Under the Moon - Book 1 in the Bewitching Moon Series

Chapter 22

I shifted from foot to foot, nervously waiting for the meeting to end. As much as it makes me seem like a bad person, it took me a bit of time to figure out what the right thing to do was, and that was to save Marabella. Yes, my parents were going to be disappointed in me, yes if I was found out, I was most likely going to lose my position on the royal guard and get thrown into the dungeon myself, but Marabella is a friend, the first I had in a long time.

My life has been based on working day in and day out to achieve great things, making friends just wasn't on the schedule. But now was the time to clear that day-old schedule, the one where friends and social experiences didn't matter, the one where only the great things you've done defined you as a person.

In a way, I wanted to cling to that schedule because it was the one thing I have known my entire life, friends were new. But now I knew friends were important and a good friend should be for keeps, not just a pawn in your big plan to achievements.

***

The meeting ended and we made our way back to the palace, all but two of us guards heading back to the prep room, the other two were assigned to stay on watch in the throne room where the queen was having an important meeting with her advisor.

I tried to sneak away but Kate caught me on the spot.

"Where are you going?" she asks questioningly.

"Since I'm not needed at the moment, I'm going to quickly go home and get my sword. It shouldn't take too long."

"You know I really shouldn't be letting you do this because we're not allowed to leave the palace during our shift unless we're escorting the queen," Kate sighs, "but I'll let you do it just this once, you better not get caught, and you better not prove to me that I can no longer trust you. Got it?"

"Got it," I say before quickly leaving the prep room. I felt horrible about already lying to Kate and breaking her trust in me, but I have to help Marabella.

I made my way through the palace, hiding whenever I saw even a glimpse of movement.

I already knew most of the layout of the palace, having been here multiple times with my dad and for sword fighting practices I went to when I was ten that were held here.

It took me a bit but I managed to get down to the dungeon. It would be much easier to find Marabella now by using my tracking abilities, I focused my power trying to figure out where Marabella was. But instead of leading me to a cell in the dungeon, my powers were trying to lead me back on land and to Marabella's house. Could it possibly be that my abilities were not working anymore, or did Marabella escape from this dungeon and manage to get back on land from the time of the meeting to when I managed to escape the prep room, and without being seen?

I didn't think it possible for my powers to act up so I went home to quickly grab my sword so no one got suspicious.

Then later at night, I would figure out the questions filling my mind: Where the heck did Marabella go? How did she get there? And why?