Infinity

Chapter 6

Which is what I exactly did the last couple of days before the oh-so-important dinner. I’m pretty sure I’ve explored everything on the upper floor that we were staying on. I probably could have gotten farther since my wound was now completely healed, and it didn’t even leave a scar, but unfortunately I spent most of the afternoons doing my princess studies; but focusing mainly on my public speaking skills, walking and as Jacques (yes he followed us, ugh) called it “stage presence” and I apparently have none. Not that I was surprised but it was extremely awkward standing next to Valencia who had enough light to make a star feel envious. I told her that but she didn’t even believe me, unexpectedly, for once Jacques agreed with me. So I unintentionally gave her the nickname V-star which Mr. J calls her constantly now. I deserved the death stares Val was giving me for that one. But the moment the lessons were over I was gone before Mr. J could say adieu.

 It’s the day of the dinner and I decided to go to bed early the night before just so I could explore that final passageway before everything started to get busy. I am about 83% sure that passage leads to a floor below us. I slid quietly out of bed and tiptoed to the dresser where I pulled out a ribbon to tie my night gown up at the side of my hip so it was easier to crawl in. I snatched my map from under my pillow, grabbed the candle lamp on my nightstand and pulled my dagger out from under my mattress before proceeding outside our room. I snuck my way around the corner to the passage that Keir may or may not have seen me come out of the first day of my exploring. I opened the secret door wincing at the slight squeak it made before crawling in and closing the door behind. I situated myself with my map out and candle lit before proceeding down the path.

I made my way to the area that I hadn’t explored yet and moved more slowly as I was marking down everything on my map. Realizing this corridor was bigger than the others I had been in so far so I was able to crouch instead of crawl. A few more turns and steps later I had reached a dead end. I felt around the blank wood making sure there wasn’t a door; but then again I had found a few secret doors where you had to pull a lever earlier in the passage for it to open. However those were for those I knew there was a door in front of me but couldn’t open, this wall I was pretty sure did not have a door, it was just many of the dead ends I had found in these catacombs.

I sighed and turned around but I stopped short as I was face to face with a small black spider with a very distinctive red mark on its back. I let out an extremely girly shriek and banged my back against the wall trying to get away from this highly poisonous spider.  Before I could take my dagger out to stab it I found myself looking at the slowing brightening cloudy sky. Just as confusion clouded my head, my neck up to my head slammed into the dew covered ground. I groaned as one hand held my neck and the other my head as I curled into a ball of pain. Once I stopped seeing stars a cool breeze went through my summer night gown.

I shivered before sitting up, “isn’t it supposed to be summer?” I grumbled to myself.

I looked at my surroundings finally realizing that I was outside the castle. A marble fence surrounded the castle with rose vines covering it. I stood up walking a few steps to my left seeing that I was at the back right side of the castle, then to my right making sure I wasn’t being watched. As I took steps to my right I heard a bunch of commotion on the other side of the marble wall so I wobbled my way over to the wall. The closer I got, the taller the wall seemed to be. However looking at my wardrobe I decided I was not going exploring in the outside world without proper clothes. I jogged back to the little hole in the wall but not before grabbing a nearby rock for the black widow. I found the spider and killed it promptly before making my way back to my room.

As I entered the room Val shifted in her sleep but made no other movements. I slowly pulled open my dresser and started riffling through it looking for something that wasn’t covered in frills or looked really expensive. I sighed and started to fold stuff back but something green caught my eye and a smile spread across my face. I pulled out my favorite jade green dress, I don’t know who packed this for be but I was grateful for it. I slipped of my slightly dirty night gown and put on my green dress that stopped just before my knees. I did a quick side pony braid and grabbed a small pack filling it with money, bandages and a water bottle filled with sink water. I tied my dagger to my dress and pulled out a plain brown cloak with a hood since it looked like it wasn’t going to get any warmer that it was, plus it looked like it was going to rain. I pulled on some boots and made my way back to the passage.