While Roland and Miranda were still on their way home, Miranda looks to her husband who has been eerily since they left the hospital.
Miranda sighs softly before opening her mouth and saying, "We need to let Royal Prep know of Sofia's stay at the hospital in a case for some reason we end up extending her stay there."
Roland grip on the steering wheel as tight as his knuckles turned white as he said tightly, "I have already informed the Headmistresses of Sofia's status and that if there is a possibility of her staying there longer than they would give her a little leeway in terms of her course and school work."
Miranda nods, rubbing her tired eyes as she voiced the one thing that they had both been dreading, "How are we going to tell the children and the others?"
Roland looks at her sadly saying, "I am not sure about my love, but I know that we have to tell them about where Sofia is and we have to be truthful about it."
"They will be upset," Miranda states, Roland just nods in agreement as they spend the rest of the ride home in silence.
Meanwhile, they were unaware that the carriage had just pulled up and as the coachman opened the door to reveal Jack who had decided to surprise Emily with a visit, when he came in through the servant entrance he greeted the kitchen staff and maids as he made his way down the hall towards Emily's room.
Jack was approaching Emily's room when he notices the odd-looking couple standing outside one of the guest rooms talking in whispers before going into the room, curious Jack decided to go investigate, but before he could, Baileywick spotted him and smiled.
"Young Jack, when did you stop in?" The steward asked distracting Jack who answered the man's questions.
"I had the day off sir, and decided to pay Emily a surprise visit, who were those people I just saw in the hallway a second ago?" He asked.
Baileywick smiles and says, "Why were they Emily's parents? They came to visit Emily, but the girl appeared distressed when she saw them, am I not sure why."
Jack looks at Baileywick frowning in concern at hearing that, "I should go find her, maybe seeing me will help calm her down enough to get an explanation."
Baileywick said nothing as he was still half smiling as he followed the young man to go help find the missing girl.
Meanwhile, in an unused part of the castle, Emily was laid curled up in the middle of the dusty floor of the used storage room as she was internally having a battle of wills between her wolf and herself.
*They aren't packed, they should rip out their lying tongues!*
'They are my parents, don't you recognize them!'
*Foolish girl! They may look like packs, but they don't smell like packs and my nose is never wrong!*
'Well, maybe this time you are wrong!'
*FINE! IF YOU ARE TOO BLIND TO SEE WHAT I SEE THEN YOUR PRIDE AND IGNORANCE WILL BE YOUR UNDOING! LEAVE ME!*
'Luna...please...I-'
*I said LEAVE!*
Emily opens her eyes with a gasp as she sits up with thick heavy tears streaming down her face as she feels empty without Luna's consciousness beside her own.
Hearing the doorknob rattle, it opens with a loud creak to reveal a tall shadow standing in the doorway, which had Emily on edge but then when the figure stepped in a bit, it revealed a familiar face.
"Emily?"
"JACK!" Emily shouts happily as she jumps into Jack's arms, kissing him for all he's worth before saying, "What are you doing here?"
"Day off, I decided to pay you a surprise visit but I guess you were playing a strange game of hide and seek, now that I found you, let's get out of here."
Jack leads Emily out of the room and down the hallway soon reaching a more familiar part of the castle.
"So I heard through the grapevine that your parents are here?" Jack said trying to fake uninterest but he was dying for answers.
Emily smiles and nods, "Yes they just arrived a few moments before you, but my wolf had a bad reaction to them for some reason, saying that they weren't my parents, which is a load of horse dung."
Jack frowns a bit at hearing that, if Luna knew something that Emily didn't or wouldn't hear then something wasn't right about this whole thing.
Meanwhile, in the guest room, both Charles and Henrietta were busy expecting the room they were given for a moment, but then soon Charles sighs heavily in relief as he reaches up to his head to pull off the gray hair to revealing dark greasy brown hair, while Henrietta did the same with her long wavy dark wig as the will to reveal blonde locks and once she found a water bowl she cleaned off the makeup to reveal a heart-shaped birthmark on her right cheek.
"I am glad that we are finally alone Gabriel, I thought for a second that the brat would say that weren't her parents or something and we would have to make a run for it." The woman said as she settled herself on the man's lap.
"Heidi my dear, fret not about it, Mary may be many things but makeup and costumes are her things since we were children, I was always the unwilling test subject and it was your brilliant idea to have her impersonate a maid."
Heidi smirks, "Yes it was and if she is anything like her brother, she will be quick to jump ship and leave when all it comes unraveled."
"Yes I can't wait to find the Royal Vault, I heard that it had endless gold and jewels," Gabriel said as he swoons as he let his imagination go wild.
"Gabe my dear, remember the plan, we have to gain the brat's trust so she can help us find the vault, then after we are done, we send her to be with her parents again for all eternity, while the rest of the Royal Family mourns and we live a life of luxury," Heidi said to give her beloved a cold smile which he returned.
"I can still hear their pathetic pleads as they begged for us to not kill them," Gabriel said his eyes taking on a dreamy look, while Heidi licks her lips as if she smelling something good as she remembered that day as well.
But they were soon startled by a knock on their door and so they made a mad dash for the large bed and then Heidi shouted at the door, "We aren't decent!"
Baileywick sighs as he hears this and says through the small crack in the door, "Dinner will be ready in about 2 hours, should you give you enough time to get ready to greet and meet the rest of the Royal Family." not waiting for a reply Baileywick closes the door and leaves the couple to get ready.
Meanwhile, at the library Jack and Emily meet up with the Twins and Michael and Ryan who were all happy to see Jack again after they greeted him and talked with him for a bit, then James gets a serious look on his face as he said, "Now what we are about to tell you is hard to believe, but just hear us out, okay?" he asked pleadingly.
They all nodded in agreement and waited for both Amber and James to tell them about when they heard.
"While we were looking for you Emily, we decided to go to the kitchen for a little snack when we overheard two maids talking about Sofia and how she was put in Mental Hospital, I just hope that this is just a rumor, but you all did notice how weird Mom and Dad were acting before they left with Sofia to go on that trip."
"Wait back up, what trip? what is this I hear about Sofia going to a hospital, you might need to fill me in on what you guys are talking about before you tell us what you heard." Jack said.
Everyone nods in agreement and so they explained how Sofia had changed since they came back home, she was not sleeping well at night due to horrible night terrors and she was hiding the fact that she was so exhausted and stressed that she collapses when she had a panic attack at a restaurant and of course about the fight between Emily and Sofia how in a fit of anger slapped her, which resulted in Roland and Miranda possibly sending Sofia to a mental hospital.
"Yeah, I remember Mama asking Mike and me to keep Sofia busy for a while," Ryan said.
"I have heard of Hospitals having wards for children, but they are usually for children who have extreme mental illnesses or disorders." Michael states.
"But you have admitted that Sofia hasn't been herself since we came home, she was practically sleeping in my bed with me almost every night, whenever I tried to ask her about she would get upset, so I left it alone, but I was concerned for her, she was not coping at all, I was the only she came to since I heard her cries at night and came to her aid, I just wish I had said something sooner." Emily was upset, while Jack wrapped a comforting arm around her.
"It's not your fault Emily, you couldn't have known, you forget that you are just a kid like us," Amber said only for everyone to turn to James shouting from his spot at the window.
"Hey guys, Mom and Dad are home and Sofia isn't with them, come on let's go find out what happened." James ran off down the hallway followed by his siblings and Jack.
When they got to the door their parents were just stepping through the threshold, only to be nearly dogpiled by their children.
"Whoa! What is a welcome home party?" Miranda jokes smiling at her children's antics, but that quickly changes when Amber says. "Is it true that you took Sofia to a Mental Hospital?"
The parents stared at them in shock for a second but then Roland said, "Yes." his voice was hoarse and gruff as he had Baileywick lead the children to the living room with parents following after them, Miranda tells the children to take a seat, while Roland goes over to his liquor cabinet and pours himself a glass of whiskey, tossing it back like a shot, while he tried to get his bearings.
Miranda talks with Jack briefly and sends him away with Baileywick to go eat in the servant's quarters, but before Baileywick turns to leave he quickly turns back the room and walks over to where Roland was standing and whispers in his ear.
"We have a guest, my king, a couple claiming to be Princess Emily's parents."
Roland looks at Baileywick in surprise, "Are you sure?"
Baileywick nods his face a mask of seriousness, Roland sighs and says "If they are claiming to be Emily's parents then we better see to it that they are treated as the guests of honor."
Baileywick nods in acceptance as he again leaves the room finally leaving the parents to explain what happened to their youngest sister.
While Jack was following Baileywick down the hallway, he realized that he had to use the restroom so he told the man that he would meet up with him in a few moments and dashed for the nearest toilet.
A few moments later Jack comes out only to see the couple that was claiming to Emily's parents and while from a distance they could easily be mistaken for them, but when he got closer he notices that they were nothing like them at all the way they held themselves seem to scream trouble and danger, and aside from a few similar physical traits they looked nothing like Emily's real parents and when he saw them sneaking around the hallways, he decided to follow them and after a few twist and turns they were standing outside the Royal Vaults Room.
The man shocked Jack by simply removing the gray wig around his head to scratch his greasy mop of dark brown hair, watching as the woman nudge him hard with her elbow, causing the man to quickly put is the wig back on before they decided to go inside the room only to be chased out by the Griffins that guard them.
"Damn it all!" The man cursed as he and his partner painted trying to calm down their fright unaware of Jack spying on them as the woman clip the man on the back of the head making the man yelp in shock.
"You moron! You didn't bring the knockout potions, your sister told you about them, you could have killed us, you idiot! Mother was right I was wrong to marry an idiot thief, at least you had the guts to kill those brat's parents with me, but ever since then it been one failure after another."
Jack watches as the man pouted as he follows the ranting woman back to where their rooms were located, leaving a shocked Jack to process what he just heard as he walked down the hall and down to servant's quarters where he ate in silence, unaware of the concerned look shot his way by Baileywick and Violet as they all finished eating and soon it time to prepare dinner.
He was quickly put to work by the Head chef Ander, who was strict, but fair with how the food was prepared and how if there were leftovers to donated to the village for anyone who was struggling to feed their families, King Roland had approved of this and saw it as to keep the villager well-fed and healthy, which meant happy villagers.
Jack was a bit surprised to hear this, since the place he lived was pretty isolated and sometimes it was a struggle to feed everyone especially during the winter months, and the Lord that owned the lands, simply did not care if his villagers were starving so long as he could feed his lavish lifestyle.
For the next 2 hours, it was a bustle of activity as they finally got out the meal for the King's family and guests, by the time Jack had a chance to sit down he was exhausted and soon ready for bed, but then he remembers that he had to talk with Emily so with a renewed energy and determination he got up and walk down toward Emily's room.
He knocks on the door and stands there waiting and for a brief moment he thought she wouldn't answer, but then she opens the door and smiles happily when she sees him.
"Jack, come on in." Emily gestured for him to come in, which he does quickly, looking around the simple but large bedroom in awe, before turning his attention back to Emily.
"Emily, I have something important to tell you, I am just not sure how to say it," Jack said his face was unsure, while Emily sat at her vanity stunned as she watched him from the mirror as multiple emotions flashed through his face all at once.
"It's about that couple who you say are your parents." Jack said finally, which had Emily slump a bit relieved, but confused at the same time as she turned around to give Jack a confused look, "What do you mean?" she asked.
Jack looked her straight in the eye and said "They aren't your parents, they are just a couple of thieves, who killed your real parents and stole their identities."
The silence was deafening as Jack waited for Emily to say or do something, which she did, by laughing at him which angered him greatly as he shouted at her.
"I M SERIOUS!"
Emily tries to contain her laughter as she said, "Ah I need that, I m sorry but that was the most ridiculous story I ever heard."
"Emily, I m not lying, those people aren't your real parents they don't care about you, just getting into the Royal Vaults, they killed your parents!" Jack exclaimed, resisting the urge to grab his beloved by the shoulders and shake some sense into her, but he knew that it wouldn't be any good.
Emily said nothing as she pointed to the door and said firmly "Leave. Now. Don't come back until you are ready to apologize for your lies."
Jack nothing as he leaves the room, cringing when the door slammed shut behind him, but he knew that he would have find proof or died trying no scratch that, he would find proof and no matter what as he walked down the hall and soon he was standing outside the doorway of the Royal Vaults, waiting to confront the thieves, thankfully he didn't have to wait long as he saw too familiar shadows lurking around the corner of the doorway.
When they got close enough that when Jack made his appearance known, "You aren't going to get away with this!" he said which startled the two thieves both soon they were both laughing at him until the man came closer to him neatly pinning Jack into a corner, which Jack didn't notice until it was too late, freezing when he felt the sharp edge of a knife touch his throat as the man hissed in his ear threateningly, "Make any sudden moves or scream I will gut you like a fish after I make you watch me doing the same to that werewolf brat mate of yours."
"Gabe, knock it off and knock him out already, we have to hide him until we can get the goods." The woman said as she was busy checking her fingernail, seemingly bored with this whole thing.
"Got it, Heidi, time to sleep, kid."
Before Jack could blink or scream he felt a smelly cloth cover his mouth and nose forcing him to breathe it in and soon he started to feel sleepy and then he knew no more...