Six
Sam was sitting in the kitchen, her hands wrapped around a cup of tea. Apparently the chef had managed to scrounge some from somewhere when she had complained that there was nothing for her to drink there except water.
She looked around herself. The room looked almost exactly the same as it had the first time she had been there, only cleaner. In fact, the whole castle was sporting a lovely, unsoiled feel, as the maids had actually started bothering to clean again. If the cobwebs that Sam had run into in abundance when she had first been at the castle had been any indication, it had been quite some time since the brooms and dusting cloths had been seen around the place.
Sam had occupied her time in the week since her fever attack exploring the castle, though she studiously avoided the West Wing. She didn't like doing it – she felt cowardly, but the truth was she was cowardly. She was afraid of the Phantom might do to her were he to find her there again.
She hadn't seen him since that first time she had woken up. According to Valerie, he had hardly left his room since then. Only Tucker had seen him in there.
He was still a mystery to her.
She had really seen precious little of anyone except Valerie and Jazz. She saw quite a lot of them. She had a niggling feeling that Valerie was following her around. Like an escort, in case she got in trouble again. That she could understand. That seemed like something she would do – to take it upon herself to be a personal guard to their guest.
But Jazz did the same thing – and that Sam did not understand. And she mostly did not understand why Jazz looked panicked whenever they neared a door. Was she afraid she would run away again? But why would she be?
Sam was not stupid. She knew something was going on – and she knew it had to do with her going outside, with Phantom, with all of them, with that rose.
That rose had begun to haunt her dreams on regular occasions. After its first appearance in her fever-induced sleep, she had seen quite a bit of it in the nighttime quiet.
Her hand snuck under her collar to pull out her locket. She let it lie on the tips of her forefingers, the chain snaking along her palm and dripping down her wrist, and back around her neck. She set down her cup of tea and traced her finger along the outline of the silver rose.
Was it just a coincidence that her necklace looked just like the rose in the Phantom's quarters? Was it just a coincidence that it appeared in her dream? Somehow she knew it was not, but she still did not understand.
The door suddenly banged open and Valerie stormed into the kitchen. Sam winced. She had been found.
"Sam!" Valerie yelled. "Where have you been?"
Sam gestured silently to the room around her, as she quickly dropped her locket back underneath her dress.
Valerie rolled her eyes angrily. "You scared me! I thought you had run away again!"
"Why shouldn't I?"
Valerie looked momentarily stumped, but continued after a few seconds of pause. "Don't ever do that again."
"You didn't answer my question. Why shouldn't I go outside?"
Valerie's lips moved for a few moments, though no sound came out of them. Sam cocked an eyebrow and rose from her seat. She stepped backwards, watching Valerie's face. But the other girl's eyes were trained on her feet.
Sam took another step backwards, another, and another. She was nearing the kitchen door. The one that led out to the neglected kitchen gardens. She pushed open the door behind her and hopped out in one sudden, lightning movement.
Valerie darted forwards, her hand resting on the door frame as Sam backed further away from the door.
"Come on Valerie. Come and get me."
Valerie looked at her loathingly. "Please come back inside."
Sam just smiled cockily at her and backed further away. "Come out and get me."
"I can't."
"Scared?"
"I can't!" Valerie shouted at her.
"You, can't? What do you mean you 'can't'?" Sam's eyes suddenly widened in understanding. "Because of the curse?"
"What curse?"
"The curse you'll all under." Of course! It made so much sense now. This was an enchanted castle that she had stumbled upon...
"We aren't under a curse." But Valerie sounded a lot like she was acting badly.
Sam nodded knowingly. "Right." She walked back to the door, stepping past Valerie, who had moved out of the way, and back over to her tea.
"It's cold!" She moaned. Valerie rolled her eyes, but was still worried. If Sam knew about the curse – she couldn't break it. That would be cheating.
Relax Valerie, maybe she doesn't know all of it. She just knows there's a curse. She doesn't know how to break it. But who told her about it? I'll kill them. Her thoughts passed to the only one in the castle who would be foolish enough to let it slip.
Tucker!
Her fists clenched angrily. Sam turned around from mourning her cold tea to find Valerie absolutely steaming behind her.
"Valerie? You alright?"
"I'm fine." She replied through gritted teeth.
Sam gave her a strange look but let it go. "Valerie? I'm bored."
"Well what do you want me to do about it?" the other girl snapped.
Sam looked crossly at her. "I don't know. Fine, be horrible, I don't have to listen to you." And with that she stomped upstairs to her new quarters in the East Wing.
Valerie waited for a few moments in the kitchen before taking off stormily in the opposite direction, her prime target probably being in the West Wing with her other friend.
Sam marched through the castle, not sure whether each stomp was relieving some of her anger – or intensifying it. She reached her room and slammed the door. She was pretty sure no-one had heard the loud noise, but it made her feel better. The East Wing was as far away from the west one as you could get without bunking down outside. She knew he had done it on purpose.
She went and sat, still steaming, on her bed. It was true, what she had said to Valerie. She was bored. She was incredibly bored. She had now explored the whole castle, except for one door that was locked down in one of the corners of the kitchen, but she had a feeling that was just a pantry.
She slumped backwards to lie on the bed, closing her eyes tightly, thinking of home.
The door to the West Wing bedroom flew open with a noise not unlike a thunderclap. One of the two figures in the room leapt a few feet into the air, but the other just turned an uninterested eye to the intruder.
"Valerie!" Tucker shouted. "What was that for?"
She stormed right up to him, grabbing his collar and pulling his face right up close to hers. Her eyes cried murder.
"Tucker! You told her about the curse!"
"I did?"
"Yes, you did!"
"How do you know?"
Valerie turned to the dark figure who had just moved silently over to the squabbling pair, not removing her fist from Tucker's lapels.
"Who else would be that stupid?"
"Hey! Honestly, Val, I didn't tell her!"
"Did she say he did?" Danny interjected.
Valerie grumbled her answer reluctantly. "No."
"Then how do you know she didn't just figure it out herself? She isn't an idiot."
"And this whole place screams cursed castle!" Tucker added hastily in his own defense.
Valerie reluctantly dropped Tucker, who smoothed out his clothes and put his arm around her as she grumbled an apology. "Don't worry, babe."
"Stop calling me that," she said crossly, though she was smiling.
Danny turned away from the happy – albeit strange – couple, back over to look at the rose. Presently he realized he was not alone.
"It looks worse than the last time I saw it." Valerie's comment was quiet and pained.
Danny was silent.
Valerie spoke again after a short silence. "She says she's bored."
"Of course she's bored." Tucker scoffed. "The woman's been in this place for over a week now and Mr Sunshine here hasn't even seen her for most of that week. The only people she's been with are Jazz and Val. No wonder she's going insane."
Valerie gave him a punch on the arm that was mostly mocking. "He's right, Danny. You could at least talk to her? How is she going to fall in love with you if she never speaks to you?"
"She won't fall in love with me anyway. Why bother?"
Valerie raised her eyebrow crossly. "How do you know?"
"I'm dead. And something tells me she isn't the necrophilia type."
"She doesn't know that. And she never has to find out."
"Actually, Tucker, she knows we're ghosts."
"Dammit. Oh, come on Danny, you might as well try. I mean, you like her, right?"
"No."
"Sure."
Danny glared at Valerie. "What would I even say to her?"
There was a long silence, before the couple looked at each other blankly.
"Exactly." Danny mumbled as he walked away.
"Now wait a minute." Valerie flew over to stand in front of him. "You could start by cleaning yourself up a bit. Do you have any idea how long your hair is? You look like a yeti. And some sleep might be a good idea – les bags are never a good look. And do you always have to wear black?"
"Yes."
She sighed exasperatedly at him. "Fine. And as for what to say – don't say anything."
"What?"
"Give her something."
"Yeah, yeah!" Tucker shot over. "Give her a present!"
"A present." He sounded dubious. "What good will that do? She hates me."
"Hey, man, a good gift will solve anything."
"Alright, and what do you propose I give her?"
Tucker and Valerie looked deep in thought. Danny was just about to turn around and walk away from his two friends when Tucker's head suddenly came up, his face shining elation.
"I got it!"
Sam wandered finally downstairs after a few hours moping in her room. She had almost convinced herself that she had just been thinking – but she had been moping, and she hated that.
She walked into the north drawing room. It was the most sedate room she had found in the whole castle, all dark blues and grays. She slumped onto the navy sofa with a sharp exhale. Then she exhaled again. Frustration was radiating through her.
The violent exhales morphed into furious yells. She stood up and started stomping. She vented all her boredom, frustration, sadness, anger, loneliness on the floorboards. She stomped and stomped and stomped.
Suddenly her foot froze in midair.
She set it back down on the floor where she had just thrown it and pressed down. She heard a strange creaking noise. That hadn't been there anywhere else she stomped.
She fell onto her knees and pulled away the rug before her, revealing what looked very much like a trap door in the floor.
"Now this is interesting." She smiled, her fingers coming down to slip around the ring on the door. She pulled hard, and the door came up with minor protestation but a lot of squeaking.
She peered dubiously down into the black hole she had revealed. She could vaguely make out some steps descending downwards. She scanned the room and grabbed a lit candlestick, then hitched up her skirt and went down into the ground, the black swallowing her completely.
She walked for what seemed like hours, not entirely sure where she was. She tried to use her limited knowledge of the castle's layout to guide her, but it did not help her. She knew that the tunnel she was in was some sort of extensive underground labyrinth.
The dark was enveloping, and even the meager light from the slowly dying flame could not dispel it. Wait. The dying flame? She looked at her candle. There was precious little of it left. She hadn't realized how low it had been when she had grabbed it.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit." she hissed.
She turned to go back up, knowing that being down here with no candle was a very stupid idea.
But she was faced with a three way fork in the tunnels, and she looked at them in despair. She whipped back around. There were several direction options. She picked the far left one and ran, hoping upon hope that it would lead somewhere she could get out of.
She rounded a corner, and just before her candle died, she saw two shining red eyes right before her.
Her bloodcurdling shriek reverberated through the maze of tunnels.
uh oh. cliffie. ""ducks in cover""
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FunkyFish1991 xXx