It's You and Me Forever || Book 3 || Mal

Chapter 6

They got to the castle and went inside as Mal and Dude led the way through the hallways.

"Y/N!" Mal called out as they turned a corner.

"This way." Dude called back to the group as he ran ahead of them.

"Y/N could be asleep anywhere." Mal exclaimed with a huff.

"Or turned to stone." Celia added causing everyone to look at her.

"Okay." Evie whispered as she put a hand over Celia's mouth.

"Y/N!" Mal called out again.

"I got a scent." Dude told the group from the end of the hallway. "Very pungent perfume. Easy to track. Follow me, people."

"That's great, Dude." Jay said in relief.

"FYI, I give great cuddles, too." Dude added.

"Really?" Gil asked in awe as the group continued down the hallway. "I never had a pet growing up. Well, except for the elk head in Dad's man cave but that wasn't..."

"Hold up." Uma cut in causing the group to stop and look at what she was looking at. They saw long scratch marks on the wall and one of the paintings broken in half. "What's this?"

"Uh... Any chance this was already there?" Carlos asked Mal as he pointed to the painting.

"And follow me." Dude told the group before going down another hallway.

"Y/N! Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!" Mal called out as they walked down the hallway before coming to a stop in front of a pair of doors.

Mal opened the doors to reveal a big room with an arched ceiling made of stained glass. The room had suits of armor displayed all along the walls in the room. 

The group walked into the room as Evie turned to Celia. "Stay here, okay?" Evie softly told Celia who nodded and stayed in the doorway as Evie followed the others in the room.

"I can feel you lurking." Harry said as he felt Jay standing behind him as Harry touched a sword one of the suits of armor was holding.

"Good." Jay told Harry as he crossed his arms.

"So you can track, cuddle, and talk." Gil said with a grin as he scratched Dude's chin. "Hey, do you think his puppies would be able to talk, too?"

"Alright, man." Carlos said with a grin as he patted Gil's shoulder. "He's taken. You want a dog, adopt a rescue."

"Talking puppies." Dude laughed as Carlos and Gil walked away. "That's crazy."

"I bet you lost some sleep thinking about me on the loose, huh?" Uma asked Mal with a smirk as they led the way to the back of the room.

"No. Dragons don't really lose sleep." Mal said as they came to a stop. "I wonder what fried octopus tastes like." Mal smirked causing Uma to laugh sarcastically.

"Okay. Why do we not do this?" Evie asked Mal and Uma as she stood in between the two.

"We're celebrating our differences." Uma reminded Evie.

As the girls were distracted, Harry saw pink smoke coming out of the suit of armor in front of them.

"I believe we're being challenged." Harry told the girls causing Uma to hold up a hand, not looking away from Mal and Evie.

"Let's split up and look for Audrey." Uma suggested.

"That makes absolutely no sense." Mal told Uma. "Unless you give me my ember she's gonna spell you."

"Girls!" Harry cut in causing them to look at him. "We have a situation here." 

The group turned to look at the suit of armor as it started to move, causing them to back up in shock.