Chapter Ten
Ash:
Once the three of us reached the edge of the dark forest, we stopped to camp out. It was freezing that night, the first sign of our Indian summer ending, and we only had three light blankets total. None of us had anticipated such cold. Luke and Corey almost made me use their blankets, but I was not going to be the helpless little girl. We were all equals.
When I first woke up, I decided to not get up just yet. I was surprisingly comfy on the ground, still soft from summer. So I snuggled deeper down into my blankets.
Blankets?
I sat up straight. Luke was to my left, Corey to my right. Neither of them had blankets. In the cold morning, Luke had goose bumps, and I could see Corey’s jaw chattering. And I, had a brown and green blanket on top of my white one.
The green blanket, Corey’s was on top, then Luke’s, than mine. That surprised me. The order meant Luke had put his blanket on me first, then Corey.
I jumped up, the blankets falling to the ground. I could see my breath in the sunrise as I snatched up the two blankets that weren’t mine.
“You two wake up!” I screamed. Both boys immediately started scrambling to get up. It took them a while to stand up and come to their senses. They looked a little ashamed when they faced me. I had my hands on my hips, my dress dirtied from sleeping on it, and my hair surely a disaster.
“What is this?” I held up their blankets for them to see. Luke rubbed his goose bump-y arms, and Corey’s teeth chattered.
“You were shivering last night.” Corey chattered.
“I was shivering! Listen to yourself!” He just shrugged.
“Listen. I’m not the little damsel in distress. We’re going to rescue her. I started this rescue mission, so don’t be treating me like the tagalong. We are all equals here and, if anything, I am your superior. Got it?”
They nodded grimly. After I gave them both a good glare, I shoved my blanket in my pack, taking out my winter cloak, and wrapping it around me. Then I faced the Forest.
“So it’s dangerous right?” I asked, slinging my knapsack over my shoulder.
“Very,” Corey answered, grabbing his knapsack.
“’Kay. Let’s go.” I started to take a step forward, but Luke grabbed my arm.
“Whoa! You don’t just go stepping into Old Man Element’s forest!”
“I’m sorry. Should I fly into it instead?”
Luke turned to Corey. “Is she always this bad?”
“Worse, usually.”
Luke turned back to me as I scowled at Corey. “Ash, he’s like an amazingly powerful Wizard.”
“So am I. Let’s go.”
“Ash, he’s a seventh seventh.”
“What?”
“A seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son of a-”
“So he’s the seventh generation of seventh sons?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a lot of power.”
“Exactly.”
“But…”
“Oh boy.”
“I’m the child of a prophecy.” Before either of them could stop me, I ran into the black trees.
The Forest was terribly dark. The bark on trees was a dark blackish-brown, and everything that should have been green was an icky black-moss color. Black flowers and thorns adorned the bushes, and growing up trees. Everything had a black shadow. A black dirt path was paved through it. It was overgrown with black roots and black-moss colored leaves.
Luke and Corey quickly joined me.
“That wasn’t very smart,” Luke said.
“Yeah, well, I’m a stupid person.” They both rolled their eyes at me. I rolled mine right back.
“So why’s there a path if this forest is all forbidden?”
“It’s not forbidden,” Corey answered. “Nothing is really forbidden- not even the Living Swamp. People are just advised to not enter here. Some people do anyways, if they want to get somewhere. Old Man Element hibernates most of the time. Only the odd unlucky ones cross his path.”
“So only Old Man Element lives here? No dangerous animals?”
“Only the Animals of Night. The Wolves and Birds of Night. But they’ll only bother us if we cross into their section of the Element Forest, which we’re smart enough not to do.”
“Uh huh…” I had sort of stopped listening a while ago. We walked in silence for a while. Luke kept looking around nervously, and Corey looked ready to grab my hand at any sign of danger. Which, of course, there was.
A bird above cawed. Normally, this wouldn’t be abnormal in a forest, but since we hadn’t heard a noise other than each other for about a mile, this made us all jump. Luke’s head swiveled to the treetops. A bird flew out. It looked like a crow, except twice as big. It’s beak was onyx black, and each feather was defined.
As it fluttered above us, some of its feathers fell to the ground. One grazed my face and, as it continued it’s descent down, I felt something warm and sticky dripping down my face, accompanied by a stinging pain. If its feathers were razors, I definitely didn’t want to feel what its beak was like.
“A Bird of Night,” Corey said. The bird cawed again, the noise screeching and ugly. Corey grabbed my hand. I felt our magical energies connect.
“One…” Corey whispered.
“Two…” I responded, understanding at once.
“THREE!” we yelled together. His good aim and my immediate power was invincible, or so I thought. We sent a sharp bolt of energy towards the bird, and it hit it straight on, but it looked as if we did as much damage to it as its feather had done to me.
“Don’t hold back!” Corey yelled, and he didn’t have to tell me twice. I lashed out at the bird with everything I had, and this time used a flick of my wrist to focus it, and make it stronger.
The bird dove for us, swerving to avoid our latest attack. I jumped left, and Corey jumped right. I could feel the energies disconnect as we accidentally separated. It landed harshly, and that’s when I realized.
It was a bird. It belonged in the sky. It attacked from the sky, it fed from the sky, it slept in the sky, it mated in the sky. It did nothing on land.
“Keep it on the ground!” I yelled. I didn’t use any magic- without Corey I’d probably end up hitting Luke. Corey looked like he was focusing, to be able to shoot straight.
Luke pulled a dagger out of a holster on his belt I hadn’t seen before. The bird had recovered from its landing, and was spreading its wings again, preparing to take flight. Luke threw the dagger, which hit the bird in the center of its left wing. It was now immobile.
A green net made of magic slowly enclosed the bird. It didn’t have to rush- it’s not like the bird was going anywhere. The bird cawed loudly as the net got smaller and smaller, until it had no space to move.
“You have to do it, Ash,” Corey said slowly, concentrating. I knew what he meant. I had to finish this. I had to kill the bird.
No big deal, I told myself, you’ve been squirrel and rabbit and deer hunting with Poppa and Tomas and Simon plenty of times before. Why should this be any different?
But I knew why it was different. The squirrels and rabbits and deer were everyday animals, nothing special about them. But this, this was a magical animal. We were connected by some weird, insane force of nature. Killing it seemed… wrong somehow. Yet, that hadn’t stopped it from trying to kill me.
I sauntered up to the bird, and crouched down to it. It’s gleaming red eyes were filled with hatred. I shivered. This animal was not connected to me, not at all. It lived on a force all its own.
I gathered my magical energy. Focusing it took a lot longer than just lashing it out. I sure hoped it would get quicker as I became more experienced.
Cocking my head, I steadily held the birds gaze. I didn’t want to make a show of killing it, not with Corey standing there to make fun of me for it later, so I forced my magic inside the bird. First, I clogged its throat with my burning blue magic. Then, I let it roam to the birds heart, and surrounded it. The bird’s eyes widened, then closed as I made the heart pop like a balloon.
“What’d you do,” Corey asked me, dropping the net and coming over to me.
“Killed it.”
“Well, yeah. How?” Luke joined us.
“Made its heart pop.”
“Wow.”
“I think…” I said slowly, standing up and grabbing my knapsack, which I had dropped during the fight. “We need to practice.”
“I agree,” Luke said.
“Why was that thing even here, anyway?”
Corey shrugged. “Hunting, maybe?”
“Shouldn’t we wait till we’re out of the Element Forest before practicing,” Luke asked.
“What if Old Man Element isn’t hibernating? What then?”
“Ash, you need better focus with your magic,” Corey told me.
“I think I focused just fine right there, thank you,” I huffed. But my bravado was doused when Corey held up a singed finger.
“You must’ve been thinking of me.” My mouth opened and closed, without sound coming out.
“Exactly.”
“Fine.”
So we practiced until nightfall. By the time we were done blasting trees and grass, Corey and I could do some instantaneous magic, though it wasn’t as powerful as focused magic, and Luke could start a fire, which he did as we set up camp in a black clearing.
We spread out blankets in a circle around the fire. The day had warmed up a bit, and stayed that way in the night. I couldn’t even see my breath anymore. So we decided to lie on the blankets and sleep in our heavier cloaks.
“I’m starved,” I commented. We hadn’t eaten all day.
“That bird’s still back there,” Luke nodded down the black path, shrouded in nighttime shadows. We had kicked the dead bird into the forest a ways back.
“Is it safe to eat those things?”
“I think,” Corey said, “But I’d still rather not eat anything that came from this forest. Even if we could eat it, who knows what it ate.” Luke and I nodded in agreement.
“We still have that loaf of bread,” I said, “And I have some jars of preserved fruit and nuts in my knapsack. And two cartons of milk.”
“I stole some stuff from my mom’s pantry. Canned veggies, mostly, and a can opener, but a thing of peanut butter, too. And sugar cookies. And a bottomless water jug”
“I have frozen fish. We should probably eat that soon,” Corey offered. We decided on frozen fish and a can of peas, since we hadn’t eaten all day. It took a while to prepare things, using wooden plates and pans Luke had brought. But it was worth it to be able to eat. And the food wasn’t all that bad, either.
When we finished eating, it was pitch black out, except for the little plot of space our fire lit up.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a while, and I needed to go. Now. At first, I was hesitant to tell the boys, but then I remembered what I had told them that morning. We were all equals and, if anything, I was their superior. I wouldn’t be the shy little girl.
“I need to go to the bathroom. Be right back.” I stood up.
“Me too,” Luke said, also standing up. Corey stood up, as well.
“I’ll go over here,” I motioned to behind me, “You two go in other directions. Stay close.” They nodded, and disappeared into the darkness. I turned around, and walked a few steps until I was surrounded by darkness.
I quickly relieved myself, but didn’t go right back to out makeshift camp. It was oddly peaceful, being alone in the dark. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breathe. The air was fresh, an aspect of the Forest I wouldn’t expect.
After another breathe, I decided I better head back to camp before Corey and Luke came looking for me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into bright, blood red eyes.
Anna:
I woke up to light streaming in the barred window. Hopping off the stone bench, I yawned and stretched. Yesterday, I had come back to my tower soon after I had made my meek promise to Alexis.
A tray was by my door. Even though it was breakfast time, I had a plate full of dinner. White chicken meat, corn off the cob, brown rice and, thank God, more lemonade. I quickly ate the meal.
Settling back onto the stone bench, I wondered what Alexis and I would do today. Then I scolded myself for looking forward to her. She might not come back. Maybe she’ll never come back. Maybe she’s sick of me. Maybe-
The click of a key in the lock broke off my train of thought. Alexis poked her head into the room.
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.
I shook my head. “I’ve been awake.”
“Oh, okay, good.” She stepped into the tower.
“What’s on your agenda today?” I teased her.
“Well, you know how yesterday I said we shouldn’t go crawling through secret passageways because you just got yourself clean?”
“I take it that’s for today?”
“If you don’t mind,” she said hurriedly.
“You know what I think?” I asked her, standing up.
“What?” We stepped into the hallway, and into the secret stairwell. Once the door hissed shut, I answered, “I think you’re going to be an awful Queen if you keep letting people push you around.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!”
“You can’t please everyone all the time.”
“So anyways,” she said, taking a very obvious change of subject, “I think I should let you get to know the castle. There are four main halls- East Hall, West Hall, North and South Hall. Then there’s the Royal Hall. All of the Hall’s are on the main floor. The kitchen and servant rooms are on the lower floors.”
“How can you tell which Hall you’re in?”
“The décor. West Hall is pretty empty, East Hall is filled with treasures from travels, North Hall had family portraits, and South Hall has millions of twists and turns. Then there are the Galleries. You saw the Chandelier Gallery.”
“The one with the huge chandelier.”
“Yep. Then there’s the Portrait Gallery, the Meeting Gallery, the Treasure Gallery, and the Beam Gallery.”
“The Beam Gallery?”
“The ceiling is covered in thick criss-crossed beams. No one ever goes in there. It’s too easy for someone to hide up in the beams. It’s used to get from one place to another, sometimes, but nothing more.”
“What about the other floors?”
“Hardly ever used except for meeting rooms and bedrooms for other Lords and Ladies and such. The castle is built so only people who know the pattern can find their way around.”
“Some complex, impossible to memorize pattern?”
“Actually, no. Just follow the crown.” We stopped our descent. I looked at the lantern above where we had stopped. A crown was written on it.
“The crown always leads you to the Main Foyer.”
“Where are we going?” The door hissed open, and we snuck out of the stairwell.
“This is the East Hall.”
“I can tell.” And I could. On the walls, on the floor, in glass boxes and on pedestals, were thousands of treasures and trinkets from all over our country, and even things not from our country.
“Yes. Father and others have searched far and wide for all these. But the truly valuable things are in the Treasure Gallery, and things meant for no one to see are in the Vault.”
“So where are we going?” Alexis began drifting down the row of items, and I followed her.
“You’re looking for a passageway.”
“Me?”
“Yes. All of them are marked with the crown, though some much less obvious than others. The one in this hall is one of the first passageways I found. I found it when I was four years old, and hiding from naptime.”
“I sure hope I can find it then.” Alexis kept walking, but I stopped in front of a picture. It wasn’t from Ozelite, the colors were much to dark. It was made with charcoal paint, and was colored in black, white, grays, and dark blues. The picture was of a lake at midnight, with dark flowers surrounding it, the moon reflected in its black waters. But the thing that caught my eye was the crowns set deep in each corner of the black frame.
Alexis was far down the hall, but I didn’t care. I touched the crown in the bottom left hand corner. The outline of the crown turned gold. Excited, I pushed the crown in the right hand corner. It, too, turned gold. Standing on my tiptoes, I pushed the crowns in the upper hand corners. When all the crowns had a gold outline, the picture and part of the wall swung outwards, leading to a small room, wide but not very deep. In my excitement, I hadn’t noticed Alexis join me until she spoke.
“Good job. The crowns had amazed me, so I pushed one. I had to get a stool to reach the upper ones. It’s a good place for a quick hiding spot, while you wait for someone to pass you by. Try it.”
I stepped into the small space, pressing my back against the wall. As soon as there was pressure on it, the picture swung shut.
I was in total darkness, except the gold crown glowing gold in front of my face. Holding my breathe, I gently touched the crown. When I did, the picture swung back out, and I stepped back out next to Alexis. The picture swung back into place.
“You just need to know where to look.”
“Huh. And these passageways are everywhere?”
“Just about.”
“Huh,” I said again, as we continued down the hall.
“Alexis!” a deep, familiar voice ahead of us boomed, “Is that you? Come here for a moment.”
“It’s Father,” Alexis whispered frantically. I spun around on my heels, back to the picture. I quickly tapped all the crowns, and stepped inside the little alcove, closing the picture behind me. I could still hear everything that was happening out in the hall.
“Father,” Alexis tittered nervously, “How may I assist you?”
“You know Lord Bathomellow, don’t you?”
“Yes, Father. He is your advisor.”
“Well, he came up with this excellent idea!”
“Do tell, Father.”
“He believes we should visit the prisoners, you and I. So when we release them, they can spread word of our glory. He believes royalty that is one with their subjects prevents further crimes.”
“Excellent, Father. When shall we visit the prisoners?”
“Right now!”
“But Father…” I could hear voice being jerked along, getting further away from me.
“No buts! We are to visit the prisoners. It won’t take long, we’ll only spend a few seconds with each prisoner. To the Tall Tower first?”
“No!” Alexis gasped, “I mean, I think I’d like to see some less dangerous criminals before seeing the one in the Tall Tower.”
“Hmm… good point. Alright, Tall Tower for last, then.” His voice drifted away.
I counted to one thousand before pressing the gold crown that was in front of my face. After carefully shutting the picture, I spun around to where Alexis and I had come in. I pressed the wall over and over, but couldn’t get the passageway to open. Exasperated, I took off down the hallway.
I ran until I came to where the hall split into two, and the artifacts had ceased. Both halls looked identical. I frantically searched up and down the walls, looking for a crown. The only one I could see was etched onto an air vent, and I didn’t want to get to the Main Foyer that way.
Laughter echoed down the left hall. It was a guards deep, uncaring laughter alright. No way I could get myself into that vent and shut it before he got to me. So, I took off running down the right hall.
This hall was filled with doors. Royalty’s rooms? The only sound in the empty hall was my heavy breathing, and my feet slapping against the floor, muffled by the carpet. I looked carefully at each door, and stopped short at one of them. It looked like all the others, old, wooden, gold doorknob and knocker- probably pure gold. And, just like all the others, it was bordered by a dark mahogany frame. Yet, unlike all the others, it had a crown in the center of the doorframe.
Clamping my jaw shut, I cocked my head and listened for anyone coming down the hall. Not hearing anyone there, I pressed my ear against the door. It sounded like the coast was clear.
I jumped up, slapping the crown with my fingertips. There was a thud, then a shout from behind the door, but the secret passageway was already opening. It was part of the carpet- like the classic wooden one’s in the floor, but carpet instead. I jumped down, firmly closing the door behind me. Waiting in the stooped niche, I heard shouts and thumps of footsteps above me. Once those faded, I turned to see my surroundings.
It was dark, but not black. The entire thing was only a little hall that I was at the dead end of. Seeing no other choice, I ran down the hall, searching for crowns and/or other trapdoors. After a few minutes of running- minutes that seemed to drag on like forever- to another dead end, with another trapdoor above this one. Because the hall was so low, I could easily reach it. I put my ear against it. I didn’t hear any footsteps or bustling about or people talking, but my hearing didn’t help me much last time.
Slowly, I eased the trapdoor open and inch. I stood on my tiptoes and peeked out. It was another hall, but this one had thousands of pictures on the walls, each one vaguely resembling Alexis.
The North Hall.
Before anyone could come, I swung the trapdoor open, which made a soft thud noise on the carpet. Hoisting myself up, I scrambled into the fall, firmly shutting the trapdoor behind me. I noticed as soon as it clicked shut, you couldn’t see the seam where the carpet stopped and the trapdoor started. These secret passageways were well hidden- you wouldn’t be able to find one unless you were looking for it, or you were lucky.
I stood up and brushed of my servant’s tunic. It was then I thought I realized how stupid I was being. I was in a servant’s tunic! I could just ask fro directions anywhere. No one would suspect me.
The Anti-Magic bracelet that seemed to get heavier every day reminded me of the one flaw in my genius plan.
Sighing, frustrated, I began running past the portraits, giving each one hardly a glance as I passed. They all resembled Alexis- her petite and skinny, but tall figure; deep, dark brown eyes; wavy caramel brown hair. And they all wore the same red cloak with gold trim or royalty, with varying styles over the ages.
I noticed something as I ran. Each picture had a match. You could tell they went together because they both had a frame unlike the others, and there was a male and a female. The female’s picture was almost twice as large as the male’s, and only the female’s had Alexis’s features. Royalty really did get put in the hands of the female.
The hall ended, but this time, in a balcony, which led out onto a spiral staircase that led both up and down. I stepped out onto the balcony, and looked over the rail. All I could see were polished marble walls, going up and down as far as the eye could see, with lots of balconies along the way. And, one a rail about three balconies down, was a crown. I started running down.
Why was I headed to the Main Foyer? I’m not exactly sure, but something in my gut told me to. I couldn’t activate the passageway Alexis and I usually used to get to and from my tower, and I had no idea how to get to the other one. So, this seemed like the only way.
The staircase ended, leaving me in a short hallway. I knew it was short, because it curved to the right not far down, if I went to the left. To the right was a door. I ran through the hall, stopping abruptly when it opened up into a larger foyer. The room was large and circular. The walls were made entirely out of crystal, with two huge crystal doors leading to the outside world. But what caught my attention, was the huge black rug laying on the maroon carpet. It was circular, and in the center of its black fabric, was a huge golden crown.
Ash:
Once the three of us reached the edge of the dark forest, we stopped to camp out. It was freezing that night, the first sign of our Indian summer ending, and we only had three light blankets total. None of us had anticipated such cold. Luke and Corey almost made me use their blankets, but I was not going to be the helpless little girl. We were all equals.
When I first woke up, I decided to not get up just yet. I was surprisingly comfy on the ground, still soft from summer. So I snuggled deeper down into my blankets.
Blankets?
I sat up straight. Luke was to my left, Corey to my right. Neither of them had blankets. In the cold morning, Luke had goose bumps, and I could see Corey’s jaw chattering. And I, had a brown and green blanket on top of my white one.
The green blanket, Corey’s was on top, then Luke’s, than mine. That surprised me. The order meant Luke had put his blanket on me first, then Corey.
I jumped up, the blankets falling to the ground. I could see my breath in the sunrise as I snatched up the two blankets that weren’t mine.
“You two wake up!” I screamed. Both boys immediately started scrambling to get up. It took them a while to stand up and come to their senses. They looked a little ashamed when they faced me. I had my hands on my hips, my dress dirtied from sleeping on it, and my hair surely a disaster.
“What is this?” I held up their blankets for them to see. Luke rubbed his goose bump-y arms, and Corey’s teeth chattered.
“You were shivering last night.” Corey chattered.
“I was shivering! Listen to yourself!” He just shrugged.
“Listen. I’m not the little damsel in distress. We’re going to rescue her. I started this rescue mission, so don’t be treating me like the tagalong. We are all equals here and, if anything, I am your superior. Got it?”
They nodded grimly. After I gave them both a good glare, I shoved my blanket in my pack, taking out my winter cloak, and wrapping it around me. Then I faced the Forest.
“So it’s dangerous right?” I asked, slinging my knapsack over my shoulder.
“Very,” Corey answered, grabbing his knapsack.
“’Kay. Let’s go.” I started to take a step forward, but Luke grabbed my arm.
“Whoa! You don’t just go stepping into Old Man Element’s forest!”
“I’m sorry. Should I fly into it instead?”
Luke turned to Corey. “Is she always this bad?”
“Worse, usually.”
Luke turned back to me as I scowled at Corey. “Ash, he’s like an amazingly powerful Wizard.”
“So am I. Let’s go.”
“Ash, he’s a seventh seventh.”
“What?”
“A seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son of a-”
“So he’s the seventh generation of seventh sons?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a lot of power.”
“Exactly.”
“But…”
“Oh boy.”
“I’m the child of a prophecy.” Before either of them could stop me, I ran into the black trees.
The Forest was terribly dark. The bark on trees was a dark blackish-brown, and everything that should have been green was an icky black-moss color. Black flowers and thorns adorned the bushes, and growing up trees. Everything had a black shadow. A black dirt path was paved through it. It was overgrown with black roots and black-moss colored leaves.
Luke and Corey quickly joined me.
“That wasn’t very smart,” Luke said.
“Yeah, well, I’m a stupid person.” They both rolled their eyes at me. I rolled mine right back.
“So why’s there a path if this forest is all forbidden?”
“It’s not forbidden,” Corey answered. “Nothing is really forbidden- not even the Living Swamp. People are just advised to not enter here. Some people do anyways, if they want to get somewhere. Old Man Element hibernates most of the time. Only the odd unlucky ones cross his path.”
“So only Old Man Element lives here? No dangerous animals?”
“Only the Animals of Night. The Wolves and Birds of Night. But they’ll only bother us if we cross into their section of the Element Forest, which we’re smart enough not to do.”
“Uh huh…” I had sort of stopped listening a while ago. We walked in silence for a while. Luke kept looking around nervously, and Corey looked ready to grab my hand at any sign of danger. Which, of course, there was.
A bird above cawed. Normally, this wouldn’t be abnormal in a forest, but since we hadn’t heard a noise other than each other for about a mile, this made us all jump. Luke’s head swiveled to the treetops. A bird flew out. It looked like a crow, except twice as big. It’s beak was onyx black, and each feather was defined.
As it fluttered above us, some of its feathers fell to the ground. One grazed my face and, as it continued it’s descent down, I felt something warm and sticky dripping down my face, accompanied by a stinging pain. If its feathers were razors, I definitely didn’t want to feel what its beak was like.
“A Bird of Night,” Corey said. The bird cawed again, the noise screeching and ugly. Corey grabbed my hand. I felt our magical energies connect.
“One…” Corey whispered.
“Two…” I responded, understanding at once.
“THREE!” we yelled together. His good aim and my immediate power was invincible, or so I thought. We sent a sharp bolt of energy towards the bird, and it hit it straight on, but it looked as if we did as much damage to it as its feather had done to me.
“Don’t hold back!” Corey yelled, and he didn’t have to tell me twice. I lashed out at the bird with everything I had, and this time used a flick of my wrist to focus it, and make it stronger.
The bird dove for us, swerving to avoid our latest attack. I jumped left, and Corey jumped right. I could feel the energies disconnect as we accidentally separated. It landed harshly, and that’s when I realized.
It was a bird. It belonged in the sky. It attacked from the sky, it fed from the sky, it slept in the sky, it mated in the sky. It did nothing on land.
“Keep it on the ground!” I yelled. I didn’t use any magic- without Corey I’d probably end up hitting Luke. Corey looked like he was focusing, to be able to shoot straight.
Luke pulled a dagger out of a holster on his belt I hadn’t seen before. The bird had recovered from its landing, and was spreading its wings again, preparing to take flight. Luke threw the dagger, which hit the bird in the center of its left wing. It was now immobile.
A green net made of magic slowly enclosed the bird. It didn’t have to rush- it’s not like the bird was going anywhere. The bird cawed loudly as the net got smaller and smaller, until it had no space to move.
“You have to do it, Ash,” Corey said slowly, concentrating. I knew what he meant. I had to finish this. I had to kill the bird.
No big deal, I told myself, you’ve been squirrel and rabbit and deer hunting with Poppa and Tomas and Simon plenty of times before. Why should this be any different?
But I knew why it was different. The squirrels and rabbits and deer were everyday animals, nothing special about them. But this, this was a magical animal. We were connected by some weird, insane force of nature. Killing it seemed… wrong somehow. Yet, that hadn’t stopped it from trying to kill me.
I sauntered up to the bird, and crouched down to it. It’s gleaming red eyes were filled with hatred. I shivered. This animal was not connected to me, not at all. It lived on a force all its own.
I gathered my magical energy. Focusing it took a lot longer than just lashing it out. I sure hoped it would get quicker as I became more experienced.
Cocking my head, I steadily held the birds gaze. I didn’t want to make a show of killing it, not with Corey standing there to make fun of me for it later, so I forced my magic inside the bird. First, I clogged its throat with my burning blue magic. Then, I let it roam to the birds heart, and surrounded it. The bird’s eyes widened, then closed as I made the heart pop like a balloon.
“What’d you do,” Corey asked me, dropping the net and coming over to me.
“Killed it.”
“Well, yeah. How?” Luke joined us.
“Made its heart pop.”
“Wow.”
“I think…” I said slowly, standing up and grabbing my knapsack, which I had dropped during the fight. “We need to practice.”
“I agree,” Luke said.
“Why was that thing even here, anyway?”
Corey shrugged. “Hunting, maybe?”
“Shouldn’t we wait till we’re out of the Element Forest before practicing,” Luke asked.
“What if Old Man Element isn’t hibernating? What then?”
“Ash, you need better focus with your magic,” Corey told me.
“I think I focused just fine right there, thank you,” I huffed. But my bravado was doused when Corey held up a singed finger.
“You must’ve been thinking of me.” My mouth opened and closed, without sound coming out.
“Exactly.”
“Fine.”
So we practiced until nightfall. By the time we were done blasting trees and grass, Corey and I could do some instantaneous magic, though it wasn’t as powerful as focused magic, and Luke could start a fire, which he did as we set up camp in a black clearing.
We spread out blankets in a circle around the fire. The day had warmed up a bit, and stayed that way in the night. I couldn’t even see my breath anymore. So we decided to lie on the blankets and sleep in our heavier cloaks.
“I’m starved,” I commented. We hadn’t eaten all day.
“That bird’s still back there,” Luke nodded down the black path, shrouded in nighttime shadows. We had kicked the dead bird into the forest a ways back.
“Is it safe to eat those things?”
“I think,” Corey said, “But I’d still rather not eat anything that came from this forest. Even if we could eat it, who knows what it ate.” Luke and I nodded in agreement.
“We still have that loaf of bread,” I said, “And I have some jars of preserved fruit and nuts in my knapsack. And two cartons of milk.”
“I stole some stuff from my mom’s pantry. Canned veggies, mostly, and a can opener, but a thing of peanut butter, too. And sugar cookies. And a bottomless water jug”
“I have frozen fish. We should probably eat that soon,” Corey offered. We decided on frozen fish and a can of peas, since we hadn’t eaten all day. It took a while to prepare things, using wooden plates and pans Luke had brought. But it was worth it to be able to eat. And the food wasn’t all that bad, either.
When we finished eating, it was pitch black out, except for the little plot of space our fire lit up.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a while, and I needed to go. Now. At first, I was hesitant to tell the boys, but then I remembered what I had told them that morning. We were all equals and, if anything, I was their superior. I wouldn’t be the shy little girl.
“I need to go to the bathroom. Be right back.” I stood up.
“Me too,” Luke said, also standing up. Corey stood up, as well.
“I’ll go over here,” I motioned to behind me, “You two go in other directions. Stay close.” They nodded, and disappeared into the darkness. I turned around, and walked a few steps until I was surrounded by darkness.
I quickly relieved myself, but didn’t go right back to out makeshift camp. It was oddly peaceful, being alone in the dark. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breathe. The air was fresh, an aspect of the Forest I wouldn’t expect.
After another breathe, I decided I better head back to camp before Corey and Luke came looking for me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into bright, blood red eyes.
Anna:
I woke up to light streaming in the barred window. Hopping off the stone bench, I yawned and stretched. Yesterday, I had come back to my tower soon after I had made my meek promise to Alexis.
A tray was by my door. Even though it was breakfast time, I had a plate full of dinner. White chicken meat, corn off the cob, brown rice and, thank God, more lemonade. I quickly ate the meal.
Settling back onto the stone bench, I wondered what Alexis and I would do today. Then I scolded myself for looking forward to her. She might not come back. Maybe she’ll never come back. Maybe she’s sick of me. Maybe-
The click of a key in the lock broke off my train of thought. Alexis poked her head into the room.
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.
I shook my head. “I’ve been awake.”
“Oh, okay, good.” She stepped into the tower.
“What’s on your agenda today?” I teased her.
“Well, you know how yesterday I said we shouldn’t go crawling through secret passageways because you just got yourself clean?”
“I take it that’s for today?”
“If you don’t mind,” she said hurriedly.
“You know what I think?” I asked her, standing up.
“What?” We stepped into the hallway, and into the secret stairwell. Once the door hissed shut, I answered, “I think you’re going to be an awful Queen if you keep letting people push you around.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!”
“You can’t please everyone all the time.”
“So anyways,” she said, taking a very obvious change of subject, “I think I should let you get to know the castle. There are four main halls- East Hall, West Hall, North and South Hall. Then there’s the Royal Hall. All of the Hall’s are on the main floor. The kitchen and servant rooms are on the lower floors.”
“How can you tell which Hall you’re in?”
“The décor. West Hall is pretty empty, East Hall is filled with treasures from travels, North Hall had family portraits, and South Hall has millions of twists and turns. Then there are the Galleries. You saw the Chandelier Gallery.”
“The one with the huge chandelier.”
“Yep. Then there’s the Portrait Gallery, the Meeting Gallery, the Treasure Gallery, and the Beam Gallery.”
“The Beam Gallery?”
“The ceiling is covered in thick criss-crossed beams. No one ever goes in there. It’s too easy for someone to hide up in the beams. It’s used to get from one place to another, sometimes, but nothing more.”
“What about the other floors?”
“Hardly ever used except for meeting rooms and bedrooms for other Lords and Ladies and such. The castle is built so only people who know the pattern can find their way around.”
“Some complex, impossible to memorize pattern?”
“Actually, no. Just follow the crown.” We stopped our descent. I looked at the lantern above where we had stopped. A crown was written on it.
“The crown always leads you to the Main Foyer.”
“Where are we going?” The door hissed open, and we snuck out of the stairwell.
“This is the East Hall.”
“I can tell.” And I could. On the walls, on the floor, in glass boxes and on pedestals, were thousands of treasures and trinkets from all over our country, and even things not from our country.
“Yes. Father and others have searched far and wide for all these. But the truly valuable things are in the Treasure Gallery, and things meant for no one to see are in the Vault.”
“So where are we going?” Alexis began drifting down the row of items, and I followed her.
“You’re looking for a passageway.”
“Me?”
“Yes. All of them are marked with the crown, though some much less obvious than others. The one in this hall is one of the first passageways I found. I found it when I was four years old, and hiding from naptime.”
“I sure hope I can find it then.” Alexis kept walking, but I stopped in front of a picture. It wasn’t from Ozelite, the colors were much to dark. It was made with charcoal paint, and was colored in black, white, grays, and dark blues. The picture was of a lake at midnight, with dark flowers surrounding it, the moon reflected in its black waters. But the thing that caught my eye was the crowns set deep in each corner of the black frame.
Alexis was far down the hall, but I didn’t care. I touched the crown in the bottom left hand corner. The outline of the crown turned gold. Excited, I pushed the crown in the right hand corner. It, too, turned gold. Standing on my tiptoes, I pushed the crowns in the upper hand corners. When all the crowns had a gold outline, the picture and part of the wall swung outwards, leading to a small room, wide but not very deep. In my excitement, I hadn’t noticed Alexis join me until she spoke.
“Good job. The crowns had amazed me, so I pushed one. I had to get a stool to reach the upper ones. It’s a good place for a quick hiding spot, while you wait for someone to pass you by. Try it.”
I stepped into the small space, pressing my back against the wall. As soon as there was pressure on it, the picture swung shut.
I was in total darkness, except the gold crown glowing gold in front of my face. Holding my breathe, I gently touched the crown. When I did, the picture swung back out, and I stepped back out next to Alexis. The picture swung back into place.
“You just need to know where to look.”
“Huh. And these passageways are everywhere?”
“Just about.”
“Huh,” I said again, as we continued down the hall.
“Alexis!” a deep, familiar voice ahead of us boomed, “Is that you? Come here for a moment.”
“It’s Father,” Alexis whispered frantically. I spun around on my heels, back to the picture. I quickly tapped all the crowns, and stepped inside the little alcove, closing the picture behind me. I could still hear everything that was happening out in the hall.
“Father,” Alexis tittered nervously, “How may I assist you?”
“You know Lord Bathomellow, don’t you?”
“Yes, Father. He is your advisor.”
“Well, he came up with this excellent idea!”
“Do tell, Father.”
“He believes we should visit the prisoners, you and I. So when we release them, they can spread word of our glory. He believes royalty that is one with their subjects prevents further crimes.”
“Excellent, Father. When shall we visit the prisoners?”
“Right now!”
“But Father…” I could hear voice being jerked along, getting further away from me.
“No buts! We are to visit the prisoners. It won’t take long, we’ll only spend a few seconds with each prisoner. To the Tall Tower first?”
“No!” Alexis gasped, “I mean, I think I’d like to see some less dangerous criminals before seeing the one in the Tall Tower.”
“Hmm… good point. Alright, Tall Tower for last, then.” His voice drifted away.
I counted to one thousand before pressing the gold crown that was in front of my face. After carefully shutting the picture, I spun around to where Alexis and I had come in. I pressed the wall over and over, but couldn’t get the passageway to open. Exasperated, I took off down the hallway.
I ran until I came to where the hall split into two, and the artifacts had ceased. Both halls looked identical. I frantically searched up and down the walls, looking for a crown. The only one I could see was etched onto an air vent, and I didn’t want to get to the Main Foyer that way.
Laughter echoed down the left hall. It was a guards deep, uncaring laughter alright. No way I could get myself into that vent and shut it before he got to me. So, I took off running down the right hall.
This hall was filled with doors. Royalty’s rooms? The only sound in the empty hall was my heavy breathing, and my feet slapping against the floor, muffled by the carpet. I looked carefully at each door, and stopped short at one of them. It looked like all the others, old, wooden, gold doorknob and knocker- probably pure gold. And, just like all the others, it was bordered by a dark mahogany frame. Yet, unlike all the others, it had a crown in the center of the doorframe.
Clamping my jaw shut, I cocked my head and listened for anyone coming down the hall. Not hearing anyone there, I pressed my ear against the door. It sounded like the coast was clear.
I jumped up, slapping the crown with my fingertips. There was a thud, then a shout from behind the door, but the secret passageway was already opening. It was part of the carpet- like the classic wooden one’s in the floor, but carpet instead. I jumped down, firmly closing the door behind me. Waiting in the stooped niche, I heard shouts and thumps of footsteps above me. Once those faded, I turned to see my surroundings.
It was dark, but not black. The entire thing was only a little hall that I was at the dead end of. Seeing no other choice, I ran down the hall, searching for crowns and/or other trapdoors. After a few minutes of running- minutes that seemed to drag on like forever- to another dead end, with another trapdoor above this one. Because the hall was so low, I could easily reach it. I put my ear against it. I didn’t hear any footsteps or bustling about or people talking, but my hearing didn’t help me much last time.
Slowly, I eased the trapdoor open and inch. I stood on my tiptoes and peeked out. It was another hall, but this one had thousands of pictures on the walls, each one vaguely resembling Alexis.
The North Hall.
Before anyone could come, I swung the trapdoor open, which made a soft thud noise on the carpet. Hoisting myself up, I scrambled into the fall, firmly shutting the trapdoor behind me. I noticed as soon as it clicked shut, you couldn’t see the seam where the carpet stopped and the trapdoor started. These secret passageways were well hidden- you wouldn’t be able to find one unless you were looking for it, or you were lucky.
I stood up and brushed of my servant’s tunic. It was then I thought I realized how stupid I was being. I was in a servant’s tunic! I could just ask fro directions anywhere. No one would suspect me.
The Anti-Magic bracelet that seemed to get heavier every day reminded me of the one flaw in my genius plan.
Sighing, frustrated, I began running past the portraits, giving each one hardly a glance as I passed. They all resembled Alexis- her petite and skinny, but tall figure; deep, dark brown eyes; wavy caramel brown hair. And they all wore the same red cloak with gold trim or royalty, with varying styles over the ages.
I noticed something as I ran. Each picture had a match. You could tell they went together because they both had a frame unlike the others, and there was a male and a female. The female’s picture was almost twice as large as the male’s, and only the female’s had Alexis’s features. Royalty really did get put in the hands of the female.
The hall ended, but this time, in a balcony, which led out onto a spiral staircase that led both up and down. I stepped out onto the balcony, and looked over the rail. All I could see were polished marble walls, going up and down as far as the eye could see, with lots of balconies along the way. And, one a rail about three balconies down, was a crown. I started running down.
Why was I headed to the Main Foyer? I’m not exactly sure, but something in my gut told me to. I couldn’t activate the passageway Alexis and I usually used to get to and from my tower, and I had no idea how to get to the other one. So, this seemed like the only way.
The staircase ended, leaving me in a short hallway. I knew it was short, because it curved to the right not far down, if I went to the left. To the right was a door. I ran through the hall, stopping abruptly when it opened up into a larger foyer. The room was large and circular. The walls were made entirely out of crystal, with two huge crystal doors leading to the outside world. But what caught my attention, was the huge black rug laying on the maroon carpet. It was circular, and in the center of its black fabric, was a huge golden crown.
Chapter Ten
Ash:
Once the three of us reached the edge of the dark forest, we stopped to camp out. It was freezing that night, the first sign of our Indian summer ending, and we only had three light blankets total. None of us had anticipated such cold. Luke and Corey almost made me use their blankets, but I was not going to be the helpless little girl. We were all equals.
When I first woke up, I decided to not get up just yet. I was surprisingly comfy on the ground, still soft from summer. So I snuggled deeper down into my blankets.
Blankets?
I sat up straight. Luke was to my left, Corey to my right. Neither of them had blankets. In the cold morning, Luke had goose bumps, and I could see Corey’s jaw chattering. And I, had a brown and green blanket on top of my white one.
The green blanket, Corey’s was on top, then Luke’s, than mine. That surprised me. The order meant Luke had put his blanket on me first, then Corey.
I jumped up, the blankets falling to the ground. I could see my breath in the sunrise as I snatched up the two blankets that weren’t mine.
“You two wake up!” I screamed. Both boys immediately started scrambling to get up. It took them a while to stand up and come to their senses. They looked a little ashamed when they faced me. I had my hands on my hips, my dress dirtied from sleeping on it, and my hair surely a disaster.
“What is this?” I held up their blankets for them to see. Luke rubbed his goose bump-y arms, and Corey’s teeth chattered.
“You were shivering last night.” Corey chattered.
“I was shivering! Listen to yourself!” He just shrugged.
“Listen. I’m not the little damsel in distress. We’re going to rescue her. I started this rescue mission, so don’t be treating me like the tagalong. We are all equals here and, if anything, I am your superior. Got it?”
They nodded grimly. After I gave them both a good glare, I shoved my blanket in my pack, taking out my winter cloak, and wrapping it around me. Then I faced the Forest.
“So it’s dangerous right?” I asked, slinging my knapsack over my shoulder.
“Very,” Corey answered, grabbing his knapsack.
“’Kay. Let’s go.” I started to take a step forward, but Luke grabbed my arm.
“Whoa! You don’t just go stepping into Old Man Element’s forest!”
“I’m sorry. Should I fly into it instead?”
Luke turned to Corey. “Is she always this bad?”
“Worse, usually.”
Luke turned back to me as I scowled at Corey. “Ash, he’s like an amazingly powerful Wizard.”
“So am I. Let’s go.”
“Ash, he’s a seventh seventh.”
“What?”
“A seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son of a-”
“So he’s the seventh generation of seventh sons?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a lot of power.”
“Exactly.”
“But…”
“Oh boy.”
“I’m the child of a prophecy.” Before either of them could stop me, I ran into the black trees.
The Forest was terribly dark. The bark on trees was a dark blackish-brown, and everything that should have been green was an icky black-moss color. Black flowers and thorns adorned the bushes, and growing up trees. Everything had a black shadow. A black dirt path was paved through it. It was overgrown with black roots and black-moss colored leaves.
Luke and Corey quickly joined me.
“That wasn’t very smart,” Luke said.
“Yeah, well, I’m a stupid person.” They both rolled their eyes at me. I rolled mine right back.
“So why’s there a path if this forest is all forbidden?”
“It’s not forbidden,” Corey answered. “Nothing is really forbidden- not even the Living Swamp. People are just advised to not enter here. Some people do anyways, if they want to get somewhere. Old Man Element hibernates most of the time. Only the odd unlucky ones cross his path.”
“So only Old Man Element lives here? No dangerous animals?”
“Only the Animals of Night. The Wolves and Birds of Night. But they’ll only bother us if we cross into their section of the Element Forest, which we’re smart enough not to do.”
“Uh huh…” I had sort of stopped listening a while ago. We walked in silence for a while. Luke kept looking around nervously, and Corey looked ready to grab my hand at any sign of danger. Which, of course, there was.
A bird above cawed. Normally, this wouldn’t be abnormal in a forest, but since we hadn’t heard a noise other than each other for about a mile, this made us all jump. Luke’s head swiveled to the treetops. A bird flew out. It looked like a crow, except twice as big. It’s beak was onyx black, and each feather was defined.
As it fluttered above us, some of its feathers fell to the ground. One grazed my face and, as it continued it’s descent down, I felt something warm and sticky dripping down my face, accompanied by a stinging pain. If its feathers were razors, I definitely didn’t want to feel what its beak was like.
“A Bird of Night,” Corey said. The bird cawed again, the noise screeching and ugly. Corey grabbed my hand. I felt our magical energies connect.
“One…” Corey whispered.
“Two…” I responded, understanding at once.
“THREE!” we yelled together. His good aim and my immediate power was invincible, or so I thought. We sent a sharp bolt of energy towards the bird, and it hit it straight on, but it looked as if we did as much damage to it as its feather had done to me.
“Don’t hold back!” Corey yelled, and he didn’t have to tell me twice. I lashed out at the bird with everything I had, and this time used a flick of my wrist to focus it, and make it stronger.
The bird dove for us, swerving to avoid our latest attack. I jumped left, and Corey jumped right. I could feel the energies disconnect as we accidentally separated. It landed harshly, and that’s when I realized.
It was a bird. It belonged in the sky. It attacked from the sky, it fed from the sky, it slept in the sky, it mated in the sky. It did nothing on land.
“Keep it on the ground!” I yelled. I didn’t use any magic- without Corey I’d probably end up hitting Luke. Corey looked like he was focusing, to be able to shoot straight.
Luke pulled a dagger out of a holster on his belt I hadn’t seen before. The bird had recovered from its landing, and was spreading its wings again, preparing to take flight. Luke threw the dagger, which hit the bird in the center of its left wing. It was now immobile.
A green net made of magic slowly enclosed the bird. It didn’t have to rush- it’s not like the bird was going anywhere. The bird cawed loudly as the net got smaller and smaller, until it had no space to move.
“You have to do it, Ash,” Corey said slowly, concentrating. I knew what he meant. I had to finish this. I had to kill the bird.
No big deal, I told myself, you’ve been squirrel and rabbit and deer hunting with Poppa and Tomas and Simon plenty of times before. Why should this be any different?
But I knew why it was different. The squirrels and rabbits and deer were everyday animals, nothing special about them. But this, this was a magical animal. We were connected by some weird, insane force of nature. Killing it seemed… wrong somehow. Yet, that hadn’t stopped it from trying to kill me.
I sauntered up to the bird, and crouched down to it. It’s gleaming red eyes were filled with hatred. I shivered. This animal was not connected to me, not at all. It lived on a force all its own.
I gathered my magical energy. Focusing it took a lot longer than just lashing it out. I sure hoped it would get quicker as I became more experienced.
Cocking my head, I steadily held the birds gaze. I didn’t want to make a show of killing it, not with Corey standing there to make fun of me for it later, so I forced my magic inside the bird. First, I clogged its throat with my burning blue magic. Then, I let it roam to the birds heart, and surrounded it. The bird’s eyes widened, then closed as I made the heart pop like a balloon.
“What’d you do,” Corey asked me, dropping the net and coming over to me.
“Killed it.”
“Well, yeah. How?” Luke joined us.
“Made its heart pop.”
“Wow.”
“I think…” I said slowly, standing up and grabbing my knapsack, which I had dropped during the fight. “We need to practice.”
“I agree,” Luke said.
“Why was that thing even here, anyway?”
Corey shrugged. “Hunting, maybe?”
“Shouldn’t we wait till we’re out of the Element Forest before practicing,” Luke asked.
“What if Old Man Element isn’t hibernating? What then?”
“Ash, you need better focus with your magic,” Corey told me.
“I think I focused just fine right there, thank you,” I huffed. But my bravado was doused when Corey held up a singed finger.
“You must’ve been thinking of me.” My mouth opened and closed, without sound coming out.
“Exactly.”
“Fine.”
So we practiced until nightfall. By the time we were done blasting trees and grass, Corey and I could do some instantaneous magic, though it wasn’t as powerful as focused magic, and Luke could start a fire, which he did as we set up camp in a black clearing.
We spread out blankets in a circle around the fire. The day had warmed up a bit, and stayed that way in the night. I couldn’t even see my breath anymore. So we decided to lie on the blankets and sleep in our heavier cloaks.
“I’m starved,” I commented. We hadn’t eaten all day.
“That bird’s still back there,” Luke nodded down the black path, shrouded in nighttime shadows. We had kicked the dead bird into the forest a ways back.
“Is it safe to eat those things?”
“I think,” Corey said, “But I’d still rather not eat anything that came from this forest. Even if we could eat it, who knows what it ate.” Luke and I nodded in agreement.
“We still have that loaf of bread,” I said, “And I have some jars of preserved fruit and nuts in my knapsack. And two cartons of milk.”
“I stole some stuff from my mom’s pantry. Canned veggies, mostly, and a can opener, but a thing of peanut butter, too. And sugar cookies. And a bottomless water jug”
“I have frozen fish. We should probably eat that soon,” Corey offered. We decided on frozen fish and a can of peas, since we hadn’t eaten all day. It took a while to prepare things, using wooden plates and pans Luke had brought. But it was worth it to be able to eat. And the food wasn’t all that bad, either.
When we finished eating, it was pitch black out, except for the little plot of space our fire lit up.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a while, and I needed to go. Now. At first, I was hesitant to tell the boys, but then I remembered what I had told them that morning. We were all equals and, if anything, I was their superior. I wouldn’t be the shy little girl.
“I need to go to the bathroom. Be right back.” I stood up.
“Me too,” Luke said, also standing up. Corey stood up, as well.
“I’ll go over here,” I motioned to behind me, “You two go in other directions. Stay close.” They nodded, and disappeared into the darkness. I turned around, and walked a few steps until I was surrounded by darkness.
I quickly relieved myself, but didn’t go right back to out makeshift camp. It was oddly peaceful, being alone in the dark. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breathe. The air was fresh, an aspect of the Forest I wouldn’t expect.
After another breathe, I decided I better head back to camp before Corey and Luke came looking for me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into bright, blood red eyes.
Anna:
I woke up to light streaming in the barred window. Hopping off the stone bench, I yawned and stretched. Yesterday, I had come back to my tower soon after I had made my meek promise to Alexis.
A tray was by my door. Even though it was breakfast time, I had a plate full of dinner. White chicken meat, corn off the cob, brown rice and, thank God, more lemonade. I quickly ate the meal.
Settling back onto the stone bench, I wondered what Alexis and I would do today. Then I scolded myself for looking forward to her. She might not come back. Maybe she’ll never come back. Maybe she’s sick of me. Maybe-
The click of a key in the lock broke off my train of thought. Alexis poked her head into the room.
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.
I shook my head. “I’ve been awake.”
“Oh, okay, good.” She stepped into the tower.
“What’s on your agenda today?” I teased her.
“Well, you know how yesterday I said we shouldn’t go crawling through secret passageways because you just got yourself clean?”
“I take it that’s for today?”
“If you don’t mind,” she said hurriedly.
“You know what I think?” I asked her, standing up.
“What?” We stepped into the hallway, and into the secret stairwell. Once the door hissed shut, I answered, “I think you’re going to be an awful Queen if you keep letting people push you around.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!”
“You can’t please everyone all the time.”
“So anyways,” she said, taking a very obvious change of subject, “I think I should let you get to know the castle. There are four main halls- East Hall, West Hall, North and South Hall. Then there’s the Royal Hall. All of the Hall’s are on the main floor. The kitchen and servant rooms are on the lower floors.”
“How can you tell which Hall you’re in?”
“The décor. West Hall is pretty empty, East Hall is filled with treasures from travels, North Hall had family portraits, and South Hall has millions of twists and turns. Then there are the Galleries. You saw the Chandelier Gallery.”
“The one with the huge chandelier.”
“Yep. Then there’s the Portrait Gallery, the Meeting Gallery, the Treasure Gallery, and the Beam Gallery.”
“The Beam Gallery?”
“The ceiling is covered in thick criss-crossed beams. No one ever goes in there. It’s too easy for someone to hide up in the beams. It’s used to get from one place to another, sometimes, but nothing more.”
“What about the other floors?”
“Hardly ever used except for meeting rooms and bedrooms for other Lords and Ladies and such. The castle is built so only people who know the pattern can find their way around.”
“Some complex, impossible to memorize pattern?”
“Actually, no. Just follow the crown.” We stopped our descent. I looked at the lantern above where we had stopped. A crown was written on it.
“The crown always leads you to the Main Foyer.”
“Where are we going?” The door hissed open, and we snuck out of the stairwell.
“This is the East Hall.”
“I can tell.” And I could. On the walls, on the floor, in glass boxes and on pedestals, were thousands of treasures and trinkets from all over our country, and even things not from our country.
“Yes. Father and others have searched far and wide for all these. But the truly valuable things are in the Treasure Gallery, and things meant for no one to see are in the Vault.”
“So where are we going?” Alexis began drifting down the row of items, and I followed her.
“You’re looking for a passageway.”
“Me?”
“Yes. All of them are marked with the crown, though some much less obvious than others. The one in this hall is one of the first passageways I found. I found it when I was four years old, and hiding from naptime.”
“I sure hope I can find it then.” Alexis kept walking, but I stopped in front of a picture. It wasn’t from Ozelite, the colors were much to dark. It was made with charcoal paint, and was colored in black, white, grays, and dark blues. The picture was of a lake at midnight, with dark flowers surrounding it, the moon reflected in its black waters. But the thing that caught my eye was the crowns set deep in each corner of the black frame.
Alexis was far down the hall, but I didn’t care. I touched the crown in the bottom left hand corner. The outline of the crown turned gold. Excited, I pushed the crown in the right hand corner. It, too, turned gold. Standing on my tiptoes, I pushed the crowns in the upper hand corners. When all the crowns had a gold outline, the picture and part of the wall swung outwards, leading to a small room, wide but not very deep. In my excitement, I hadn’t noticed Alexis join me until she spoke.
“Good job. The crowns had amazed me, so I pushed one. I had to get a stool to reach the upper ones. It’s a good place for a quick hiding spot, while you wait for someone to pass you by. Try it.”
I stepped into the small space, pressing my back against the wall. As soon as there was pressure on it, the picture swung shut.
I was in total darkness, except the gold crown glowing gold in front of my face. Holding my breathe, I gently touched the crown. When I did, the picture swung back out, and I stepped back out next to Alexis. The picture swung back into place.
“You just need to know where to look.”
“Huh. And these passageways are everywhere?”
“Just about.”
“Huh,” I said again, as we continued down the hall.
“Alexis!” a deep, familiar voice ahead of us boomed, “Is that you? Come here for a moment.”
“It’s Father,” Alexis whispered frantically. I spun around on my heels, back to the picture. I quickly tapped all the crowns, and stepped inside the little alcove, closing the picture behind me. I could still hear everything that was happening out in the hall.
“Father,” Alexis tittered nervously, “How may I assist you?”
“You know Lord Bathomellow, don’t you?”
“Yes, Father. He is your advisor.”
“Well, he came up with this excellent idea!”
“Do tell, Father.”
“He believes we should visit the prisoners, you and I. So when we release them, they can spread word of our glory. He believes royalty that is one with their subjects prevents further crimes.”
“Excellent, Father. When shall we visit the prisoners?”
“Right now!”
“But Father…” I could hear voice being jerked along, getting further away from me.
“No buts! We are to visit the prisoners. It won’t take long, we’ll only spend a few seconds with each prisoner. To the Tall Tower first?”
“No!” Alexis gasped, “I mean, I think I’d like to see some less dangerous criminals before seeing the one in the Tall Tower.”
“Hmm… good point. Alright, Tall Tower for last, then.” His voice drifted away.
I counted to one thousand before pressing the gold crown that was in front of my face. After carefully shutting the picture, I spun around to where Alexis and I had come in. I pressed the wall over and over, but couldn’t get the passageway to open. Exasperated, I took off down the hallway.
I ran until I came to where the hall split into two, and the artifacts had ceased. Both halls looked identical. I frantically searched up and down the walls, looking for a crown. The only one I could see was etched onto an air vent, and I didn’t want to get to the Main Foyer that way.
Laughter echoed down the left hall. It was a guards deep, uncaring laughter alright. No way I could get myself into that vent and shut it before he got to me. So, I took off running down the right hall.
This hall was filled with doors. Royalty’s rooms? The only sound in the empty hall was my heavy breathing, and my feet slapping against the floor, muffled by the carpet. I looked carefully at each door, and stopped short at one of them. It looked like all the others, old, wooden, gold doorknob and knocker- probably pure gold. And, just like all the others, it was bordered by a dark mahogany frame. Yet, unlike all the others, it had a crown in the center of the doorframe.
Clamping my jaw shut, I cocked my head and listened for anyone coming down the hall. Not hearing anyone there, I pressed my ear against the door. It sounded like the coast was clear.
I jumped up, slapping the crown with my fingertips. There was a thud, then a shout from behind the door, but the secret passageway was already opening. It was part of the carpet- like the classic wooden one’s in the floor, but carpet instead. I jumped down, firmly closing the door behind me. Waiting in the stooped niche, I heard shouts and thumps of footsteps above me. Once those faded, I turned to see my surroundings.
It was dark, but not black. The entire thing was only a little hall that I was at the dead end of. Seeing no other choice, I ran down the hall, searching for crowns and/or other trapdoors. After a few minutes of running- minutes that seemed to drag on like forever- to another dead end, with another trapdoor above this one. Because the hall was so low, I could easily reach it. I put my ear against it. I didn’t hear any footsteps or bustling about or people talking, but my hearing didn’t help me much last time.
Slowly, I eased the trapdoor open and inch. I stood on my tiptoes and peeked out. It was another hall, but this one had thousands of pictures on the walls, each one vaguely resembling Alexis.
The North Hall.
Before anyone could come, I swung the trapdoor open, which made a soft thud noise on the carpet. Hoisting myself up, I scrambled into the fall, firmly shutting the trapdoor behind me. I noticed as soon as it clicked shut, you couldn’t see the seam where the carpet stopped and the trapdoor started. These secret passageways were well hidden- you wouldn’t be able to find one unless you were looking for it, or you were lucky.
I stood up and brushed of my servant’s tunic. It was then I thought I realized how stupid I was being. I was in a servant’s tunic! I could just ask fro directions anywhere. No one would suspect me.
The Anti-Magic bracelet that seemed to get heavier every day reminded me of the one flaw in my genius plan.
Sighing, frustrated, I began running past the portraits, giving each one hardly a glance as I passed. They all resembled Alexis- her petite and skinny, but tall figure; deep, dark brown eyes; wavy caramel brown hair. And they all wore the same red cloak with gold trim or royalty, with varying styles over the ages.
I noticed something as I ran. Each picture had a match. You could tell they went together because they both had a frame unlike the others, and there was a male and a female. The female’s picture was almost twice as large as the male’s, and only the female’s had Alexis’s features. Royalty really did get put in the hands of the female.
The hall ended, but this time, in a balcony, which led out onto a spiral staircase that led both up and down. I stepped out onto the balcony, and looked over the rail. All I could see were polished marble walls, going up and down as far as the eye could see, with lots of balconies along the way. And, one a rail about three balconies down, was a crown. I started running down.
Why was I headed to the Main Foyer? I’m not exactly sure, but something in my gut told me to. I couldn’t activate the passageway Alexis and I usually used to get to and from my tower, and I had no idea how to get to the other one. So, this seemed like the only way.
The staircase ended, leaving me in a short hallway. I knew it was short, because it curved to the right not far down, if I went to the left. To the right was a door. I ran through the hall, stopping abruptly when it opened up into a larger foyer. The room was large and circular. The walls were made entirely out of crystal, with two huge crystal doors leading to the outside world. But what caught my attention, was the huge black rug laying on the maroon carpet. It was circular, and in the center of its black fabric, was a huge golden crown.
Ash:
Once the three of us reached the edge of the dark forest, we stopped to camp out. It was freezing that night, the first sign of our Indian summer ending, and we only had three light blankets total. None of us had anticipated such cold. Luke and Corey almost made me use their blankets, but I was not going to be the helpless little girl. We were all equals.
When I first woke up, I decided to not get up just yet. I was surprisingly comfy on the ground, still soft from summer. So I snuggled deeper down into my blankets.
Blankets?
I sat up straight. Luke was to my left, Corey to my right. Neither of them had blankets. In the cold morning, Luke had goose bumps, and I could see Corey’s jaw chattering. And I, had a brown and green blanket on top of my white one.
The green blanket, Corey’s was on top, then Luke’s, than mine. That surprised me. The order meant Luke had put his blanket on me first, then Corey.
I jumped up, the blankets falling to the ground. I could see my breath in the sunrise as I snatched up the two blankets that weren’t mine.
“You two wake up!” I screamed. Both boys immediately started scrambling to get up. It took them a while to stand up and come to their senses. They looked a little ashamed when they faced me. I had my hands on my hips, my dress dirtied from sleeping on it, and my hair surely a disaster.
“What is this?” I held up their blankets for them to see. Luke rubbed his goose bump-y arms, and Corey’s teeth chattered.
“You were shivering last night.” Corey chattered.
“I was shivering! Listen to yourself!” He just shrugged.
“Listen. I’m not the little damsel in distress. We’re going to rescue her. I started this rescue mission, so don’t be treating me like the tagalong. We are all equals here and, if anything, I am your superior. Got it?”
They nodded grimly. After I gave them both a good glare, I shoved my blanket in my pack, taking out my winter cloak, and wrapping it around me. Then I faced the Forest.
“So it’s dangerous right?” I asked, slinging my knapsack over my shoulder.
“Very,” Corey answered, grabbing his knapsack.
“’Kay. Let’s go.” I started to take a step forward, but Luke grabbed my arm.
“Whoa! You don’t just go stepping into Old Man Element’s forest!”
“I’m sorry. Should I fly into it instead?”
Luke turned to Corey. “Is she always this bad?”
“Worse, usually.”
Luke turned back to me as I scowled at Corey. “Ash, he’s like an amazingly powerful Wizard.”
“So am I. Let’s go.”
“Ash, he’s a seventh seventh.”
“What?”
“A seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son of a-”
“So he’s the seventh generation of seventh sons?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a lot of power.”
“Exactly.”
“But…”
“Oh boy.”
“I’m the child of a prophecy.” Before either of them could stop me, I ran into the black trees.
The Forest was terribly dark. The bark on trees was a dark blackish-brown, and everything that should have been green was an icky black-moss color. Black flowers and thorns adorned the bushes, and growing up trees. Everything had a black shadow. A black dirt path was paved through it. It was overgrown with black roots and black-moss colored leaves.
Luke and Corey quickly joined me.
“That wasn’t very smart,” Luke said.
“Yeah, well, I’m a stupid person.” They both rolled their eyes at me. I rolled mine right back.
“So why’s there a path if this forest is all forbidden?”
“It’s not forbidden,” Corey answered. “Nothing is really forbidden- not even the Living Swamp. People are just advised to not enter here. Some people do anyways, if they want to get somewhere. Old Man Element hibernates most of the time. Only the odd unlucky ones cross his path.”
“So only Old Man Element lives here? No dangerous animals?”
“Only the Animals of Night. The Wolves and Birds of Night. But they’ll only bother us if we cross into their section of the Element Forest, which we’re smart enough not to do.”
“Uh huh…” I had sort of stopped listening a while ago. We walked in silence for a while. Luke kept looking around nervously, and Corey looked ready to grab my hand at any sign of danger. Which, of course, there was.
A bird above cawed. Normally, this wouldn’t be abnormal in a forest, but since we hadn’t heard a noise other than each other for about a mile, this made us all jump. Luke’s head swiveled to the treetops. A bird flew out. It looked like a crow, except twice as big. It’s beak was onyx black, and each feather was defined.
As it fluttered above us, some of its feathers fell to the ground. One grazed my face and, as it continued it’s descent down, I felt something warm and sticky dripping down my face, accompanied by a stinging pain. If its feathers were razors, I definitely didn’t want to feel what its beak was like.
“A Bird of Night,” Corey said. The bird cawed again, the noise screeching and ugly. Corey grabbed my hand. I felt our magical energies connect.
“One…” Corey whispered.
“Two…” I responded, understanding at once.
“THREE!” we yelled together. His good aim and my immediate power was invincible, or so I thought. We sent a sharp bolt of energy towards the bird, and it hit it straight on, but it looked as if we did as much damage to it as its feather had done to me.
“Don’t hold back!” Corey yelled, and he didn’t have to tell me twice. I lashed out at the bird with everything I had, and this time used a flick of my wrist to focus it, and make it stronger.
The bird dove for us, swerving to avoid our latest attack. I jumped left, and Corey jumped right. I could feel the energies disconnect as we accidentally separated. It landed harshly, and that’s when I realized.
It was a bird. It belonged in the sky. It attacked from the sky, it fed from the sky, it slept in the sky, it mated in the sky. It did nothing on land.
“Keep it on the ground!” I yelled. I didn’t use any magic- without Corey I’d probably end up hitting Luke. Corey looked like he was focusing, to be able to shoot straight.
Luke pulled a dagger out of a holster on his belt I hadn’t seen before. The bird had recovered from its landing, and was spreading its wings again, preparing to take flight. Luke threw the dagger, which hit the bird in the center of its left wing. It was now immobile.
A green net made of magic slowly enclosed the bird. It didn’t have to rush- it’s not like the bird was going anywhere. The bird cawed loudly as the net got smaller and smaller, until it had no space to move.
“You have to do it, Ash,” Corey said slowly, concentrating. I knew what he meant. I had to finish this. I had to kill the bird.
No big deal, I told myself, you’ve been squirrel and rabbit and deer hunting with Poppa and Tomas and Simon plenty of times before. Why should this be any different?
But I knew why it was different. The squirrels and rabbits and deer were everyday animals, nothing special about them. But this, this was a magical animal. We were connected by some weird, insane force of nature. Killing it seemed… wrong somehow. Yet, that hadn’t stopped it from trying to kill me.
I sauntered up to the bird, and crouched down to it. It’s gleaming red eyes were filled with hatred. I shivered. This animal was not connected to me, not at all. It lived on a force all its own.
I gathered my magical energy. Focusing it took a lot longer than just lashing it out. I sure hoped it would get quicker as I became more experienced.
Cocking my head, I steadily held the birds gaze. I didn’t want to make a show of killing it, not with Corey standing there to make fun of me for it later, so I forced my magic inside the bird. First, I clogged its throat with my burning blue magic. Then, I let it roam to the birds heart, and surrounded it. The bird’s eyes widened, then closed as I made the heart pop like a balloon.
“What’d you do,” Corey asked me, dropping the net and coming over to me.
“Killed it.”
“Well, yeah. How?” Luke joined us.
“Made its heart pop.”
“Wow.”
“I think…” I said slowly, standing up and grabbing my knapsack, which I had dropped during the fight. “We need to practice.”
“I agree,” Luke said.
“Why was that thing even here, anyway?”
Corey shrugged. “Hunting, maybe?”
“Shouldn’t we wait till we’re out of the Element Forest before practicing,” Luke asked.
“What if Old Man Element isn’t hibernating? What then?”
“Ash, you need better focus with your magic,” Corey told me.
“I think I focused just fine right there, thank you,” I huffed. But my bravado was doused when Corey held up a singed finger.
“You must’ve been thinking of me.” My mouth opened and closed, without sound coming out.
“Exactly.”
“Fine.”
So we practiced until nightfall. By the time we were done blasting trees and grass, Corey and I could do some instantaneous magic, though it wasn’t as powerful as focused magic, and Luke could start a fire, which he did as we set up camp in a black clearing.
We spread out blankets in a circle around the fire. The day had warmed up a bit, and stayed that way in the night. I couldn’t even see my breath anymore. So we decided to lie on the blankets and sleep in our heavier cloaks.
“I’m starved,” I commented. We hadn’t eaten all day.
“That bird’s still back there,” Luke nodded down the black path, shrouded in nighttime shadows. We had kicked the dead bird into the forest a ways back.
“Is it safe to eat those things?”
“I think,” Corey said, “But I’d still rather not eat anything that came from this forest. Even if we could eat it, who knows what it ate.” Luke and I nodded in agreement.
“We still have that loaf of bread,” I said, “And I have some jars of preserved fruit and nuts in my knapsack. And two cartons of milk.”
“I stole some stuff from my mom’s pantry. Canned veggies, mostly, and a can opener, but a thing of peanut butter, too. And sugar cookies. And a bottomless water jug”
“I have frozen fish. We should probably eat that soon,” Corey offered. We decided on frozen fish and a can of peas, since we hadn’t eaten all day. It took a while to prepare things, using wooden plates and pans Luke had brought. But it was worth it to be able to eat. And the food wasn’t all that bad, either.
When we finished eating, it was pitch black out, except for the little plot of space our fire lit up.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a while, and I needed to go. Now. At first, I was hesitant to tell the boys, but then I remembered what I had told them that morning. We were all equals and, if anything, I was their superior. I wouldn’t be the shy little girl.
“I need to go to the bathroom. Be right back.” I stood up.
“Me too,” Luke said, also standing up. Corey stood up, as well.
“I’ll go over here,” I motioned to behind me, “You two go in other directions. Stay close.” They nodded, and disappeared into the darkness. I turned around, and walked a few steps until I was surrounded by darkness.
I quickly relieved myself, but didn’t go right back to out makeshift camp. It was oddly peaceful, being alone in the dark. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breathe. The air was fresh, an aspect of the Forest I wouldn’t expect.
After another breathe, I decided I better head back to camp before Corey and Luke came looking for me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into bright, blood red eyes.
Anna:
I woke up to light streaming in the barred window. Hopping off the stone bench, I yawned and stretched. Yesterday, I had come back to my tower soon after I had made my meek promise to Alexis.
A tray was by my door. Even though it was breakfast time, I had a plate full of dinner. White chicken meat, corn off the cob, brown rice and, thank God, more lemonade. I quickly ate the meal.
Settling back onto the stone bench, I wondered what Alexis and I would do today. Then I scolded myself for looking forward to her. She might not come back. Maybe she’ll never come back. Maybe she’s sick of me. Maybe-
The click of a key in the lock broke off my train of thought. Alexis poked her head into the room.
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.
I shook my head. “I’ve been awake.”
“Oh, okay, good.” She stepped into the tower.
“What’s on your agenda today?” I teased her.
“Well, you know how yesterday I said we shouldn’t go crawling through secret passageways because you just got yourself clean?”
“I take it that’s for today?”
“If you don’t mind,” she said hurriedly.
“You know what I think?” I asked her, standing up.
“What?” We stepped into the hallway, and into the secret stairwell. Once the door hissed shut, I answered, “I think you’re going to be an awful Queen if you keep letting people push you around.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!”
“You can’t please everyone all the time.”
“So anyways,” she said, taking a very obvious change of subject, “I think I should let you get to know the castle. There are four main halls- East Hall, West Hall, North and South Hall. Then there’s the Royal Hall. All of the Hall’s are on the main floor. The kitchen and servant rooms are on the lower floors.”
“How can you tell which Hall you’re in?”
“The décor. West Hall is pretty empty, East Hall is filled with treasures from travels, North Hall had family portraits, and South Hall has millions of twists and turns. Then there are the Galleries. You saw the Chandelier Gallery.”
“The one with the huge chandelier.”
“Yep. Then there’s the Portrait Gallery, the Meeting Gallery, the Treasure Gallery, and the Beam Gallery.”
“The Beam Gallery?”
“The ceiling is covered in thick criss-crossed beams. No one ever goes in there. It’s too easy for someone to hide up in the beams. It’s used to get from one place to another, sometimes, but nothing more.”
“What about the other floors?”
“Hardly ever used except for meeting rooms and bedrooms for other Lords and Ladies and such. The castle is built so only people who know the pattern can find their way around.”
“Some complex, impossible to memorize pattern?”
“Actually, no. Just follow the crown.” We stopped our descent. I looked at the lantern above where we had stopped. A crown was written on it.
“The crown always leads you to the Main Foyer.”
“Where are we going?” The door hissed open, and we snuck out of the stairwell.
“This is the East Hall.”
“I can tell.” And I could. On the walls, on the floor, in glass boxes and on pedestals, were thousands of treasures and trinkets from all over our country, and even things not from our country.
“Yes. Father and others have searched far and wide for all these. But the truly valuable things are in the Treasure Gallery, and things meant for no one to see are in the Vault.”
“So where are we going?” Alexis began drifting down the row of items, and I followed her.
“You’re looking for a passageway.”
“Me?”
“Yes. All of them are marked with the crown, though some much less obvious than others. The one in this hall is one of the first passageways I found. I found it when I was four years old, and hiding from naptime.”
“I sure hope I can find it then.” Alexis kept walking, but I stopped in front of a picture. It wasn’t from Ozelite, the colors were much to dark. It was made with charcoal paint, and was colored in black, white, grays, and dark blues. The picture was of a lake at midnight, with dark flowers surrounding it, the moon reflected in its black waters. But the thing that caught my eye was the crowns set deep in each corner of the black frame.
Alexis was far down the hall, but I didn’t care. I touched the crown in the bottom left hand corner. The outline of the crown turned gold. Excited, I pushed the crown in the right hand corner. It, too, turned gold. Standing on my tiptoes, I pushed the crowns in the upper hand corners. When all the crowns had a gold outline, the picture and part of the wall swung outwards, leading to a small room, wide but not very deep. In my excitement, I hadn’t noticed Alexis join me until she spoke.
“Good job. The crowns had amazed me, so I pushed one. I had to get a stool to reach the upper ones. It’s a good place for a quick hiding spot, while you wait for someone to pass you by. Try it.”
I stepped into the small space, pressing my back against the wall. As soon as there was pressure on it, the picture swung shut.
I was in total darkness, except the gold crown glowing gold in front of my face. Holding my breathe, I gently touched the crown. When I did, the picture swung back out, and I stepped back out next to Alexis. The picture swung back into place.
“You just need to know where to look.”
“Huh. And these passageways are everywhere?”
“Just about.”
“Huh,” I said again, as we continued down the hall.
“Alexis!” a deep, familiar voice ahead of us boomed, “Is that you? Come here for a moment.”
“It’s Father,” Alexis whispered frantically. I spun around on my heels, back to the picture. I quickly tapped all the crowns, and stepped inside the little alcove, closing the picture behind me. I could still hear everything that was happening out in the hall.
“Father,” Alexis tittered nervously, “How may I assist you?”
“You know Lord Bathomellow, don’t you?”
“Yes, Father. He is your advisor.”
“Well, he came up with this excellent idea!”
“Do tell, Father.”
“He believes we should visit the prisoners, you and I. So when we release them, they can spread word of our glory. He believes royalty that is one with their subjects prevents further crimes.”
“Excellent, Father. When shall we visit the prisoners?”
“Right now!”
“But Father…” I could hear voice being jerked along, getting further away from me.
“No buts! We are to visit the prisoners. It won’t take long, we’ll only spend a few seconds with each prisoner. To the Tall Tower first?”
“No!” Alexis gasped, “I mean, I think I’d like to see some less dangerous criminals before seeing the one in the Tall Tower.”
“Hmm… good point. Alright, Tall Tower for last, then.” His voice drifted away.
I counted to one thousand before pressing the gold crown that was in front of my face. After carefully shutting the picture, I spun around to where Alexis and I had come in. I pressed the wall over and over, but couldn’t get the passageway to open. Exasperated, I took off down the hallway.
I ran until I came to where the hall split into two, and the artifacts had ceased. Both halls looked identical. I frantically searched up and down the walls, looking for a crown. The only one I could see was etched onto an air vent, and I didn’t want to get to the Main Foyer that way.
Laughter echoed down the left hall. It was a guards deep, uncaring laughter alright. No way I could get myself into that vent and shut it before he got to me. So, I took off running down the right hall.
This hall was filled with doors. Royalty’s rooms? The only sound in the empty hall was my heavy breathing, and my feet slapping against the floor, muffled by the carpet. I looked carefully at each door, and stopped short at one of them. It looked like all the others, old, wooden, gold doorknob and knocker- probably pure gold. And, just like all the others, it was bordered by a dark mahogany frame. Yet, unlike all the others, it had a crown in the center of the doorframe.
Clamping my jaw shut, I cocked my head and listened for anyone coming down the hall. Not hearing anyone there, I pressed my ear against the door. It sounded like the coast was clear.
I jumped up, slapping the crown with my fingertips. There was a thud, then a shout from behind the door, but the secret passageway was already opening. It was part of the carpet- like the classic wooden one’s in the floor, but carpet instead. I jumped down, firmly closing the door behind me. Waiting in the stooped niche, I heard shouts and thumps of footsteps above me. Once those faded, I turned to see my surroundings.
It was dark, but not black. The entire thing was only a little hall that I was at the dead end of. Seeing no other choice, I ran down the hall, searching for crowns and/or other trapdoors. After a few minutes of running- minutes that seemed to drag on like forever- to another dead end, with another trapdoor above this one. Because the hall was so low, I could easily reach it. I put my ear against it. I didn’t hear any footsteps or bustling about or people talking, but my hearing didn’t help me much last time.
Slowly, I eased the trapdoor open and inch. I stood on my tiptoes and peeked out. It was another hall, but this one had thousands of pictures on the walls, each one vaguely resembling Alexis.
The North Hall.
Before anyone could come, I swung the trapdoor open, which made a soft thud noise on the carpet. Hoisting myself up, I scrambled into the fall, firmly shutting the trapdoor behind me. I noticed as soon as it clicked shut, you couldn’t see the seam where the carpet stopped and the trapdoor started. These secret passageways were well hidden- you wouldn’t be able to find one unless you were looking for it, or you were lucky.
I stood up and brushed of my servant’s tunic. It was then I thought I realized how stupid I was being. I was in a servant’s tunic! I could just ask fro directions anywhere. No one would suspect me.
The Anti-Magic bracelet that seemed to get heavier every day reminded me of the one flaw in my genius plan.
Sighing, frustrated, I began running past the portraits, giving each one hardly a glance as I passed. They all resembled Alexis- her petite and skinny, but tall figure; deep, dark brown eyes; wavy caramel brown hair. And they all wore the same red cloak with gold trim or royalty, with varying styles over the ages.
I noticed something as I ran. Each picture had a match. You could tell they went together because they both had a frame unlike the others, and there was a male and a female. The female’s picture was almost twice as large as the male’s, and only the female’s had Alexis’s features. Royalty really did get put in the hands of the female.
The hall ended, but this time, in a balcony, which led out onto a spiral staircase that led both up and down. I stepped out onto the balcony, and looked over the rail. All I could see were polished marble walls, going up and down as far as the eye could see, with lots of balconies along the way. And, one a rail about three balconies down, was a crown. I started running down.
Why was I headed to the Main Foyer? I’m not exactly sure, but something in my gut told me to. I couldn’t activate the passageway Alexis and I usually used to get to and from my tower, and I had no idea how to get to the other one. So, this seemed like the only way.
The staircase ended, leaving me in a short hallway. I knew it was short, because it curved to the right not far down, if I went to the left. To the right was a door. I ran through the hall, stopping abruptly when it opened up into a larger foyer. The room was large and circular. The walls were made entirely out of crystal, with two huge crystal doors leading to the outside world. But what caught my attention, was the huge black rug laying on the maroon carpet. It was circular, and in the center of its black fabric, was a huge golden crown.