Secrets of the Underwater Dome

Chapter 5: Exploring the castle

Annalise and Barney walked down the left corridor, which had different doors bordering the walls. Annalise opened a rather small one and bent down on two knees to peer inside. All she could see through the small hap was a room about the same size as the meeting room but square instead of round. Annalise straightened up and continued to take small, slow steps down the corridor.

Waylan and Barry had gone straight down the passageway, with glowing oil lamps screened into the walls. Instead of countless doors lining the walls, it was just one long passage that echoed their every step. At the end of the passageway was a form with six different passageways leading of away. They turned to the one furthest from them, which led down an iron staircase with sandstone walls.

Nate walked cautiously up the winding staircase which felt like lasted forever. Panting, he reached the final wooden step. He treaded up onto the landing which had a maroon-red rug eagle spread upon the floor. Nate turned to the first door on his right which had an emerald green, four-poster bed in the middle of the room, with cushions that looked as comfortable as sleeping on sand. In the corner is a vanity with brushes, powders, and hair clips scattered on the surface.

Annalise and Barney reached the end of the corridor after quickly peeing inside each little door which had contents of nothing of interest to them. Annalise spoke to Barney to find out more about the SaltSea Plantae, she asked questions like, "Tell me about the queen and the monarchy?" and "Do you ever venture out of the dome?". Barney answered almost all of Annalise's questions, even "Do you think anyone is helping Sol- I mean the evil fairy from inside the dome?". Barney replied, "Yes, most definitely and I think it is someone inside this palace, someone with power but someone also wanting revenge".

Waylan and Barry ended up at the bottom of the stairs with blisters burning their feet from walking down so many stairs, "500 stairs at least there" said Barry breathing heavily. It looked like they had entered the dungeons as it was dark and gloomy. Waylan walked towards the wall and put a hand to it. The walls felt soggy and damp and the floor felt spongy as they moved forward. "Who do they keep down here?" Waylan asked, to which Barry replied "Offenders of the law mostly". "How would you offend the law here?" Waylan said curiously, "stealing, queen family offended" he replied. "Okay, and what did you mean by mostly," Waylan said screwing up his face to think. "People unfairly in there" Barry replied in his broken sentences. "Wait, going back a bit, you said queen's family, she has a family?" "Yes, family she has, daughter she has," Barry said in his squeaky voice.

Nate exited the bedroom and turned to the door on his left and entered but all he could see was more and more stairs. Sighing Nate began to climb thinking that what would the queen want to hise up more stairs? But these stairs weren't like the main stairs, they looked less rough and had a lilac fabric rug covering them. "10 more stairs to go" Nate panted while counting, "5 more stairs", "1 more stairs" he whispered to himself, in case anyone was listening. A barrister lined the edges of the stairs and cautiously Nate peered over the top to see what was in there. But in this periwinkle, the lilac room was not what he had expected. It wasn't another empty, minimalistic royal room, no, it was a normal teenage girl's room. Well, you couldn't call it exactly awkward. You might be wondering how he knows. It's because the girl is in that room.

"Who do you think would want revenge?" Annalise wondered allowed, "Either the queen's daughter, Archie Hamsley, or Tomos Cromwell." Barney vocalized. "Who is Archie Hamsley?" Annalise thought and said. "He is the first person Queen Antinea Abyssal imprisoned", "What was he imprisoned for", "For adding a bus stop too close to the palace," Barney said rolling his eyes. "What? Who is Tomos Cromwell" Annalise said. "He is one of the guards, everyone knows he hates the queen but only the queen doesn't know", "I think even the queen's daughter knows" Barry said, stroking his chin wonderingly. "The queen's daughter, you said she would also want revenge, why?" Annalise asked, "Because the queen is the strictest on her, she hasn't been away from the castle grounds in over 7 years, I'm sure she wants to at least see the rest of SaltSea Plantae," Barry said looking at his feet uncomfortably. "What's her name?" "The queens daughter's name is Nathalia Abyssal" he said. "How old is Nathalia Abyssal?" Annalise said. "She is 14 and before you ask, because I know you are going to, the last time she went out, she escaped, on her birthday" "When she was seven" he added. "Yup, I can do the maths," Annalise said, actually settling herself on the floor for a second.

Waylan and Barry entered through the door into the prison-like labyrinth and walked down the first alleyway. There were chains, and metal bars everywhere, and guarding the chains were the same guards wearing the grey cloaks. Without having time to run and hide, a guard walked slowly and heavily towards them, looking them up and down, from the tips of their heads to the very end of their shoes. "What you doin' down 'ere" growled the guard. "Uhh" Waylan said trembling under his stare, "I, um, have come to see my father," he said not looking the guard in the eye and instead trying to make eye contact with Barry who was too busy picking at his long, dirty fingernails. "Father, who is your father," the guard said, "Archie Hamsley," Barry said not looking up, still engaged in his fingernails. "Alrigh' follow me" The guard said whipping around so all they could see was the back of their cloaks and the symbol on the back which was a crown on the waves, embroidered in turquoise thread.

Nate stood, transfixed to the spot. The girl had waist-length golden brown hair, which looked like had been curled at her mother's vanity table, but possibly not by her mother. The girl had her back to Nate, so all he could see was her shiny smooth hair and her baby blue cardigan. The girl's head was bent, her nose in a book, her legs crossed and her elbow leaning on her knee. Nate tried to move but he couldn't so while trying, he accidentally caught his hand on the corner of the banister. Nate stuffed his fist in his mouth and buckled over whimpering. The girl looked up and around her room cautiously slipped off the bed and glided towards where Nate was kneeling clutching his palm. "What are you doing up here?" she said in a soft voice but slightly concerned. "Sorry, I um" Nate couldn't think of anything to say because the cut on his palm was bleeding. "Stand up," she said vaguely, "why?" Nate said not entirely paying attention. "Because your hand is bleeding and you need to put something on it."