Chapter Thirty ~ Intruders

I felt disorientated for a few moments. I was being dragged out the safety of Robin's room and down the corridor of the Children's Wing. I tripped and scuffed my legs on the stone stairs, the person holding me not waiting for me to pick myself up. I realised in an instant that whoever the person was, was definitely not taking me anywhere nice.

I was in big trouble.

"Get off me!" I cried when I finally regained some strength in my voice. I heard a heavy, choky laugh from my captor. Though they didn't say anything. I had gathered that whoever it was, was a man, due to their deep, masculine laugh and the roughness in the way they dragged me through De Noir castle. When I tried to look up at him, I tripped over my feet and had to hurry to pick myself up so I didn't have to withstand too much injury. "If you're planning to get out of the castle, then forget it. You won't get very far with all the guards around." It was my attempt of confidence. It didn't work very well as I heard the man laugh again.

"Well, it's a good job I don't want to leave the castle then." He sniggered. Before I could say anything, we came to a halt. When I looked up, I realised we were in front of the great hall doors. I looked up at the man, finally been given the chance to.

He was dirty. Incredibly dirty. He had long shaggy, thin hair that hung down to his shoulders, bits of dust and mud lingering between the strands. His clothes were torn and hung off his body, like they were too big for him. He was quite a stumpy man, only a little bit taller than I was, but much broader. His finger nails were incredibly long and dug into my skin as he held my arm tight so I didn't run away.

"Shall we go in?" He asked, grinning down at me, revealing mangy, rotten teeth. I was being dragged forward again as he walked towards and pushed open the huge heavy doors of the great hall with one hand. The scene inside took me by surprise.

All furniture had been pushed to one side of the room in a clumsy fashion. On the tops of the tables were smashed plates and piles of rubbish. I could even see some sort of dead animal in the middle. On the opposite side of the room stood Loveday, Uncle, Mrs Heliotrope, Digweed, Marmaduke, Mr De Noir, Mr Gomez, Mr Cunningham, Henry and Robin's two friends. They stood in a line, all dressed in night clothes, obviously been awoken from their beds like I was. Around them stood a few of the De Noir guards, their faces blank as if they were in a trance.

"Maria!" Loveday cried. She tried to rush towards me, but was stopped by one of the guards, holding his sword at her throat. Uncle pulled her back towards him and held her close to him. The shaggy man pulled me forward and stopped when we were quite close to the others. He then shoved me hard towards them and I fell into Mrs Heliotrope, who held me with shaking arms.

"I demand to know why you are in my home." Mr De Noir said, harshly. He glared towards the shaggy man. I then saw another man appear, much taller than the shaggy one. His face was hard and clenched. He wasn't as dirty than the shorter man, though his clothes hung off him and were slightly muddy. The likeness between both the men was scary. Despite the height difference there was no doubting they were related in some way.

"What have you done to the guards?" Loveday asked, her eyes lingering on the guard that had just threatened her. The two men only sniggered. They reminded me a lot like Robin's friends, who were stood, just as confused as we were, next to me. Just then the doors opened again and we all turned to look.

A woman, much older than both the men, walked in with her eyes on us all, a small smile on her face. She was unnervingly beautiful with long wavy hair that seemed to glow. Though her face was beautiful, her features seemed strained slightly, as if old age was taking it's toll on her. She wore a glistening lilac gown that trailed behind her, reflecting the light from the candle flicker and giving the dress a metallic look to it.

Questions filled my completely confused mind. What on earth was going on? Why were these people here? What were they going to do to us?

"Ahh, more guests." Mr De Noir's voice boomed. "Of course, just come into my home, drag me from my bed and make yourself comfortable." I had to admire his confidence. Mine had crumbled completely. The woman's eyes stopped on Mr De Noir and narrowed slightly.

"Coeur De Noir." She spoke, addressing Mr De Noir. Her voice made me jump slightly. It sounded so elegant and formal. "Thank you so much for welcoming my sons and I into your gentle home." She gestured to where to two men stood. That explained the likeness between them. Mr De Noir laughed without humour.

"I don't remembering welcoming you into my home at all, actually." He said. The woman simply smiled and walked over to where Mr De Noir's chair had been placed in the centre of the room, almost like a throne. She sat down on it, sweeping her gown aside, then faced us all again.

"My name is Cassandra." She told us.

"Well that's nice and everything, but that's really not the point." Mr De Noir said through gritted teeth. "Now, I will ask again. What are you doing here?" The woman, who revealed herself to be Cassandra, turned towards where the table had been moved to and raised her hand. With one flick, a cup rose from the table top and floated over to where Cassandra was sat, though it fell to the floor and smashed before it reached her.

"My powers are not as strong as they used to be." She sighed. "It seems as though our so called immortality is coming to an end." I was completely baffled by the floating cup when I realised that Cassandra must have been a witch or something of the sort. She seemed to be able to do magic. Though the whole idea seemed completely ridiculous and only fit for fairy tale purposes that are read to small children.

"You're a witch?" Uncle asked, in a slightly quiet voice. A thin grin appeared on Cassandra's face as she turned to face him.

"Well observed, handsome." She said. I saw Uncle's face clench slightly.

"That still does not explain why you are here and why my guards have suddenly turned against me." Mr De Noir spat. Cassandra's eyes wandered to the guards.

"A simple spell." She shrugged. "Allows me to command them for a little while, though it should wear off in a few hours. But by then, we shall have got what we want."

"And what's that?" Mr De Noir asked. The witch's piercing eyes wandered over everyone until they finally rested on me. A small, gut-wrenching smile appeared on her features. Before I knew it, I was being dragged forward again by 'shaggy', who seemingly appeared from no where. He pulled me so I was in front of where Cassandra sat on her 'throne' and forced me to kneel in front of his mother.

"If you touch her, I will kill you." Loveday warned her, though Cassandra just ignored her threat and continued to stare at me.

"What do you want?" I asked, my tone more confident than I thought it would be.

"You." Cassandra answered simply. She sighed and then leaned back in her 'throne', crossing her arms across her chest. "You see, we're losing power, Maria." I flinched at the fact she knew my name. "We've lived for so long and used so much power that our supply is fading and disappearing from our bodies. Magic for us is becoming difficult, simple spells turning into hard tasks. Soon we won't be able to perform magic and will die pretty soon after." She grinned, slyly at me. "And we don't want that."

"What's that got to do with me?" I asked.

"A little birdie tells us that you're a Moon Princess." 'Shaggy' sniggered from behind me somewhere.

"So?"

"So, we need your power." His mother told me. I stared at her, completely baffled.

"I don't have any powers." I said, frowning.

"Don't play dumb with me, girl." She said, laughing. "We know the whole story, right from the very start. You're a Moon Princess, therefore you should inherit the power's the first princess had. Which we want." They wanted my 'powers'. The powers I didn't have. It was true, the first Moon Princess had, what Cassandra would call, powers but I didn't. I couldn't help them.

"She doesn't have any!" Loveday's voice cried. Cassandra ignored her again.

"Even if I did have any, how would I give them to you?" I asked.

"We need the pearls." 'Shaggy' told me. I groaned mentally. Those pearls were the cause of so much trouble. It seemed that they had now created another problem for us.

"I don't have the pearls." I said.

"Stop lying to us." Cassandra said, almost like a snarl.

"I'm not!" I cried. "We don't have them, I threw…"

"Don't tell them where you hid them, Maria." Mr Gomez's voice cut me off. I frowned, and turned to look at him. His eyes were staring into me. What was he on about? I was about to tell Cassandra and her filthy sons that I had thrown them into the ocean, when I saw something in Mr Gomez's eyes. He shook his head once, as if he knew what I was going to do. He didn't want me to tell Cassandra where the pearls were for some reason.

"Finish what you were going to say, girl." Cassandra demanded. I watched Mr Gomez for a few moments. Should I trust him? I knew he had something to hide so should I go along with what he was planning. "Tell me!" I turned back to the witch on her 'throne'.

"I won't tell you where I hid them." I told her, with a firm voice. Her face scrunched up with anger and she snarled slightly. I jumped back. The snarl seemed too animal like.

"I will give you one chance, Maria." She said slowly. "To tell us where you hid them or I will show you what I can do." I swallowed hard as she glowered down at me with so much hatred. I turned to where the others were stood and met all their eyes for a few seconds. I rested on Mr Gomez. He smiled slightly and shook his head. I turned back to Cassandra.

"I won't tell you." I said again. There was a few moments of silence from the witch before she grinded her teeth together. She looked up to a place behind me, which must have been where her sons were stood.

"Fetch him in, Melvin." She said, her voice above a whisper. I heard the sound of running feet and Cassandra looked down to meet my eyes again. "You'll see now, little girl, that you have just made one big mistake." She nodded once to the place behind me and I was being pulled to my feet again. I looked up to see 'shaggy' again, realising that Melvin must have been his taller brother. 'Shaggy' brought me around so I stood opposite where the others were stood, to Cassandra's right. I had expected her to use her powers against me, to hurt me in some way. Seemingly not.

It seemed like forever until Cassandra's son came back. Though he was not alone. He was pulling someone by a rope that was tied around their neck, like a dog on a lease. I couldn't see their face as their head was covered by some sort of sack. The person's hands were tied behind their back and I could see that their clothes were torn and bloodied. Their shirt was ripped open, revealing scars and bruises on their bare chest. They had been beaten quite hard.

There seemed to be something painfully familiar about this helpless person.

Melvin pulled the person forward then shoved them to their knees in front of his mother, so they were in view for us all to see. Melvin then grabbed hold of the top of the sack on the person's head and looked up towards his mother, obviously waiting for orders to reveal the identity of the person underneath the sack.

"I would introduce you all to our new guest, but I hear you know each other already." Cassandra said in a high voice, nodding once at her son.

I knew who it was before Melvin took the sack off.

He pulled the sack off in a rough manner, discarding it to one side. Underneath it, face battered and bloody, was the boy who everyone had been looking for over the past five days straight.

Robin De Noir

(A/N) I know I kind of thrust this whole new idea onto you (Cassandra and her need for magic), but it's the only way really and I don't want to drag this story out any longer than I have (I tell you this constantly, I know). So please tell me what you think, I know this chapter isn't very good but feel free to tell me that.

Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday, I was unexpectedly busy so I couldn't have chance to write any more. I will try my hardest to have an update ready for you all tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

-jemlou-