Chapter 17: Woman in White

As Daisy stormed from the hedge maze into the kitchen, Peach followed her.

"You can't leave, Daisy!" Peach demanded.

"And why not?" Daisy asked, glaring back at Peach.

Sensing the tension in the air, the kitchen Toads scattered away.

"Unless you promise not to say anything about Bowsette's true identity, I refuse to let you go," Peach said firmly.

"How can you be calm about this whole affair? Why shelter Bowser in the first place?" demanded Daisy.

"He came to me for help when he had nowhere to go. Kammy Koopa mistook his new form for me, and then she passed out in surprise causing Kamek to send Bowser's own guards after him."

"Did Bowser tell you this?"

"Yes."

"And you believe him?"

"I do."

"Then how can you be sure this isn't a trick to kidnap you again?"

"If he wanted to kidnap me, he would've already done so by now."

Daisy realized Peach was right, but she didn't want to acknowledge that. "He could be playing the long game."

"Mario and Luigi will protect me if Bowser tries anything funny, or his son."

"But I don't think the Mario Brothers will give you enough protection against Bowser and Bowser, Jr., so I'll stay here too."

"What about Sarasaland?"

"The council of judges will take care of things in my place. All I have to do is send them a letter and that's that."

Before Peach could protest, Daisy left the kitchen and went back to her room to prepare a letter to send to Sarasaland. After she sent the letter, she found Luigi and dragged him into the library for the private talk she threatened earlier.

Luigi gulped nervously. "Daisy, I—

"You knew who Bowsette was all along and didn't tell me," Daisy interrupted. "I thought I could trust you!"

"B-But you don't understand," Luigi stuttered. "We all swore to secrecy about Bowsette, so I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

"Peach's authority is no different from mine! We're both princesses, after all."

"I know, but—

"You need to grow a backbone, Luigi! Or did you leave it when you dealt with those Boos in that haunted mansion for Professor E. Gadd?"

"Hey, that's no fair! I didn't want to go into that mansion, but I couldn't abandon my brother in there. So I had to go."

"Then you're saying your brother is more important than me?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all!"

Clenching her fists in frustration, Daisy left the library in a huff. Luigi was tempted to follow her, but he sensed that she wanted to be alone.

After an awkwardly silent dinner, Luigi and Mario went to the room Peach had arranged for them to stay in after she found out they had gotten recent back problems from sleeping outside Bowsette and Bowsette, Jr.'s room in chairs for so long. But Luigi was wrought by guilt over lying to Daisy, which made him unable to fall asleep. So he decided to take a walk around the castle to calm his nerves, though because he was afraid of the dark he took a lantern from the bedside table and quietly snuck out while his brother snored loudly in the bed next to Luigi's.

Outside, the shadows of the darkened hallway weighed oppressively down on Luigi as he lit the lantern. In the glow of its light, he relaxed a little. He then made his way to the landing that overlooked the main foyer of the castle, which looked like a dark pit below him.

"Daisy said I have no backbone," Luigi muttered to himself. "Well, tonight I'm going to prove her wrong by going downstairs to the foyer by myself."

Gripping the lantern tightly, he slowly descended the stairs. The darkness was clinging to every surface, making him even more nervous. But just when he thought he wasn't going to make it, a shaft of moonlight came in from a circular window above, lighting a spot in the foyer. In this spot stood a woman wearing a white dress with long silken-white hair, lace gloves, and a pink crown on top of her head.

"W-Who are you?" Luigi asked before realizing he said it out loud.

The white-haired woman turned to face him and looked surprised. She then vanished, which was followed by the sound of heels clicking against the tiled floor.

"Hey, Toads!" Luigi called. "There's an intruder in the castle!"

In a matter of minutes, all the lights in the castle were turned on and the little Toads ran around trying to find the white-haired woman Luigi had described.

"What's going on, Luigi?" Peach asked, having heard all the ruckus outside her room.

She was soon joined by a sleepy-eyed Mario, Daisy, Bowsette, Peachette, and Bowsette, Jr.

"I-I saw a-a-a woman w-with white hair, and she had a S-S-Super Crown on her head," Luigi stuttered. "Th-Then she v-vanished."

"Vanished?" Daisy was confused. "You mean ran away?"

"No, she literally disappeared, and then I heard footsteps after," Luigi explained.

"Sounds like she turned invisible," Bowsette said. "And there's only one being I know of that can do that."

"Boos," Peach realized. Then she turned to Luigi, "Do you still have the Poltergust 3000?"

Luigi looked away in embarrassment. "I left it back at me and Mario's home."

"Then we'll send a Toad to fetch it from your home first thing in the morning," Peach declared. "In the meantime, we'll have Toads patrolling the castle. And if anyone sees the woman fitting Luigi's description, alert me or the Mario Brothers about it."

"Right!" the Toads said in unison.

For the rest of the night, Luigi couldn't sleep. Yet no further activity was reported by the patrolling Toads even into the morning when a Toad left the castle to retrieve the Poltergust 3000 from Mario and Luigi's home in the countryside of the Mushroom Kingdom. Out of concern for Luigi, Daisy made some chamomile tea for him to drink.

"I'm sorry about what I said to you the other day," Daisy apologized.

"No, you were right," Luigi sighed. "I really don't have a backbone."

"Don't say that! I didn't mean it."

Luigi didn't look convinced. "Are you just lying to yourself to make you feel better?"

"I only said it because I was frustrated that you lied to me about Bowsette, but I'm not saying you're a coward in general."

"But I am a coward, and always have been!"

To be continued…