18 Friend

(From Ella's Perspective)

Throughout the day, I did not see the king or his father. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I tried to conjure up as much of the palace as I could today. I needed to know the routes and locations of the rooms.

We had roasted chicken with a strange-looking bread for lunch, not enough to fill my gut though. Jed and I spent all day talking and working together. It was a bit hard to clean the bathrooms. We discovered puke in one of the rooms' bathrooms.

It was eight when we were done. We would get permission to leave at nine. So we had one hour left to kill.

"What about we look around the castle?" I suggested, mainly hoping to get to hear things that I could tell Leandro.

"Not a bad idea. Just hope we don't get face to face with the king or his father," he said.

We needed to clean all the rooms except one. There were two guards in front of the room. They told us that it was forbidden to enter the room. I did not argue. I needed to remind myself again and again that I was a servant here. I could not walk around talking about my rights.

"Wonder what's in that room," Jed said as we took the steps upstairs.

"I think someone is there," I said.

"Who can there be? There's no one of the royals left except the king and his father."

"I know," I said. I decided to try to know what he knew about what happened one and a half years ago. "I heard the king has a brother."

"Yeah. I just know his name. But I don't know how he looks like. No one outside this castle knows. He is a monster. I mean, he is not like ordinary shifters. Some say he can turn into a very heinous creature. He is dangerous. Our current king, King Nicklaus, forced his brother to leave this castle one and a half or two years ago for the betterment of the people. Some say the king's brother lives in the forest. That's why no one enters the forest. He is called the Beast, you know. I'm sure he's evil," Jed said.

"How do you know he's evil?" You've never met him."

"People say he is."

"Even people say that there is Vitamin D in sunray," I muttered.

"What's that?"

"Nothing," I said. I did not dare to try to make him understand what Vitamin D is and that there is no Vitamin D in the sunray. Rather, sunlight works as a factor to convert cholesterol in our skin to Vitamin D3.

We walked along the corridor, talking about what would happen if our fingers had fingers. Jed had brought out the matter and I felt interested. I liked the fact that he shared the same types of thoughts as me. It allowed us to talk for hours without getting bored.

"What if we were trees?" Jed asked.

"It would be horrible. I can't stay without talking. I think I would suffocate on words and die."

"Well, I don't talk much. But I like talking to you. We are kind of the same, you know. Weird and crazy. I think I would live as a tree, only if you were not around. I would see you suffocating on words, and then I would get the urge to talk and suffocate as well," he said and both of us laughed.

"And what if we had tails?"

"Oh no! Then I would have to make a hole on my pants in the place of my butthole."

"And I would have to do the same on my dress. Or perhaps I would tie the tail inside my dress."

We kept talking like that while taking slow steps in the corridor. Suddenly we heard a loud growl of someone from inside the door right beside us. Jed took my hand quickly and started to pull me away.

"Come in. Let's get out of here," he said urgently.

"No, wait," I said pulling my hand away from him. I needed to know what was going on. I pressed my index finger on my lip and motioned for him not to make a sound. Then I pressed my ear to the door, attempting to get an idea of what was going on.

"What the..."

"Shhh," I hissed at him.

From inside a man's angry voice could be heard. "You sure you saw a human girl in the forest?"

"Yes, my lord. We could not see her face because of the darkness, but it was a human girl indeed," a man said.

"Did you look for her?" the man asked.

"It's the king. I heard his voice before," Jed whispered from beside me and I noticed that he had pressed his ear against the door as well.

"We looked for her in the forest yesterday. But we could find nothing. Not even her dead body," another man said.

"My brother won't keep anyone alive if they enter his place. The girl is surely dead. Perhaps he has put her dead body somewhere near where he lives. That's why you could not find it," King Nicklaus said. "The plan is still on. We need to focus on the plan now. There shouldn't be any mistake this time. The Beast has to die."

"Yes, my lord," they said and I heard footsteps coming towards the door. Jed and I quickly ran away and descended the stairs while Jed fell once.

"Who is there?" I heard one of the men saying.

We went inside the room where we previously were talking after we were done with our work. We sat on the bed and pretended to talk. Two men entered the room in hurried steps, looking as if they were ready to commit a murder.

"Who are you two?" one of the men asked.

"We are new here. We clean the rooms. There are still fifteen minutes left until nine. So we are talking," I said while Jed was biting his fingers in an attempt to calm down.

"Of course, Edrich mentioned new servants and slaves. So have you seen anyone running away?" the other one asked.

"Yes," I replied and Jed looked at me shocked. "There was someone who ran towards the window. He was wearing a black hooded cloak."

"Are you sure?" the first man asked.

"Yes. But I'm not sure if anyone else saw him. Because he was very fast and quiet. But I think he tripped over the steps and that's why there was such a big thump," I said.

"Let's look that way then. And girl, if we find out..."

"Why would I lie? I work here and I'm grateful for giving me work. I don't have a reason to lie," I said cutting him off.

After they left, Jed seemed as if he had just experienced a fit or something like that. "Why would you do that? Why did you have to listen?"

"I need to."

"Why?"

"Because I'm curious. I like to know about things that are meant to be secret. It's my hobby, you know."

"We were about to die because of your silly hobby," he said.

"But we are alive. It was fun. Cat and mouse game, you know," I said, smiling.

"Then why did you say that you saw someone? You could tell that you didn't see anyone. Did you have to say this?"

"Oh, please. By the sound you made by falling, it was obvious that someone was running away. If I said that I didn't see anyone, they would suspect us. Now we're free from that kind of assumption. They are after that hooded figure now."

"I hope so too," he said. "By the way, where do you live?"

"In a cave," I said.

"In a cave?" he asked, surprised.

"Just joking. I live with a man, but he told me not to tell anyone about where he lives. It's a good place and comfortable too. He's just careful about safety and privacy. He's always like that."

"Is he old?"

"No. He is five years older than me. Twenty-two."

"Oh, you are seventeen then. I'm seventeen too."

"I guessed so as well," I said knowingly.

"So, what does this man look like?"

"He's handsome, tall, and has black hair."

"The way you talk about him... Is there anything going on between you two?" he asked, raising his brow.

"No. It's nothing like that," I said, suddenly blushing. I tried to hide the redness on my cheeks, but too late. Jed had already noticed it. His smile widened.

"There's definitely something going on. Come on, tell me. We're friends, right?"

"I'll tell you later. Not now. I just need a bit more time."