Will of a Prince

Lidia and Slimo were awkwardly helping everyone prepare for their next day at school. Even with the crazy secret being fresh in everyone’s mind, the atmosphere of the breakfast table was still vibrant and welcoming, which helped ease some of the discomfort. Jacob and Maria sat next to each other, welcoming the others peaceful company.

"I wonder what we’re going to learn about today in school. Maybe we can learn more about the cultists like yesterday."

Maria nodded her head while sipping a small helping of porridge.

"I wonder if they were able to get the queen to help with the strange disappearance in the hallway... or rather, catch whoever was running around naked in the kingdom. I’d rather not see something like that this early in the morning if I could help it."

Jacob chuckled lightly and relaxed his shoulders. He just remembered about the strange occurrence that had happened at the school the other day. There had been so many other things happening, it got pushed to the back of his mind. The incident itself didn’t seem that out of the ordinary; however, the fact that the teachers claimed that it was a regular occurrence was concerning. In addition to that, neither of the teachers could remember anything about the vaguely familiar clothes that were left. This fact left Jacob with a hint of suspicion.

"Do you think it could be something more than that? Something about the whole situation just doesn’t sit right with me."

Maria looked away, lost in thought for three moments before responding.

"I don’t believe so, but it’s never a bad thing to keep our guard up."

Jacob looked across the table at Doc, who was quietly enjoying his breakfast in silence. Jacob realized he never had the chance to talk with him much since they’ve been at this kingdom.

"Hey, Doc! How have things been at the house? Have you travelled into town at all?"

Doc put his food down and smiled warmly at Jacob.

"It has been relaxing. However, I think we have a rat problem in our attic that I’m trying to take care of. It’s the strangest thing... I keep hearing squeaks from them, but the rats never seem to be anywhere I look. If I were to guess, they may be hiding in one of those crates or possibly in the walls. I was going to investigate that today. Other than that, I have been enjoying my days by keeping this place as tidy as possible for everyone’s return."

Jacob rubbed his chin.

"Wouldn’t you get bored doing chores all day?"

Doc laughed lightly.

"When you get as old as me, doing simple things like chores are plenty to keep me busy and entertained. I enjoy the simpler things like that."

Jacob smiled, satisfied with his grandfather’s answer.

After everyone finished their meal, they all crowded in front of their house, waiting for the others to join them on their walk to school. Lidia and Slimo were preparing to head back towards the palace.

"I have to talk with the Queen about Lidia’s assignment and what happened to her. All of you, stay out of trouble or I won’t season your food at dinner time. Understand?"

Everyone nodded towards Slimo in agreement. Suddenly, the other houses door burst open.

Zoey jumped out into the street with Squabee on her back.

"Let’s get this school thing over with!!"

Squabee screamed while raising her fist.

"Yah!!"

Slimo slapped his face lightly while walking closer to them. Using one arm, he lifted Squabee by the back of her armor into the air.

"I thought you don’t need to go to schoool... and why do you keep riding on people’s backs? Aren’t you practically pushing thirty?"

Squabee started swinging at Slimo while dangling from his grasp.

"Hey! Never make fun of someone else’s age! It’s rude!"

Slimo sighed and gently put her back down on to the stone street.

"Go train your power some more with Sarah today."

Squabee laid on the ground in protest.

"You see, that’s just the thing! No matter how hard I try to control it, it never seems to work the way I want it to! Take just now for example: I really wanted a random bird to poop on your shoulder, but no matter how hard I tried to do that, nothing happened!"

Slimo rubbed his chin and thought back to the description of her power.

’Is she unable to control it because it’s already been on autopilot for so long? Even so, that doesn’t make her power any less terrifying...’

Suddenly, a small bird rammed into Slimo’s face, causing him to stumble.

"Ow. What the hell Squabee?! I already let you go!"

"Actually... I don’t think that was me that time. You probably just got unlucky there."

Slimo rubbed his face and walked up to Zoey.

"Do you mind if I have the glasses back?"

Zoey quickly reach into her armor and pulled the glasses out before handing them to him.

"Sure. But they weren’t working last night, just a warning."

"They aren’t supposed to work at night, if that’s when you were wearing them. It’s a part of their drawbacks with the enchantment."

Zoey slouched.

"You could have warned me about that..."

As everyone else filed out of the house, they all said their goodbyes to each other and made their way towards their normal destinations. Doc watched the group walk away quietly before turning back around and ascending up the stairs. When he reached the top floor, he slowly walked over towards the special door leading to the attic.

Suddenly, he could hear the faint sounds of the creatures residing in there again.

"My old ears... I can hardly hear where the sound is coming from."

He walked around the attic and started kicking around some crates to ensure there wasn’t anything hiding behind any of them. Nothing. He then grabbed a small latch on top of the crate and tried opening it. It wouldn’t budge. He could hear the noises growing louder.

"How the hell can these things survive in there if they can’t escape?!"

Using most of his strength, he destroyed the crate with a kick. However, when the dust settled to reveal what was hiding inside of it...

"...what? This can’t be possible!"

The crate was completely empty.