the opening, bringing a chill freshness Anrianna had missed.

“If only I had my rocket boots or even my grappling line,” lamented Rex.

“Would the hang-glider The Professor built into my corset do?” asked the Princess with a smile?

Rex grinned and Anrianna grabbed him around the waist, and they leaped from the tower into the blue sky outside.