Tuck threw his head back and laughed. “You didn’t almost kill her. Not to mention, the king has no idea who you are. All he knows is that he loves your music. He didn’t even order an investigation after the incident with Angelina. I just wanted to make sure you were planning something very special. Make it the best work you’ve ever done.”
Avery assured Tuck she was taking it seriously, and he quickly left, but the conversation got her thinking. Her nagging suspicion was looking more likely all the time. Was it possible that the king was not the driving force behind the kids’ captivity? Could it be Angelina alone? She had responded to the note in her dress without even a whiff of alarm—in fact, she had smiled! And she didn’t share the note with the king. If he were in on the secret, she would have shared the message with him.
Her mind continued to travel over recent events.
If the king and Angelina were united, shouldn’t he have been equally enraged about Queen Elizabeth’s song being played at the Christmas banquet? But he ordered no investigation, let alone any word of potential punishment. What if he still cherished Queen Elizabeth as Avery suspected he did?
Avery looked at her notes. And a deep-seated certainty took root within her.
My mother knew about this castle because she knew Queen Elizabeth. How else could she have Queen Elizabeth’s necklace in her possession? And if Queen Elizabeth is sister to Queen Angelina, my mother likely knew her, too. I need to find my father so he can help me put the pieces together and save the thirteen-year-olds.
Or else I need to find my mother.
Avery felt confident the king still harbored feelings for his first wife. He and Angelina clearly had separate agendas—Avery only needed to figure out what they were before something terrible happened to the king and Angelina was left in charge.
That night, Kate woke Avery from a sound sleep—again—but judging from Kate’s demeanor, this was no adventure. Something was wrong.
“What now?” Avery whispered.
“Just put this on and come with me.” Kate handed her the black dress she had worn the day before and led her all the way to the dining room.
There Ilsa sat between Tuck and Kendrick, sobbing, the sound raw and horrible.
Kate finally explained. “We believe her brother was discovered.”
“Discovered? By whom?”
“We don’t know,” Tuck said. “He disappeared while scouting during the king’s Christmas banquet. Normally he tracks the king, but tonight he was tracking Angelina.”
“He’s the best you have,” Avery said. “Maybe he’s onto something and needs more time.”
Tuck shook his head.
It was Kendrick who spoke next. “Angelina went to bed hours ago. No one has seen or heard from him since the fireworks. He never came to bed. It’s not like him. We can only assume the worst.”
“The Forbidden City?” Avery whispered, but the others just looked away as Ilsa’s wailing reached a nonhuman pitch. Avery raised her voice. “So what do we do now?”
“We need a plan,” Tuck said. “We don’t know what he’ll tell whoever has him. Angelina’s staff is very good at making people talk. We could all be in danger.”
“Edward,” Ilsa said miserably, liquid leaking from her eyes and nose. “His name is Edward, Tuck. I know all you care about is your own safety, but Edward is the last person I have on this earth, especially since you abandoned our family.”
Tuck reddened, and Avery’s thoughts raced to the drawing in the wooden box.
She tucked her hand with the crown ring behind her back.
“You’ve known Edward all your life, and you haven’t even mentioned his name tonight,” Ilsa said. “I don’t care what he means to the rest of you. He’s my brother, and I need him. Our first strategy should not be protecting the rest of us—it should be getting him back.”
These words brought another round of tears.
“You’re right,” Avery said. “We will find a way.” She pulled out a chair and sat across from Ilsa. “Tuck, Kendrick, what do we need to do to bring Edward back?”
“You’re so stupid!” Ilsa blurted, leaping from her chair and marching toward the hall.
Kate started after her, but Tuck put up a hand to stop her. “Don’t go. It won’t help.”
Kendrick added, “We need to stay up and talk this through. Kate, do you know where we could get some coffee?”
Kate nodded, and together they disappeared.
With Kate and Kendrick out of the room, Avery said quietly, “Pardon me for asking, Tuck, but what did she mean about you abandoning her family?”
“It’s a personal thing.”
“Right. It’s none of my busi—”
“No, no. It’s just that a year ago or so, she and I were in a silly little play in our village where we played Romeo and Juliet. Somebody drew a picture of us, and she got it in her head that it was meant to be someday, you know? We’ve known each other our entire lives, but…”
Avery felt something like relief wash over her. The drawing in the rosewood box wasn’t of a wedding at all—it was of a play.
“I love plays,” she said brightly.
Tuck only gave her a curious look.
Soon they all sat nursing hot mugs.
“If Edward was caught by adults, he won’t be back,” Tuck said, “and Ilsa knows it. I’m sorry, but protecting the rest of the kids isn’t disrespecting him. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the job we’ve pledged to do as a cabinet.”
“We need to find a place to hide if our location is compromised,” Kendrick said.
“The passageways,” Avery said.
“Have you had any success locating the tunnels?” Tuck asked.
All eyes turned to Avery.
“My mother always talked about tunnels in the castle. I’ve never seen them, but everything else she said has proven to be true. According to her stories, this castle sits atop an intricate system of tunnels that travels various outlets within the village. If the rumors are correct, the largest tunnel snakes its way under the Salt Sea and ends within the walls of a tiny, beautiful chapel in the village where country girls get married.”
She made eye contact with Tuck, and her face went crimson.
This time when he smiled she didn’t look away.
Chapter 28
The View from the Turret
Breakfast was a somber event as news of Edward’s disappearance made its way around the table. The seat where he normally sat was left empty in his honor. Questions like What will happen to him? and Are we all in danger? rose with the steam from the kids’ mugs.
But no one had answers.
Ilsa didn’t come to breakfast.
No chess games or marble bartering would fix this latest disappointment.
Ilsa planned a private prayer service for Edward in the chapel upstairs, but she sent a distinct message to Avery via one of the scouts that she was not invited.
By the time Avery finished her meal, all she wanted was to be alone.
“I’m going to be a few minutes late to the shop,” she whispered to Kate, who indicated that wouldn’t be a problem since no one was buying anything today.
Avery made her way back to the bunk room where her pages of careful notes seemed to be calling her name. But when she sat and lifted her pillow, in addition to her notes, she found another carefully folded parcel with a red wax seal. Glancing both ways to be sure no one watched, she found a candle and opened it, smoothing the page on her mattress.
You are the Salt Sea.
And I am one who loves the waves yet does not own a compass.
Those words and the ones that followed made Avery’s pulse pound.
Who keeps sending these messages?
It was not until after lunch that something occurred to her. She rushed back to the bunk room and compared the handwriting in the poem to the tiny square of parchment that had been included with the copy of A Tale of Two Cities Kendrick had given her on Christmas Day.
> Sure enough, it was identical.
Kendrick was sending the secret messages.
Late that afternoon, her mind full of queens, worries about Ilsa’s brother Edward, and confusion over her strange friendship with Kendrick, Avery escaped to the library, determined to find a book about the castle itself and its mysterious tunnels. Maybe part of her hoped she would happen upon Kendrick there, too, or he would happen upon her—so she could ask him to stop sending the parcels. Kendrick was every bit a brother and nothing more.
All she knew was that she could not wait to be among the stacks.
As usual, after her climb through the stairwell, she pressed her ear against the door to be sure it was quiet inside. Satisfied, she pushed it open, then stopped in horror.
One entire wall of the library had been ransacked, the shelves swept bare, and hundreds of books lay in piles, splayed open, their pages bent like someone had marched across the tops of them. The library floor was barely visible for the books.
Against her better judgment, she stepped inside.
Someone else is searching for the secrets in this castle.
But who else would care?
And what did they find?
“Hello?” she called. “Is anyone in here?” She stepped over piles of books, doing her best to step on the rare patches of bare ground amid the sea of pages. She heard a rustle in one corner of the room and froze. “Who’s there?” she asked.
“Go away,” a voice whispered. “You’re not welcome in here.”
“I won’t go until you tell me what happened to this library.”
The person laughed—a high-pitched sound—and Avery saw that the woman was hidden entirely in a heavy cloak. “Stop looking for it or your whole family is in danger.”
The same words that were scrawled on the painting of Queen Elizabeth beside the ruby necklace.
Only when the cloaked figure said her name did Avery turn and flee.
She wouldn’t tell anyone what happened, because it would involve explaining she was somewhere she was not allowed to be.
A few days later, Avery awoke aching with homesickness and missing her brother, her mother, and her father terribly. She pulled a plum-colored dress over her head and tugged at her hair until it fell down her back in a thick, glossy braid. In her silver slippers and pearl tiara, she headed toward breakfast, only to find Tuck in the hall, a basket in his hand and a smile on his face.
“Good morning!” he said, his eyes twinkling the way they did when he was up to something.
“Good morning,” Avery said, laughing at his enthusiasm.
“I thought we could have a picnic.” He tapped the basket. “Someone told me New Year’s Eve is your favorite day of the year.”
Well, it used to be. She shook her head.
“It isn’t?” he said.
Avery nodded.
“Well, which is it?”
“It is.” Avery wondered why every time she talked to Tuck she managed to embarrass herself. Maybe just once she could have a conversation with him that didn’t make her want to hide in a wardrobe for the rest of her life.
“Well, then, would you do me the honor of sharing a picnic?”
He held out a hand and Avery took it.
They took several flights of stairs until they arrived at a door at the top of the castle.
“Miss Avery Godfrey, do you know what this leads to?” Tuck asked, still holding her hand.
She shook her head. This was one of the few wings she had not explored. It would be good for her floor plans to see what lay on the other side.
“Open it,” he said.
When she did, natural light poured in, and with it, cold air that tasted like heaven.
“It’s a watch turret,” Tuck said, stepping out and tugging Avery with him.
“Are we allowed? Isn’t this forbidden?”
“This castle has a hundred lookouts that face the Salt Sea, but unless the castle is in trouble, this tower remains unmanned. At least, that’s what Edward told me.”
At the mention of his name, Avery and Tuck shifted their gazes. Edward’s absence was still acutely felt among the kids. Never was a meeting held or a prayer uttered in which his name was not mentioned.
It took Avery a moment to notice a quilt spread on the floor bearing two tin plates, two mugs, and two cloth napkins.
Tuck had thought of everything.
Avery stepped to the edge of the lookout, closed her eyes against the brightness of the sun, and let the wind whip her hair. It had been too long since she had tasted the world outside. For a glorious moment she felt free.
“Thank you, Tuck.”
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he said softly, shrugging out of his coat and slipping it over her shoulders. “It’s why I brought you up here.”
A horn sounded on the sea, and Avery studied a barge as it moved slowly on the horizon.
She was relieved to have a reason not to need to face Tuck. His voice sounded strangely serious.
When he laid a hand on her shoulder, she desperately scanned the shore for houses and shops she recognized.
Tuck began talking about how time changes people.
Strange.
Were those the woods where she and Henry had played? Was it possible to see them from the castle? She had certainly never seen the castle from her tree house in the woods.
Tuck talked about how it was only natural for feelings to grow over time—even ones that couldn’t be explained.
Maybe I never recognized anything when I looked out the window because I needed a better angle.
Avery narrowed her eyes and carefully mapped the location, tracing a line between the woods and where her house belonged.
“What I am trying to say is that you are important to me,” Tuck said.
And everything screeched to a halt.
Home. She could see her home!
At least she thought she could see her home!
And a dark plume of smoke rose from the chimney.
Avery turned around to face him, tears dotting her eyes.
“I need to go,” she said, slipping out of his coat and leaving him in midsentence. She took the stairs as quickly as she could, running until her sides ached, tripping on her dress, legs moving like jelly.
“Avery!” Tuck called out. “Come back! I didn’t mean to offend you.”
He’s home! she told herself over and over as she ran. My father is home!
He had probably been home all along.
And now it was time for her to go home, too. He could help her find Henry!
Chapter 29
The Whisper of Home
As quickly as she could, Avery emptied her feather pillow, the feathers falling in clumps onto her mattress. She took the Bible she had come to love, her notes and map, and a couple of candles and matchsticks, stashing everything in her now-empty pillowcase.
Henry, hang on. I am coming home. If you’re not there yet, Father will know what to do.
She removed the red ribbon from her wrist and the pearl tiara from atop her head and left them on Kate’s pillow, hoping to send the message that she had left of her own will. She didn’t want Kate to know she was leaving before she was gone, but she didn’t want Kate to worry, either. The kids would assume she had been sent, like Edward, to the Forbidden City.
Finally, her heart thrumming in her ears, she changed into the black velvet dress with the long sleeves, hoping it would not only keep her warm, but also make her look older. Somehow she had to elude the relentless guards. Rumor had it they were the ones who had caught Edward and sent him away.
It was a risk she was willing to take.
Today was a holiday. If ever she could slip past them, it would be now.
Avery glanced around the bunk room. She hated leaving without her mother’s necklace—especially after all her repeated instructions never to lose it—but what choice did she have?
From the kitchen she retrieved three apples, a c
rusty loaf of bread, a small pot of butter, and a few chunks of chocolate, which she hoped would hold her until she got home.
Home. The word made her smile.
Bulging pillowcase under her arm, she moved quickly to the room where she and Kate organized the queen’s castoffs for the kids’ shop. She wandered among the boxes until she found a dark cape with a heavy hood, along with several tiny pots that held powders, creams, and lip stains.
Using a gilded hand mirror from the to-be-bartered pile, she applied to her face crimson lips, pink cheeks, and black eyelashes. She twisted her braid into a tight bun and tucked the loose hairs up with hairpins, the way she had seen Kate do it. She slid a thick gold ring onto the ring finger of her left hand, looped two strands of pearls around her neck, and donned the cape, pulling the hood up over her face so no one would recognize her.
Already she could hear the voices of her friends outside, and it pained her not to say good-bye. She would miss Kate, Tuck, and even Kendrick, but soon the stairway would be filled with kids leaving breakfast to begin their morning tasks. The time to move was now or never.
Nodding her farewell, she raced down the stairs, face concealed and cape flying behind her, and pushed open the door that led to the Great Hall where people from the village came and went.
Since it was a holiday, the doors were unlocked and a river of people swelled in anticipation of seeing Angelina or the king. Often on holidays the royals would distribute handfuls of gold coins to the poor, so today people had come from miles around, hoping to be one of the lucky few.
Avery often wondered why the children didn’t plan a holiday like this one to make a great escape. According to Kate, teenagers leaving en masse would draw attention and they would be uncovered. Additionally, they had prices on their heads as if they were outlaws. The threats in the outside world were greater than the threats of staying hidden in the castle. Not to mention, the old woman promised to bring harm to their siblings if they escaped.
Avery believed—if she got to her father safely—he would be able to help.
None of the other children had parents waiting for them.
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