And we're back with another chapter. I hope all of you had a great holiday! Thanks goes out to TurtleJustice, Ignotus Angelus, and Kimyco for their reviews.

Now go read the chapter. I'm done talking.

The feeling in the palace was a grim one. Shawnee stood silently between Athos and D'Artagnan, unable to move as they both had a hand on her shoulders. She stared at the ground, wishing it would just open up and swallow her. The shock of what she'd done had passed some time ago and she was pretty much an undeclared prisoner at this point.

They were in the hallway outside Brenna's room and the doctor had been in there for some time now, trying to remove the bullet. She had yet to wake up and this was causing much concern. The boys were sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall, and were unusually silent. But when one of them looked up, they'd see Shawnee and give her a vicious stare. If the musketeers weren't there, they'd have probably attacked her by now, despite the fact of her being female.

The musketeers refused to look at her. They wouldn't have been able to keep the looks of disgust and shame from their faces. Shawnee looked up and tried to catch the eye of one of them but every time they saw her watching one of them, they'd look away.

She felt a tug on her shoulder and found herself being led away from everyone by D'Artagnan and directed into another room. He pushed her into a chair and pulled another up so he was sitting right in front of her. He watched her for a few seconds and she peered at him through her bangs before looking down at her hands twisting in her lap. He sighed and asked the question she'd been dreading.

"Why did you take my pistol?" She looked at him to see no expression, no indication of his thoughts, nothing revealed to give her a clue as to what reaction her response would cause. She opened her mouth to speak and, finding she had no words to express, closed it again. D'Artagnan's blank expression soured at her silence.

"So you have no reason for what you have done?" Her silence was all the answer he needed. He gave a disgusted sound and stood to leave the room. He gripped her under the arm and dragged her out the door. He let her go once they reached the hall outside Brenna's room.

They had returned just as the doctor was coming out. Everyone gathered around him except for Shawnee who stayed back, rubbing at her sore arm. She strained her ears to catch the conversation and was able to catch a few small parts.

"She'll live… Bullet is removed… Needs to rest…" That was all she heard before she felt tears of happiness fall. She choked back a sniffle and rubbed at her eyes to get rid of the tears but these actions were noticed by Athos, whose expression darkened.

"What the devil are you crying for child? Are you sad that you did not kill her the first time?!" By the time he'd finished, his voice was a roar. Shawnee stared at him in fear and when he made a move to approach her, she bolted down the nearby flight of stairs. Athos moved over to the top of the stairs and shouted down them.

"Stop her! Stop the child!" Shawnee glanced back to see Athos shouting down the stairs and found herself trapped in the arms of the king's valet. She struggled and squirmed but found he had her trapped in such a way that she wasn't able to escape. The valet led her back to the staircase where Athos grabbed a hold of her arm with a nod to the valet and pulled her back up the stairs.

Athos then led her back to her room where D'Artagnan was holding open the door and gave her a light push inside. The two of them stood framed in the doorway as she regained her balance and stared at them. D'Artagnan raised his hand to show a ring of keys.

"We are going to be locking you in so do not even think of escape" Athos stepped back and D'Artagnan turned, pulling the door shut behind him. Shawnee waited until she heard a telltale click of the door being locked before she moved over to sit on the nearby bed. She held her heads in her hands for a few moments as her thoughts raced in frantic circles through her mind.

She stood and began to pace the length of the room, her eyes focused on her feet and the carpet before each step she took. Time passed at a snail's pace and she found herself walking around the room, running her hand along the wall distractedly. She stopped and leaned heavily against the wall directly across from the bed and found herself falling backwards. She landed hard on the ground and looked up to see that the wall she had leaning on had actually been a door into a secret passage. She flipped over on to her knees and looked down the passage into blackness. She squinted to see a slight amount of light coming from the other end.
She looked back into her room before she closed the passage door and waited for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. Using her hands to guide her along the passage, she started slowly along until she reached the place where there was crack of light. She pushed lightly on the wall before her and felt it shift. It was another passage door.

She pushed harder on the door and it flew open, crashing on the wall. She jumped about a foot in the air and looked quickly to the actual door to the room. No one entered so therefore, no one had heard. She stepped into the room and closed the passage door with a soft click before actually looking around.
Her eyes widened when she laid eyes on the bed. She was in Brenna's room! She quietly moved to stand by the side of the bed and stood there for a few minutes before noticing a chair was placed by the bed. She sat down and just watched her friend sleep.

She didn't know how long she sat there for but she leapt from the chair as soon as she heard the sound of the door knob turning. Her expression to one of fear and she dashed for the passage door, tripping on the chair and being sent sprawling. The crash of the chair and her landing on the floor caused her to wince but she pushed herself to her feet and pulled open the door. She rushed in and yanked on it as she started back towards her own room.

She tackled the door to her room open to find D'Artagnan and Aramis standing there with grim looks on their faces. Her face went sheet white as she took a couple steps back before spinning on her heel and taking off back across the passage. She arrived back in Brenna's room to find herself stopped by Athos and Porthos. She closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. Athos grabbed her roughly by her arm and held her there until D'Artagnan and Aramis arrived in the room after taking the passage shortcut. Shawnee trembled in fear as she was stared down by the four of them.

'This is it... I'm a dead girl...' She glanced over to Brenna out of the corner of her eye. 'And I'll never get to see her wake up... Although she probably won't want to see me anyway...'

"Look. I know this looks really bad since you told me not to leave my room. But I found the passage by accident. I swear!" D'Artagnan narrowed his eyes at her.

"That does not give you an excuse for not closing the door and staying in your room regardless!" Shawnee stood there gaping at him for a moment, her arm still trapped in Athos's tight grip.

"It seems that she does not have answer for you D'Artagnan." Aramis said coldly. Shawnee whimpered in pain.
"Well it's a little hard to think when Athos over here is crushing my arm! Let go already! I'm not going anywhere!" Athos let her go and she rotated her shoulder with a wince before she began rubbing at her arm. Porthos set the chair back up on its four legs and Athos pushed her into the chair. She stared at them as they stood watching her. She leaned forward with a sigh and held her head in her hands for a moment before she spoke.

"I know you're upset with me. Hell, I would hate me too if I were you. I know I should probably not ask this but would it be alright if I stayed here, in this room, with Brenna? One of you four or Chris or Jordan can stay here with me if that'll make you feel better. Just please let me stay!" The four of them shared a dark look.

"Fine." Athos growled. "But you are not to be in here unless one of us or the boys is in here with you at ALL times. Is that understood child?" Shawnee nodded happily.

"Thank you. Thank you very much!"

And so began the daily shifts. Shawnee stayed by Brenna's side throughout the entire day other than when there were meals. During the meal times, she sat at the farthest end of the table. She wasn't very welcome with the rest of the others; well proven by the glares she received whenever she went near them.

During the shifts, she was watched like a hawk by whoever was doing the shift that day. Sometimes, when it was Athos on the shift, she would look out the window and would see D'Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos trying to teach Chris and Jordan how to sword fight. And one day, she heard the sound of pistol shots as they taught them how to properly use the weapon. Every time she heard a shot on that day, she would jump or wince.

The shift for that day had ended and it was Aramis who had been with her. He stood when there was a knock on the door and he opened it to reveal Chris and Jordan. He left it open so he could easily see in the room while he was talking with the two boys. Shawnee looked to the door, straining her ears to hear the conversation.

"I don't know why she wants to sit there all the time. It's not like Brenna's going to forgive her for shooting her when she wakes up." Chris said; his voice full of malice. Jordan nodded in agreement.

"There really isn't a point. Maybe she's just waiting for one of us to mess up a shift and then she'll finish her off."

"That is a possibility." Aramis said. "I wouldn't put it past her. After all, she did shoot someone that was 'supposedly' her dearest friend." Shawnee couldn't stand anymore of it. It hurt too much to know that not even Chris and Jordan trusted her anymore. They'd known her for two years and they didn't even have an inkling belief that she would NEVER hurt Brenna intentionally.

She looked to the open door to see that Aramis was not even paying attention to her at this point and stood silently. She tiptoed over to the passage door and cracked it open enough for her to squeeze through before she closed it and returned to her room where she sat on the bed and tried not to cry. She felt her heart seem to grow cold and an intense feeling of rage and betrayal caught in her throat.

'If they don't want to see me then fine. They won't see me at all then.'

And that is another chapter done. I know; I make the characters suffer a bit too much but hey, it's part of the story. So, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time!