Inner Darkness (Book 2 of Dragonfire series)

Chapter 8

I set my alarm early so I had time to look nice for the Day of the Royals. Stella agreed to come with me to spy on Cullen. Since it was such a popular event, the school arranged for busses to take everyone over to Spell Stadium throughout the day. Cullen and Amirah left for the stadium early to meet with the other royal families. The actual event didn't start until around four, but there was a big festival in the city that went all day. Stella and I decided to get on a bus around noon.

"So wait, what are we exactly doing again?" Stella crossed her arms and looked around the bus with a disgusted look.

"We're going to find out where Cullen and Amirah's families are and see if we hear anything that proves there is something going on between them." I thought about how ridiculous my plan was.

"Alena, don't you think this is a bit much? We could get arrested for sneaking into the Royal's quarters!"

"We won't, I promise. If anyone questions us, say we're reporters from Magix magazine trying to get an interview with Princess Amirah." The bus stopped and we quickly walked onto the street. Colorful tents lined the streets and performers danced in the blocked off roads. People of all different realms had come to see this event. Stella wanted to look around and shop, so we did that for a few hours. Finally, at three o'clock, the doors to the stadium opened. We joined the group of people flooding into the building.

"Stel, keep your eyes open for any back entrances!" We followed a group of people up a set of stairs leading to the second floor. As the group entered into the actual stadium, Stella and I continued down the hallway. At the end was a door labeled Private. It was locked, so I used a little magic to open it.

"Alena are you sure we're going the right way?" Stella said in a poor attempt to whisper.

"Don't talk so loud! And no, I'm not sure where we're going." Suddenly, we heard voices coming from where the hallway curved to the left. We crept up to the end and peeked our heads around the corner. A tall man wearing lavish clothing stood at the end with a metal cup in his hands. He had thick, black curly hair and a burly beard.

"Don't worry Isabella, there are no reporters out here. There is no need to be so paranoid!" The man walked back into the room and closed the door.

"Is it just me, or does he look exactly like Cullen?" Stella smiled and shook her head in agreement. We slowly crept down the hallway and stood with our ears pressed to the door.

"You look great honey, I'm so proud of you! Why don't you go next door and check on Amirah and her family?" I looked at Stella frantically as I heard footsteps on the other side of the door. She quickly grabbed my wrist and said a few magic words as the door opened abruptly in front of us. We stepped out of his way, and as I was about to start explaining, Cullen walked right by us as if we weren't even there.

"Wha-" Stella placed her hand over my mouth before I cloud finish. Cullen stopped as he was about to open the door at the end of the hallway, and looked over his shoulder. After a quick examination, he proceeded to knock on the door.

"Cullen, we are running a bit late. Please guide your family to their seats, we will meet up with you soon." That is definitely Amirah's voice. Cullen returned to his room to escourt his family to their seats.

"Why can't he see us?" I asked Stella once I knew we were alone.

"I cast a temporary spell that made us invisible. You dragged me into this mess, I can't let us get caught this soon!" I laughed and shook my head in amazement.

"Good thinking Stel," Our conversation was cut short as we heard muffled voices coming from behind the door at the end of the hallway. We snuck into the room Cullen was in as her family walked down the hallway.