BMP: Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Nothing gets better than ghosts.”

POV: Candice Regerett

We returned at the Palace mid-afternoon of Monday. We were greeted by the Crown Princess, along with Princess Danielle. Ever since, I had been idling in my room. I made sure to grab a book from the Royal Library before I headed back to my room and locked myself up until dinner. I sat on the couch of my living room, my legs resting on the footrest, as Savannah brought in something to drink.

“Thank goodness it’s not tea!” I hollered excitedly. She giggled as she put down the cup at the table in front of me.

“So how was Verseed, my Lady?” Alicia came out from the bedroom, holding a dust feather. I waited for Alice to step out as well, but she must still be cleaning inside.

“Too short of a trip to contemplate on, actually,” I put my book down, beside the coffee Savannah brought in, and reached for the cup.

“I cannot believe we weren’t allowed to come with you, my Lady. Usually, the servants are obligated to come along,” Alicia pouted, turning away to dust the walls, though there is nothing else to clean. Perhaps they just needed reason to stay and keep me company, in which I have appreciated.

“That’s because it’s only for a day, dear sister!” Alice replied, coming out from the bedroom.

I smiled. I didn’t realize it felt as good to be home in the Palace.

“Well, do you wish for anything else, my Lady?”

“No, thank you…” I looked at all three, and I hope they saw the gratitude in my eyes.

“Dinner will be ready soon, my Lady. So please do us a favor, and don’t disappear,” Savannah reminded.

***

Sitting at the Royal Dining Hall, and sharing supper with the Royal Family has given me comfort I never knew existed. Besides the usual occupants of the Palace, Princess Veronika, the Queen’s sister, Prince Hendrick, the Crown Prince Petersen’s brother, and his wife Princess Danielle, and of course their son, Prince Luke, also filled the room. Maybe the Crown Prince’s death isn’t just mournful, for it brought the Royal Family together once more. The Queen still sits at the head, with the rest spread out to the middle of the rectangular dining table.

I took a second while chewing the piece of meat in my mouth, to glance at everybody. Everyone seemed contained in their individual conversations. The Queen seemed to be discussing something with her son, Prince Hendrick, and her husband, the Prince Consort Nikolai. The Princesses are also indulged in their own topic. I glanced next to the kids, who has finished eating, and had been sitting at the opposite end of the table, determined to have their own space.

Prince Adam caught me staring, and waved his hand to come over. I stood up, excused myself from the higher Royalties, and made my way to the other end.

“Come take a seat beside me, Candy,” Adam offered. And I obliged.

I leaned closer, so my head was inches from theirs. “Is this the meeting regarding the alien invasion?” I joked.

Prince Luke chuckled, “Even better,” he said, whispering.

“Ghosts. Nothing gets better than ghosts,” Prince Adam said, looking around as if making sure no one was listening.

“Oh do tell!” I said, playing with my voice, so that it sounded like I was scared out of my wits.

“You have to make an oath!” Prince Luke demanded, sitting straight. “Meet us tonight 0900 at the back of Lautsen, and you have to swear not to tell anyone! We’ll tell you then.” He sounded serious.

“0900? Forgive me Princes, but isn’t that way past your bedtime?”

“Take it or leave it,” Prince Luke added.

I sat back, crossed my arms, and pretended to think about it. “I’ll take it,” I said.

“See you then, Candy. Oh! And wear pants!” Prince Adam said, mimicking Prince Luke’s voice.

I glanced back at the other end of the table, where everybody sits, to make sure they weren’t paying attention to our own conversation. But I almost jumped when I saw Prince James staring back at me, with questioning eyes.

I have never felt so naked, as if he was stripping my own thoughts.

“Just the ghost of realization, Princes.”

POV: James Bret Nikolai Ravn Østergaard

I closed the doors of Olivia’s room, and was about to leave for mine, when I saw Candice awake, striding to the stairs down Thorssen Garden.

I didn’t intend to follow her, but curiosity got the best of me.  This is so typical of her, taking a walk at the middle of the night, but what’s simply odd is that she wasn’t in her usual wear of night gowns like the previous nights we have been talking. She was wearing jeans.

I followed her down Thorssen Garden, but she didn’t stop there. She was on route to Lautsen Garden.

I kept my distance, so I can follow without her knowing, but she stopped. She was looking around, worriedly. She must be waiting for somebody.

Henri?

“This is one public meeting place,” I said, revealing myself.

She shrieked in surprise.

“You!” She was still looking around, “What are you doing here?”

“Calm down, wild one. I was just curious.”

“You shouldn’t be here!” She yelled, “Go now or you might mislead them.”

“Them?” I asked, “You mean, him?”

She didn’t reply. She walked forward, then sideward, before retracing her steps back to me.

“I swear to Hallelujah, if this is prank. I’ll get them worse!” He walked past me.

“You swear to Hallelujah? That’s an unusual swearing.”

Getting annoyed with her pacing, I finally asked, “Who are you waiting for at this hour, inside the Palace? That’s quite a rebellion you got there.”

“You haven’t seen Adam, have you?” She stood in front of me. And for a second I realized she hasn’t addressed me as Prince or Your Highness, not that it bothers me.

“You’re on a date with my eight year old brother?”

She eyed me, angrily. I backed away. “Whoa there tiger!”

“Just go. I can’t have you ruining this for me!” She said, still looking around.

“What’s taking them so long?” She whispered to the air, but the Garden was too silent for me not to hear.

“So you have two dates?” I pushed.

She turned to me, about to say something, but I heard a tiny voice from afar.

“I told you not to tell anyone! We warned you!” It was Prince Luke, on sturdy clothes, beside my brother, Adam. I glanced at Candice, who was burning me with looks of accusation.

“Relax, Luke. It’s my brother!” Prince Adam ran to me, and I pulled him for a hug.

“What is this about, Prince Adam?” I asked, breaking the embrace.

“We are going ghost hunting!” Prince Adam clapped his hands.

I looked over at Luke, who seems rather pissed, then held Adam on both shoulders. “Ghost hunting?”

He nodded.

I looked over my shoulder to Candice, to find her nodding as well.

“Very well, an addition to the group is always welcomed,” Prince Luke said, and I noticed one flashlight he was holding. And on the pocket of his jacket, I saw other two.

“We better get going!” Prince Luke handed me the flashlight, took another from his jacket, and handed it to Prince Adam.

“We only brought three flashlights, so you have to share that with your girlfriend,” he said.

Candice laughed.

“Come along Adam!” Prince Luke called, breaking Prince Adam’s awkward glare at me.

We let the young Princes walk first, before I turned to Candice, “Ghost hunting?”

“Take it or leave it!” She said, stealing the flashlight from my hand.

***

The Princes seem to be pursuing St. Agatha’s Church, that or farther off.

I followed Candice follow the Princes.

So this is what dinner was all about. And why the three of them left at the same time.

By the time we reached the Church, Luke tapped the frame of the door. “Place your right hand right here,” he said.

Candice didn’t argue, and gave in like that. Then she looked back at me. And for a while I just stared back.

“Well?” She said.

I moved towards the Church door, and placed my hand on top of its frame.

“Repeat after me,” Prince Adam instructed.

Candice glanced at me, and I saw the smile she refuses to show.

“I,” Adam started, and we repeated in chorus.

“State your name,” he continued.

“James Bret Nikolai Ravn Østergaard…” I hushed.

“Swear in the name of God,” I chuckled underneath my words as I repeated, “That whatever happens tonight is done in the name of your most holiness. And that my Faith is forever true to you.”

“Amen,” Prince Adam concluded.

“Amen.”

“Oh, and we’re just having fun!” Prince Adam added.

Candice and I laughed at the same time.

“Well, repeat it!” Prince Adam demanded.

“And we’re just having fun,” Candice and I said in chorus.

“There, now the oath has been done, we shall go,” Luke said, turning around to walk towards the woods of the west that leads to Kassandra Grounds.

I glanced at Candice, still holding the flashlight, as we follow the kids’ lead, and saw her excited expression.

Of course, she wanted to go to Kassandra Hall.

***

The path was pitching black, as we trailed farther to the woods. There are no light posts in the area, and I expected Candice, who was walking ahead of me, to be struggling too. But even at this hour, she has the energy of a bull. I leaned to a tree, and tried to catch my breath.

My eyes followed Candice, and for a moment I admired her resolve. The only light guiding our way is from the light posts outside the woods, to Kassandra Hall. It seems not too far, but still I couldn’t keep up with Candice.

“Candice!” I called out. I doubt she heard, because she didn’t stop tracks.

“Candice!” I called again, this time louder. Finally, she turned to me.

“Come on!” She made a gesture in the air. “We’re going to lose the Princes!”

I started walking again, “I have no light, Candice!”

She held the flashlight higher, and stared at it for a while, probably realizing I’ve been following her without any light.

She chuckled and pointed the flashlight to my direction.

“Follow the light!” She shouted.

***

One more step and I’m already standing beside Candice, who still held the flash light in my direction. And by the time I reached her, there was a momentarily pause.

I saw something flash in her eyes, as we’re inches apart. I can’t tell exactly, but I am certain I saw something. Before I was able to dissect what it is, she already moved on.

We stepped out of the woods only to see an open field. But here is bright with the street lights that surround it. Kassandra Grounds was wide open, mostly empty, with no flowers or any landscape, just plain grass trimmed to perfection. And there it was, Kassandra Hall, like a cube in the middle of the field. It looked exactly the same from what I remembered, old and lonely, made of limestone. I looked ahead and saw Prince Adam and Luke already standing by the doorstep.

“Faster!” Prince Luke ushered.

Finally, we reached the Princes. I glanced at Candice, who held a grin, looking at the sign on top of the doorstep, which says ‘Love will light the way.’

“Okay,” Prince Luke turned off his flashlight, “Search for any odd traces. Be careful not to disturb Princess Kassandra’s spirit though. We divide. You-

But even before he was done, Candice already went in, taking the right path.

“What the!” Prince Luke hollered at the same time as Prince Adam shrieked, “Candice!”

I freaked out. “Take the left.” I pointed to the left path, motioning the Princes to the opposite way. Upon entering the Hall, the path is divided in two, and Candice took the one on the right.

Before anything else, I found myself following Candice through the maze-like interior of the Hall. The inside is nothing different than the outside. Everything is made of old stone. But there are dim bulbs on each corner, and occasionally, there are unlit torch sconces braced on the walls.

“Candice!” I called out, trying to catch up, my voice echoing inside the Hall.

“Candice!” I called again.

We turned left and right, and I didn’t notice until a few turns that the path she’s taking only leads to the actual tomb of Princess Kassandra, where also lay the remains of King Alexanderth.

I followed her down that road, and I was surprised when she led me exactly to an open space, where another cubic limestone rests on the center, with name engravings of Princess Kassandra and King Alexanderth. Each corner holds dimmer lights, and there are a few framed pictures upheld around the walls of the space. Scattered around the cubic limestone in the middle are memorabilia, a proof of their love.

I saw Candice walking around, admiring every inch of the Hall.

“How did you find your way here?” I tried to steal her attention, in vain. I leaned over to one side of the walls. “The way here is intended to confuse people. How did you find your way?”

Finally, she turned to me. “A book, from the Royal Library,” she said, “The torches are supposed to lead the way, is it not? Love will light the way. Not all sides of the wall have a torch fixture.”

Nice observation, I noted.

She walked closer to the actual tomb made of the same material as the exterior, and briefly closed her eyes. When she recovered, she leaned over to the wall opposite my direction.

“I’ve only been here once, when Grandmother showed me the way. She said I should at least know how to find this place.” My eyes wandered around.

“I thought Grandmother shared this knowledge to you,” I said.

She didn’t reply.

“I was ten then.”

Her response took a while.

“I’ve always wondered,” she said, “Why you left the Palace.”

My stare was frozen to her for a while, wondering if I should open up. But it was as if my mouth has a mind of its own, for it spoke without hesitation, “I was fourteen,” I began.

“I remember looking for Grandmother one afternoon, to play hide and seek. I know, perhaps I was too old for such a game,” I laughed at my self-observation. “But I could not find her anywhere, so I went to Agerskov, to her office. From there, I witnessed an argument she had with Grandfather. He accused her of adultery.”

I looked up at her to see her expression, but it was quite stable. “The Queen has had another man behind the Prince Consort, and Grandfather was throwing this fact to her face. It was a heated conversation,” I paused, checking her expression if there are changes, but there was none. She was just listening.

“Grandfather knew, yet he overlooked it. But for a reason, he brought it up that day. I was hiding under the Queen’s desk, realizing that all I’ve seen since birth that is affection between my Grandparents were lies. They were never in love when they got married.”

She was silent.

“I was devastated. And days later, the Queen approached me. She knew I was hiding at her desk then. And she told me that such a thing will happen to me too. She said, someday, I will have to marry the smartest girl in the Palace. And there’s nothing I can do about it. That love is considered fictional inside the Palace, that I shouldn’t expect one true love from where I stand.”

“So you ran off?” She confirmed, speaking for the first time since her last question.

“Not that same year, no. When I was fifteen, while Prince Hendrick and Princess Danielle were at the Palace visiting, I realized another lie.”

I turned to face her directly, “Do you know that the late Crown Prince was in love with Princess Danielle first? He knew Princess Danielle before my Mother. But you see, Mother, had connections. She held a closer tie. He saw her as an asset. He was mad at Princess Danielle for she chose his younger brother, Prince Hendrick, instead of him. He was so mad he married Mother instantly.

“And I saw everything before me crumble. I have lost all my faith in one blow after another. I have never felt so alone inside the Palace than those times. So I fear. I fear to find out more lies. I fear that if I stay, I will suffer the same fate. So I ran away. And perhaps it is one of reason why I am pushing Olivia to stay. Perhaps that is why I have been opposing the Queen all this time.

“I realize if Olivia stays, I wouldn’t be alone. I realize if I can only prove to the Queen that love does exist in the Palace, and then maybe I wouldn’t suffer the same fate,” I said at last, my voice trailing off.

“You know, I’ve always admired your courage, Prince.” I was startled to hear her refer to me again as Prince. “I admire your courage to run away, one thing I couldn’t bring myself to do. I admired your bravery I wish I had.”

I laughed sarcastically, “Bravery? You call running away bravery? I think I was a dupe, for look at me, back to the Palace I ran away from.”

She crossed the invisible bridge between us, and leaned on the wall next to me.

“I read from a book somewhere. Imagine yourself standing in front of a building,” she said, “Facing a busy street, on a rush hour, and what do you see?”

She looked at me, expecting a response.

“Cars? Traffic?”

“People?”

“Buildings?”

“You see people rushing, and hear the cars honking. The street seems crowded, right?” She answered in details.

I nodded.

“So you enter the infrastructure behind you, climb up to the rooftop, what do you see?”

She looked at me the same as before.

What do I see? I closed my eyes briefly, and imagined the scenario.

“Let’s say you’re seeing the sunrise, and the birds crossing,” Her voice echoed the tomb. “What do you think?”

“Beautiful…” was all I said.

When I opened my eyes, I turned to her, raising my brow.

“Sometimes, Prince, you need to see things from afar. Sometimes, you also need to pull away. Only to find out what you wanted to see. You want to see what’s beautiful. You want to see what can make you happy.”

“Then what about you?” I had to ask, “Why can’t you pull away? If only to find out what you want?”

Her answer was straightforward, “Because I have no building to climb, Prince.”

***

We spent an idle of minutes, before we left the actual tomb. By the time we stepped out of the Hall, the Princes were chasing each other on the field.

“Candy!” Prince Adam hollered from afar, running back to us.

“Did you find anything?” Prince Luke asked, following Adam.

Candice and I glanced at each other.

“Just the ghost of realization, Princes,” I said.