Once Upon A Tale (Published Amazon)

Chapter Seven

...Aurora's Dream...

Scottish Highlands - 2017

Aurora had been at the castle now for three months. Jade and Jake had been gone for two days to visit their grandmother who was not well. Unfortunately, they had taken Duke with them. Aurora had to find things to amuse herself through the day. Her mother was busy working and Greg had found a job as part of the castle security. His firefighter experience was extremely useful. Aurora wandered over to the library. It was her favorite place in the whole castle. The room was vast and full of books dating back over a hundred years. She took the book she was currently reading and sat on the couch in the bay window and looked out at the sea. It was one of those inside days where the wind blew a gale and the clouds made it look dark and eerie. The fireplace was going and the room was toasty warm. As she read, her eyes began to close and her book dropped onto her lap.

A little boy around her age stood in front of her.

"Who are you?" She asked him.

"I'm Patrick, I live here." He told her.

"Here in the castle?" She asked confused. "I haven't seen you around."

"Well, this is my home. I was born here." The little boy stood tall and looked down at the little girl sitting in his favourite spot.

"Who are you?" He asked her.

"I'm Aurora. I live in one of the cottages on the grounds. My mother works in the kitchen here." She told him. He looked at her and smiled.

"Want to see what I found?" He asked her. "But you have to keep it a secret." He told her. She nodded her head and got up to follow him.

"I found the first entrance a couple months ago in my room, but the other day I came across this one." He walked towards the fireplace and stopped at the closest bookcase with a ladder to the second floor or books. He began to climb and Aurora followed him. They walked along the rows of books until he stopped at a book and pulled it out. He opened it up and handed it to Aurora.

"This is where I left a clue to the first entrance." Aurora looked at the piece of old paper tucked into the centre of the book. It read; North wing, fourth floor, third room on the left with the view of the sea. Push the right side of the fireplace forwards to open. Aurora looked at Patrick confused.

"To open what?" She asked him.

"I'll show you." They began to walk to the far corner of the second floor bookcase. Patrick stopped and turned smiling at Aurora. "Notice how the books don't go up so high on this bookcase?" Aurora nodded looking up and around at the obvious difference she had not noticed before. It was one of those things people did not notice unless it was pointed out to them.

"Watch this." Patrick bent down and pushed the panelling on the bottom of the case. There was a click and the bookcase started to swing back and forth. Patrick pushed it and it swung open to reveal an entrance to a tunnel.

"Oh my god, Patrick this is amazing." Aurora gasped. He smiled at her and stepped in. She followed and Patrick pushed a brick from the other side and the doorway closed.

"Patrick, it's very dark in here." Aurora said sounding a little scared.

"It's alright Aurora, I have a light." An old-fashioned torch hanging on the wall suddenly lit up and Patrick lifted it and smiled at Aurora. "Let me show you around my secret hiding place." They descended the stone steps down a narrow walkway until they reached a small circular room. From this room, there were two other hallways and the one they had just come from.