Chapter 5

The next week passed without further incidents. Except for one, this occurred after a date with Oliver. Roy had apparently been waiting by my door. He was waiting when I came around the corner with Oliver looking so threatening and piercing that I had to use my loud voice to get him to back off. Oliver realized that Roy was my brother and swore to him, that he would never hurt me intentionally, but if he did Roy was allowed to challenge him to a duel. Oliver asked Roy if he wanted to become the personal guard of Thea. Because it seems that Thea did not appear to be pleased with her current guard. He was young and had experience in dealing with younger girls. This made him the best man for the job. Roy agreed.

Shado, Kendra, Laurel and I were playing a game of cards in the salon, in addition to us, Nyssa, Sara, McKenna and Samantha talked about places they had seen or in addition wanted to visit. Isabel and Helena both read magazines. The card game group decided to play poker. Sara wanted to play of course, and suggested strip poker that was rejected by the rest. Because I worked in a casino restaurant; and once or twice had to fill in for a sick dealer, I said once again for all, the rules of the game.

"Can I play with you?"

A voice beside us asked. Next to me, stood Princess Thea and a few steps behind her stood Roy. I nodded.

"Come sit down with us. Do you know the rules?"

"I've watched often enough with Ollie and Tommy to play."

The girls quickly noticed that I had a knack for poker.

"You totally would give Tommy a run for his money. I'd pay to see that."

Thea laughed.

"Hey! Speedy. Have you seen Oliver?"

"Speaking of the devil."

Thea sighed, but then her eyes took on a devilish glint.

"Tommy. Come over here!"

She chirped. A tall, dark-haired man came closer.

"SO girls, that's Tommy. Tommy, that's Felicity, Sara, Nyssa, Shado, MyKenna, Samantha, Kendra and Laurel"

He shook the hand of each and every one other than Laurel. He pressed a kiss on the back of her hand and winked at her.

"What's up, Speedy?"

He grinned at her mockingly.

"Don't call me that."

"As long I get a rise out of you, I will."

"How about a bet, Tommy? If you can beat all of us girls in a game, I will go a week without makeup and if I win you sing 'My heart will go on' to Oliver."

"One Month manual labor and you've got yourself a deal."

"Deal"

At the end, as expected, only Tommy and I remained. I had an ace of hearts and ten of hearts, among the already revealed cards were the king of hearts, the king of spades and the queen of hearts. I was missing only the Jack of Hearts for royal flush. Sara revealed the penultimate card: the ten of clubs of spades. Tommy went All-In. I looked at Thea, who nodded to me encouragingly. I also went all-in. Sara revealed the last card. Tommy revealed his cards: the king of diamonds and the ten of clubs.

"Full House, Thea. Find yourself old clothes. Tomorrow you are working in the stables."

He said, and seemed to be sure of his victory.

"Not so fast, Mister"

I laughed and revealed my cards. Tommy had terror written on his face, because the last card had been revealed, had been the Jack of Hearts and so was my royal flush completely. As if on cue Oliver appeared in the hall.

"There you are, Tommy. I've been looking all over for you." And what followed thereafter, none of us would ever forget. Tommy serenaded Oliver as agreed with 'My Heart Will Go On', exaggerated wrong and Oliver looked at his best friend as if he gone completely nuts.

A few days later, exactly one week before Halloween Oliver sent for us.

"In one week, a Halloween party will be held, in which your families are invited. A few days later, exactly one week before Halloween Oliver sent for us. "In one week a Halloween party will be held, in which your entire family is invited. The invitations need to be sent out today. However, there are only a limited number of invitations. That means a few of you will be leaving today. Thea has made the effort to organize a scavenger hunt. She has divided you into teams of two people each. Each team gets a tablet. On this tablet is a map of the palace and other useful programs. When I turn on the tablet, the two team members will be displayed on the screen and the countdown until your first clue is enabled. We will do that now therefore: I turned on the first tablet, hand it to the respective team. The Team will leave the room and goes into their respective room with their team number. This should provide that all have an equal chance. You have 3 hours. Who does not succeed in this time frame is out. And to ensure that you have completed all stations and no cheating, Thea has come up with something. At each station, you surrender your tablet to the person who enables your next hint. This person enters a code that is sent to Thea's tablet and displays your progress. "

He picked up the first tablet and turned it on. "Team 1: Isabel and Laurel." The two took their tablet and left the room.

"Team 2: McKenna and Samantha."

These two disappeared out of the room. I prayed that I had not been teamed up with Helena by Thea.

"Team 3: Shado and Felicity"

I breathed a sigh of relief and followed Shado, who had received the tablet, out of the room. We made ourselves comfortable in our team room, since our countdown indicated another 25 minutes. We counted down the last ten seconds, and on the screen appeared:

"6. Lurru Cznkv gznul znkgt ikyzu xy"

"Sounds like Russian"

Shado said. I searched in the programs for a translator and entered the clue. Out came this:

" Chtsnkv gznul znkgt with icosyl"

"Okay, no Russian,"

I muttered, and let the program double check all languages, but it came out just gibberish.

"Maybe it's some ruling or dictum or something in the direction. I mean the 6 has to be there for a reason."

A light dawned on me.

"It is a cipher. The 6 is a cipher."

Shado looked at me confused. I was looking for a decryption program, there was the text and set the encryption key on 6. This time came out this:

" Follo wthep athof thean cesto rs"

Shado looked at the text, and then she looked at me.

"Follow the path of the ancestors." We both said at the same time.

"We have to go to the gallery."

Several stops later we came to Diggle on the archery range. "Your lies well in the time." he said as he punched in the code for our next clue.

"Find the one person; who is his favorite, but not bound by blood. But the other way around he is the second, but treated like family"

"Definitely Tommy"

I shook my head.

"It's Sara"

"How can that be, Sara the next station if she participates in the scavenger hunt as well? That would be totally unfair."

"Not that Sara, I mean the little Sara."

She looked at me still confused and I added.

"Sara Diggle, the daughter of his personal guard. Please trust me that we need to get to her."

Shado sighed.

"Okay, I trust you. It's not as if you had been wrong the last few times. So where do we find this little girl?"

I grinned.

"You will not regret it. She is in the kitchen!"

When we came into the kitchen, Raisa pulled cookies out of the oven, but before I could greet her, I was attacked by a small monster.

"You've found the shortcut, Lizzy."

"Shortcut?"

Shado and I asked in unison.

"Yes, a shortcut. Thea has installed a shortcut, just for me."

Sara grinned proud of herself. Raisa took our tablet, entered the code and handed it back to us with a pack with delightfully smelling cookies.

"For the way"

We thanked and left the kitchen before Sara insisted that she come with us. Shado read aloud the next hint while walking.

"I ride in black as night with the silver of the moon shining on my back. I will protect my king with my mighty strength until the last breath in me leaves. I then head to the wooden house of red where I lay my sleepy head."

"A riddle"

I said. Shado repeated a few words.

"Ride...black as night...silver of the moon...back...protect...king...strength...wooden house of red."

We were thinking.

"I've got it"

Shado exclaimed.

"Arrow"

"Arrow?"

"Oliver has a black horse with silver mane, whose stable has red exterior paint."

"What are we waiting for? To Arrow"

Roy waited with Arrow. He stared grumpy dead ahead.

"Hey Roy"

He grumbled.

"Let's get it over with. I have better things to do than the whole day waiting for you girls."

That's why we left as soon as possible the barn after he had entered the code. A grumpy Roy can really spoil your day.

"Shake, shake: paths leap a torn exile"

"Could be an anagram because of the shake, shake"

I typed it in in an anagram solver and we got Nephrolepis exalta.

"This is the botanical name of the sword fern."

We kept on running, this time to the greenhouse.

Breathless we arrived at the greenhouse. Thea was waiting for us.

"That was fast."

"We were running from the stables up to here."

Shado replied gasping for breath. I let myself fall next to Thea.

"What I really wanted to ask for a long time: How are the candidates chosen for the Selection?" "Mom and Dad have especially for this purpose developed a system. First, they have paid attention to the outward appearance. A princess must be beautiful. Then they have those filtered out with intelligence and talent. And in the end they chose the one that would be the most useful for the Kingdom." Thea explained.

"That does not explain why I'm here."

"I have chosen you. My parents allowed me to take on a State. When I saw your picture, I had this feeling that you are the right one."

I stared at Thea open mouthed. But before I could say anything, Isabel and Laurel arrived. Delayed came after them Helena and Nyssa; and Kendra and Sara. Only Samantha and McKenna were missing. When Roy arrived a little later and told us that as Samantha and McKenna were with him their time was up, and the two had preferred to immediately pack their things. I was quite happy to have found the shortcut. Only eight girls remained.