The door closed harshly and Beatrix jumped. She sighed and flopped her head onto the enormous bed.

Wait. A thought circled in her head. She could EAVESDROP on Sophie and Keefe's conversation!! After all, she'd done it once. She was sure she could do it again.

Beatrix got up and rushed down the hall, quietly of course. Finally she reached a door where there were muffled noises coming through it. Not that many though. Mostly it was just silence.

Beatrix pressed her ear against the wall, careful to make sure that she didn't lean in too much. She'd watched those movies where the door would open and the person would get caught eavesdropping. However, Beatrix was not like those people in the movies. She assured herself that she would not get absorbed into their conversation and if they were about to open the door, she would immediately run back into the other room.

Suddenly she heard a BANG echo through the walls.

Uh oh. Did they just get... physical?

Beatrix was unsure, but if she opened the door she could ruin everything. Besides, it might have just been something clatter to the floor.

Though even with all of her reassurances, Beatrix couldn't stop that anxious feeling that she kept getting. What was happening in that room?

Beatrix suppressed that feeling once more and tried her best to just focus on what they were saying.

She could hear little bits and pieces here and there, but the full conversation was inaccessible to her. Clearly, the wall was doing its job properly. OH, WHY DID THE ELVES HAVE TO HAVE SUCH GREAT TECHNOLOGY WHICH MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR HER TO EAVESDROP ON SOMEONE.

She screamed internally. But, fortunately, she could still hear a little bit of what Sophie was saying.

"How... you... it was.... me and.... so...why can.... be....."

Beatrix frowned. Well, none of that made sense.

She shifted from the door and slumped downwards, curling her head into her body, trying to find some warmth.

All of a sudden, the noises stopped. All the mumbling and raging and loud noises just abruptly ended. Beatrix stared at the door for a moment, longing to push it open and find out what was going on. However, she resisted the urge to do so and instead listened really hard, trying to make out some noise--any noise--for a clue as to what they were doing now.

She could hear little whispers but nothing more.

And then suddenly, the door flew open and Beatrix barely had enough time to skittle away from it.

Great. Now she WAS like those people in the movies who always got caught snooping. However, that was one of her least concerns right now.

Sophie walked out stiffly, her expression as still as water. She didn't seem to notice Beatrix sprawled on the floor until she glanced down and then jumped in terror, shrieking.

"WHAT THE--BEATRIX!" she exclaimed.

Then another figure came rushing outside too. Keefe. His eyes widened and he silently nudged his head sideways, signaling to Beatrix to leave.

Beatrix ignored him though and gave a tiny wave to Sophie. "Umm.. hi."

She slumped closer to the floor and wished that she could just disappear underground or--better yet--into thin air.

Sophie closed her eyes and massaged her forehead, leaning against the wall.

Then after a few moments, she sprang back up, her eyes gleaming with intensity, "You know what? I can't deal with this anymore. I'm leaving."

Beatrix just sat there anxiously, her stomach flapping with millions of butterflies, as she watched Sophie walk away.

When she finally saw the last bit of Sophie turn around the corner, she hissed, "Well now look what you did!" and threw her hands up into the air.

"It was also partially YOUR fault too though." Keefe countered.

Beatrix huffed.

"Well thanks a lot for ruining all my chances to get to know her!"

"You're welcome." he replied, which was NOT helping the situation.

She glared at him for a moment, but then hesitantly asked, "So.... what did happen in there?"

Keefe stared at the floor and opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, after opening and closing his mouth millions of times, he finally spoke.

"She was just... mad, I guess?"

Beatrix concentrated on her shoes as she said, "I heard a bang. What was that?"

"Oh... um.... nothing."

"Have you noticed that you're like, really horrible at lying?" she smirked, "I mean, I can literally see the bruise right there."

She pointed to a big red welt on his shoulder.

"That's.. nothing." he said.

But Beatrix still noticed as he adjusted his cape to make sure it didn't show.

"Okay, but you still haven't answered my question. What was the bang?"

"I already told you, it's not important." Keefe answered.

She sighed and stepped forward so she was directly eye level with him, "You're going to have to tell me at some point. And I can assure you that I'll be VERY annoying about it."

She was about to add something to her comment but just then a figure appeared at the other end of the hallway. Beatrix suddenly realized how close they were and immediately backed away, hitting the wall. From the corner of her eye, she could see Keefe doing the same thing, however she was focusing on the person--Grady.

She tried her best to make eye contact with him, but for some reason she kept getting a nagging feeling that whatever he was going to say would be bad news for her.

"The Council would like to talk to you, Beatrix."