The shadows in the courtyard grew long and the wind cooled before the prince opened his eyes again. “Ah, I was more tired than I thought,” he murmured, looking up at his beautiful guardian. She sat above him, looking around the courtyard with a blush on her face. “I would almost think you were thinking naughty thoughts, my dear Jenna.”

Jenna glanced down at him. “It’s your own faulty, sleeping so peacefully and unprotected.”

“Ah, but I have the best protection,” Dista said with a smile.

“Indeed you do,” Jenna said with a bit of smugness in her voice. “Who knows how many times you would be dead by now if I did not stick around you.”

“Only once, dear.”

Jenna frowned and snapped, “That is not even remotely funny.”

Prince Jerome sat up and swung his legs to the steps below him. He craned his neck around looking for Sammy. “So, where’s the little monster?”

His guardian let out a longsuffering sigh, “Checking the glyphs around the building.”

Prince Dista stood and stretched. He noted the length of the shadows and sighed. Further exploration would have to wait until the next day. He really had been more tired than he thought. “We should collect our little rogue and retire from this place. The residents are about to wake up and we should seal the gate before that happens.”

Moving past Jenna, he saw the front doors to the manse standing open and stopped. “Jenna, the front door is open.”

Jenna turned around and looked, a disturbed expression crossing her face. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Probably. If the ghosts siphon off the ‘monster energy’ from the little monster, the world may be doomed.”

Jenna sighed and then relaxed a little bit. Still, she dipped her words in rebuke, “Let’s get her and get out of here before the deadline, Prince Dista.”

“Aye, aye,” the prince readily agreed.

The two approached the door. About five feet away, the door let out an absurdly loud shriek as it swung shut. However, a stick jammed into the door’s bottom gap crunched and twisted, preventing the door from fully closing. A flash of ugly green flickered over the door and along the exterior wall of the mansion. A force washed over the two, staggering them both backwards a step.

Prince Jerome grunted and lurched against the force, trying to reach the door. Managing after several long seconds of struggle, he tried to force it open. Though open about a half an inch and clearly not latched, the door would not budge. “Damn it! It’s too early.”

“Prince Dista?” Jenna said, a pit forming in her stomach.

The prince glanced at Jenna. “My plans for the child go out years, perhaps decades. This is not what I intended, Jenna, not even remotely. Damn, she should not have been able to get past those security glyphs. You know how she’s fascinated by glyphs. I was just trying to plant a seed here.”

Jenna sigh and acknowledged her lord, while still taking a jab. “So you underestimated her again.”

Prince Jerome snarled his frustration, looking the entrance to the mansion over again. “I can force this open. We still should have time before the residents fully awaken, but Jenna I will need to unlock your govenors. Things are going to get rough.”

“Prince Jerome, I cannot allow you to do that,” Jenna said in a shaky voice, but one filled with duty.

“Jenna, I am responsible for that child,” Dista snapped before she could continue.

“What do we have here?” a new voice demanded. Prince Dista and Jenna snapped around, ready for battle.

Several hours before, Sammy slipped through the doorway with one last glance at Jenna and Dista. She did prop the door open by jamming a stick in the gap between door and floor since she did not want the locking glyph to activate again. That would definitely be bad, especially if there really were ghosts in residence. The last thing she wanted was to be trapped inside a haunted mansion with a bunch of ghosts. Still, the stupid prince said the ghosts wouldn’t be a problem until sunset, so she had a few hours to explore.

And then they would go to her new home and spend the night safe and secure. She trilled her excitement on her tongue, her hands clasped in front of her in glee. And her home was going to be close to a cool source of glyphs. Perhaps the stupid prince-noble was actually coming through after all.

The large lobby Sammy found herself in was dark and gloomy and really scary. Sammy’s fingers glowed in the darkness as she air-drew the matrix for light. The shadows vanished in new brightness. A long staircase went up, but then split to the right and left. The right-hand stairs went to the second floor, while the left one went up to the third. A number of closed doors lined the ground level, and still more lined the balconies on the second and third floors.

A thick layer of dirt covered everything. Sammy ran her hand over one of the banisters and dirt easily a half inch thick fell to the ground, dust billowing. Covering her mouth with the collar of her shirt, Sammy decided to go to her left but staying on the ground floor. There was a pair of double doors that attracted her attention over that way. Not the largest doors in the lobby, but she thought they just looked better than the others.

The doors were locked with the same type of warding as the front door, but Sammy successfully opened it in the same manner. Curiosity fully in charge, the slightly scared girl walked down the long hall behind the doors. She looked this way and that. Everything was so dirty, even the glyphs being nigh impossible to detect. She would have to clean for a week of months to find any good ones, she felt sure. Still, she would explore and map things out for future excursions. She was going to be living within walking distance after all.

Stolen story; please report.

Somehow, Sammy lost track of time.

The little glyph hunter had finally found an interesting one, a black plaque with gold borders and silver embossing that contained a rather complex matrix. She currently had the whole thing glowing to see if she could identify any of the individual glyphs or runes, but she was not having any luck at all. Which made her curiosity go bonkers. “I want to know,” she muttered under her breath.

A shiver went down Sammy’s spine, like a clammy hand in a dark room. She spun around, her heart pounding loud in her ears, each beat jerking her torso just a bit. The room was still empty. Well, except for a wisp of hazy smoke hovering a few yards away. Strangely, a couple of dimly glowing points in the haze looked very much like feral eyes, at least that’s what Sammy numbed mind came up with.

As the reality that the eyes were not in fact her imagination, silence filled the girl’s ears as her heart stopped for an excruciatingly long moment. She backed away from the haze as it began to float towards her, her head beginning to shake back in forth on autopilot. An eerie, faint screeching of metal on slate sent shivers of horror throughout her whole body. For some extraordinary reason, she thought the horrid sound might be words or something, but she could not quite make out what the ghost was saying. But then, Sammy did not want to understand the thing’s words, not even a little bit.

“No!” Sammy finally found her voice, though it came out as a high pitched squeak, and then followed up with, “Nonononono, I’m not yummy at all! Stay away! Stay the heck away, you stupid ghost!” She turned and fled headfirst into the wall behind her, the world exploding into white poka-dots.

Prince Dista froze in his fighting stance, eyes widening in surprise. “Maryl? What are you doing here?”

Behind a man and woman, three soldiers in black leather armor held drawn swords. The man and woman also wore black armor, but only the man had his blade drawn. The woman stepped in front of him and flicked her long brown hair over her shoulder and planted a fist on her hip. “That is my question, little brother mine. Father was rather displeased that you escaped your escort to the negotiations with Tajil, and now I’m finding you here why?”

The prince shrugged, relaxing his stance and standing up straight. “There was a traitor. We parted ways at the point where staying with the escort was more dangerous than striking out on our own. Came pretty close to dying even so.”

Maryl sighed. “Well, I did figure something along that line happened. An investigation along those lines is already underway, in any case. However, that does not even slightly explain your presence here. Mother dispatched me as soon as she detected the barrier around the castle release.” She then let out a sigh, “Still, glad its you and not what I was expecting.”

Prince Dista sighed. He had known his mother would know when he unsealed the protective barrier, but he had counted on more time.

Maryl stepped up to her brother and caught his wrist. “Let’s talk about this outside the castle walls.”

“Maryl, someone has entered the manse proper. We need to get her out before the sun fully sets,” Prince Dista said, resisting his sister’s pull.

Princess Maryl looked at her brother with narrowed eyes. “Is that what you were talking about?” She glanced up at the outer walls surrounding the castle. They already stood in shadow, the sun high on the far wall. “Unfortunately, it is too late for that, even if we had a hundred guardians.” She pulled on his arm again.

Prince Dista pulled back with more strength, refusing to move. “I cannot just leave her in there.”

“Then why did you bring her here in the first place?” Maryl demanded. “The barrier must be resealed before the sun sets, or these lands will be tainted beyond endurance. We are already pushing all possible safe boundaries. How many people are you going to kill just to die with this girl you’re talking about?”

“Lord Dista,” Jenna said softly, “I do not think Sammy would appreciate you sacrificing so many lives for her. I think you know what she would call you, if she were here.”

“This is different. I would sacrifice my life a hundred times for a friend.”

“Even so, My Lord.” Jenna stepped up to his free hand and claimed it.

Maryl frowned and glanced at the manse. A cold wind blew in her face, moving out from the building. Icy fingers slid down her spine, a shudder shook her whole body. “Enough talk. Everyone out.” She yanked unmercifully on her brother’s arm and dragged him out the open gate. “Quickly, Dista, help me seal this before it’s too late.” The gate glowed as the two royals raised glowing hands to it, Dista no longer resisting. The massive doors slammed shut and the gem in the center flashed bright before dimming into the surrounding patterns.

Dista stood looking at the sealed gate for a long time. About fifteen minutes after the gate closed, the air over the castle brightened for a moment, faded, and then brightened again. “Damn it,” the prince muttered under his breath.

“Dista, we should get home. There is nothing you can do now.” His sister sounded subdued. “I’m sorry.”

Shaking his head, the prince said, “It was my own folly. Still, while this is much sooner than I anticipated, I am curious what will happen. Tell me Maryl, how long would it take you to penetrate the seal on the front doors of the manse?”

Maryl frowned. “I doubt I could. What are you driving at?”

“Non-sense. You could, and we both know it. I estimate I could do it in about three or four hours, maybe two and a half, as long as I threw enough caution to the wind. But you’re better at that sort of thing than I am. How long?”

“You? Throw caution to the wind? Would never happen where glyph magic is concerned.” Maryl crossed her arms and gave him a considering look. “I could probably do it in a half hour, if I threw caution to the wind.”

“Which you do much too often.” The prince sighed. “In any case, I am not leaving just yet. I will see with my own eyes if Sammy is all I suspect. We will set up camp and wait.”

Princess Maryl continued to frown as she watched her brother. “Dista.”

Her brother glanced at her and then looked around the area in front of the gate. “This will make as good a spot as any other. Maryl, did you bring any supplies for camping, or did mother not give you time to prepare properly?”

Glancing over at her senior guardian, Maryl shrugged. “Balcos is always prepared for doing weird things whenever you’re involved, Dista.” She raised her voice. “Sir Balcos, please set up camp here at the outer gates to hell. My brother once again is showing his weirdness.”

“As you command, Princess Maryl.” The powerfully built man began giving orders to the other guardians. Several tents were quickly set up and a cooking pit dug. A defensive matrix formed around the area and the guardians established their security stations to counter any possible attack.

Maryl stepped closer to her brother. “Dista, you have piqued my interest. Who is this girl you’re so interested in?”

Dista had turned once more to look at the walls surrounding the Castle Iona, but now he turned to face his elder sister. He flashed a smile, “Just an interesting aberration against the Greater Societal and Aristocratic Rules for Reality, fifth edition.”

Maryl stared at her brother several full breaths, then said, “I feel sorry for the girl already.”

“Yes, yes, I totally agree,” Jenna said, nodding sagely.

Dista just chuckled as he began relating Sammy to his sister, Princess Maryl, the second in line to the throne.