"This is where my mom and dad studied!" Dylan looks at them with wide eyes. "But not this year. Maybe...." He takes the laptop from James and goes two years back, "Yes! They were seniors. My parents were Arthur's seniors!"
"This really can't be a coincidence!" Clive sits down with a tired expression.
"Was there something that our parents were hiding from us?" James asks Dylan, begging for answers.
"One way to find out." Dylan looks at the whole envelope which James had brought. It had Arthur's letter, the pendant and some really old pages wrapped in transparent plastic.
"Did you read this?" Dylan asks looking at James.
"No. I wanted to wait to read it with you. Somehow I felt that it was connected to the castle." James assures Dylan.
"Clive, can you bring Benjamin's diary?"
Clive doesn't need to be told and rushes out of the room. Dylan opens the plastic case and removes those papers. They were tattered but still readable.
"Is it......?" James starts to speak as his eyes turn wide with realization.
"Yes. King Benjamin's diary pages. When I glanced at them, I knew it was it but I had to confirm." Dylan nods.
Clive rushes back in and Dylan matches the handwriting of the diary with the pages. With the dates matching, they could see that they were torn from the diary.
"This means that James's father knew about Castle Nale? And somehow he got those?" Clive asks confused.
"Or maybe, someone stole them. It must have something important don't you think?" James puts forth a question. "And if they are poems, Dylan can decode them to see if they are really important or no."
Dylan nods as he gets down to business. Till then James and Dylan try to connect the dots.
"There are only two pages and only two poems. But they are so different from each other." Dylan gets up from his chair after some brainstorming and paces around the room.
"The first poem says
Neither of us is happy
but neither of us wants to leave
so we keep breaking one another
and calling it love."
"It is sad longing for freedom from the 'so-called love'. Since it was written by Benjamin, it might be directed to Queen Leila. We already know that Benjamin and Leila weren't in love but for the sake of the kingdom they had to pretend. It is pretty much directed to her. But....." Dylan scratches his head and paces more around his room.
"The second one is quite interesting. We know that Benjamin knew about Queen Leila and how she was a witch. But somehow he thought that she must have done some magic inside the palace.
You convince yourself that this was necessary, this darkness.
that it was the only way to survive.
to grow stronger than those who hurt you.
It consumed your mind, your heart, your soul.
You let that power in,
let it run in your every vein,
let it make your eyes black as the night.
But, my darling, don't lie to me.
don't tell me you didn't enjoy the fear in their eyes,
the screams of the crowd.
When you welcomed the dark,
don't tell me that it didn't feel unbelievably right.
When the crown was placed in your hands
you are a liar if you claim that it was necessary.
No.
this was your plan all along, wasn't it?"
"But the crown wasn't given to her, right? It was given to King Samuel, her trueborn son." Clive clarifies.
"But maybe he got the crown from her." James realizes. "Leila must have blackmailed Benjamin with his truth of another child coming from low-level blood isn't it?"
"It makes sense. This poem looks like Benjamin realizes he was at fault. He should have banished her when he had the choice. She kept saying that whatever she did was for the good of the nation, but it was just to satisfy her bloodlust."
"If you watch clearly, the handwriting seems a bit shakier here. We know that Benjamin found out about everything during his death bed and that's when he must have written this." Dylan describes.
"So let me get this straight? James's father (Arthur) and Logan's father (Harvey) are somehow connected to Castle Nale and they were buddies with Dylan's parents. James's father has missing pages to Benjamin's diary which could mean he was here, in Castle Nale." Clive blabbers.
"And that's why dad knew that code and used it as a password to his bank locker!" James's brows shut up in realization.
"And Noah is someone that shouldn't be trusted," Dylan adds.
Clive looks at him sympathetically, "I am sorry Dylan. But I keep thinking we should tell about all of this to someone. Maybe William?"
"No! We can't and we shouldn't!" James stops Clive. "Noah can convince him that we are lying and he will also have information that we are onto him. We must be very careful around Noah. No one mentions a thing to him."
Clive and Dylan nod. It's true that if Noah could do so much, he could definitely turn the tables on them.
"So what do we do now?" Clive asks.
"How about we keep exploring Castle Nale? The month is ending and you remember the deal right?" Dylan looks at James.
"Yes. Solid evidence or the whole expedition is off." James nods.
"And Clive, you need to check up on Logan. I have a feeling he must know a lot about all this." Dylan says.
"He might not talk." Clive folds his hands on his chest.
"Then make him. I know for a fact that he isn't involved in this. His dad must be." James gives him a nod.
Clive finally says goodbye to them and closes the door behind him.
"It is going to be a roller coaster ride," James says as he gets into the bed with Dylan.
"Wait, why are you coming here? Go to your room!" Dylan blushingly pushes James but he holds him tighter.
"NO! I don't want to!" He whines like a small kid. "Now sleep!" He switches off the light and puts the blanket on Dylan. Within minutes, Dylan could hear his cute snores.
"We will fight this. We will fight this together." Dylan whispers into his ear before drifting off to a merry sleep.
Dream
"Walter! What if we get caught?" Rufus panics as Walter is running with him, hands in hands.
"Oh come on Rufus! We are finally having some fun." Walter keeps running.
They keep running until their legs are tired. They keep running until they fall when their legs get caught in the fallen twigs. They were panting as they tried to get up. Rufus held Walter's hand.
"Don't let me go," Rufus says as Walter pulls him up.
They laugh looking at each other's faces.
"You look funny." Walter removes bits of twigs from Rufus's hair as a pink blush creeps on his face.
"It's all your fault, Walter." Rufus pouts again. "You promised me you would show something pretty."
"And I will. Look at that." Walter points at the lake in front of them. It was just an ordinary lake but what made it precious was the moon that was touching its surface. It lit up the whole lake. It definitely was something that Rufus has never seen before.
"This...this is so beautiful," Rufus exclaims, looking at the lake and its scenic view.
"It is. So so precious and beautiful." Walter replies but not looking at the view. He was looking at the boy who had gleaming eyes and moonlit face.
Rufus was beautiful to him.
Dream Ends
YOU ARE READING
Mystery Hunt (Complete - Under Major Editing)
Mystery / Thriller"They say that the loveliest angels make the cruelest demons and my darling; you were so kind and beautiful before they dragged you to hell. Your fall wasn't an accident; you were chosen for the damned." The curse was set lifetimes ago. But why is D...
