The Serenader

Chapter 4

Calya's POV
The Region Meeting was all I heard about for days after I spoke with Blythe and our father. Rumors spread like wildfire as the servants and chefs and visitors overheard what was going on and told their own version of the tale. I could feel my home become something I wasn't used to, something on the brink of instability. It was unsettling, to say the least.

I sat, comfortably reading a book in my bedroom and humming Blythe's song to myself when a knock came at the door. When Blythe was the one to come in, I wasn't sure what to make of her visit. Then, she told me the reason she was here and it had nothing to do with me. Immediately I felt much better about her presence.

"Atlas is home?" I asked after she'd given me the full story. "Since when?"

"Just now," Blythe replied from the doorway. "For the meeting."

"Oh, wow." My brother hadn't been home in years; so much so that I'd gotten used to his absence. I missed him, of course, but we had never been particularly close; not like him and Blythe.

"Do you know where Des and Eclipse are?" Blythe asked. "Dad wants to talk to all of us."

"Last I saw, they were in the library," I said, closing the book in my lap. "But that was hours ago."

Blythe eyed me strangely. "The library?"

"Oh, they weren't reading," I assured her. "Something about a hidden tunnel. I didn't ask questions."

"Well, that makes more sense," she replied. "The only thing I've ever seen them study was the castle floorplan."

I laughed at the trueness of that. Just because we had studies didn't mean we all took them seriously.

"If you don't have any idea where that passage leads to, we may as well start in the library," she added.

"Library" is a loose term, as ours holds much beyond just paper books. The domed room was beyond massive, so much so that it was difficult to believe it was a part of my home. I loved spending time there. My favorite books were always the journals written by my grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. I enjoyed reading how the things I knew in the palace came to be, like those statues in the hallway sculpted by my grandmother at age fifteen or the piano in the music room acquired by some great-great-uncle of mine. It created a sense of wonder, a feeling that I had been born into this great legacy.

"What am I looking for?" Blythe asked, looking out across the grand library. "What kind of passage?"

On the shelves closest to the door - the shelves accessed most often - were the stories and diaries I so enjoyed. Just beyond that were the scrolls, historical books, and textbooks, but they usually gathered dust until one was requested for a certain lesson. Further back still was the section I browsed the least, for I had never learned enough to read it - the music library.

"In the very back, by the music," I guessed.

We started along the rows, looking for anything out of the ordinary. At last, I spotted what was certainly the entrance we were looking for.

"They couldn't have made it any less obvious?" I asked, but Blythe shushed me. The inside of the library was supposed to be quiet, but there was nobody else inside but us.

On the bottom of a bookshelf pressed to the wall, all the scores had been scattered across the floor, and the back of the shelf had been torn away. Only instead of seeing the faded cobblestone that made up the castle wall, I saw a large black gap - a tunnel leading inside the wall.

Blythe approached the chasm and got on her knees. "Hello?" She called, waiting. There was no reply. I counted eight seconds before she went on. "Des? Eclipse? Father needs to see you."

Still nothing. I started to worry as images of what could be inside flashed through my head.

"Des!" I yelled into the vent. "Eclipse!"

Blythe turned to me, her facial expression reflecting that eerily calm mood one feels when they suppress fresh panic. "Calm down, Cal. They probably just can't hear us."

I forced myself to take a breath. "You're right," I responded. "If Dad's waiting, go find him. I'll get the twins and meet you there after."

"He's looking for you," she countered. "You should find him."

"We both stay." I knew there was no way I was leaving my siblings while they wandered through an abandoned tunnel in the castle wall. "Both of us leave, or neither of us."

"Alright." Blythe grabbed a torch off the washed-out stone wall. I took it from her and crawled inside first.

It started out as a narrow shaft so slim I had to squeeze my way through. After a few claustrophobic moments, it grew a bit wider. I crawled forward some more until Blythe nudged my ankle and I realized I could easily stand.

Blythe came up behind me and called again for the twins. This time, fast footfalls sounded throughout the entire tunnel. Gradually, two figures came into view. I exhaled with relief.

"You'll never guess what this is," Eclipse said when she saw us, gesturing to the walls of the chamber. She bounced on her toes in excitement, nearly bursting with energy.

"It's a tunnel," I pointed out.

"Well, yes," Eclipse answered. "But it's huge! This passage runs underneath the entire castle."

"What?"

"It's true," Des added, brushing some dust off his trousers and coughing once to clear his lungs. "We came in through the library after lunch and-" He looked around. "Where are we now?"

I pointed towards the direction Blythe and I had come in from. "The library's right back there. You left quite a trail to follow with all that music scattered everywhere."

It was hard to tell with the lighting, but I thought I noticed Des slouch a little. On the other hand, Eclipse barely seemed to notice we were still talking. She was fascinated with the chamber, her eyes practically glued to the walls.

"Regardless, the reason Cal and I went on this wild goose chase was to find you both," Blythe cut in. "I suppose you wouldn't happen to know that Atlas is home due to your little adventure?"

Des went wide-eyed. "What? He's home?"

Blythe nodded. "Uh-huh. And you've left our father waiting with this... mission of yours," she continued. "Come on now, before we're all blamed."

Blythe guided us out of the dark room one at a time and through the narrow tunnel. When we reached the sunlit library, we all stared at the books on the floor, squinting.

"I expect this to be cleaned up later," Blythe said finally. "For now, we haven't the time. Brush yourselves off and come on."

She stumbled, then muttered something about her shoes I didn't quite catch and led us down the corridor.

"Tell me something," I whispered to Eclipse in the hall. "That passage - is it connected to the kitchen tunnel you found last time?"

"Yes," she said emphatically. "All of it - it's one big tunnel. It's all connected..."

She didn't get to finish. With that, we turned the corner into the throne room, and I was hit with the strongest wave of emotion I've ever felt from just one person - my brother.