Nancy Drew: The Castle & The Masquerade

The Necklace IV

Nancy crumpled the paper in annoyance. This would set back her investigation time and in essence shorten her time to relax. She sighed deeply and crumbled herself among her sheets. She held the paper in her hand with a tight grip. While she didn’t want to keep the parchment, she had too. This is her life support. If she didn’t find this boy she wouldn’t have any other clues to further her investigation. Speaking of the boy…

“Ned?” She slipped his name under her breath as she looked up into the ceiling of the room. The room was extravagant, but the compared to the ceiling it was trash. The ceiling was hand painted with the night sky. Golden stars scattered the ominous dark black background. The constellations were there, like Orion’s belt, the archer, and more. “That’s odd…” Nancy focused on the archer constellation it wasn’t in the right place… It was flipped from its real place in the sky. Instead of pointing its arrow at the heart of Scorpius it was pointing far off into the sky… Nancy followed the direction to an empty wall.

She got up from the bed and examined the wall. The wall paper was faded, but in condition, so she immediately saw the line that indicated a secret passage or door. “This place is full of secrets.” She mumbled to herself. She searched for the way to open, but to her dismay she couldn’t find it.

“NANCY!” Nancy twitched from the scream and quickly turned around. To her relief it was just Bess. “What are you doing?” She titled her head trying to see if there was anything behind Nancy. “Secret passage?!” Bess sometimes never realized how right she was.

“I wish!” Nancy smiled to hide the lie.

Bess didn’t see through it like normal. She was too elated and lost in her own world. She sat herself in a chair cozied up next to the fireplace. “You won’t believe my day! I met so much royalty!” Her eyes sparkled as she said the next sentence. “And there was this one prince… and he’s just ughhhh!!”

“Ugh?” Nancy asked curiously as she sat on the chair directly in front of Bess.

“You know! UGH!!”

“No I don’t Bess.” Nancy laughed.

“Well anyways! I came here to tell about the Masquerade that’s going on tomorrow!” Bess squeaked excitedly.

“A masquerade?!” Nancy asked in confusion. “What does that have to do anything with the investigation?”

“It has everything to do with the investigation, silly!!” Bess laughed. “But I’m so excited!! I have to find a dress in that little room from earlier. You think your aunt would let me go in there again?! I mean, I didn’t pack anything fit for a masquerade!!!!” Bess was getting distracted.

“BESS!” Nancy snapped in a motherly tone. “Focus! Why do you say that?”

“Oh sorry! Because you know the stolen diamond?” Bess asked as if Nancy didn’t already now. Nancy nodded in reply. “Well...” She hesitated looking straight into Nancy’s eyes with all seriousness now. “It has a sister. They’re called the sister diamonds because a long time ago it was just on diamond. But something happened which cause the crystal to split into two. The first one was created into a ring which was stolen, and the other one was made into a necklace." It seemed like Bess actually did her homework and wasn't just canoodling with royals.

"What happened to the necklace? If we had it we can lure the criminals who stole the ring out." Nancy explained.

"Lucky for you, it'll be at the masquerade ball!" Bess grinned widely. "It's one of the main attractions."

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Nancy smiled. "Bess you'll go and look out on the guest, and I'll work around the kitchen and see if there's any suspicious activities with the help." She proposed.

"Nanccyyy! You have to come as a guest!' Bess whined. "You'll be wearing a mask anyways! No one will notice you!!"

"I'm not here for fun Bess...well initially I was, but once we get this case over with I promise I will relax that you won't even recognize." Nancy said reassuringly as she nudged Bess out of the room. She had to get busy planning for tomorrow. "Why don't you go look for a dress in that room!"

Bess perked up and quickly jolted down the hallway to find the old room

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THE DAY OF THE BALL

"Bess!" Nancy opened the door as pulled the tray into the grand room. In the middle was a four-poster bed with a warm crackling fire in front of it. On the bed was a terrible looking Bess. Nancy pushed the cart next to Bess's bed and served the sick girl some soup. "What happened?"

"I don't know? The flu I guess, but I think it's more like food poisoning." She shook her head grimacing at the sight of the green stew. "I'm good."

Nancy placed the hot bowl next to the vintage candle lamp that was flickering in the dimly lit room. She replayed the past week and knew Bess's food poisoning probably wasn't just bad luck. "Bess...how did you find all that information about the necklace and the ball?"

"I asked around..." Bess replied weakly.

"Probably too much. I think someone noticed you being too nosy and took care of you just for the ball..." Nancy concluded.

"Took care of me?!? Nancy!" She asked exasperated. "I'm not dead or anything!"

But Nancy was afraid that she'd get more than food poisoning the next time she messes around. "You're not going to the ball today. It's too dangerous and you're too sick." Nancy sighed at what she was going to say next. "I'll go to the ball..."

Bess smiled. "I already picked you out a dress."

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SORRY ITS BEEN SO LONG. IM SORRY. ;-;

ILL TRY TO UPDATE MORE FREQUENTLY LOVES <3