Pain. That’s all I can tell you. Pain. It was not a perfect flop. I hit my knee on the stone bottom of the goldfish pond, but I was still alive. I ignored the pain and jumped out, grabbing my clothes as I looked up to see the raven-haired beauty of the Shadow Force drop to the ledge and start running my way. I was hugged up against the outer base of the pond on the far side. There was no way she could see me.
“Is it him?” called another female voice, the one with the pink streak in her short blonde hair.
“I can’t see anything but fish,” said the black-haired one.
“There may be stairs around the corner,” called the pink streak. “Go check. I’ll leave the boys to search up here and meet you down there.”
Timing was everything. It would take her about fifteen seconds to locate and descend the stairs. That’s about how long it would take me to get to the tree line. As soon as her back was turned, I flew like the wind to the largest of the large oaks on the property.
It had a hole near its base, and it was mostly hollow for about seven or eight feet once you got inside. Just before I got to the hole, however, I did something brilliant, something that probably saved my life. I threw my vest onto the path that led into the darkest part of the woods.
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“Aha!” said the pink steak a few minutes later. “This is a servant’s vest, and it was just dropped here.”
“How do you know?” said the other.
“It is too clean to have been here very long.”
“He must have come this way.”
“Do you have your lantern?”
“Always.” A purple glow appeared through a hole in the tree. I was careful not to move a muscle. The purple glow faded away in the direction of the forest.
It was a cold night, and a soaking wet teenage kid in nothing but his underwear should have been freezing to death, scientifically speaking. Oddly enough, I felt rather toasty inside the giant oak tree. I didn’t know why at the time. I do now.
I fell into a deep sleep, and that was a very good thing. I needed it. I did not wake up until I heard the two Shadow Force ladies talking on their way back to the manor. I don’t think I have to tell you that they did not find me in the forest.
“So, what will happen now?” asked the raven-haired beauty.
“The princess will turn 18 in two years. Until then, the council will name a steward to run the kingdom,” said the other.
“Will it be you?”
“Perhaps, but Baron Barbley of Green Vale will…”
I did not hear anything after that. I waited a minute and pulled myself up to see out another hole in the trunk of the ancient tree. It was still very dark, but the sky looked the way the sky always does in the hour before sunsrise.
I could just make out the two shapes arriving in the manor courtyard. Another shape—likely one of the two male Shadow Force members—stepped out to greet them. I burrowed out of the tree and at long, long last put on my clothes.