Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to their rightful owners.

Warning: The following chapter contains: coarse language, and suggestive adult themes, YOU have been WARNED.

Chapter 4: The Plan

The old rusty hinges grinded together as the wooden door was opened. The room was pitch black except for the small lantern being held by Courtney standing in the doorway. Walking past her was Noah carrying a touch who walked around the room to lite torch after torch, illuminating bookshelf after bookshelf. Some of the shelves had layers of dust and cobwebs on them. The entire library looked as if it had not been opened in months.

As Courtney entered the room, Duncan, Alejandro, and Heather followed behind. "I never knew there was library in the noble quarters wing." Duncan mentioned.

Everyone stopped moving and stared at him. "What are you talking about? This is where we had to do all of our studying during our tutoring here." Courtney said confused. There were three tables each with an odd number of chairs around them. Each of the five grabbed a chair and brought it to the middle table.

"What? Oh right, no, I totally studied." Duncan groaned. Alejandro, Courtney, and Noah brought their chair to the right side in that order. Heather brought her chair to the left side across from Alejandro. Duncan just plopped his chair at the end and sat down. When he looked up he saw everyone staring directly at him. "Are you guys serious about this set position shit?" Rolling his eyes he moved his chair next to Heather on the left side and sat down.

"Alright, I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here." Courtney began.

"In like the middle of the god damn night." Duncan needed to point out.

"Yes well it took forever to find where this asshole was." Courtney said pointing to her right at Alejandro. "Anyways, first order of business: who the fuck brought Heather? I gave specific instructions not to include her."

Heather rolled her eyes. "I came on my own accord."

"Why? You're not going to help us no matter what I say, right?" Courtney asked.

"Of course not. I'm just here to see what the hell you guys are up to. I need to know what I'm not going to help you with."

Courtney just sighed. "We're going to find Izzy."

"What do you mean?" Alejandro asked.

"We're going to look for her."

Duncan sat back in his chair, and kicked his feet on the table. "Why the hell would we do that?"

"Because she's one of us. And it's our responsibility to the king. Think of it as our real pilgrimage. It's our chance to save the kingdom, and fulfil our destinies," Courtney said confidently. Heather burst into laughter. She wailed loudly. Everyone expected her to stop quickly, but she kept going. She slipped off her chair, and laid on the ground holding her stomach, continuing to cry out. "See? This is why she was not to be invited."

"Do you really want to do this? I mean, I was sort of looking forward to a month of leisure," Alejandro admitted. "It's our last month free, you know?"

"Free? Would we? I mean, look at it this way: the king wants us to stay put in the forest. We'd be pretty much trapped in a cage with one another. That's worse than being stuck with just one person. And what if they don't find her? How long do you think they'll keep us holed out? We have the best chance of finding her. We know her better than anyone."

"Why don't we just run away then?" Alejandro asked.

The room grew silent. Heather adjusted herself on the ground, and retook her seat.

"We'd never make it," Noah jumped in. "They're only keeping it silent about Izzy because they think they can fix the problem. If we all leave, then there's nothing to save. We'd be hunted down with the full force of Chris's army, not just the capital agents out there looking for Izzy."

"Right. If only one pillar fails, the other five with continue to support it until the sixth's fixed. If you remove all six, the whole thing will collapse." Courtney added. Noah groaned at her use of the analogy.

"You know," Duncan said, "I think we should go after her. Not for pillars or whatever the fuck you're talking about. I'm just mad that she got out. I've had to continue my duties. I've still had to work. And she's escaped? Fuck that. If I have to suffer through all of this, then she should to. I'll drag her back if I have to." He pumped his fist in the air.

"Well, that's certainly one way to look at it," Noah said sarcastically.

Duncan grabbed his forehead, "Although, I could have gotten use to not having her around. She is kind of crazy. I mean Courtney, you've hated her the most these last few years. I'm surprised you're so gung-ho about going and finding her."

"I didn't hate her anymore than I hate the rest of you." Courtney admitted. "I would just get so angry that no matter what we were told or expected to do, she would never do it! And no matter what I would say to her she'd just completely ignore that too, hell she'd make it worse."

"Duh," Heather called out. "She was always pushing your buttons. She did that because you got so angry, it was like a game to her."

"Yeah, it's like me and the neanderthal." Noah agreed.

"What did you call me?" Duncan asked standing up, he reached across the table, and grabbed the front of Noah's shirt.

"Neanderthal. I guess I should explain, so they're primitive, stupid, not really humans... Wait I'm sorry I should probably spell it out first because I know how confusing words over ten letters can be for-," Noah rambled until Duncan winded up to punch him in the face.

Courtney quickly moved between them. "Stop it! What is wrong with you guys? You're on the same side. Are you really that prone to fighting?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"If we were to go after her," Alejandro spoke, switching topics, "where would we even start? Do we know anything? When she left? Where she headed?"

Courtney sat back in her chair. "I'm not sure about that. All I know is from what Chris said earlier." She stood up confidently. "But, I'm sure we could think of something. There must be some clue. We know her better than anyone right?"

"Do we though?" Duncan wondered. "None of us knew she escaped. Chris' agents probably interviewed her servants, her parents, those close to her. They probably know far more than we do about where she probably is."

"That's true..." Courtney sat down again.

"What about Justin?" Heather whispered. Everyone turned towards her. "What?" She said venomously.

"Justin?" Noah repeated, sounding confused. "Who's Justin?"

"Did she not tell anyone else?" Heather asked, looking around the room. "Wow. That's surprising." Everyone nodded in agreement. "He's a boy she was gushing about last year. Apparently he was really attractive. She talked about going to see him in secret. He lives in Kirkcaldy, that major port town in the capital region."

"Did... Did... Heather just help us?" Duncan needed to point out.

"Why the hell would Izzy tell you of all people?" Alejandro asked.

Heather shrugged. "Beats me. She probably wanted to bring it up with another girl. And it was either me or Buzzkill McTotally would have told on her Courtney."

"Wait, are you saying Izzy might have ran away not because of the marriage decree but because of a boy? That doesn't make any sense. Are we talking about the same Izzy here?" Courtney asked.

"You know, I agree with Courtney here." Duncan chimed in. "Why would she put the entire kingdom's peace in jeopardy because of a bootycall?"

"Because she's Izzy? It's that kind of crazy. And I don't know, I can kind of understand it." Alejandro spoke.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Of course you would understand putting an entire country's future in peril just to get laid. You're just that level of sick in the head."

"Who's to say it is purely sexual for Izzy? For all we know she could be in love, which you wouldn't know the first thing about Courtney. And love definitely has the ability to change the entire landscape of a nation. It has before and it will surely happen again." Alejandro countered.

"Right, like you're some expert in love." Courtney spoke with disgust. "I hate to break it to you Alejandro, but a girls heart is not found in her pants."

"A girl's heart can be found in many places Courtney, many places."

Noah waited a second before speaking, "Okay if you two are done bickering. I think this is probably our best lead. Definitely something the castle doesn't already know, which increases the chances considering they haven't found her. Plus it makes sense for Izzy to have a greater reason to run away other than just the marriage decree. I mean I'm sure we've all considered running away because of it but we're still here."

"Alright, well, I guess, it's a good enough place to start looking at least." Courtney conceded. "We're all agreed then, we're going to find Izzy?" Everyone gave the most halfhearted and unenthusiastic nod. "Good enough. We can all leave now."

Everyone else jumped out of their seat and started to walk out muttering to themselves:

"Oh thank god..."

"If I ever have to be in the same room with all you again..."

"Next time Courtney knocks on my door I'm jumping..."

Afterword:

I guess you can say this is the end of Act 1. Next chapter they leave the castle. Thank you everyone who has reviewed the story. We love and strive on the feedback, so let us know what you think of the story so far. (We're open to criticism, as long as it's constructive)