When The Stars Align

chapter nine | running through the rooftops

On the top floor, I opened the door again, having the kids tumble out. There wasn't much here, like I expected. There was just the beginning of the largest tower in the center of the palace. There was no visible entrance. That was my issue at the moment.

"Leo, do you know anything about the tower that could get us inside?" I asked the young prince. I cradled the baby in my arms, making sure she doesn't cry. I think she fell asleep on the climb up here.

"There's nothing in there. There's no way of getting in. It wasn't designed to. Legend says it was built to keep something in and never take them out."

Legend was right about that. But someone got in.

"Who's there?" My heart leaped as I heard the voice. We were supposed to be alone. Who could've followed us up. It was almost impossible to get up here any other way. I would've know if someone was behind us.

I turn around slowly. I've been here for half an hour maybe and this was the first guard I've seen that wasn't unconscious. Ironically, it was the one guard I knew wasn't going to arrest me... hopefully.

"Atticus?"

His eyes widened. "Vera? What are you doing here? The castle is being... you aren't part of the heist, are you?"

I rolled my eyes. "If I was part of the heist, there wouldn't be this much commotion. You're lucky, this time I'm actually here for the king." And partially my own gain, but he didn't have to know that. "What are you doing up here? This is where your positioned?"

"Always, I'm in put in the same place," he groaned. "I don't even get it, there's nothing here."

So the king knew exactly what was in in the tower, and he put his least experienced guard to protect it. Interesting.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, and looked down at the kids. "Why are they with you? Where's Vic and Lys."

"Back home, I came to get these kids out of here safely."

He looked around. "How the hell did you even get up here? I didn't see you come through the entrance, and that's literally the only way up here. And if you're supposed to be taking these kids out, why are you up here? Are you going to jump from five stories up?"

"There was a secret passageway!" Romeo exclaimed. "It opened from the wall and there was a staircase! It was so cool!"

"We were like spies!" his twin, Camden joined in. I rolled my eyes, wanting to smack the two, but held myself together.

Atticus raised an eyebrow. "Secret passageways? Is that where you always disappeared to when we played hide in seek in here?"

"You're seriously bringing that up here?" I asked. This was unbelievable.

He opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but closed it all of a sudden. I stayed quiet too, because in the distance, you could hear it - footsteps.

"Shit," I cursed, which probably wasn't the best thing to do in front of a bunch of kids. "Where do we go... where do we go..." I glanced around the place. There had to be a way to get in the tower, I had to get in.

"You did hear that, right? There were children."

Shit. Shit shit shit.

I needed the sign. I needed it somewhere. It would be a risk to open the passageway back up, because I didn't exactly know how to open it from up here. At least downstairs I had a faded memory to guide me.

I had one option right now. I searched the wall of the tower franticly, looking for an opening. It had to be here, or else Atticus probably wouldn't be up here.