"Where could the princess be?" Hazel's voice was audible from where Lily was hiding.
The princess giggled as she made her way through the narrow path.
"Dear me... this is not the time to play Hide and Seek. Your highness, it is high time for you to prepare for his majesty's arrival." Hazel called out. "please stop this silly game and show yourself!"
Lily could hear the frantic voices of the maids who were calling out for her.
The poor lady-in-waiting had already enlisted the help of the castle maids and knights to look for her. However, she chose to ignore them and focus on her task at hand.
She specifically woke up earlier than usual in order to execute her latest mission. She silently made her way through the secret passage and peeked inside Zeke's room.
Finding the wizard fledgling gone, she crept inside. Letting her eyes roam the room, she noted the spell books neatly arranged on the shelves and some scrolls rolled meticulously on one corner.
"I would love to read those after I got Halliwell."
She tried looking for the bud but to her dismay she couldn't spot it anywhere.
She would've have given up, but her eyes caught the pale blue glow hidden behind the shelf.
Her eyes lit up when she investigated the concealed object. It turned out to be the Halliwell bud preserved in a flask.
Tentatively, she tried to reach out.
"You really shouldn't do that." Killer suddenly appeared behind a shelf, startling the girl.
Zeke had managed to fix him up but a few cotton dangled from his belly.
"Shut up if you know what's good for you." She hissed.
"You know that Zeke's fond of putting up security measures." The bear warned as he sat on the desk. "I am just trying to give you a heads up."
Taking his words, Lily scrutinized the shelf for traps. Sensing that there was none, she let her hands inch near the flask.
Before she could get her hands on the item, the door flew open.
Without thinking, Lily snatched Killer and dove under the desk to avoid getting caught.
With thumping heart, she cussed. "I should have used the invisibility dust."
She almost squeezed the life out of her newly revived bear. "Please don't allow him to see me. Pretty please..."
From where she was hiding, she heard the door shut and the footsteps of the young wizard coming her way.
A few seconds later, a half-naked Zeke came in view. With just a towel covering his waist, he was ruffling another towel through his wet hair.
Her eyes widened at the scene and her hold on her bear loosened.
"He just came out of bath!" Killer managed to choke out as he was able to escape his mistress's death grip.
Blushing furiously, she covered her eyes with her hands. "I'm too young to see that!"
For more than a few minutes, she could hear the rustling of clothes.
'Maybe I could peek a little.' A part of her mischievous mind whispered.
She let her fingers open in order to see Zeke.
Disappointment and relief flooded inside her upon seeing that the wizard was already dressed. He then went out of the room after he was done.
Lily finally let out the air she was holding when he left. He did not seem to notice her.
"I could only imagine Zeke going mad if he found out that you have sneaked into his room and stole the Halliwell." Killer grumbled as he tried to straighten the creases on his body.
"Sneaking and stealing are not things that princesses should do."
"I'll fix your belly, if you promise not to squeal on Zeke." She bargained.
When the stuffed bear nodded, Lily took him and the flask.
The girl opened the trap door and navigated through the secret passage.
Upon reaching the darkened corner, she lifted up a lever and part of the wall gave way.
She heaved a sigh of relief as she entered a concealed room. Finally, her ingredients are complete! She can make the potion.
She put a cauldron on a hook and started a fire by the small stove.
Flipping through the pages of the grimoire like a cookbook, she began adding ingredients to the boiling concoction.
"Are you sure, you are doing it right?" the bear asked as he eyed the murky brew.
"Of course. I followed the instructions to the letter." She replied before she added the Halliwell.
The concoction began glowing into an eerie shade of blue before it turned into a jelly-like consistency.
Lily scooped a few spoonful of the mixture. Then using the concoction, she drew a pentagram on the floor.
She looked into the grimoire and recited the spell that will make the concoction more potent.
Her blue eyes sparkled in anticipation as the circle glowed. But after a few minutes, the glow disappeared and nothing else followed.
"That was it?" Killer blurted out. "I don't think it was supposed to do that."
Shaking her head, Lily sighed with disappointment. "Again a failure."
Frustrated, the princess put her things away. She let her eyes traveled around her treasures-skulls, relics, alchemy books, occult stuffs –queer things for a lady of high status to possess.
She loves alchemy, witchcraft, potion making and spell castings. Most of the ladies in the court would frown upon her strange hobbies but she really didn't care about their judgmental attitude and degrading stares.
"Where is my daughter?" Her father's booming voice, snapped her out of her thoughts.
Lily hastily took a vial from a shelf and filled it with the concoction. She would figure out what to do with it later.
The girl crept out of the hidden chamber and emerged out of the library.
Fixing her night dress, she inconspicuously made her way to her room. But before she could even reach it, someone caught her arm.
"Your highness, where have you been?" Hazel's worried voice filtered her ears.
"Oh...oh... busted." Killer muttered as he hid behind Lily's pocket.
Knowing she could not escape, she allowed her lady-in-waiting to help her bath and get dressed.
"Now, my princess, you're ready to meet the King." Hazel smiled after she fixed the princess's hair in an elaborate braid.
Before Hazel could usher her out, she quickly took her vial from her soiled night dress and hid it in her pocket.