Holy War: Two Worlds and an In- Between

Chapter 30: Long Walk

I stepped backward as I heard voices murmuring outside. I was so distracted by the talking that I didn't notice that the wardrobe was going too deep. Before I knew it, I was standing right in the middle of my dusty room.

"What the -" I began to scream.

"Oh, don't be so crude Diana," Whisper interrupted, "let's be civil."

"How the hell are we back here?" I whisper yelled.

He shut the wardrobe and dusted off his shirt. He seemed rather unphased by me. He took a deep breath before deciding to acknowledge me again.

"You're a smart girl. Haven't you noticed that you can utilize wardrobes as portals?" He asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked a bit annoyed.

"You have been able to manipulate wardrobes to let you walk through different planets and plains of existence. I don't see how you haven't caught onto that," he said having a seat on my bed.

I rolled my eyes and paced around the room, "I was too busy trying to avoid them," I said beginning to bite my nails, "that's not important. What's important is that I know where my friends are. Were they taken by the people chasing us?"

"Your friends are very far out of reach for me. Usually, I could find them in a second, but I can't at the moment," he sighed.

"And, why not?" I asked taking a seat beside him.

"I don't know. That's why I need you," he said.

I shook my head and folded my arms over my chest. There was no way I was getting roped into another mission. The very idea that I was looking for something else to do on top of everything else was insane. The very thought that I was able to process my friends being missing after I just found out what the king and Sir Itachi was up to was actually laughable.

"Listen, Diana, I don't have time to argue with you. When you realize that you need my help, just whisper my name and I'll be there," he said pushing past me and heading for the door.

"You want me to whisper the word whisper?" I asked.

He turned around and sighed heavily, "No, Raphael, I want you to whisper Raphael," he responded before marching out my room.

*****

I opened my eyes the next morning when I heard an old bell dinging away. I groaned a little as I rubbed my eyes. When I finally caught myself I realized why the bell was ringing so furiously.

I rushed about the castle as I attempted to get the jobs I had neglected done. I had realized that waking up an hour late through off the whole schedule. Needless to say, Benny pestered me mercilessly about my irresponsible behavior.

Evidently, waking the girls up an hour later only made them more cranky. Summer claimed that I, someone she hadn't know three days before, was against her happiness. Winter, however, kept the teen angst to a minimum and began her day. I suddenly felt Scarlets pain having to take care of teenage girls and swore to apologize when I saw her again. If I saw her again.

The chef was less than pleased by my lateness with the order but tried to remain as cheerful a possible. I was glad that Benny was off my back for a while, but I had to worry about what Whisper had said. Back at the house, when he told me to get in the wardrobe, I went into autopilot and did it. What else could he do?

When all of my duties were done, I began to wander around the castle to clear my head. Instead of going to the king's quarters again, I just walked down the hall outside of my room. I didn't take the time to think about how dark and creepy the thin corridor was. I wasn't thinking too much about what I would find, I just needed to get away.

I wondered how I ended up in that situation. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that I was stuck on a different planet. I tried not to think about whether or not my grandma is okay. I didn't want to acknowledge that my brother might not have been ok. I didn't want to think about Jack and Allioni was missing.

"Maybe, they left me," I thought as I passed a few doors. There were a few lit lanterns used as lamps on the wall.

"Would they do that? I mean, Jack and Ally were in a rush to get me away from them," I finally stopped when I saw a door pushed open. The only door as a matter of fact, "Or maybe..."

"They're dead."