"So what were you talking about with Adrish?" asked Matt as he looked at Maddie, for some odd reason she looked rather happy, which was strange because he was sure that Maddie did not warm up to strangers easily.
"Oh well nothing much, he just introduced himself to me as the blondie's friend and that made me less worried since I didn't know where I was." said Maddie as she smiled.
"Is that all?" asked Matt as Maddie nodded.
"Mhmmm." she replied with a smile.
"You won't believe how scared I was to end up in this strange hall." said Maddie.
"Oh, this is the hall of mirrors, you've never been here... maybe we should have a Castle tour later." said Ollie.
"It's a very pretty hall, and the mirrors are so clear and shiny." said Annie as she looked at her crystalline reflection.
"Why thank you. I do make sure that my mirrors are shiny and spotless." said Adrish happily, he loved that someone finally appreciated his very clean mirrors.
"You're welcome." said Annie as it was at this point in time that she realized that she could clearly see Adrish's reflection in the mirror but his body was nowhere to be found.
"Now I know why you like your friends so much, they are nice." said Adrish as he smiled and Ollie laughed while Adrish lazily appeared on the opposite mirror as Annie was shocked.
"Umm..." she said as she looked at Matt and Maddie who had the same confused expression on their faces.
"Adrish, if you don't mind me asking... where is your body?" asked Annie as Maddie was just about to ask that.
"I don't mind at all, my body is right here." he said happily as he floated casually in the mirrors.
"But that's your reflection right?" asked Maddie.
"No, this is my body." said Adrish as Ollie let him answer all the questions.
"But how come?" asked Matt in confusion.
"Well I'm kind of trapped in the mirror." said Adrish as he chuckled.
"You can be trapped in a mirror?" asked Maddie.
"Yes, it's a fairly easy spell." said Ollie as he chipped in.
"If you don't mind me asking... why exactly were you trapped in a mirror?" asked Annie.
"Well a guy tries to overthrow the royal family once and he gets trapped in a mirror for the rest of eternity." laughed Adrish sheepishly.
"Wait, you tried to overthrow the royal family?" asked Maddie as Adrish nodded.
"And you got trapped here?" asked Matt as Adrish nodded.
"How long have you been trapped here?" asked Annie.
"Well four hundred years." said Adrish casually.
"Four hundred years??!!" asked Maddie, Matt and Annie in shock as Adrish nodded.
"Well then how old are you?" asked Maddie in confusion.
"I'm about four hundred and sixty five years old." said Adrish as he had to give that answer some thought, it had been a while since he had calculated his age.
"And yet you don't look a day over thirty." said Matt in shock.
"Why thank you, I do cherish my ever youthful face." said Adrish proudly as Ollie laughed.
"I just can't believe that you've been trapped here for four hundred years." said Annie in disbelief.
"Well neither can I. I have watched this Castle be destroyed and be built back up again. I have seen my hall progress from just one simple mirror in a room, into this nice fall where I am somewhat free. I have watched most of the Kings grow up, including my dear Oliver over here." said Adrish happily.
"That sounds depressing." said Maddie.
"Oh it is, but you surely get used to it after the first few hundred years." said Adrish.
"So you're just trapped here? You can't go anywhere?" asked Annie.
"Exactly." said Adrish with a smile as he moved to the mirror on the celling, causing them to turn their heads upwards.
"Well can you be released?" asked Maddie.
"Yes I can, but only by a member of the royal family." said Adrish as he smiled looking at Ollie.
"Why don't you just release him blondie? He's been here for hundreds of years. Isn't that enough of a punishment?" asked Maddie as she looked at Ollie who shook his head.
"I can't do that Maddie." said Ollie.
"But Adrish just said that you could release him." said Annie.
"That may be true, but I can't just release him, he's serving a sentence, the only one that has the power to grant him his release would be my Father." explained Ollie.
"Then why don't you just ask your Father to release him?" asked Maddie.
"I also can't do that, my Father won't just release him like that, it's more like he's serving his sentence which is eternity trapped in a mirror." said Ollie.
"Oh you guys don't need to be sad for me. I am already very much used to it. I don't even crave for freedom. I do a lot of fun things, Oliver here plays bored games with me, and I don't have to eat, sleep or breathe in the mirror." said Adrish happily as to Annie, Maddie and Matt that still sounded rather depressing.
"Still sounds depressing though." said Maddie.
"Well I've been here long enough to know that, sometimes being trapped gives you enough time to reflect." said Adrish as he smiled.
"Anyway, enough about depressing things, do you guys want to play a game with me?" asked Adrish as he smiled.
"Oh no, I've had enough of games, playing snowfall last night was a bad idea." said Maddie with a scoff as Adrish laughed.
"I see that you've played Snowfall already, it's one of my favourite games." said Adrish as he laughed.
"Sorry Adrish, but we can't play right now, I was thinking that we should go have lunch and then maybe we can play later or tomorrow?" asked Ollie.
"That's fine Oliver, we can all play a game together tomorrow." said Adrish as he smiled, he knew that the young Prince wanted to spend time with his friends before their departure. He would always be here, but they would not.
"Thank you Adrish, I will see you tomorrow then." said Ollie as he smiled and Adrish smiled at him.
"I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow." said Adrish with a smile.
"And so do we." replied Annie with a smile as she waved at him and Adrish waved back at her as they left the hall of mirrors.
...
"What are we doing here?" asked Maddie as they followed Ollie into a strange room that they had never been to before.
"We're going to have lunch here." said Ollie as he smiled and sat down at the small round dining table.
"And why here?" asked Maddie.
"Well because I thought that eating in the main dining hall is too daunting, there's only four of us, so we can just eat here." said Ollie as he smiled.
"I agree with that." said Annie as she sat down beside him and Matt sat down beside her, leaving the only seat left the one on Ollie's left.
"I agree with anything as long as we get to eat." said Maddie as she frowned.
"Anyone want to switch seats with me?" she asked as Annie and Matt shook their heads.
"Oh but come on, pleaseee, I definitely don't want to sit next to the blondie." she said with a frown.
"Oh be quiet and just sit down Maddie!!" said Annie as she definitely was not in the mood to endorse Maddie's annoying behaviour and treatment towards Ollie.
"Fine, fine." said Maddie as she scoffed and reluctantly sat down next to Ollie who showed her a bright smile.
"Look at me again and I will use this fork to poke your eye out." she threatened holding the fork in her hand as Ollie shook his head.
"Do you always have to be so violent?" he asked.
"Only to those that annoy me." she replied as if looks could freeze, Maddie would have been trapped in a block of ice from Annie's icy glare.
"Anyway, lunch is served." said Ollie as the table was filled in a blink of an eye.
"You know, I still don't get why you don't just release Adrish, he's such a cool guy and he's learnt his lesson by now with all the years he's spent trapped." said Maddie in the middle of lunch as Annie nodded, agreeing with her.
"It's not that simple guys... he used to be a very hard, violent and dangerous man before. He gathered all the people to storm the old Castle back then and many people died while he wanted to kill the King." said Ollie.
"The key word there is used said Annie, he used to be a dangerous man, but he isn't anymore... he could at least be showed some mercy, right Matt?" asked Annie as she looked at Matt.
"Well I don't know... I guess on one hand he's changed, but on the other hand I understand why releasing him might be scary... after all, if he was able to cause such a big problem then, he can certainly do it again now." said Matt.
"I agree with Matt. It's not that I don't trust Adrish, I really do, he's one of my earliest friends but... he was charged with treason, and the King at the time decided that death would be too harsh of a punishment, so instead of death, he was to serve eternity locked up in a mirror, and he's only serving his punishment." said Ollie.
"I hate to say it blondie, but eternity is such a long time... and even though I don't usually say this but... he's had more than enough time to change, do you really think that after four hundred years he would go back and repeat something that got him trapped in the first place?" asked Maddie as they looked at her.