Chapter One

I sat on the couch with my arms crossed over my chest in utter disbelief. This guy was really incredible. I didn’t even know what to say to him. He allowed me my silence.
“You can’t honestly believe that this plan will work?” I made sure that my astonishment showed in each word.
Lee, short for Liam, just smiled childishly at me. Lee had never spent a single day of his life doing anything productive. He spent his days figuring out ways to wreak havoc and annoy anyone he could. Something that being royalty had allowed him to get away with.
Aeron, our older brother, didn’t have much patience for his games. But then, being the oldest, Aeron was raised much differently than us. He was raised as a warrior and leader. He was raised to be the heir of our father’s entire providence. Whereas Lee and I, well, we were just raised to be spoiled rotten. Lee however took the cake when it came to the rotten part.
“We will be punished for months, you know that right?” I still couldn’t believe it. This was risky, even for him. Yet, there was something almost thrilling about it. I could see where Lee got the appeal. I knew that I should have turned him down, we were both going to fry for this one, but I couldn’t resist.
I followed Lee threw the halls walking as quietly as possible. It would be tricky to get there and back without being seen. There were so many things that could go wrong. First off, the castle is patrolled continuously by the Royal Guard. They patrol the grounds as well as the castle itself. Secondly, there are a large number of servants throughout the castle that work day and night. And thirdly, there was Aeron himself. If we were caught by Aeron, he would be harder on us than our own parents would.
“Don’t they lock that stuff up?” I whispered to Lee, once I was sure we were in the kitchen alone.
“No. Why would they? It’s not like anyone would steal from the King.” Lee responded like I had asked the most stupid question possible.
“The king’s under aged, trouble making children being the one exception.” I grumbled.
Lee turned his head to grin at me. When he did, he bumped into a serving cart, knocking it over and causing the sound of crashing metal to echo loudly. We both instantly froze, listening for anyone who might have heard the noise and come to check it out. After several seconds, neither hearing the sound of someone approaching or voices, I let out a stifled giggle.
“You’re such a klutz.” I teased.
“What are you talking about? You pushed me into it.” He said grinning at me.
“Yeah, considering I didn’t even touch you.”
We started heading forward again and were inches from the cellar door when we heard a voice. It came from right outside the main kitchen door.
“I think it came from inside here.” I recognized the voice. It was one of the kitchen servants. My heart skipped a beat and I looked at Lee in a panic.
Lee was already opening the cellar door and jumping inside, leaving just enough room for me to squeeze by him. Once I was in, he shut the door quickly and silently.
“Get down there. I will stay here. If they find me, I will get them out of here so they won’t find you.” Lee was always looking out for me. Most people thought of him as arrogant and childish, but there wasn’t anything that Lee wouldn’t do for me. I don’t know if it’s because I am his baby sister, or because we are only a year apart in age and very close, or simply because he is usually the cause of my problems anyway. But regardless of why, he had taken the fall for us both on several occasions. I trusted Lee with my life and I was pretty sure he trusted me with his. After all, he never pulled a prank without telling me first.
Once I got to the bottom of the stairs and in the cellar I looked around for the best hiding place. It was dark and hard to see. I didn’t know the cellar’s layout well. There was never a need. The only thing down here is wine and alcohol. Despite the fact that there was little light, and I wasn’t familiar with the cellar, it was easy to see it lacked hiding places. Shelves completely covered the walls, with bottles sitting on them. There was literally nothing in between that could hide someone. My only hope was under the stairs themselves. I sat under the stairs for what felt like an eternity but was probably only minutes. I was still a little panicked. My heart was beating a little bit faster than normal and my hands were feeling clammy. It amazed me how Lee never seemed to get worried. Of course, I think there’s a certain part of Lee that doesn’t mind getting caught because he likes the attention it brings. Finally, I heard Lee descending down the stairs.
“That was close. I can’t believe you knocked over that cart like that. You almost got us caught.” He teased. “Grab as many bottles as you can carry without dropping any. And let’s get out of here before we really do get caught.”
I grabbed three, and he grabbed four. I knew there was no way we would drink this much. Neither of us had ever drank much before. It wouldn’t take nearly this much before we’d pass out but I didn’t ask questions, I just followed his lead. Once in the kitchen again Lee turned right.
“Where are you going?” I asked. The door that leads back to our rooms was to the left. Going right would take us thru the rest of the castle and we would be taking even higher risks of getting caught.
“You didn’t really think just the two of us could drink ALL of this, did you?”
“Obviously not.” I responded. “But wherever you are taking us, is going to get us seen by someone.” I complained. Getting caught was the only pitfall of hanging out with Lee. Unfortunately, getting caught happened a lot more often than not.
“Stop being such a pansy. Just follow me, and stop talking so much or we will definitely be heard.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about myself, you have enough to worry about with those clumsy feet of yours.”
“Funny, you didn’t seem to mind me worrying for you when it was going to keep your ass from getting in trouble.”
“I wouldn’t have had to worry at all if your clumsiness hadn’t brought attention to us in the first place.” Lee’s only response was to roll his eyes.
Once we were back in the main castle our chattering stopped. Lee and I frequently bickered, nothing more than teasing each other. On rare occasions the teasing ends up pissing someone off and a real argument is formed from it, but like I said, it’s rare.
He led us through the halls, taking a long route but one that was less likely to have occupants. Eventually, we came to the door that leads to the courtyard. From there we followed a path that led down into the village. It wasn’t a path that was used by anyone much, mostly the Royal Guard for patrolling. This made me nervous that we would run into someone doing their patrol.
“Hey, Lee?” I asked somewhat sheepishly. I knew Lee didn’t like to talk about Aeron so much.
“What?”
“Why do you think Aeron is so hard on us? It’s not like we really do anything directly to him.” I asked.
“Aeron is just jealous.” His reply was cool and I could tell he didn’t really want to talk about Aeron.
But I pushed anyway. “Why would he be jealous? He’s the one that’s going to inherit the entire Providence of Valhalla and be ruler one day.” It didn’t seem to me that he lacked anything to be jealous of.
“That’s exactly why he’s jealous. He never got to be a teenager. Not really. He’s been training to be king his whole life. He never got to play pranks or sneak to friends houses and get trashed; it wasn’t a responsible thing for a future king to do.”
Suddenly, I felt bad for Aeron. I never thought of the life he had as being hard for him. He always seemed so perfect to be king. He seemed like it was what he wanted, what he was good at. I never even considered that maybe he was good at because he was never given a chance not to be. Maybe being king was what he wanted, because any other choice had been taken from him.
When I saw the first houses of the village approaching, I let out a silent sigh of relief.
From there it was easy to get to our destination unseen. The guards didn’t patrol in the village as thoroughly as the castle. And most of the villagers wouldn’t pay attention to a couple of kids roaming around.
Annabelle was expecting us, so obviously this had been pre-planned. Apparently Annabelle’s parents were both working night shifts in the castle and she was home alone.
We drank most of the night. Annabelle had been a close friend of ours most of our lives. Both of her parents held very high positions in the castle and because of that she was around frequently. She didn’t usually join us in our trouble making though. She knew better. If she got caught, a stunt like this could cause her parents to be fired. Though, it would be unlikely. Our parents knew us well enough to know we didn’t need anyone’s influence to get into trouble.
It was almost dawn before we snuck back into the castle. Sneaking back in was considerably more difficult because of the fact that it was nearly shift change-which means more people moving about- and neither of us could stand and walk all that well. We had to throw ourselves into the bushes to avoid guards twice. And even then it’s surprising our laughing didn’t get us caught.
Once in my own room, it took only seconds for me to crash. I knew that I would have a hangover in the morning. I had never had a hangover before and was hoping it wouldn’t be as bad as I had heard they were. I figured that Lee probably would sleep well past noon so I had plenty of time to recover before he had me out doing something else equally as stupid.

Sitting straight up out of bed, being startled by the door that was storming open, was not the way I had planned on waking. The sound of the door slamming into the wall made me wince.
Aeron was standing before me within seconds. I hadn’t had the time to focus on him entering before he was looming over me. Boy, did he look pissed. It’s not like Lee and I had done anything that terrible. I’m 18 and Lee’s 19; we’re old enough to drink responsibly….somewhat.
“Get up, now!” He ordered.
“What the hell Aeron? Go bug someone else.” I closed my eyes and laid back down. My head was throbbing and the room was spinning. I definitely had a hangover and I was pretty sure I was still drunk. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Aeron or his moods. It felt like I had only been sleeping for minutes.
Aeron grabbed my leg and pulled me from the bed. I crashed onto the floor before I could catch myself. My head felt like it would explode from the inside out. My stomach rolled and I was sure that I would was going to be sick. Any empathy that I might have felt for Aeron last night evaporated about the time I hit the floor.
“Aw! What the hell was that for?” I glared at him wishing I could send him to the deepest pit of hell.
“I said get up. That was a warning. Next time I won’t be so nice.”
“Well, thanks for your outstanding generosity.” I grumbled sarcastically.
When I tried to stand, Aeron grabbed my arm to steady me. Then he threw my cloths that were lying on the floor at me. “Get dressed.” He ordered.
I put my cloths on as ordered, though I didn’t do so without complaint. I then followed him out of my room and into the hall where he continued to march us through the castle. I had asked him several times what this was about but had received no answer. I felt he was over reacting. Last night should not have pissed him off this badly. But then, Aeron was known for his over reactions.
Each step I took made my head pound harder. We hadn’t gone far when I started feeling dizzy. I desperately wanted to stop, just for a second, just until my vision cleared up but I knew better than to ask. It took me several minutes to figure out that something unusual was happening within the castle. We passed none of the usual servants seen in the morning. Granted, they had their own halls and passages to avoid being seen, but even with them they were not completely invisible. The halls were completely empty of servants, but there were twice as many guards hurrying about than normal. The halls were cluttered with guards running in all directions, shouting orders.
“What’s happening? Why are there guards everywhere?” Once again I got no response. Aeron lead me into my father’s office and closed the doors behind us. In the office were our mother and father as well as some of my father’s best guard members. I noticed Annabelle’s father among them and my heart began pounding harder. I was immediately suspicious. Could they really be this angry over last night?
My father rose from his chair, staring at me as though I had committed the worst crime conceivably possible. That’s when I knew this was not about last night. Not in a million years would what we had done cause this kind of a reaction especially from him.
“Liam has left. We know he wouldn’t do so without telling you were he was going. You will tell us where he went, or you will suffer the consequences of covering for him.” My father had never used such a severe tone with me. The look in his eyes was frightening. Between the shock of it and my slightly drunk hangover, it took me several seconds to even understand what he had said.
“What? What are you talking about?” Liam left? Left where? What my father was saying didn’t make any sense. Liam wouldn’t go anywhere; he enjoyed tormenting Aeron too much to leave.
“Adrianna, this is not a joke or a game. Liam, as the Prince, can hardly go wandering the Providence alone and unprotected. He could be in serious danger.” It’s funny how mothers have a way of delivering a terrifying message without lifting their voice or actually implying a threat. Her sentence, though spoken nicer and in a much quieter voice, was just as terrifying as my father’s threats, maybe more so.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The last time I saw Liam he was going to bed. He never said anything about leaving and he wouldn’t leave without telling me. Something is not right. If he’s gone, it wasn’t at his own will.” I knew Liam; he would never leave without telling me. That was without any doubt. The thought of him being gone, was beginning to panic me. I started feeling shaky and my breathing began coming rapidly. How would someone get into the castle and take my brother without being seen? I guess it wouldn’t be impossible if they knew their way around, Lee and I had just done it last night. But why would anyone do it. My father was loved very much by his people and he had few enemies. Kings of the other providences were either friends or feared my father far too much to do anything like this.
“He left a note, Adrianna. He wasn’t taken, he left.” Aeron didn’t seem as angry as he had earlier- I think he could see that I was seconds from hyperventilating- But he still looked at me as though I was a criminal.
“He left a note?” I paused, Trying to make sense of this new information...trying to make sense of everything really. “Can I see it?” I asked my father. I knew that this would not seem real to me until I saw the note myself. I needed to see that it was Liam that had wrote that note. I needed to see that he really had left without saying a word to me. I needed an explanation. But I got none. The note was indeed written in Liam’s handwriting, but it explained nothing. The note was vague saying only that he was bored and was leaving to find new adventures on his own.
I was crushed. How could he leave and not tell me? He wouldn’t. My mind still wouldn’t give up. I knew in my heart that Lee wouldn’t leave yet I was holding a note clearly written by him saying otherwise. I was confused and in a hung-over haze and didn’t know what to do or think or say.
“Take her back to her room Aeron. She doesn’t know anything.” My mother said, seeing the tears forming in my eyes.
“Oh, and Adrianna? Don’t think that just because Liam has run off that you’re getting out of what happened last night. We will discuss your punishment later.” My father added before Aeron walked me out.
Aeron didn’t speak to me during the walk back to my room. He left me to my tears and thoughts. I was grateful for that. I didn’t feel like talking, mostly because I had no idea what to say.
I was about to close the door to my room when Aeron laid a hand on the door, blocking it.
“We will find him, Ade.” Ade is my nickname that Lee usually used. But Aeron hadn’t called me Ade since we were kids. “I promise we will.” He closed the door before I could respond. It was the first time in years Aeron had shown me any level of compassion and it was probably the last time for many years to come.
I decided to lie down on my bed hoping that sleep would erase the effects of the alcohol. Surely, when I was thinking more clearly this would make sense. There had to be an explanation for Lee’s leaving, something that I was missing.


Chapter Two

I was wrong. No explanation came to me at all that day, or in the days following. My father had sent Aeron and most of the entire guard out into the providence to search for Liam but after a week there was still no sign of him.
I talked to Annabelle and she swore that she had no idea either. She seemed as hurt as I was that he would leave without saying anything to her either.
My punishment for stealing alcohol, sneaking out, and getting drunk was that I wasn’t allowed to leave the castle grounds until further notice. They did however warn me to leave the search for Liam up to them and the Royal Guard. They seemed almost overly determined to keep me out of it claiming they had enough to deal with without me getting myself in MORE trouble. They informed me my punishment for disobeying would be an exile to my Aunt’s house, three Provinces over, for the entire summer.
As the week came to a close, I knew I had to figure this out on my own. I had to do it without my father or Aeron finding out. With Aeron gone on the search for Liam and my father busy as usual, I figured now would be a good time to get started.
The guard had been through Lee’s room, searching for clues as to where he might have gone and found nothing. But they didn’t know Lee like I did. I checked his normal hiding places, hoping he had left me something, anything that would help me find him. But there was nothing. Sitting on his bed, I looked around the room. If I was Lee, and I was going to leave something behind for me, where would I put it? No place in particular stood out, so I began searching randomly. I searched every inch of his room, after two hours I was beginning to feel hopeless. I wasn’t finding anything because there wasn’t anything to find.
Everyone was worried about Lee. But the longer he was gone, the angrier I became. I felt betrayed in a way. Lee was the one person I could always count on no matter what. He had never disappointed me or let me down. I had always been there for him too, even when I knew I shouldn’t, even when I didn’t agree with whatever it was he was up to. It hurt me that he would leave without telling me why. But as I sat in his room, I felt things he had never made me feel before. Disappointment. Aggravation. Confusion. All of these feeling were making me more determined to find him. I needed to confront him, at the very least.
I couldn’t bear to be in his room any longer. Leaving everything the way I found it, I set out to come up with a new plan for finding him. I knew that I couldn’t do it alone. Asking Annabelle for help was out of the question, her father was too involved in the situation. That only left one person I would trust to help me.
As I set out to find Keane, I prayed that he would help me and worried about what I would do if he refused. Finding Lee on my own would be difficult, especially now that I was on lockdown.
I found Keane patrolling the castle. Luckily he was alone. With the search for Liam going on, Guards at the castle are short until more came in from the country. Normally Keane would have been patrolling with a partner.
“Hey, Keane!” I pumped up the enthusiasm in an attempt to keep him from being immediately suspicious of me.
“Hey Ade.” The enthusiasm may have been too much because it seemed to have the opposite of the desire effect. “How are you?” He asked cautiously.
I really didn’t know Keane that well. He and Lee had been friends for a long time but they usually did things alone. I think Lee liked using Keane as way to get away from us girls -Annabelle and I- when he could.
“I’m doing okay, considering. There was actually something I wanted to talk to you about.” I figured I might as well get to the point. I bit my lip in anticipation…from what I knew of him, Keane was smart enough to figure out what I wanted.
“I don’t know Ade. I could get fired, or worse. We were all informed that if we saw you interfering we needed to report it back to The King or Aeron. I don’t think they would take likely to me not only disobeying a direct order but helping you.”
“Come on Keane. You know Lee…you know that something’s not right here.” I did my best to plead with my eyes. If Keane said no, I didn’t have anyone else to turn to.
Keane let out a half sigh, half groan. “Maybe…I am not saying yes. But we can talk later…in private.”
“Okay. I can come over tonight…but…It will have to be sort of late.” I didn’t want to mention to him that I wasn’t allowed to leave the castle grounds and that I would have to wait until later in order to sneak out unseen. I didn’t think that would convince him to help me any.
“Fine but be careful or you will be off to your Aunt’s for the summer and then you wouldn’t be able to search for Lee.” Keane was grinning at me. I couldn’t help but smile back. I guess I didn’t have to worry about him finding out about my restrictions, he already knew. No doubt my father and Aeron had filled in the Guards so no one would let me off the grounds. Terrific, that should make tonight’s escape that much more fun. Thank goodness for the shortage of Guards.
Later that evening I paced my room waiting until it was time to leave. I was nervous and beginning to sweat. I hadn’t even left my room yet and every sound I heard made my heart skip a beat while I listened to here the cause of it. Being sneaky had always been more Lee’s talent than mine. I never felt this anxious with Lee because I had complete faith in him. His absence left a hole the size of a crator in my life and I wasn’t sure how to fill it. I wondered to myself if I lacked confidence in myself because I always had so much faith in him? I never had to believe in myself as long as I had Lee to believe in.
For a fraction of a second I wondered if Lee’s leaving would turn out beneficial for me. Maybe his being gone would teach me to have more faith in myself and to fend for myself among other things. I quickly disregarded that thought, scolding myself for even thinking Lee’s disappearance could be even the littlest bit beneficial. How could I have thought such a thing at all?
I told myself I wasn’t nervous because Lee wasn’t here to help me sneak out. I was nervous because if I got caught I would end up in another Providence with no way to find Lee. I was nervous because Keane could still decline helping me. I was nervous because a lot rested on tonight going well. My nervousness obviously had nothing to do with my self-confidence and therefore, the thought about Lee’s disappearance being beneficial was unfounded.
I began trying to calm my anxiety by breathing slow, deep breathes and talking to myself. Deep breath in. “You can do this.” I whispered. Deep breathe out. Deep breath in. “You’ve done this lot’s of times.” Deep breathe out. Deep breathe in. “You can do this. It’ll be a piece of cake.”
After a few minutes of this, I found that I actually felt better…and slightly light headed. By the time I left, I was fairly confident I would get there and back without incident and feeling hopeful that Keane would agree to help.
Getting out of the castle was easier than I expected it to be. I didn’t have to hide at all until I was right outside Keane’s house. I was rounding the corner of Keane’s house when I saw Aeron out of the corner of my eye. I ducked into a nearby bush. Aeron was leaving Keane’s house. Seeing him was surprised me, I hadn’t heard that he was back. He had left days ago in the search for Lee. I wondered idly what Aeron had been doing there. For a second I thought maybe Keane was setting me up, but decided against it. If Keane wanted to set me up, Aeron could have just stayed in the house until I arrived. Keane was in the guard and Aeron pretty much ran the entire guard. It wasn’t that unusual for Aeron to be there…right?
Once I was sure that Aeron was out of sight, I went up to Keane’s door and knocked lightly.
He answered the door with a smile on his face, moving aside to let me in. “Good thing you didn’t show up a few minutes ago, Aeron just left.”
“Yeah, I saw him. I had to jump into a bush to avoid him seeing me. What was he doing here?” I tried not to seem suspicious, but I am not sure how successful I was.
“He just got back from in the search. He had left me in charge of the patrol and was just checking in.” Keane didn’t make it seem like a big deal and appeared honest enough so I let it go. “Can I get you something to drink?” He asked as I sat down.
“Sure.” Keane grabbed to soda’s and came to sit next to me. Keane is the same age as Lee. Keane is tall and muscular built (like most of the men in the guard). Lee and I both had our mother’s traits dirty blonde hair and grey eyes. Keane has dark brown hair and greenish-brown eyes. I always thought that he was extremely attractive and I wondered what we might look like next to each other. That thought didn’t get far before I caught myself. I was here for a reason. “So, will you help me?”
“That depends on what you mean by help. If you mean go charging into the country on some crazy search with no idea where to begin, than no. But I will DESCRETELY help you try to find somewhere to begin.”
“Thank you Keane. I know the risk you’re taking in helping me and I am grateful.”
“Well, you were right. It’s weird that he just took off the way he did. I want answers too.”
“I am not entirely sure that he just took off…I think something might have happened to him…I am not sure.” I confessed.
“Why would you think something might have happened to him?”
“Because none of it makes sense. Lee wouldn’t leave without telling me. Even if he would, that night when we came back into the castle Lee could barely hold himself up. Who plans and elaborate escape and then gets shitfaced on the night they’re leaving? How did he even get himself out of castle in that condition? But then I think…maybe it wasn’t planned, he just decided to leave and did. And then there’s the note. It was so vague. I searched his room in hopes that he had left me something, but I didn’t find anything. I don’t know what to think honestly. But the thought that someone might have taken him has definitely crossed my mind.”
“Okay. Let’s say that someone could have taken him. You said you searched his room and didn’t find anything, but did you notice anything missing? A kidnapper probably wouldn’t have packed any bags before taking him.”
“I didn’t really notice anything missing but he has too many cloths for me to really tell. But I did notice that his Tunic was missing. Which only brought up more questions because what would he need his Royal Tunic for? We only wear it in public places or in the company of other Royals and important people. The Tunic would only get him noticed. It’s just another thing that doesn’t make sense.” I was at a total loss. Nothing about the situation made any sense and it seemed like the more I learned the more confusing it got.
“I think you should check his room again. Last time you weren’t looking for anything that might be missing so you might not have noticed it. I’ll talk to Aeron again and see if they have turned up anything in the search. I could try asking around the village but I doubt anyone knows anything. Most people would have come forward with any information they had, eager to please the king.”
“Thank you again for your help. I really don’t know what I would have done without you.” I smiled in appreciation.
“I’m happy to help, just don’t do anything to make me regret it.” He said smiling back at me.
I talked to Keane for another hour before heading back to the castle. The walk back was pretty quiet. I was almost to my room and hadn’t seen anyone. Keane was going to help me. He had advantages I didn’t have. Aeron would talk more openly with him and I don’t have access to the village because of my punishment. I was feeling pretty good about how the night was turning out…that is until I opened my bedroom door and found Aeron sitting on my bed.
“Where have you been?” He asked in a calm tone. It honestly sounded more like a simple question than an accusation. I was expecting the accusation.
“The kitchen.” I lied.
“At two in the morning?” He challenged.
“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep and wanted a snack.”
Aeron nodded his head as if to say “ok, if that’s your story”. “Don’t do this Ade. Don’t get involved in this. Believe it or not, I don’t want to see dad send you to Aunt Lilith’s anymore than you want to go.”
I let out a sarcastic sigh while rolling my eyes. “Since when do you care what happens to me Aeron?”
“I know you don’t think so, but I’ve always cared. Dad is serious about this Ade and so am I. Stay out of it. Let me find Liam and bring him home.”
“I can’t do that Aeron. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“I’m warning you. Sneak out of this house again and I will go to dad. I’m going to be keeping my eye on you so you better stay out of trouble.”
I stared at the floor not saying anything. He and I both knew I wasn’t going to take his warning. After a few minutes he got up and walked out of the room, shutting my door behind him.
Aeron wasn’t going to make this easy. My only hope was that he would be rejoining the search for Liam soon.

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Publication Date: 04-24-2010

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