Always Be Appreciative of Opposable Thumbs

Chapter Forty-Three: Magical Ghosts?

 "Can you see where she is?"

Hugo sighed and turned to glare at Sera, but it was hard to do when he couldn't actually see her. "I told you already: I'm the map, and I'm invisible. Hence, the map is also invisible."

A scoff came from the space where he guessed Sera was. "Don't have to make up excuses. Could just say you don't know."

There was a crash, and they both spun around—well, Hugo assumed Sera turned around—to see a shattered vase and a wobbling table. "Oops. Sorry," came Jyoji's voice.

Glancing about the empty dining room, Hugo let out a relieved breath. They hadn't alerted any of the servants. When he returned his attention to the broken vase, he found the pieces sweeping themselves under the large rug in the center of the room, which was magically lifting itself up.

"Geez, Jyoji, watch those long arms of yours," Sera said.

"I'm sorry, I'm not used to not being able to see them."

"Let's just keep going, and try not to cause any more trouble," Hugo said as he made his way towards the door.

Sera cackled behind him. "Seriously? No more trouble? We just drugged the king's krakens, broke into his kitchen, tied up his cook, and destroyed what could possibly have been a priceless heirloom vase. And now we're going to steal an enchanted goose and a wish-granting Fairy. We're all sorts of trouble."

"Would you shut up before someone hears you?"

There was a loud thud, and when Hugo turned around again, he noticed that the long and heavy table was askew and that one of the candelabra lining it was floating in the air.

"Jyoji!" Hugo hissed.

"Sorry! I'll just—"

A sharp gasp came from the doorway. Hugo cringed as he slowly turned to find a young servant girl with a silver platter in her hands staring in horror at the floating candelabra. Her chest heaved, and she flapped her mouth wordlessly.

"Do not be afraid, m'lady!" Jyoji called out. "Nothing broken. No candelabra, and especially no vases. See?"

The candelabra floated back onto the table, but rather than reassure the servant girl, the movement and disembodied voice only proved to terrify her further. Her eyes went wide, and she began to visibly shake.

"M'lady, please—"

An ear-splitting scream pierced the air as the servant girl dropped the silver platter and fled. The lid of the fallen platter lifted into the air to reveal the ruined meal beneath it.

"Meat pasties?" Sera said.

"Come on, we have to find Willow and get out of here before it's too late," Hugo said, running for the door.

Assuming that the others were behind him, he hurried into the hallway without any idea of where he was going. When had they applied the invisibility mixture? How much longer did they have? On the one hand, being visible would make it easier to find Willow. But then again, it would also make it easier for people in the castle to find them.

The servant girl came back down the hall, still shaking and babbling about a ghost, only now she had two guards with her—and a man with an eyepatch and a limp.

Hugo flattened himself against the wall as they rushed by.

"I swear, I saw it floating in the middle of the room," the servant girl insisted. "All on its own! And then this voice spoke to me. It even called me 'm'lady.'"

"A chivalrous ghost?" muttered one of the guards.

The other guard chuckled, but the man with the eyepatch remained focused, not even cracking a smile. "Just lead the way, girl," he said, his voice as cold as the stone Hugo was pressed up against.