Wow, long time no update. I don't really have an excuse. Hope you enjoy!
Master of Secrecy
"Rory? Logan? We're almost there," Stephanie called, knocking on the door. When there was no answer, she slowly opened the door. "Rory? Logan?"
"Hmm?" Logan said sleepily
"You fell asleep? No wonder you were in here so long. It's been hours! We're landing in about ten minutes," Stephanie said crossly
"Shoot," Logan rubbed his eyes, "Ace, wake up, we have to get all our stuff together, we're landing soon,"
"Oh," Rory sat up slowly
"Common Rory, wait till you see it!" Stephanie said excitedly
"Wait, we can already see it!?" Rory was wide awake now
"Well, when I last checked I could only see water, but that was a while ago. Let's go see where we are!" Rory jumped up and followed Stephanie out
"Wait," Logan smiled, "No peaking," He pressed a small button on the wall, and the girls heard all of the window slide things lock into place
"What! That's no fair!" Rory pouted
"I can't have you girls finding out where we are, it would ruin the surprise," Logan told them, passing them and walking back to his seat in the front
"We'll find out anyways, when we get off the plane in ten minutes," Rosemary pointed out, coming up behind Steph and Rory
"You girls don't give me much credit. I thought long and hard about this, and there is no way I would make a slip like that. Believe me, there is no way you will know where we are until we get to the hotel," Logan said, quite sure of himself. Rory opened her mouth, but then changed her mind and closed it again
"Common girls, let's not hang around the 'superior' gender. We have better things to do," Stephanie said, and the girls retreated back to their seats to wait anxiously for the plane to land
RLRLRLRL
"Ok, this is really not fair," Rory said, as she was led blindly through the hotel lobby. Logan had been quite thorough with hiding their location. The girls had been given blindfolds and those special headphones that blocked out all sound. They had been led through the terminal, away from all windows, to the underground parking lot, into a limo with deeply tinted windows, into another underground parking lot, and not into, what the girls assumed, was the hotel lobby. Rory was aware of movement and noise, but she couldn't make out what language it was. Logan was grasping her hands tightly, so she was unable to take off the blindfold or the headphones
"We're almost to the rooms, then you can take the blindfold and headphones off," Logan said, close enough to her ear, that she could make out his words
The girls felt themselves moving upwards, presumably in an elevator. "Can't we take them off now?" Stephanie whined, "We're all alone in an elevator"
"No, because you might see something, of hear something in the hall that would give away our location" Colin said loudly for them to hear
"Almost there" Logan assured them. The group proceeded down a hall, and into one of the rooms. They door closed behind them, and the girls hands were released
"Finally!" Rosemary exclaimed, tearing off her blindfold and headphones
"Now what?" Rory asked
"Now, we wait" Logan said simply
"What?" Rory asked again
"Well, the math is to complicated to do right now. We left at seven, flew six hours..." Logan began
"Six hours! You said the ride would only be two!" Rory said
"Well, I lied. If I told you I wanted you to hop on a plane for a six hours flight to an unknown location, would you still have gone? Or would it have sounded crazy to a level headed reporter such as yourself?" Logan asked, before continuing, " Now, because of the time difference, it is sometime in the night, but I am to jet lagged to figure out if it's later or earlier than we think. We do know that it is sometime in the night"
"No, really?" Rosemary said sarcastically
"No sarcasm love, let's all go get ready for tonights festivities!" Finn said excitedly
"What does getting ready entail?" Rory inquired suspiciously
"You're outfit is in the amoire by the bed in the next room," Logan smiled coyly
"Room? There is more than one room?" Rory looked around for the first time. The main room which they were in was huge, parlor like, with one of the biggest tvs she had ever seen. A kitchen could be seen through an opening in the wall above a table in the corner, presumably used for eating at. There were also four doors, two on each side, along the walls. Next to the tv, on both sides, were patio doors, leading out to a large balcony.
"Wow" Stephanie said, taking in her surroundings
"I didn't realize it was so big," Rosemary added
"Where do those four doors go?" Rory asked, staring intently at Logan for an answer
"Each to a bedroom, all complete with large closet space and a bathroom," He told her
"Four rooms but there are six of us," Rory said pointedly
"Four was the maximum they had," He said truthfully, "One for Rose, one for Finn, one for you, and one for Colin and Steph. He volunteered to take the shared room. I myself get the couch,"
"How valiant, but where will you change into your clothes for the festivities? You don't have a room"
"True, but I was hoping I could borrow your bathroom for a moment to do just that,"
"Fine," Rory yielded, "Let's go see this dress you pick out for me," She smiled at him sideways
The six made their way to the rooms, but it was clear that Finn intended to help Rosemary, instead of going to his own room.
"So this is the dress," Rory held up a huge burgundy dress, complete with lacy silk trails, gloves, and shoes with buckles
"Yep," Logan turned around on the way to the bathroom wit his outfit
"I take it we are not dressing up as anybody from this century,"
"Nope,"
"What century are we from then?"
"The eighteenth century. I also pulled a few strings, and got you a very high position at tonights going-ons. You, are Maria Antonia, and I am a certain Swedish diplomat,"
"Eighteenth-century, Antonia, Swedish," Rory thought out loud, "Marie Antoinette and Axel Fersen!"
"You are smart!" Logan cried in mock joy
"Marie had an affair with Axel!" Rory exclaimed
"All the more reason for me to pick his role,"
"Why, so you could pretend that you ever got to have the beautiful me?" Rory batted her eyelashes sarcastically
"No, because he was supposedly extreamly good-looking," Logan grinned, dodged a flying pillow, and hurried into the bathroom
"So where is this ceremony thing anyways?" Rory called, slipping the dress on, getting lost in its multiple layers.
"It's at this gigantic imitation of Versailles, your own palace my lady" Logan called from the next room, "I know the owner. He rents it out to the rich and famous for parties because the real thing is to old to risk harming. It looks identical to the real Versailles. Not all of the rooms are there, just the most important and a whole portion of the castle. But even that is so large and lavishly furnished that you would never realize it."
"So that's your theme this year? 18th century characters?" Rory asked, fumbling to do up the dresses clips and other bobbles that held it on to her.
"Around there. I think Finn might have gotten Napoleon Bonaparte, Rose of course being Josephine." Logan walked out of the bathroom, looking down as he finished doing up his belt. He glanced up, realizing that he hadn't asked Rory if she was ready, before walking out of the bathroom.
"Here, let me help you with those clips," was the only thing he could think of to say, when he saw her in the beautiful, elegant, deep red, ball gown, her dark hair softly curling around her shoulders. He went over to her and she turned around, not seeming to mind that he had just walked in on her half dressed. His fingers went to the back of the dress, sorting the clips into their places. The dress had a deep back; his fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as they traced her spine up to her neck. Rory sighed, the sensation of his fingers entrancing her. Logan suddenly became painfully aware of what he was doing. He pulled his fingers back quickly.
"There you go, done," He said awkwardly, looking away
"Thanks," She replied quietly, hating to admit that she hadn't wanted him to stop.
"Rory! Logan! Did you die or something?" Finns voice called from outside the rooms door.
RLRLRLRL
"I hate big doors," Stephanie complained, as the group stood outside the huge castle
"Big doors happen to lead to big places, and this is definitely a big place," Logan said, almost speechless himself at the real life elegance of the building
"I don't want to go it, it seems to special, like we shouldn't even breath on it," Rose said, holding onto Finns arm to his great delight
"I know its only a reproduction, but it sure seems real," Colin stated the obvious
"There are people coming who probably want to get into this palace, who do not find it as menacing as the six of us, and they will probably push us in ahead of them, and that would not be as comfortable as simply walking in ourselves, so I suggest we move. Shall we?" Finn stepped back and extended his arm in an 'after you' fashion, and Rosemary walked past him,followed by Colin and Stephanie.
"You coming Ace?" Logan looked back at her; she hadn't moved.
"I don't know if I should do this. I mean, I have only been to a few events, and none of them were as extravagant as this, and maybe I'm not ready to join? What if the tasks to become a member are too hard for me? I think this whole thing will end up being a waste of time. Go without me, don't let me ruin your fun. I'll just go back to the hotel room. I mean, it's not like I'll miss much, or you will miss me, or..." Rory babbled
"Rory," Logan said, smirking, "You're ranting again."
"Sorry," She grimaced, drawing her eyes away from the daunting castle and glancing over at him
"Come on, it will be great! I promise you will have fun. And if you don't, then I also promise that I will drive you back to the hotel and we can spend the rest of the night watching Duck Soup on that really big tv and you kicking my ass at Scrabble, ok?" Logan put his arm around her shoulders
Rory couldn't help smiling, "Promise?"
"I swear on my fathers grave," Logan raised is hand in oath
"Your father isn't in his grave,"
"Ah, but swearing on it might hurry it up a bit,"
"Logan! That's terrible! He may be cruel, but he's still your father," Rory laughed
"Sorry, I didn't really mean that, I just been on a plane for to long with not enough partying!" He tugged her towards the door, other elegantly dressed couples rushing past in frilly tops and trailing ball gowns.
"Let's go my dear Axel," Rory said, giving him her hand with and elegant air
"Gladly, my lady," He bowed low, taking her hand, and they made their way after their friends.
Ok, filler, obviously. It was meant to be part of my next chapter, but it was getting to six pages, and merrited its own chapter. I promise that the next will be fun!