The Secret Pathway

Princess Isabelle awoke from a peaceful sleep after such a long day in the village yesterday. Amongst all the chains of thoughts that were traveling back and forth in her mind she realized that the ones about the mysterious guy yesterday were at the fore front. With all that was happening in the Kingdom, especially the upcoming masquerade ball, any thoughts about Authur had been temporarily erased from her memory. She hadn't spoken to her sister, Princess Jumanné, since her return from Egypt and she had so much to fill her in on. Princess Isabelle got up out of bed and took up her phone to give her a ring. She walked towards the glass door that separated the room from the balcony while dialing the number. She waited....... taking the time to admire the breathtaking view, only to make direct eye contact with a person fully clothed in black on her balcony.

Princess Isabelle felt her heart rate sped up, she began to contemplate whether she should scream or just run when the answering machine blasted at full volume causing her to jump. "Bonjour, Princess Jumanné here or should I say the answering machine, call back later or let me do the honors", Isabelle looked down at the phone and hung up. Upon another glance in the same direction, she realized that the person was no longer there. He/she disappeared just as mysteriously as they had appeared. She was now worried sick, for her safety but more for the safety of Princess Jumanné. As her anxiety levels increased, her natural color did the opposite causing her to look pale. "Jumanné always answered my calls", she thought to herself, the thought of Princess Jumanné being in trouble led her to worry even more. The Kingdom of Loudefé and Spain were connected with a deep history. There wasn't one without the other and once you ruled over one, you co-ruled the other.

Princess Isabelle realized this from a very young age as she remembered every major decision for her kingdom being put on hold until there was a signed message of approval from King Dejean and vice versa. Further proof of their connection was the fact that there had only been one grand council for both kingdoms and that was an uncommon occurrence in the royalty world. After being deep in thought, Princess Isabelle came to a horrific conclusion, " if Authur is after me, he must be after Princess Jumanné as well! that's why he said both, I have to warn her!", she thought out loud. "Warn who Princesa?" asked Clara, Princess Isabelle almost jumped out of her nightgown. "Oh Clara, it's just you" she replied clutching her chest, "Of course it's me, Isa, have a seat, you look like my freshly baked buns", stated Clara gesturing towards the sofa. "Your buns have no color" replied Princess Isabelle smiling as she sat, "Exactly my point", Clara finished holding her hand.

They heard a gentle knock on the door and Clara got up with the intentions of dismissing Señor Kenny as only he would be there at this hour. Clara opened the door and spoke to him briefly before closing it once more. " He knocked?", she asked confused " I spoke to him about the dramatic entrances in the mornings", replied Princess Isabelle trying to get herself together. "But of course, even I am startled sometimes the way he barges in without warnings" said Clara looking over at Princess Isabelle. " Isa, what's wrong? you look as if you'd seen a ghost" she stated, genuinely concerned. " Ohh Clars, I wished it were a ghost, that would've been less nerve racking", stated Princess Isabelle flustered. She explained everything that happened from the mysterious person to the unanswered call and reminded Clara of the phone call she got yesterday whilst including the conclusion to which she had arrived.

"You're right Isa, the Salúve family needs to be warned. On the other hand, I will be moving in with you because you shouldn't be here by yourself with all that's happening" finished Clara. "Clars, that would be wonderful, Papá is planning to put guards in place to keep watch. Everything is going to be so much better now that you'll be here" said Isabelle with a new sense of comfort. What was still puzzling to her was how the person knew which room was hers and how he/she came through the gates and in the palace unnoticed. She would eventually tell her parents but that would be after returning from the village as she already had a hard time sneaking out and after breaking that news it would be impossible. She also hoped to meet Luke today and get things sorted with Brian. Nothing was going as she fantasized, not to mention the fact that her mother thought that she was a spy.

Princess Isabelle sighed and got up from the sofa; she walked towards the bathroom to follow through with her usual morning routine. She was looking for her pins to pin up her hair when something on the bathroom walls caught her eyes; it was a note. She called Clara in the bathroom before taking the note from the wall and closing the bathroom door behind her. The note read "Just a few more days Princesa or should I say Princesas, yours truly, Authur". Princess Isabelle had to enter the bathtub in the warm water to reduce the trembling. "Isa, I don't think you should wait, tell the King and Queen when you're having breakfast, this is serious", stated Clara in shock. "Clars, hey, relax, I'm going to tell them.... after I return from the village", replied princess Isabelle as chill as she possibly could which wasn't really chill at all.

Clara sighed realizing that Isabelle would not agree with her, "At least carry the pepper spray Isa, I'm worried about your safety", said Clara. She then exited the bathroom leaving princess Isabelle to her own thoughts. She quickly took her bath and got out of the bathtub realizing that she would be late for breakfast. Clara picked out a black mini skirt and an orange cropped top for Isabelle to wear to the village with a black and orange Addidas sneaker. In the meantime, Isabelle got dressed in a red and white floral dress and red flats along with her silver tiara to have breakfast. She had to act as if everything was normal if she wanted to complete today's mission. Princess Isabelle winked at Clara to reassure herself that she could do this, she then descended the stairs feeling more and more numb with each step. Upon entering the dining room, she noticed that breakfast was already served so she greeted everyone and apologized for her tardiness before taking a seat.

Her father started a conversation about the business sector of the kingdom but to Isabelle it was all the same. Profits, losses, liability, assets, new ideas to make more profit. Well to be fair, her father was in fact a good king; he loved and cared for the kingdom and its people. Queen Melaine started another conversation about the upcoming masquerade ball. She was curious about who Isabelle was interested in, in terms of courtship. There were many kingdoms and princes, but Isabelle was not interested in any of them. She was, however intrigued by Luke, but her father would dismiss the very thought of that. "Madre, I'm not sure as yet", she responded believably. "No rush, you have a lot of time, and you'll get to meet them all at the ball. You'll then choose ten princes who you will continue courtship with and with every month one will be denied the opportunity to continue courtship narrowing down the numbers until you've picked the one whom you want to date" said Queen Melaine enthusiastically.

"Sounds fun, are all the villagers invited to the Masquerade ball?", asked Princess Isabelle, now sounding interested in the conversation. "Pero, por supuesto cariña ", Queen Melaine replied and that was all the answer princess Isabelle needed. She excused herself from the dining table and made it up the stairs to her bedroom leaving her mother smiling to herself. She locked the door and started to undress. With the help of Clara, she was ready in five minutes smiling in the mirror at her attire. Clara placed the wig on Princess Isabelle's head and braided it in a fish bone. She then applied the makeup and even added a few freckles before handing Princess Isabelle a small side bag. After preparing Isabelle for the road, Clara went downstairs and distracted the guards while princess Isabelle climbed down the balcony. She really appreciated everything that Clara was doing considering the fact that she could lose her job for it. She quickly slipped through the palace gates taking one last glance to see Clara showing the five guards on the right wing of the palace an imaginary person behind the garden. Princess Isabelle chuckled and started off for the village with a newfound excitement not to see Brian but Luke.

She only saw him once, but his daring eyes didn't even glimpse her for a minute, and she was indeed impressed. She saw Brian standing in front of the Ice cream parlor and went over to greet him, but he was too busy telling another guy about how innocent the princess was acting to even notice her. The guy glimpsed her and smiled before continuing the conversation, they were obviously having a guy moment, so Isabelle left them to it. She turned around to see a set of light blue eyes looking at her keenly. She immediately recognized the nonchalant gaze, it was Luke. She stopped in her track and matched his daring gaze. He smirked and that gave her the courage to go over to him and introduce herself. To her surprise, he already knew exactly who she was, and she had no idea how. He saw her reaction and explained that Brian had told him about her. "Wait a minute, Brian knew Luke?", she thought to herself, that was supposed to erase the uneasy feeling that Isabelle was slowly developing but it didn't.

She had to remind herself that she had only just met Brian a few days ago. Her brain was doing cartwheels trying to piece everything together while hiding her facial expressions. "Ohh right", she replied nodding and fumbling with her side bag. Luke smiled at her reaction before inviting her to the garden with him explaining that he feeds the wild animals there on a daily basis. Princess Isabelle was skeptical about his claims, but she then remembered that the garden was connected to the nearby forest. SHE STARTED WALKING, I REPEAT, SHE STARTED WALKING, IN THE DIRECTION OF THE GARDEN. Luke didn't ask any other questions, he didn't even say anything else, they just walked in silence through the central village and towards the garden. Princess Isabelle was unaware of why she agreed to go to a place where she could easily be kidnapped recalling the morning's proceedings and the fact that she had just met him.

They arrived and entered the mystical wonder of nature but took a detour that was nonexistent to Isabelle two days ago. This little secret pathway was not easy to spot which meant that Luke had to come to the garden regularly to know that it was there. The dirt path was so narrow that it was almost impossible to take a horse through. They walked for about ten minutes in silence with the occasional sounds of nature jumping in from time to time. Princess Isabelle realized that they were going deeper and deeper into the forest and in doing so were drawn further and further away from the village. She remembered that she had the pepper spray in her side bag, and she had been doing some marking to find her way back if necessary. Luke finally halted and princess Isabelle followed suit. She stood still, dumfounded by the beauty around her, she was in awe. The different varieties of trees and plants, the exotic looking flowers, the sound of the wind making contact with her surroundings. She felt so free yet entrapped in the magnificent sounds of nature.

When she finally returned her gaze to Luke, something moved in the tree just above him catching her attention. She froze, there were two viscous eyes staring back at her. Upon further observation, Princess Isabelle realized what it was. The panic that rushed through her caused her brain to start working again and she started to back away slowly. Luke now glanced at her and followed her gaze before smiling, to Isabelle's surprise. "Relax Princesa, it's just Lina, she is not familiar with you so she's keeping her distance, come down Lina it's ok" he said to the wild animal. Princess Isabelle's heart stopped when she heard him call her Princesa, "did he know? but how would he have known? What if he was sent for me?", she thought to herself as she felt her throat becoming dry. The Panther emerged from the tree and carefully walked over to where Luke was standing. He petted her and made the introduction, "Cia, Lina, Lina, Cia" he said, Lina sniffed princess Isabelle before running off into the deeper parts of the forest.

Isabelle was now more conscious of the decision she made as well as her surroundings. She felt her mind beginning to relax as she just confirmed that Luke was in fact telling the truth. "She was relieved yet baffled, "How did you do that?", she finally managed to ask after about 5 mins of complete silence. "It took me six months to get her to come close to me and a year to fully earn her trust", he said looking proud. "That was the scariest most impressive thing I've witnessed up close", she replied still shook. He chuckled, she found it puzzling how he had been in the village for that long, but she had never seen him before. " Are you going to the Masquerade ball?" she asked hopefully trying to break the silence. "Well, I have to attend, I will be working there so I look forward to seeing you if you'll be attending", he answered lightheartedly.

"I will be, attending that is, so yeah, I'll see you there" she replied doing backflips internally. At least she wouldn't be bored out of her mind by the princes, she or Cia rather, would have something to look forward to. Isabelle was brought back to reality by voices coming in the distance. She looked over at Luke who seemed relaxed yet again, "why is he always that calm", she thought to herself. She too tried to do the same but kept a keen eye as the voices were coming closer and closer, until surprisingly they vanished. She heard nothing, she released a long breath "maybe they changed course" she said looking hopefully at Luke. He was giving a devilish grin "Mmmmh, I don't think so", he said glancing at her ...

BAM! Isabelle's soul left her body.