Royal Academy Diaries II

The Strongest Princess ⚜ Ch. 7

Devna was sleeping fitfully, her dreams frought with shouts and running. It took a while for her to realize that the sounds were real.

She sat up in bed, blinking in the darkness. Her roommates were gathered by the door, trying to hear what happened.

"What's going on?" she asked groggily, getting up.

"Someone's gone missing," Zanele said, fear in her voice. "They're thinking it was a kidnapping."

All sleep quickly fled from her. "What? Who was it?"

"One of the maids. The one whose hair is always in that low bun."

It took a moment to process. "Elle. Oh no..." Grabbing her sword, she pushed past the others. Someone had found out she was here. But how? Her mind suddenly jumped to the three visiting siblings from earlier. Perhaps their interest wasn't so innocent after all.

Worried, she ran out of the dorm and found the guards talking.

"There appears to have been a struggle," one was saying.

Her suspicions were confirmed when another said, "We haven't been able to locate the guests either. They are the prime suspects."

Devna hid around the corner, trying to formulate a plan. Where would they have gone that they hadn't been noticed? How familiar were they with the castle? Her mind raced. There were so many classrooms, so many hallways. If the guards were doing a sweep, what might they miss? What had she missed?

Her mind thought back over the last day. Recalling where they'd met the three guests earlier, she recalled that they were standing by the door on the corner that no one ever seemed to use. A closet, probably.

She gasped aloud. How had she missed it? She passed that door every day, never giving it a second glance. What if that was one of the doors her keys unlocked?

In a desperate move, she ran back to her room, got the keys, and rushed back into the main part of the castle. The guards paid her little mind as they rushed around, and she found herself alone in the hall. The moonlight shone on the keyhole that might not have been unlocked in decades, a century even.

She only hoped that this could give her an edge, and find Elle before something bad happened to her. Sliding the key into the lock, she turned it, hearing the inner mechanisms clink back. The door was unlocked. She pulled the handle and looked into the murky darkness. Halfway down the stairs was the window to nowhere.

The princess slipped inside, her sword drawn. She desperately hoped her skill was enough to save her friend.

As she went down the long-forgotten passage, she didn't notice that the door didn't close fully behind her. And she didn't hear a pair of footsteps coming down the stairs.