The Marble Tower

-36-

"So what did she say?"

"Hmm?"

Robyn was setting up his tent when he heard Richard go up to Raquel and ask the question. He had learned over the years to listen, and that's exactly what he was doing now. Though Raquel and Richard where his friends, nobody really trusted anybody else in the group. And to be honest, Robyn needed to figure out who he could trust. Everything about this was giving him a bad feeling. Iris and her mysterious chat with Charles. This Aaliyah girl and why she was there. Why she seemed so skittish around Charles, Draco, and the twins. Why she trusted Iris so much. And he couldn't help but hope that Richard was talking about at least one of the illusive girls and that this conversation could help him figure things out.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I never said I didn't."

"So when where you planning on telling me about your conversation with Aalyiah?"

Raquel just continued to hum and unload her bags.

"Raquel talk to me."

Raquel sighed, "She didn't know what else to do."

There was a pause before either of them spoke, everybody was confused by this person that they had taken on, and it was obvious that Richard wanted to know more, but it seemed like Raquel didn't even know more than what she had said. He knew her, she wasn't one for leaving out details.

Though he couldn't think of why staying wouldn't be an option, she seemed to have a pretty good life. Living near the palace, how early she had gone to sleep, how she looked like she hadn't worked a day in her life. She only ate small amounts during their meal times, almost as if she thought that the food would always be there. She usually just left anything that she didn't leave next to were she had been sitting and would turn in early. Once she was gone what she had left behind was fair game.

So if she had been that taken care of, why wouldn't she have stayed?