They stopped at the gates.

  "Who goes there?" a guard called.

  "Regnosempta!" Emma shouted back. The guard seemed to understand.

  "Let them in!"

  The gates opened, and Emma and Isabella stepped inside.

  "'Regnosempta?'" Isabella asked. "What does that mean?"

  "It's a codeword. Yajín told me to say it when I got there."

  "Ya-who?"

  "My mentor."

  "Oh."

  They walked through the courtyard and into the actual castle. They passed by the guillotine, where Prince Ralph was executing someone.

  "I didn't eat your mini raviolis!" the prisoner yelled. "I'm innocent!"

  "Quiet!" a guard shushed.

  "Rigoletto!" Prince Ralph yelled. "Take it away!"

  The girls turned away as the blade dropped.

  "Come on," Emma said as Isabella shuddered. "Let's continue."

  The rouge nodded, and the two started to walk away. As they continued, they heard voices behind them.

  "Should we try to chat up the prince?" the first asked.

  "Yeah, yeah," said another.

  "I dunno, guys," said a third. Emma stopped. Isabella stopped. Isabella recognized the second voice, while Emma recognized the third.

  They turned around at the same time, and their jaws dropped. Before them stood three guys about their age. The first was a brunette boy with a pair of rabbit ears protruding from his curly hair. He spoke with his gloved hands, and there was a very non-impressive staff strapped to his back. The second was a guy in a ninja suit, but you could see his raven hair sticking out of the hood. The mask that covered his mouth was lowered, so he could speak freely. The third was wearing a dark maroon robe with the hood down. His hair was unkempt and a dirty blonde. Emma strode over to the third boy and promptly slapped him across the face. All three of them stopped short.

  Isabella laughed. "Oh, whatever did you do?" she taunted.

  The blonde boy was utterly astonished. He looked at Emma. She pulled down her hood. Before the boy could say anything, Emma turned around and walked back to Isabella's side.

  "Hello again," said she.

  "Emma?" the boy asked, his royal blue eyes wide.

  "Yeah, Grian! What, didn't recognize me? Oh yeah, that's right, I haven't seen you in years!"

  "I-I-"

  "Don't stutter at me, you insufferable carrot! I don't know what you're doing here, but I hope it isn't something that will involve me spending another second with you!"

  Then she turned around and ran off into the castle.

  Isabella turned towards the boys. "Not cool, dude," she said to Grian. "Anyways, I'm Isabella, and that was Emma, but I guess one of you already knew that."

  The second boy had been standing there, staring at Isabella in shock.

  "Izzy?" he asked. Isabella looked at him.

  "'Sup Taurtis," she said casually.

  "How'd you know?"

  "No one else on this miserable earth has a voice like yours."

  "Oh."

  "So, you going to introduce me to your friends, or-?"

  "Well this is Sam," Taurtis gestured to the first boy, "and Grian, as you know."

  Sam had been standing there in silence the whole time. He had known that Grian had a sister, but he didn't know she was like that. He knew Grian had run away from somewhere, but he didn't know it was from his sister. Despite that, San was still fascinated by Emma. She was so...passionate, and independent. It was undoubtedly attractive, in his opinion. He finally noticed Taurtis trying to get his attention.

  "Hello?" the ninja said, snapping his fingers in Sam's face. "Earth to Sam."

  "Uh..." Sam came back to reality.  Taurtis sighed.

  "You don't ever pay attention," he said. "Especially when we're in a huge forest trying to get through to the other side."

  "Hey!" Sam protested. "That's wasn't my fault! You were the one that lead us off the path!"

  "Nope. That was Grian."

  "Whatever. What do you want?"

  "We still have to go see the king."

  "Oh yeah. Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!"

  Sam started skipping towards the castle entrance. He passed the stables, not looking where he was going. In doing so, he accidentally slipped on a puddle of water and went flying into the nearest wall.

  Isabella did everything she could to keep her laughter in, but it was too much. She laughed loudly, and everyone around the courtyard looked at her funny. Quickly, she cleared her throat.

  "Ahem," said she.

  Grian and Taurtis chuckled quietly as the three of them walked over to Sam.

  "Need any help?" Taurtis asked.

  "Ha ha," Sam said. "Very funny." He stood up on his own.

  The four of them stepped into the castle, each wondering what was going to happen next.