Kael sneaked into the house, scared of getting caught by his father. "The lights are out, so he must be asleep," he breathed a sigh of relief. "How many times must I remind you that you could get caught for that, and her parents don't know we have the princess's location?"
The lights came on, revealing a tall, pale-looking man with elf-like ears, sparkling white pointed teeth, thin black eyes, and wearing a night robe. "Dad, I know, but I just can't help myself," Kael said, his bright amber eyes dazzling like a star. "She would think you're a creep."
"Maybe I am... I just want to keep an eye on her, make sure she's not taken. By the way, she looks stunning in everything. Who would take their eyes off such beauty?" Kael walked past his father and stared back at him. "She's tempting." His eyes darkened, and his brows furrowed. "Good night, Father." He went to his room.
"Hmmm, good night, son," his father, Zan, replied, turning off the lights and heading to bed.
Meanwhile, in Kael's room, he was having trouble sleeping. Something was bothering him, but he hid it too well from his father. "I need to get to the bottom of this. What was that?" Kael shook his head and turned his attention to thinking about Penelope. "What an angel! Good night, Pene." He drifted off to sleep, thinking about Penelope.
The next morning, at the castle, Penelope sat at her dressing table, styling her own hair since Tracy had gone to get her morning tea. Staring at the mirror, Penelope sighed. She couldn't shake off the feeling from last night. "Ugh, I didn't sleep well last night." Penelope stroked her French plait lightly. "If that shadow is here to save me, then they should hurry up. And, besides, I don't think the person might be nice. It's giving me a creepy vibe."
She cuddled herself and faked a shiver. "I need to do something, and fast!" She glared at her reflection in the mirror. Just then, Tracy returned. "I'm back."
The sudden voice startled Penelope. "Sorry," Tracy said.
"It's okay," Penelope replied, turning to face Tracy. "How's my hair?" She pointed at her red French plait, which was full of glitter.
"Fancy," Tracy said, walking up to the table in the middle of the room. "Here you go." She handed Penelope a cup of tea. "You look really tired."
"I am tired. We've got to do something," Penelope said.
"About what?" Tracy asked, sipping her tea.
"That shadow thingy," Penelope replied.
"What will you do, huh? Everyone in the castle has forgotten about it. It might have been a wolf," Tracy said, shrugging.
"It's not, and I will do something... Maybe I'll sneak out to the forest, set a trap, and catch it." Penelope's sudden handclap startled Tracy.
"What do you mean? No, no, no! Not under my watch! Even if I let you, which can never happen, by the way, how do you plan on sneaking out? Do you know how many times you've tried? Julius won't let you, so... no!" Tracy shook her head vigorously.
Penelope stood up from the dressing table, walked over to Tracy, and whispered in her ear, "Watch me." She herself didn't know how she was going to sneak out, but she loved teasing Tracy. She winked at her and walked out of her room, leaving Tracy wide-eyed in shock and speechless.
As Penelope walked down the hallway, taking a left turn to walk down the stairs and head to the dining room, she heard whispers. She turned to her right and saw her group of guards whispering in hushed voices about something secret. Penelope was curious, so she walked closer, using the walls close to the stairs as a shield.
"Really?" one of the guards asked, his voice more audible.
"I didn't know that," the chubby, round-faced guard exclaimed, which got a lot of shushing. "Sorry."
"So, what you're trying to say is that there's an escape route in the castle used only for emergencies?" a guard with a long beard whispered in surprise.
"I knew it! A castle as big as this has to have an escape route, but why is it a secret?" another guard asked.
The main guard, who seemed to have brought up this juicy topic, whispered in a low voice, "It's to protect the princess from vampire attacks."
"What!" Penelope gasped from her hiding
"Vampires!" the chubby, round-faced guard yelled once again, earning him a smack on the head. "Are there vampires?" he asked, clearly frightened.
"Keep your voice low, and yes, there are," another guard replied.
A guard with long beards laughed, "Hahahahahaha! It could be just rumors. I don't believe it."
The chubby guard asked, his curious eyes fixed on the main guard, "Where is this route you're talking about?"
"I've heard Sir Julius mention it to the king and queen," the main guard replied. "Apparently, it's located at the back of the store room."
"It's not much of a secret if it's out in the open," one of the guards said.
"No, it's not out in the open," the main guard corrected. "According to what I've heard, there's a code you need to decipher to find it"
The main guard paused before continuing, "I'm not supposed to say this much. I have a message to deliver. Bye." He walked away.
"Store room? Code?" Penelope asked, excited and curious.
"But Cedric, what's the code?" the second guard with a beard called after the main guard, whose name was revealed to be Cedric.
"What if an emergency comes up?" Cedric didn't bother to respond, nor did he look back at them.
"Well, I doubt it too," the first guard with a beard sighed. "It must be nice being second in command to Sir Julius." The guard who laughed walked towards Penelope's hiding spot. "Bye."
Penelope was still in shock about all the news. "Vampires? Escape routes? What are they hiding from me?" The guard's footsteps brought her back to reality, and she dashed down the stairs to the dining room.
Penelope arrived at the dining room, panting lightly. Julius was talking to one of the maids, who caught a glimpse of Penelope walking over to her usual seat at the table. "Are you alright, Penelope? Why are you panting?" Julius walked over to her, slowly putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing, just hungry," Penelope smiled awkwardly. I can't risk him finding out.
"Alright then," Julius said, sitting in front of her. "Where's Tracy?"
"She's up—" "I'm here," Tracy interrupted, going to sit beside Penelope after handing the tea tray to a maid. Penelope's parents had taken Tracy in as their own daughter, but she had decided to work in the castle as Penelope's personal maid.
"What were you doing upstairs?" Penelope whispered in Tracy's ear.
"Cleaning up the glitter on the floor," Tracy replied, smiling nervously at Penelope.
Penelope glared at Tracy, but it was obvious Tracy was avoiding eye contact. Is she going to tell him? Penelope's eyes widened in fear. I must do everything to stop her from exposing my plan.
She thought about her escape plan while eating. A few hours later, Penelope was at the second window in her bedroom chamber, looking out at the forest and thinking hard. How am I going to do this? Where will I start? She furrowed her brow.
Penelope was all alone, as Tracy was assisting the maids in the kitchen. Night came, and everyone was fast asleep, except for the night guards who kept marching around the castle with their rifles in hand. Penelope couldn't sleep a wink. Today was the day she would leave, and this was all possible because of the cloaked shadow.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Penelope blew a kiss to the air. Quickly, she got out of bed, changed out of her nightgown into the blazer and skinny leather jeans, which were an 18th birthday gift from Tracy. Tracy had believed that one day her parents would let her be free.
Penelope tried her best not to make a noise and finally sat down to write a letter to everyone, especially her parents, so it wouldn't seem like she was an obnoxious, snobby, spoiled brat who thought she could get whatever she wanted with the snap of a finger.
Penelope cleared her throat, cracked her knuckles, and wrote on a sheet of paper: "By the time you read this, I'm gone." "No, no," Penelope crumpled the paper. "They'll think I'm dead. No." She took another piece of paper and wrote:
"It's crazy to think a cloaked shadow which made me seem crazy would be the reason and cause of my freedom. I have been waiting for this for what? 17 years. I've been locked up in this castle since I was 2 years old, and now, you guessed it I'm 19. I have tried so many times to escape but now I have succeed. I will come back once I've explore enough to endure anothe year locked up in this prison. Don't look for me. I love you all, dad,mom, Katherine, Julius, Tracy who is like a older sister to me and everyone. By the way, Tracy I told you I will do it and I am doing it....
Xoxo Penelope.
Penelope folded the letter, put it in a DIY envelope, and kissed it. She sneaked out of her room with her backpack, planning to keep the food and supplies she got inside, which was already packed with a jumper, pair of denim jeans, and a jumpsuit.
Penelope sneaked into the kitchen unnoticed by the guards, packed tons of food, and went on to the next step: the store room, the only thing left blocking her from her freedom. She sneaked there skillfully, thanks to her studying the castle map for hours during her free time at the library, her favorite place, or the garden.
On getting to the store room, she made sure to pack lots of supplies that could last her for days, stuffing them into her backpack. Her eyes scanned the store room, but all that was in sight were food items and other things arranged in rolls.
"How am I going to find the code?" she asked herself, frowning. She searched and searched for hours until finally, "Yes!" She saw it engraved on one of the silver wall lamps, written in tiny letters which were really hard to notice, it said, "להגן על פנלופה" (Hebrew for "To protect Penelope"). At that moment, Penelope's heart sank. It was a royal tradition that anyone born into royalty should be taught Hebrew, and in the Kingdom of Atlanvenia, Hebrew was a rare language known only to royals. The best English-speaking Hebrew teacher was hired to teach them once they turned 7 years old.
"Dad, Mom," tears rolled down her eyes. "So they do love me, but what are they protecting me from? Vampires? They don't even exist, and why?" She wiped away the tears on her face, but she couldn't stop crying. She tugged at the lamp hard, and it came off, standing revealed a mini English keyboard. She typed the words "Protect Penelope." A clicking sound was heard, and the brick wall of the store room shifted open, showing a long, dark passageway.
"Wow!" Penelope exclaimed, sniffing. She returned the lamp to its position, took her backpack, and went in. Immediately, the lamps on each side wall lit up, brightening the path. As she walked, she heard another side shifting and turned back; it was closed, with only a brick wall in sight.
"Okay, I should be fine," Penelope said, walking with determination in her eyes. "I can already smell my freedom." She took a deep breath.
Penelope had been walking for several minutes when she saw a door covered in cobwebs and leaves, as if plants had been growing on it for years, maybe even decades. The castle was built decades ago to protect the royal families from assassins during times of war, especially her great-great-great-grandfather Idris, who was envied by kings from neighboring kingdoms for his powers and strength. They all wished him death, sending their best assassins to kill him, but none succeeded because they didn't know his whereabouts. He hid in the castle, and every time a king of Atlanvenia died, the code was changed.
Penelope pushed open the rusty door with all her strength. It creaked loudly, but not loud enough for the whole castle to hear. Moonlight shone on Penelope's face as she gasped in amusement. "So beautiful!" She tried to hold back tears, looking around at the tall green trees, shrubs, grasses, and bushes. She lifted a foot and placed it on the soft, lush grass. "Gosh!" she screamed, immediately covering her mouth, giggling. She ran into the woods but stopped at the howl of a wolf. "Geez, what have I gotten myself into?" she chuckled lightly and continued into the woods bravely. "Freedom, here I come!"
She hadn't taken a step when something cloaked whizzed past her. "The cloaked shadow?" she whispered, frightened. She took another step but got hit in the face. "Ouch!" she cried, placing a hand on her temple as blood gushed out. "It hurts," she said, staring at her bloody hands. A licking sound came from behind her. She turned, horrified, and saw a figure in a black cloak, its face half-covered. The only visible features were a pair of pointed, sharp teeth, dazzling under the moonlight, with saliva dripping from them. "A vampire!" she stuttered, turning to run. In the process, a sack was thrown over her head in lightning speed. "Finally, I've been waiting for this for decades," a husky, deep male voice spoke. "Let's go," he ordered. The person carrying Penelope over his shoulder was too strong for her to escape. Little by little, she passed out. It was as if the cloaked shadow had been waiting for her to escape, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Did I just escape to my death?" That was Penelope's last thought.