Stolen

New faces

We walked down many halls which all looked the same to me. I looked down one hall which looked particularly pretty to me. There were windows all down the hallway which showed the forest and there was a door at the end, which I wondered if it lead to outside. All of the sudden, I ran into something - or someone. I had been paying so much attention to the other hallway, I hadn't looked forward and watched where I was going.

I stumbled backwards a bit and whoever it was grabbed my arms to steady me. I looked up. To my embarrassment I noticed that it was the prince. I blushed furiously.

"I am so sorry." I apologized, bowing slightly. "I wasn't watching where I was going. Please forgive me, your highness." I looked up to see him smirking.

"It's quite alright." He laughed. I sighed in relief. "Where are you headed so quickly?"

"I'm bringing this cleaning supplies back." I told him, I, then, remembered my appearance. "I'm sorry. I look like a mess." I apologized again. He looked down at the dirt on my dress. He was about to say something. "Excuse me, your highness, I should get dressed in better clothes." I quickly bowed again and slipped out of his grip, running after Gianna, who I knew was laughing at me.

We put the supplies away and she got me fixed with a new dress. I thanked her immediately and followed her to her room, the room I had woken up in, which I found out was the hospital wing. I was asking her millions of questions about the castle.

"Are we allowed outside?" I questioned her.

"Only if you're being good. If you want to go outside alone, you need the King's approval, and you can only go in the garden. If you're going with a guard or someone royal, then you need permission from me. I'm kind of in charge of all the girls." She answered, laughing a little.

"Is there any way we can go down to the town?" I asked, hopefully. She sighed and gave me a sad look, my heart plummeted.

"I didn't even know they were getting girls from this town. Normally they only get girls from towns far away so that the people here don't know whats going on. The girls then normally don't have a need to go down to the town. Now that we're getting girls from here, I don't think they'll allow you to go outside simply because it'll make the townspeople mad." She guessed. "I'm betting the people in town are figuring out what's happening right now and are already mad. That's why Prince Niall said he might need to go down to the town and talk to the people. Hopefully he can convince them that everything will be alright."

"I doubt it." I muttered.

"What?" She asked me. "Why?"

"Him going down there won't make things better. Royalty isn't as respected as it once was. That's why I was so surprised when Prince Niall was so kind to you. Normally royalty isn't kind to anyone but other royals." I tried to explain. She nodded, grimly.

"It's been quite a while since I've been outside in the town." She told me.

I helped her do her regular duties. It was evening when I checked the time again. Gianna informed me that I should go to my room and wait to be summoned to dinner. She had to go set the tables and put the food out. So we parted ways after she gave me instructions on how to get back to my room. I ran back to my room and realized how hungry I actually was.

After waiting maybe 20 minutes, I heard a knock on my door. I shot up and hurried to the door.

"Time for dinner." A servant boy told me once I had opened the door.

"Thank you." I curtsied. He smiled and began to walk away. "Wait!" I called, he turned around. "Erm - how exactly do I - uh - get to the dining hall?" He chuckled.

"I'll show you." He gestured for me to follow him and he led me through many hallways. "My names Louis, what's your name?"

"Violet." I answered.

"Where are you from?" He asked me.

"The town here." He gave me a strange look but didn't say anything. "Have you worked here your whole life?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I grew up here; in the castle. Been a servant my whole life. What's it like? In the town I mean." He wondered.

"It's alright. It's no where near this nice or fancy, but its home. I love it there." I told him. I informed him about all the different stores and shops. I told him about the different kinds of people and the different kinds of places. I told him about my secret places I went to escape people, and I told him of where the kids would play. It was nice to talk to someone about my town, someone who was interested. It made me feel calm inside.

We got to the dining hall and he said goodbye. I thanked him for showing me around and letting me talk to him, and then we parted ways.

I walked into the dining hall to see many girls. They all had fancy dresses on, but they all looked confused like me. I walked over to an empty seat next to a girl with blonde hair. She smiled at me and nodded when I asked if the spot was open.

"Hey." I greeted her.

"Hello." She said warmly, she had an accent that I didn't recognize but I immediately fell in love with it. "My name's Perrie!"

"I like that name. My name's Violet! Where are you from?"

"I'm from the village Staerdale. It's quite far away." She informed me.

"Cool! Is it nice there?" I asked her. She nodded, telling me all about the warm weather and the nice ocean. I told her about my village once she asked. She thought it was interesting I was from this town but hadn't known why girls were being taken. All I could do was shrug because it made no sense to me.

Soon dinner was served and we all dug in. Perrie and I talked all dinner and I found out more about her. She was my same age and she loved music. She loved singing and playing instruments. She liked books and doing outdoor adventures. I told her all about me and what I liked to do. We found out we had rooms fairly close to each other and decided to meet up tomorrow and talk. Next to us was a girl named Camilla, she was from a village called Langdale. It was apparently very cold there and it was also quite far away. We all decided to meet up in the morning and then go to lunch together.

After dinner, I was very full - I hadn't had a full meal like that in a long while. I decided to go on a walk and explore the castle, and then go to sleep.