"Janice wake up." Said her mother as she knocked on the door.
"Yes mom, I'm coming" she got up and walked towards the door.
There was still dark and the moon was high up in the sky. Janice was still half asleep as she opened the door.
"Wake up Janice we have to rush to the Royal Palace now." Said Hera who was ready with her clothes and shawl to leave.
"What are you talking about? Leave for the capital city now?" Janice asked while rubbing her eyes.
"Yes, ladies quickly get her ready we are leaving right away," Hera ordered the maids.
"Wait, does Father know about this?" Janice asked in a hurry.
"No, he doesn't. Now get ready." Hera said.
The maids made their hands work as quickly as they could and Janice also tried to stay awake. She didn't know a single thing that was going on and her mother was in no position to answer anything. So she kept her doubts to herself.
Gyros village wasn't that far from the capital city where the Royal Palace was. It was about an hour of Journey to the capital city and now at almost midnight, they were ready to leave.
Janice and Hera swiftly got into their carriage. Not many people knew about it not even the Baron, Janice's father was aware. Only a handful of trusted maids and the head butler were told and also warned by Hera to not leak the information about their visit to the palace at night.
The carriage took off from the Gyros village.
"Mom, now that we are finally in the carriage tell me, Why to the royal palace at midnight?" Janice asked with seriousness in her eyes.
"Because I got a message from the palace that the Prince has returned, but he is injured very seriously, so this is your chance to stand out." Said Hera.
Janice took a deep breath and said,
"Mom, are you crazy? Doing this journey of an hour to cure someone who already has so many people to cure him?" she asked furiously.
Her mother was taken aback by her reaction and left speechless.
"I am doing all this so that you can become the sole crown princess for the Crown Prince." She said with an upset tone.
"No, no mother, I didn't mean to put it out that way but.." Janice was explaining but was interrupted.
"You are not the sole candidate Janice. There is one more girl, the daughter of Count Hans, Nyra Hans." Said Hera with the eyes showed nothing but weakness.
"What?" asked Janice.
"Yes, that day when your engagement was announced by the king, we left to celebrate but then I went back to thank the queen for the honor to her chambers. That time I heard that her only intention is to get a daughter of a mere baron to marry the prince is so that once you give the future heir to the family they will make you fall into controversy and demote you from the crown princess position." Explained Hera.
There was a silence of a couple of minutes. The carriage advanced for the royal palace. Suddenly Janice said,
"That is like the lamest thing I've ever heard." She said with a smile.
"I know right?" said Hera
And both started laughing like crazy.
"My god, that foolish queen doesn't know that you are a witch, so she is planning all this." Said Hera as she wiped the tear that came out of her eye after looking.
"But anyway, why to heal the crown prince?" asked Janice.
"So that he will always be in your favor, stupid girl." Answered Hera with an evil smirk.
"Oh!" said Janice.
"What can we expect, after all, she is a witch. I'll just follow what she says since Elena said everything will work out.", Janice thought to herself as she gazed at the night sky above.
Sleep was almost kissing her eyes as she wandered above the stars above her head.
"Can you help me Janice?" a boy in a soft voice asked.
"Where am I?" Janice asked.
There was silence.
She could see there was a lot of fog in front of her and a young boy of about seven years old, lending his hand for her to get up.
"I need your help, Janice. Can you undo this curse?" the boy asked in a polite way.
"I can't see who you are kid." She mumbled.
"But soon you will, hehe." He said with a laugh.
Suddenly he took back his hand as Janice extended her hand to hold his and get up.
"You have to undo the curse, Janice. This time you can't leave." The boy said with an evil tone as though he was giving a warning and then disappeared.
"Hey wait? Kid?" she yelled to make him stop.
And then suddenly woke up to her mother's call, "Wake up Janice we are here." Said Hera as they stood in front of a tall castle.
"When did it started raining mom?" Janice asked while yawning.
"It has been raining for quite some time now. Get ready to get down." Hera said while straightening some wrinkles that formed on her gown.
The mighty royal castle stood against the black background of the dark cloudy night. There was also thunder, but the castle seemed to be bustling.
"Maybe since the crown prince is injured." She thought as she got down the carriage.
"You are the Tylers right?", asked the guard who stood in front of the giant gate of the castle.
"Yes, we are.", Hera replied.
"Get into this new carriage and we'll take you to the west wing." He said.
Both of them boarded the new royal carriage.
It was still pouring cats and dogs and the way to the west wing from the main gate of the castle seemed long.
"You know what you have to do.", Hera hinted.
Janice nodded.
Soon they reached the west wing, which seemed like an isolated building.
"They kept the crown prince here?" thought Janice as she glanced at the wing.
But there was someone else who was more taken aback by the condition of the wing.
It wasn't like torn and tattered building but it wasn't something the crown prince should be living in. It was the farthest building from the main castle too. But still, neither Hera nor Janice spoke a single word.
The carriage stopped at the gate of the wing and the coachman came to help them.
Both Hera and Janice got down and the carriage left.
"Welcome, Baroness Tyler and Miss Tyler." Said the butler of the wing as soon as he saw them getting down.
"I'll lead you to the room." He said.
Hera hesitated a little and said," I would love to go to the parlor first and have a sip of water." She said.
"Very well." He said with a warm smile.
He led them to the parlor on the second floor. They both went in. "The situation is critical, the sooner the better." He said.
Hera nodded. He left.
"Janice, wait here, don't wander anywhere else. Everything seems too suspicious here, I'll go and meet the messenger who sends me the message in a jiffy." Whispered Hera and left the room quietly.
"Ah, yet again I am alone." Janice thought as she got up and started to wander around the parlor.
"Even though this is west wing, they have maintained it thoroughly." She said brushing her hands across the bookshelf. And suddenly the light went out.
And she heard a voice of a young boy giggling behind her.
"Who is it?" she calmly asked but with a little nervousness.
"You are here." Said a boy.
She couldn't see him in all the darkness but suddenly there was a rumble of thunder and she saw the boy from her dreams standing in the corner of the room.
"Hey kid, wait up." She said. But the boy opened the parlor door and ran out.
On instinct, without taking her mother's advice into consideration she ran after that boy.
He was quick and led her to a room on the farthest end of the second floor.
"I am glad to have you, Janice. Help me quick." Said the boy as he entered the room through the closed doors as though he was absorbed inside the room.
Janice stopped at a certain distance.
"This is clearly my imagination. But why is it so vivid?" she thought as she slowly approached the room.
The whole wing turned to a dark maze making it hard for anyone to see clearly. But a maid came from behind Janice,
"Miss?" she softly called out for Janice. But Janice couldn't hear anything.
She opened the room and entered inside.
"Oh my god, why did she go there? Who Is she?" the maid quickly turned around to leave.