It had been just like any ordinary day; the royals had been busy with preparations for Sofia's 12th birthday. The castle had been abuzz with excitement for the youngest princess to turn 12. The girl in question was supposed to be helping Amber plan but she had sneaked away. Apparently Hugo was more important. Ice skating had been taking up most of her time, Amber would like to be annoyed at her sister. Yet she had never seen her smile so much, Hugo seemed to really boost Sofia's confidence. The royals all hoped that the boy would ask Sofia out, but he had not so far. So, the royals all watched the two in anticipation.
As the night drew to a close Amber began to worry, Sofia never stayed out past dark, ever. Yet the darker it got; the longer Sofia was away. So, Amber alerted her parents that the princess had yet to return home. They in turn began looking around the castle for her. When they realised she was not there, they sent out the guards to look for her. They informed the king that she was not in any of the usual places so together the Royal family decided to look at the ice rink, she might have lost track of time and still be practicing. When they got there however they nearly collapsed. Sofia was nowhere in sight, but blood was splattered on the ice. Two pairs of ice skates were flung from one side of the rink to the other. Most importantly Sofia's most prized possession lay on the floor. The amulet of Avalor. From the scene in front of them, they could only draw one conclusion. Princess Sofia and Prince Hugo had been kidnapped.
It had been a whole year that they had been gone and things were vastly different. The castle lacked the spark Sofia had brought. Security measures were tripled in the wake of the kidnapping. James and Amber had a guard everywhere they went. Nobody other than Royals were allowed in the castle and everyone in Dunwiddie had been questioned. It had been a year and they were no closer to finding the pair, Hugo's family had been working tirelessly to find them as had the Royals. It was no use; they were still missing. It had been a year, and everything seemed broken, it had been a year and Sofia should be turning thirteen. A teenager and she could not even celebrate it. It had been a year and Amber was sat in her room, staring at Sofia's necklace. She jumped when James walked in and sat beside her. He placed a hand over hers in solidarity. If anyone was deeply hit by the situation it was James. He had lost one of his best friends and his little sister. He had tried to shoulder some of his dad's responsibilities so that his father did not crumble under the stress. He had tried comforting his stepmother and sister. He had helped everyone minus himself, James was the first-person Sofia really opened up to in the castle. She In return had taught him the importance of friendship and dreams. Amber looked at her twin.
"Do you think that wherever she is, she's happy?" she asked. James raised his eyebrow and gulped.
"I want to think so Amber, I really do"
"But?" she probed. He looked down
"There was so much blood and as much as I like to think that Hugo finally admitted his feelings and they ran off together…. It's just not plausible." He admitted. Amber sighed
"Do you think she knew that we loved her? That we are glad she's our sister."
"Yeah… I think she knows." There was a moment of silence between the siblings before James spoke.
"I went to see Cedric" Amber looked up in surprise. After Sofia disappeared Cedric had tried every spell to track her, but they would not work. After he became depressed, giving up on magic all together and barely leaving his room unless specifically requested by king Roland.
"How's he holding up?" she asked. He shook his head.
"Not well, when I got there his room was a mess, he was trying the tracking spell again and getting annoyed that it didn't work" Amber growled. It was not fair, Sofia should be home, celebrating. Cedric should be trying to win the kings favour and the world should be happy dam it.
James pulled his hand away from hers
"We'll find her Amber, I promise!" Amber glanced at the amulet next to her, tears in her eyes.
"How can you say that! You can't promise that James!" she shouted. James took a deep breath
"I can, Sofia will come home, just trust me." At that the younger twin left the room as Amber sunk to the ground in despair.
It had been 2 years since that night in Ambers room. Many things had changed, James had become a Knight and Amber was named next in line for the throne. Miranda had become withdrawn and began taking a step back from her duties. The loss of her child slowly crippling her. The King tried to remain strong but was slowly crumbling too. Cedric had come out of his depression and began doing good deeds in Sofia's name, trying to keep her name alive. Things were starting to become normal, well as normal as they could be, considering the circumstances.
Things were about to change, however. Amber was in the throne room with her father, helping him with his kingly tasks when a knight ran in. They looked at up at him and before Roland could ask why he was there the knight spoke up.
"We've found them Sire; we've found the prince and princess!"