THE ROYAL CROWN WARS

Chapter Ten

Dean led us through the palace hallways. Every once in a while, we'd pass a guard, who'd raised their brows at us, but no one spoke. Dean stopped at one door and tapped on the metallic sign sitting in the middle of the door.

PLAYROOM

With a huff, Dean glanced up and down the hallway looking for something. "There has to be someone around here somewhere," he muttered. Someone? Who was he looking for?

On the other end of the hallway, a palace guard paced back and forth. Dean frantically waved his hand back and forth until he caught the guard's attention. The guard headed our way, and Dean gave him a soft smile.

What was he doing?

Jerking the door open, Dean gestured for us to go inside. "I don't know what the two of you are up to, but spending your Christmas break in the library is weird. Why don't the two of you play some video games or something?"

Was he seriously suggesting we spend our time playing video games?

With a huff, I stormed into the room. The room was gigantic and painted purple and pink. Large flat-screen TVs lined the walls with various video game consoles sitting on a little table. Bean bag chairs and rolling computer chairs were scattered across the blue carpet, along with some balls.

The Playroom was probably every kid's dream, and probably even some adults. Normally I loved being in here with Lizzie, but not right now.

Lizzie crossed her arms across her chest. "You know, I think it's pretty weird that you want us to play video games instead of reading. It doesn't sound very responsible."

He scoffed. "If I believed the two of you were just reading then I would've left you there. I think the two of you are up to something. Stay in here for a little bit, so I don't have to tell your dads."

Tell our dads!? I thought he was cool.

Dean turned the guards. "Don't let them leave for a while. They need some time in here."

"They do?" The guard's brow rose.

He nodded. "They do. I'll explain later." He slammed the door shut.

Pouting, I plopped down into one of the bean bag chairs. "By the time we get a chance to go back to the library, you'll have gone home. How am I supposed to do this by myself?"

"Hey," said Lizzie. "You've just got to relax."

My eyes narrowed. "Relax? How am I supposed to relax? If we don't find the crown jewels, I'm going to boarding school, and the country is going to war! And... I'm really scared."

People die in wars. And, this was a really stupid reason to go to war.

Lizzie sat down in the bean bag chair next to me. "Nothing like that is going to happen to you, alright? Look, after dinner when everyone is relaxing, we're going to sneak down to the library and take the blueprints. Then we're going to get everything that we need to go into the secret passageway tomorrow."

"You...You'll be going home in a few hours," I reminded her.

"Oh yeah," she muttered.

I pressed my lips together. "What if you stayed the night?"

"Yeah," Lizzie said. "All I have to do is beg Alexandria to convince my dad to let me sleepover. It's going to take some time, but I think we can do it."