Shall We Dance?

9. Midnight

I stepped out of Dante's room and looked around. It was so dark. The hallway seemed so long, I couldn't see the end of it. I grabbed a candle and walked. I managed to find my way to Katrina's room. I opened the door but she wasn't there.

I wanted to call her name, but I was afraid the murderer could hear me.
I left her room and started walking down the hall again, I didn't know where I was going but sooner or later I'll have to reach someone.
I walked for about fourty five minutes and still couldn't find anyone. Now I really am lost. Where did I come from? Was it this way? Now what do I do?

I decided to keep walking. If the candle runs out I'll be left in complete darkness. Why is this castle so big? I passed by a small room that seemed to be storage and I had to stop. What is that foul-smelling odor? Is that....blood on the floor? I was scared to look. I looked inside and had to cover my mouth. I wanted to scream but I couldn't. I found the body... It was the guard who set us up in pairs, he had a knife lodged in his neck... there was blood everywhere. His eyes were open but they were lifeless, perminantly showing the terror he felt right before he was stabbed. I looked closely and I noticed that he had another stab mark but the knife wasn't there.. Chill crept up my spine when I suddenly heard footsteps behind me. I turned around. I could see a tall figure making it's way towards me. Something in it's hand shone with the light. Is that...the missing knife?! The figure got closer as I stood there paralized with fear. Suddenly my candle went out, and the darkness surrounded us.

---

I stayed with the guards until late. It took a while but we finally managed to assign everyone to a pair. Father was locked away in his room. I'm scared to even sleep in mine.

"Ma'am, shall we escort you to your room?" One of my guards said.

I shook my head. "I'd like to stay in the king's room" I said. It's much bigger and it's always guarded.

They nodded and escorted me to father's room. I always hated walking this castle at night, I don't know how the guards do it. Daddy should at least put a few more lights so they can see.

We were about half way there when we heard a scream. It couldn't be. Another one?! The guards quickly took me to father's room and locked me in. I ran to the bed and he wasn't there. "Father?!" I screamed.

---

I fell to the floor and screamed.. "No get away from me! Please don't kill me!" I screamed.

"Jessica? Is that you?" I heard a familiar voice say.

"E...ethan?" I said and looked up.

"Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!" He said.

I looked at him and hugged him tight. "I was so afraid... i..i found the body.." I said and looked at him. "The guard was stabbed but there seems to be a missing......" I looked at his hand. "Knife..." I looked at Ethan in fear.

He looked at me, then his hand. "N..no... it's not what you think, look." He said and grabbed my hand, he took me to a nearby window. The moon was shining bright, I could see him clearly now. He showed me the knife he was holding. It was dull, it had a bit of blood on it. I pointed at it.

"I accidentally cut myself with it." He said, looking embarrassed and showed me his hand.

"Where did you get this knife?" I asked.

"Don't you know where you are? The kitchen is right here." He said and pointed to a room.

I remember this place now. We used to bother the cook when we were kids. I guess fear can make you blind

I looked at Ethan, who was distracted looking at his bleeding hand.

"We need to get back to the room, we don't know where the murderer could be" I said.

He nodded and we both started to make our way back to the bedroom. We finally managed to get to Dante's room. When we entered, we saw Dante.

"Jessica, are you ok? When I came back I didn't see you" He said.

"I'm fine, just got a little lost." I said.

He sighed in relief, then looked at Ethan.

"Where the hell were you?" He said, looking angry. "You were supposed to watch over her!" He yelled.

"I could say the same to you. Why the hell did you leave the room?!" He snapped back.

"What?" I said, looking at them.

"He got up and left the room without saying anything. I decided to follow him, but I lost him in the darkness. When I came back you were already gone." Ethan said.

'I wanted to check something." Dante said.

"Check what?" I asked.

"It seems what I thought was true. I went to the king's room, and I noticed that there was, in fact, a missing poison bottle." He explained. "I also checked the body of the guard that was pushed, and someone has taken the bottle he had" He added.

"So that means..someone can still poison the food or beverages." I said.

"Why didn't you just tell me the reason when you left the room?" Ethan said.

"I assumed you were asleep, I didn't realize you were awake." He said.

"I never went to sleep.." Ethan said and looked at me.

I looked away.

"This murder was worse than the other ones. This time a guard was stabbed. And there seems to be a missing knife." I said.

"Damn.. this is even worse than I thought." Dante said.

We suddenly heard a few guards running and knocking on every door.

"What's going on?" I said.

"I don't know" Ethan said.

A guard knocked on our door and opened it.

"Is everyone here?" He looked at each of us. "Did any of you go out?" He asked.

I was about to speak when Dante interrupted me.

"No, none of us ever left the room? What happened?" He said.

"Another murder. One of the guards was found stabbed to death. And the king seems to be missing" He said.

"Missing?!" Dante said. "How could the king be missing?!" He added.

"When the princess got to his room she noticed the king was not there. We don't know where he could've gone to." He said. "Remain in your rooms for now" He added and left.

Now I really don't know what's going on. The missing knife...the poison bottle...the corpse... and now the king missing...

This is going to be a long night.