Pendulum || TAENNIE FF

⚔Chapter 8: Forward or reverse

The one who yields the key.

A U T H O R

"Heather!!" Helena and the palace guards came running after hearing her granddaughter's shouts. "Find her! Just find her! Heather!!" She was panicking. Helena may be harsh and indifferent to Heather but she's still her son's daughter, her granddaughter. Deep inside, she still has love and concern for her. 

They went to Heather's room with their flashlights but found it empty. All they saw was her phone on the floor. 

Victoria upstairs was woken up by the noise and decided to leave the bed. She found a big number of guards with Helena in the main hall. "Grandma? What's happening? What's with all the guards?" Sarah and Van also came after they were waken up.

"Heather's missing. I heard her shouting for help and now, we don't know where she is." Helena answered. 

Van felt terrified. He quickly left the group and searched on his own. Victoria saw him leave and ran after him. "What are you doing? Stop following me." He told her and ran faster. Victoria didn't listen and caught up with him. She forcefully grabbed his arm and made him face her. "Heather's missing and I can't just stand there and watch! You're probably happy that she's gone but I don't feel the same. Stay safe if you want but Heather needs my help."

"Do you think I'm that heartless?! Fine, I hate Heather to the moon and back. I hate her for having everything I don't! I despise her for being perfect! I want to see her losing against me... But not to the point where I want her gone! She's the only cousin I have who didn't force their parents to kick me out even when I did nothing good to her. She's the only person who didn't insult my low status and never bullied me for having no rights to the throne unlike everyone else, even grandma Helena."

"Yet you repaid her nothing but your insults and fake stories. You can't wrap me around your finger. I know how pretentious you are." He yanked his arm away and continued searching.

Victoria stood there and watched him leave. "I guess it all comes back to me in the end. I told the truth for the first time but it ended up sounding like another lie." She smiled bitterly and walked away with sorrow. 

Minutes passed and Levi and his company arrived. "Levi!" Helena called in relief. "You have to help us. Heather's gone missing! We searched everywhere but there was no sign of her."

"Heather called me but we lost contact when she suddenly screamed. There's an assassin roaming around at night, palace to palace. Heather believed this was the case for her. She called for help. If there's no wounded body, she could still be here." Levi assured.

"We'll search the whole palace again. All of you stay here while the guards and I search every room." Philip said and began the search. 

Meanwhile, Van was down to the last place in the palace and that is the basement. He was climbing down the stairs when Levi came to him. "Why are you searching alone? Didn't Heather tell you about an assassin? Heather called me and she was afraid because she heard and saw something earlier."

Van widened his eyes in surprise. "A what? She never told me about this. If I knew I would've guarded her room the whole night." Levi sighed and they continued going downstairs. As they went closer, they heard barks echoing.

"Is that Poppy?" They ran and found the basement door broken. "Holy shit." Levi exclaimed. 

"Heather!" Van called and searched inside. "Heather, are you in here?" They found Poppy barking at the old pendulum clock. "Poppy." Van walked towards her and knelt on one knee. "Have you seen Heather anywhere? We've been looking for her."