Young Writers Society

His lips quivered.

"But what if I don't see win-e again?" he signed, tears now falling down his cheeks in bucketfuls. It took me a second to realize that "win-e" was supposed to be a name - maybe Winnie? "We could still get caught, and then I won't ever see Winnie, or Mom, or all of my friends..."

He hid his face in his legs.

"I want Winnie..."

Megara bit back a scathing retort. That wasn't what was needed right now. Right now, he needed comfort. As much as she didn't want to go home, she didn't want to stay here either.

A moments' thought gave her that conclusion, and along with it the idea that she might be able to give Kirux what he needed.

If she thought about it any more, she would know that she was capable of no such thing, but just because she knew it didn't mean it was true.

"Look," she said, softening her tone ever so slightly. Just enough to take the edge off, "I'm not going to let you get caught, and I'm definitely not going to let you die. If either of those things happen, it shows poor planning on my part and ensures that none of us get back where we belong. So calm down and focus on figuring out what you're going to do as a distraction."

It really wasn't all that comforting, but she hoped it would do the trick.

Kirux raised his head and sniffled.

"...Okay," he finally signed. His gaze lingered on Megara as he wiped his eyes, but then he turned his attention to me after his breakdown apparently ended. "What should I do?"

I gave a metaphorical blink and a literal stare.

"...You're asking me?" I asked.

Kirux nodded.

I faltered - I would have guessed he could come up with some kind of plan on his own. But now that I had the question, I was already starting to come up with an answer.

"You could make that key thing," I said. "That's big and showy."

Megara shrugged, "Smash some stuff, do something. It doesn't really matter so long as it attracts a lot of attention."

She turned to Fidel, who had been working with the various pieces of the uniforms that had been scattered about the place. "You done?"

"Yeah," he said hesitantly, "I'm not sure how well it'll work with your measurements and-"

"I'll improvise," she hopped down from the table, hissing in pain when she landed, and went over to take the uniform from Fidel.

Kirux looked aghast at the suggestion that he should destroy some of the kingdom's property, so something told me my original idea was going to be the one that he went with. But then he heard Megara give the pained cry, and he hurriedly signed, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she grumbled, examining the fabric in her hands. That leg was going to be a problem, her arm too. She'd fought while injured before, though. She could handle it.

"Skull, do you think you can handle reducing the number of guards surrounding the king before Fidel and I show up?"

I pretended I was grinning a smile that was downright evil - I would have been, if I had a face that actually wanted to cooperate. But, instead, all I could do was imagine that I was back in my jar, pulling scary faces at Lockwood and Co. through the glass.

"I can," I confirmed.

And then our plan began.


The plan, by all accounts, went pretty well at the start. Kirux made one of his corridors of darkness - which was exactly what it sounded like - and brought us near the castle. I hopped into the body of the first servant I came across, leaving my actual body carefully hidden away on the outskirts of the castle. The one downside was that the servant was a girl, but I wasn't going to be too picky.

I had a role I needed to fulfill.

I slipped through unfamiliar hallways in search for where the king could be. I kept my head down and didn't make much conversation - I didn't want anyone to realize I was probably venturing into parts of the castle I wasn't needed in.


Back with Megara and Fidel, Kirux kept his gaze on the former - waiting for her to tell him what he needed to do and when.

Megara addressed Fidel first, "Follow Skull. Try to know where he is at all times, and stay out of sight. Being able to hear, but not see him is ideal for someone who isn't used to following people."

Fidel nodded, apparently not inclined to argue, and did as he was told, slipping into the castle in Skull's wake. He was just barely able to see which servant he'd picked for a body before Skull was out of his sights. Fidel tried to follow him into the castle, but Megara's method of hear not see didn't really work when Skull moved as quietly as a mouse in the stone halls. Soon enough, Fidel was hopelessly lost.

xXx

Megara then turned to Kirux and spoke to him in sign language, unwilling to risk someone overhearing when it wasn't necessary, "Go to the front gates and make a commotion. The guards are just robots, so smashing them up isn't like killing anyone. Try to draw as much attention as possible, then use your corridors of darkness to get away when things get overwhelming."

Without waiting for a response, she slipped into the castle.

It was then that she realized the flaw in her plan. She wasn't as good at this as Briar was. Briar always considered every possibility, every last detail that could go wrong. That's why she was in charge of planning.

And this was why Megara was not.

She was in the castle, disguised as a servant with absolutely no way of knowing where, or who, Skull was.

She let out a frustrated sigh and went with the first solutions she could come up with, she went to find the king.

Kirux was scared.

He had been scared before, but that had just been worrying. This was a very, very different kind of scared. This was the "everyone left you alone because they thought you could handle it even though you really can't" kind of scared, and that was the worst kind of scared of all. He had been pretty sure that Fidel was supposed to stay with him, but then Megara had sent him to find Skull.

Which Kirux didn't get, because Skull was going to handle things on his own. Kirux didn't think Fidel could help all that much, but Megara was more experienced with things like this.

Kirux had made it to the front gates, but he hadn't actually drawn attention to himself yet. He had forgotten to mention something really important to Megara because Queenie had known it and he had forgotten that she wouldn't, too - he had to wait before he could make his corridors.

But the wait wasn't the real reason for why he hadn't attacked the guards yet, and Kirux really, really hoped he'd feel more brave by the time he finally had to.


...In retrospect, I probably should have asked the queen for a map.

I had absolutely no idea what the layout of the castle was like, and had no idea how I was supposed to find the king. Asking would draw attention to myself, and so would blatant searches - I'd have to do my best to act like one of the servants.

The girl I was possessing was still freaking out about the whole possession thing, so she was no help - I'd have to figure it out on my own. I eyed the different servants that I passed to get a good idea of what I was supposed to be doing, and then eventually snagged a bundle of sheets from a spare room - it looked like some of the other servants I saw were in charge of the sheets.

I had expecting confrontation eventually, but the confrontation I found wasn't the kind I had been expecting - I was so busy keeping my head down that I didn't notice someone standing right in front of me.

Unsure of what the servant I was pretending to be was really like, I kept my head mostly hidden behind the bundle of cloth - muttering a quiet, meek, "I'm sorry."

Then I caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

I raised my head and stared.

....What was Fidel doing here?

Fidel kept his head down and hurried past the group of servants, pretending to be in a hurry. The king's quarters would be on the top floor if he remembered Nana's rantings correctly. He regretted tuning her out so often. If he hadn't, he might know more about the general layout of castles. Thankfully, there was a spiral staircase leading up just at the other end of this hallway. He steeled his nerves, kinda, and went up.

xXx

The top floor was typically where the king's quarters would be. It was, after all, the most defendable place. She paused, thinking for a moment about the flying ships she'd seen when she first arrived. What if that wasn't the most defendable place here?

She shook her head. Her plan had already provel itself to be pretty good proof that her father's choice to keep her from making the plan was justified. All she could do now was pray that what happened here stayed here as she joined a crowd of servants going in the general direction of a staircase.

By some stroke of luck, I had found a group of servants heading towards wherever Fidel was heading. I didn't initially realize it, but there was someone else in the group - Megara. I lingered towards the front of the group, just close enough to her that I could make the occasional glance without drawing too much attention to myself. The feeling I had gotten from the plan was that Megara and Fidel were supposed to meet me at a place like the garden, or show up just a little after me.

But Megara and Fidel weren't even trying to follow me.

...Interesting.

The group of servants went up a staircase into what was probably a tower. I knew that I'd find Fidel there, and something was giving me the suspicion that we'd find the king there, too.

Fidel made it to the top of the staircase. There was a hallway to either side and a door directly in front of him. He took a shaky breath and opened to the door. He was immediately faced with the king, his face screwed up in anger and offense.

Fidel's face flushed, and he stuttered something incomprehensible, his brain reeling for what the actual hell he was supposed to do next.



The group of servants turned down a hall at the top of the steps, paying no mind to the stunned Fidel in the doorway as they hurried on their way to wherever they were needed.

Megara broke off from the group then and lingered outside the doorway, standing still with her head down as though she'd been ordered to stand there. Just by the look of the door, she was pretty certain that Fidel was currently looking into the king's room, and by the fact that he hadn't noticed her, he had probably found the king inside. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

Fidel had found the king.

I knew it even before I broke away from the servants like Megara did, and knew it even before I slipped past Fidel into the room. I pretended like I was supposed to be changing sheets, because I knew that the king wouldn't question something like that.

He would, however, question Fidel.

I could tell that he was about to call for the two guards standing inside of the room. They had already noticed Fidel, but they hadn't done anything yet - the two robots had no reason to suspect any of us until the king brought us to their attention.

And considering that Megara was standing behind Fidel like an idiot, I'd have to improvise.

I took a deep breath, focused, and stumbled right into the king.

All he had was a second to look angry and offended before I took control of his body. The robot guards had already forgotten Fidel to instead focus on the servant I had possessed, but I dismissed them with a wave of my hand - already settling into the role that I was trying to perform.

The king was so shocked by this turn of events - and so confused - that he didn't even make a comment at first. I took advantage of the silence in my head to get better acquainted with how I needed to act.

I leveled a glare at the servant girl.

"Go," I demanded, my voice low and definitely more than a little evil. I could really get used to this.

The girl, who looked just as confused and panicked as she had sounded in my head, quickly darted off past Fidel and Megara.

Which left me, the king I was possessing, two of my partners in crime, and the two robot guards standing by the door.

I could make do with that.

I didn't know how sentient those guards were, but I had an act I had to maintain if there were anything like I had been - I'd have to convince them that I was really their king.

I glared at Fidel and Megara - especially at Megara, because I liked Fidel more than I would ever like her - even more than I had at the servant girl who had just fled the room.

"Bring them with me," I commanded. "I need to investigate the state of the dungeons before I throw these two in it."

The guards wasted no time in replying - one tightly grabbing onto Megara, and the other tightly grabbing onto Fidel.

Fidel was panicking, unable to form anything resembling a coherent word, which was just as well. Megara had figured out what was happening pretty quickly. With the way things appeared to be here, she highly doubted any servant in this place would ever dare just barge into the king's rooms like that, especially when he looked so surprised to see Fidel.

So she played along. She couldn't help the small yelp of pain as the guard grabbed her bad arm, but that wasn't a deal-breaker when it came to this facade. She was, after all, just a scared servant girl who just made a serious, serious mistake. She painted a fitting expression of fear onto her face and didn't fight back.

From the look of fear on Megara's face, I had a very strong suspicion that she had put two and two together and was hamming things up just as much as I was. Fidel, on the other hand, looked absolutely terrified, so I tried my best to make things a little better for him: I kept silent as we walked through the hallways I still didn't know my way around.

It was only when I smelled fresh air that I realized we were near the garden. I turned down a corridor that definitely didn't lead to the dungeons and brought my little procession out into the fresh air.