The great hall was already crowded when the ladies walked in. Deana Obrien and Daphne Britter led the group, their respective daughters behind them.

"I don't care that we were given three days off from college, Ann, I'll stay in the palace as much as I have to. The headmaster has to understand," said Paty, making sure her mother couldn't hear. "Are you with me?"

"I'll convince mom to let us stay until Brid gets better," Annie muttered as she rubbed her frozen fingers together.

When they saw William among hundreds of long faces, they rushed over, lifting their skirts from the ground to avoid tripping. They were still wearing their coats; the Royal Guard had delayed them an hour on the outer gate under a heavy snowstorm, while they inspected their luggage, and confirmed the authenticity of their permits. They should consider themselves lucky for having access in such a short time; it had barely been twenty-four hours since the murder, so entering the palace, including public areas, such as the courts or the media room, was virtually impossible.

While they crossed the great hall, Annie recognized several faces, but didn't greet anyone. People gathered there for the forty-eight hour wake prior to the royal burial, however, she doubted that anyone here felt for the deceased or their heiress what she and her mother were suffering at the time: a knot of worry and pain in their stomachs.

Daphne was inconsolable. The news of the Queen's death had hit her so hard that she had fainted. "A bomb," Annie had heard her repeat all the previous afternoon. "How is that possible?" She'd ordered the pilot to prepare the ship to fly to the palace as soon as it was ready. Nevertheless, a call from William made her change her plans. After giving them a reliable report on the Princess' health -the news just mentioned that her condition was serious but stable-, the old man had suggested they wait for another twenty-four hours; flying that afternoon would be useless. Residents were being questioned in the palace, and the Royal Guard wouldn't allow entry to anyone. In addition, Bridget was in the intensive care ward, under the strongest security measures and couldn't receive visitors, including him.

William greeted Daphne with a hug, and then took her pale hands in his own, wrinkled and covered in callouses.

"My lady, may the Goddess bless you, and the grief that overwhelms you now be temporary," he said kindly.

"I appreciate your wishes, professor," replied the lady with a knot in her throat.

"Dear Deana, ladies," he bowed his head to them, and turning to Paty's mother asked, "How was your flight?"

"It was good, glah. Thank you for asking," Deana said, using the common way of referring to older relatives, in this case, her great uncle. "There's an army of reporters out there waiting for news to tell."

"They will have to wait a little longer."

"Where is my lady Vaniah? I want to present our condolences for the death of her brother, the King."

"I am afraid to inform you that she is going through a nervous breakdown. She has retired to her quarters. Maybe tomorrow she will be able to comply with protocol, and attend the wake."

"I'm sorry to hear that. And the King's old mother, so..."

"You just said it, Deana, so... old. The poor woman has gone senile. She dispatched the ambassadors loudly, telling them they were wrong, that it was another Jhon Black who had died, that her son was alive, and that he had called her that morning to say hello. That he lived in Great Capitol with his wife Princess Alaissa, and had told her he would visit for the festivities of the Goddess, because his coronation was coming up."

"Wow. But what can you expect from someone who has already buried two children and lived... what, a hundred and thirty beltas?"

Annie and Paty studied the old man's face.

"Do not even think about it, ladies, I am ninety-eight," William defended himself.

"Ladies, what have I taught you about courtesy?" Deana scolded them.

"How's my girl, professor?" Daphne asked.

"I cannot talk about it here, my lady, but if you would like to join me..." William offered his arm to Daphne, and insisted Deana follow him too. "Girls, I will take your mothers for an hour. Wait here, please."

"But... we have to see her," protested Paty.

"I am sorry, but it is impossible for the time being,," said the old man, taking small steps towards the exit.

"Mom, please, we need to see her, that's the reason we're here," insisted Annie.

"You heard professor William, skyling, you can't right now.."

"But..."

"Pluck my feathers!" cursed Paty.

William and the two ladies left the great room, and turned left, towards the medical wing.

***

"It's not fair!" Annie said, clenching her fists.

"Let's get out of here at least," suggested Paty, as annoyed as Annie. She nodded at a group of noblemen who passed them, talking about the scandalous resignation of two important characters: the Prime Minister, Edeira Iran, and the Minister of External Security, Tad Abender. She took Annie's hand, and made ​​her way to the door through which William and their mothers had left. Once on the balcony, she took a deep breath and followed the trio with her eyes, while Annie, restless and anxious, walked in circles, like a caged animal.

"It's not fair," repeated Annie. "We came to see her. I hate him when he behaves like this, I don't know how you stand him."

"Annie, look," said Paty, pointing at the trio, noticing that William and their mothers took the elevator. That was not the way to the medical wing.

"Do you think they moved her to the Clouds?" Annie stopped short.

"Why else would they go up? If all they wanted was to talk in private, an office would do."

"What about the guards in the medical wing? Are those for show?"

"It's not all that illogical, if you think about it."

"Come, I have an idea," said Annie.

"Are you sure?" asked Paty, realizing what her friend planned to do.

"Well, if we don't find her there, at least we would have tried. Let's go," urged Annie, leading the way to the Guest Tower.

Paty walked behind her in disbelief, her heart racing. Annie could be quite sure of herself when she spoke in public, but she wasn't very brave in other aspects. Something motivated her, indifferent to the consequences they would face if they were found.

The closer they got, the more the worry and sadness they had held in during the trip to the palace came to the surface.

"Oh, Paty, I don't know what I'll tell her. She was just starting a new chapter next to her parents, and then out of nowhere... they just..."

"I don't think you can tell her anything at the moment. And if that's the case, just... be there for her, listen to her, and be a little patient. She's hurt, Annie, and she has to mourn." She stopped and called the elevator.

"Do you mean..." she mumbled shakily.

"Annie, no. You won't see blood, I promise."

"Really."

"I swear."

Annie released the air she'd been holding.

"Ladies," greeted Terry Blasterier, stepping into the elevator with them. Annie and Paty sank into an uncomfortable silence. They didn't expect the way to the Britter's apartment to be clear, but they weren't expecting to share the trip with him.

Annie searched for traces of accusation in his eyes. She had spoken to the right people to get rid of the goldulp that had pushed her into the mud several days ago. She didn't find any traces of reproach... maybe he hadn't discovered who had ratted him out.

They went up in silence. After stepping out on the same floor, Terry walked quietly behind them. To Annie's relief, he stopped a couple of doors before hers, used a key, and disappeared from her sight.

"Finally, I thought he was following us," she whispered. She looked over her shoulder to make sure the boy had closed the door, and stepped into the Britter's apartment.

It was dark and the furniture was covered by sheets.

***

Terry Blasterier's door was not completely closed, he had left it ajar to spy on the girls. He wasn't surprised to discover that his suspicions were being confirmed one by one.

He'd been lucky to have been standing on the balcony when the elder William and the ladies who were with him walked out, and the unhappy girls after them.

Having checked which door they had gone through, and the absence of other witnesses, he returned to the corridor and crossed it in a few strides. Then he opened a tiny portion of their door and peeked in. In the back of the dark room he glimpsed the moment in which a section of the wall slid to the right, revealing a passageway. He waited a moment, checked no one was watching again, and stepped into the apartment. The wall han't slid back completely; the girls had left a metal clasp at the sensor.

Wow, if I'd stumbled into one of these hidden doors, I might have been walled-in. He went in and put the clasp back where he found it.

Once inside, he eyed the narrow passage. It was dark, but a bright white light to his left silhouetted the two girls in this labyrinth.

"Why did the ancients build a palace this far north, Paty? Wintertime is horrible, I was freezing out there," he heard.

He followed them muffling his steps.

"How should I know? Maybe the hills favored the installation of the shield. But I think your cold has to do with you not eating anything. You've been worried about your mother and Bridget."

Keep talking. Not only were they guiding him; unknowingly they also masked his steps, his fiercely beating heart, his shallow breath. If he were found... he didn't even want to think about it. Of all the juvenile things he'd done, this was the most senseless, and he was already counting a couple of street fights and a warning for driving his father's VeL without a permit.

"And how was I supposed to relax? Mom wouldn't stop crying, if she didn't go mad from repeating the same thing over and over, I would. It's the first time I'm grateful for William, Paty. He was the only one who could calm her down."

"We're here. And now... up."

Terry glued his back to the wall, and waited. The girls climbed a ladder for thirty or forty feet, and then jumped into another passageway. He went up quickly, and peered into the corridor. The girls were walking down a long hallway.

When he got to the end, Terry found an opening chiseled into a wall that the girls had crossed. He studied whatever lay at the other side, and put an arm and a leg through the hole, then his body, and finally the second leg. The last stretch was another long staircase, around an elevator shaft. His guides has stopped before starting the climb.

"It means Bridget used it to go up," he heard the greenhead say.

"Well, consider it a way to warm up, Annie," said the other one with a long sigh.

Hiding behind a column, Terry saw her wave a rod near the chainlink fence around the elevator.

"No power, for sure," she stated, and held on to the handrail. Three steps up, she stopped. "Do you still want to go on?"

The greenhead had remained on the landing, pensieve, lighting the way with the ProCom's screen.

"Did you hear something, Pat?"

"Mmm... nope."

"Must be my nerves."

Terry sighed in relief and, considering his options, decided to wait. He peeked every now and then, until he saw them disappear.

My turn.

He climbed the stairs deftly, two or three times faster than the girls, and he caught up with them a couple of minutes later, just when they slid a wall aside and stepped into a gray corridor.

A light filtered through the lower edge of a door in front of him. To his right, behind a door, a guard watched the access from the elevator, but Terry was inside a wall, in a cupboard. He had avoided the floor's security without meaning to.

Great. Where are the girls?

He poked his nose around the door. The huge chamber housed eight single beds and a wardrobe full of sand colored dresses, all identical. The evidence suggested that he was inside the servant's quarters. There were four possible doors to investigate. He stepped outside, trying not to make a sound until he got to the first one and reached for the doorknob.

" ... deserve to know the truth," he heard a female voice say suddenly.

"Very well. Bertaliz, ladies, please step outside."

The sound of footsteps approaching forced him to hide under a table, where he crouched, pale and sweaty for being almost discovered. He canceled his plans to figure out which route the girls had taken. All he wanted now was to return to the cupboard, and to the tenth floor of the guest tower, before he got into trouble. A woman dressed in black walked into the room, and burst out crying.

Pluck me! What was I thinking when I followed this impulse? What am I going to do now?

Terry watched his hand. He realized for the first time that it wasn't shaking, unusual, if you took into account his rapid heart rate and his agitated breathing.

Accidentally or intentionally, she did something that Terry didn't expect. She left the door open. The sound of several voices reached him from somewhere.

***

"This way, Pat. If my theory is correct, we'll find Bridget, but also William and our mothers. It's vital that we're not discovered."

When they left the cupboard, Annie and Paty looked to their right.

At the back of the room was a living room and several doors; they could have chosen the one with direct access to the main room, but the one that led to the dressing room was safer, and besides, a plexiglass door would let them enter the bathroom, which would let them get closer to the Princess unseen. Unfortunately, the presence of a security guard doing his rounds forced them to choose the former.

An arc of columns surrounded the semicircular main room: Annie and Paty hid behind the one closest to the door to servant's quarters.

"They're there," Annie whispered, terrified. "We can't stay here."

Beyond the set of couches, behind an imposing curtain, there were two doctors, a nurse, nanna Bertaliz, and...

Annie's prediction was half fulfilled. Daphne was the only one near the bed, William stood in the middle of the room, while Deana Obrien was nowhere to be seen.

Paty pointed at the library. Its doors were open and the lights were off. They would be further away from Bridget, but they didn't have many options, and the guard could return at any moment, or the doctors could turn around and see them. They slid away silently, and crouched behind the door frame.

"If only we could get to the balcony to see and hear better..." Paty wished.

"William, why didn't you tell me about this?" Daphne cried suddenly, turning her back on the bed, and walking in his direction.

"Is something wrong?" the old man replied nervously.

"You tell me."

William turned around and walked away from Daphne.

Seeing their mentor getting closer to their hiding place, Annie held her breath, not knowing what to do.

"I do not know what you are talking about, my lady," said William.

Daphne caught up to the teacher and faced him.

"There was an explosion right in front of her. You talked about wounds from debris, and a contusion because she fell. Why would she need an extracorporeal circulation pump? What's wrong with her heart?"

"What's an extracorp...?" whispered Annie. Paty covered her mouth with her hand, and begged her with her eyes to stay silent. William and Daphne were really close, any false movement would give them away.

"Extracorporeal pump? You are confused, my lady. That thing you saw..."

"Do not insult me, William!" she replied angrily. "That is no plasma transfusion machine. My father went through an organ transplant several beltas ago, and the doctors used a similar artifact to substitute the beating of his heart for a few hours."

Feeling dizzy, Annie remembered it. It was some kind of robot-spider with a transparent silicon body the size of a football. Four of its flexible limbs were made from braided surgical steel; they were hoses that diverted the blood, and appeared to sting the body of the person underneath them. The other four rhythmically held, shook, and pumped the silicon bag, pushing the contents back inside.

Paty peeked from their hiding place. Annie's mother had caught William trying to hide something. She had to see it.

"I apologize, my lady," he sighed.

"I'm not interested in your excuses, what I want is an explanation. I was her mother a week ago. I deserve the truth!"

"Very well," he said. "Bertaliz, ladies, please step outside."

The nanny hugged her own body, and was the first one to turn around and walk towards the servant's quarters, on the brink of tears. The nurses, however, left the place completely. From her hiding place, Paty could see the guards at the door, taking note of their exit.

"You are correct, my lady, but there is an important reason why I dared to lie and postpone this moment."

"You didn't want me to find out, obviously. Why? What's wrong with my girl?" asked Daphne, on the verge of tears.

"If I told you, you would understand that her wounds have no relation to the explosion, and then I would have to explain why they happened, and if I did... I would have to reveal a secret."

The lady and the old man stared at each other in silence, him trying to choose the right words, her saddened for not being considered trustworthy enough to know that information. She already suspected that there was something different about the Princess, aside from her feathers; objects had inexplicably fallen down when the girl cried.

"It is best if we sit down. Come, listen to me, and you be the judge for the reasons their Majesties ordered me not to mention it to anyone."

They walked to the sofas and sat next to each other.

"The fall is to blame for her delicate state. Besides causing the swelling in her head, it caused severe internal injuries, especially in her heart."

"What kind of injuries? Hemorrhages?"

"Burns."

"That makes no sense."

"I know." The elder paused, glanced at the doctors out of the corner of his eye, and continued. "The Princess' body has a secondary nervous system, some kind of bioelectrical wiring that carries the energy that was not stored in her tissue. Pure energy, my lady, like the one you would use to put a ship in orbit." He remained silent for a few seconds to let his words sink in. "Now... I am sure you know what happens to a living being when, during a storm, they are hit by lightning."

"They... burn on the inside," mumbled Daphne.

"What?" cried Annie, revealing their hiding place.

Paty paled. Before she knew what was happening or how to stop it, Annie had stepped out for everyone to see.

"Annie? What are you doing here?" asked her mother, standing up.

"You are not alone, are you?" said William. The greenhead was paralysed, every trace of boldness had disappeared when she realized she had sabotaged her own plan.

"No, she's not." Resigned, Paty stepped into the light.

When they heard the voices, the guards entered with their weapons drawn.

"And Deana, worried, interceding for you, saying how mature you are... what a fiasco!" cried William.

"Where's my mother?"

"She went looking for you," muttered Daphne, crossing her arms.

"Did you get here the way I think you did? Did the Princess tell you about it?" asked the elder. "I hope you are prepared for the consequences, ladies. Officers, I can handle two oblivious teenagers, that represent more danger to themselves than for the Princess."

The guards, communicating through tiny transmitters, went back to their rounds.

"You are in big trouble, ladies."

"The hell with your consequences, you can ground us for life, so long as you repeat that about Bridget," demanded Paty.

"That she revealed the secret path?" replied William nervously.

"About the energy. We heard. You can't deny it now. Finish your explanation or..."

Cornered, William had no choice but to ask both of them to sit down. Paty took Annie's arm, and forced her to cross the room. Once they were settled, the teacher went back to his seat.

"I understand your need to see Bridget, but this thoughtless action is reprehensible and will not go unpunished, girls; had it not been you, you would have been arrested and taken away in handcuffs, but we'll talk about that later," Daphne sentenced.

William looked at them alternately for what seemed like an eternity.

"It is true," said the elder. "Bridget has an alternate system that carries pure energy. We studied it every other day, disguising the sessions as..."

"Private math lessons," snapped Paty. "And I thought she was sick, that those days she got some kind of experimental medical treatment that left her exhausted, and made ​​her lose weight..."

"It was not something she could speak of, her parents forbade her to reveal it. I would not be telling you this if it were not worse to leave you in the dark. She always considered it a genetic defect. When she was angry, sparks flew from her hand. Thus, we discovered that she could issue arcs of energy through her palms or fingers. Dr. Laverne Nance can confirm it, he was the victim of the first ray that came out of her palm. He was trying to take a blood sample when he accidentally hit an outlet of energy."

"Like... powers?" asked Annie, stunned.

"And..." Paty scratched her chin, thinking, "... that emission of energy, let's say that... it uses up her stores, right? That's why she was always so tired."

"Indeed."

"I knew passing out from 'anemia and low defenses' was illogical." Paty crossed her arms.

"We were trying to test her limits. And so was she, which was why she never told her doctors about how weak she felt until it was too late."

"And couldn't you have warned me, William? I was her mother, what would have happened if she'd had an accident, and a blast like that had hurt us? Or if it had happened publicly?"

"Their Majesties bet on taking that risk, and teaching her to control it. The psicosis about her relationship with the prophecy was bad enough, never mind revealing how dangerous her abilities could be."

"Right. Generally, lighting victims don't survive," muttered Daphne, understanding the seriousness of the matter. "She would have been lynched."

"I could not have said it better myself," William chuckled. "I believe that about sums it up."

"Except how this happened to her heart, if you say the lightning exits through her hands," challenged Paty.

"Think of a hose as an analogy. After the explosion and the fall, her Highness hit the back of her head. The blow, like a sudden hit with a hammer on a hose full of water, pushed the contents in all directions. If the hose were a straight line, the content would have exited through the end. If it were a tangled closed circuit, the content, propelled by such strength, would have made its way through the weakest wall."

"Next to her heart?"

"Precisely. It was as if she had attacked herself," he sighed. "Despite her unusual resistance to electricity, her heart, lungs, arteries, blood vessels... everything is burned on the inside, and her heart has stopped twice already, so the circulation assistant has been necessary."

As she listened, Annie imagined a stake, and a screaming victim, a scene she'd watched in a horror holodrama, which was the only reference she had to quantify what her sister could have felt. Tears escaped her eyes.

"But she'll get better, won't she? There are cellular therapies that regenerate burned tissue," commented Daphne.

"She is already receiving the treatment, my lady. But it will be another forty-eight hours before we start seeing results, if she holds on until then."

"You heard him, skyling she'll get better," her mother comforted her daughter, hugging her; she dried her eyes.

"Can we see her now?" asked Paty.

"You can approach, of course," William replied, resigned.

"Shall we, Annie?"

"I can wait a little longer," she babbled fearfully.

"That's why we're here. Come on." Ignoring her cowardice, Paty led her there.

The young women crossed the spacious living room until they reached the bed, and then circled it. They expected to find an ashen face; instead, Bridget's cheeks were bright red, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her sleep was restless. She didn't look like herself, with her head out of proportion, and all those guts poking out from her bo... Annie passed out. The red-bellied spider that pinched Bridget's skin while it danced like a carnival on top of her, was more than she could take. Fortunately, Laverne Nance was there to catch her before she hurt herself.

***

Two guards entered the servants' quarters. They added a meticulous search of the area to their usual round. The captain had informed them that two teenagers had shown up in the Princess' room. Since none of them had passed the checkpoints, the only explanation was that they had used the hidden passage they had been told about. The girls belonged to the Princess' closest circle, and it was obvious they had been trusted with the passage's existence, which was why the captain hadn't ordered them to apprehend them. However, he did send them to guard the entrance to the passageway. They should take into consideration that the public already knew about the girls' closeness to the royal family. From their point of view, they had an invisible sign on them that screamed "Follow me, I know the castle's secrets, spy on me, I know privileged information, kidnap me, I'm important".

Bingo. They found a scared boy in a corner.

"Come out," they ordered, aiming their weapons at him.

"You were right, captain. Someone followed them," one of them informed through his transmitter. "Affirmative, we're coming."

Terry moved slowly, with his hands in the air and his heart racing. One of the guards checked him for weapons and handcuffed him.

What do they do to minors who commit this kind of misdemeanors? Independently of his troubles with the law, he was sure his father would skin him alive.

"Come on, walk," the guard pointed at the room, and forced him to go in. "The Wiseman has requested you stand before him."

In seconds, Terry's forehead and hands were covered in sweat. In the living room, an officer stood next to William Obrien, waiting for him with a taser, just in case he was thinking of running away.

Aware that this might be his only chance to see Bridget, Terry swept the room with his eyes, but when he found her bed he stopped, as if he had been attracted by a magnet.

"Blasterier, we meet again," disapproved William.

The guard pushed him to his knees, and stepped into his line of vision, to force him to look at the elder; Terry preferred to look at his reflection on the floor.

"We didn't find anything in his pockets, sir," the officer informed him.

Obviously, idiot, what did you expect?

"You went through great pains to get here. Was it worth it?" asked the Wiseman. When he didn't get an answer, he turned to the guard. "Could he hear what we discussed from his hiding place?"

"Yes, sir."

"So you took the risk out of curiosity," he sighed. "Sometimes it is an irresistible impulse, is it not? However, it will kill you just like the bird that wanted to see what lay beyond the clouds."

Terry lifted his eyes and faced him.

"I didn't hear... I won't say anything, I swear it for all that is sacred."

William circled the young man.

"I cannot take that risk. Her Highness' life is at stake, if what was said inside these walls reached the outside..."

FInding his throat suddenly drying up, Terry swallowed.

"My lips are sealed, I swear."

William lifted an eyebrow, and observed him until he was convinced of his honesty. He knew how to recognize regret and innocence in the boy's body language, behind his mask of revelry. Terry Blasterier had deeply impressed him for having witnessed the blast, and his concern over the Princess' health seemed authentic. He spoke into the captain's ear.

"Affirmative, sir," he replied.

"I told you I will not take the risk, Blasterier," repeated William. "I will let the army deal with you."

Deal with me?

"Take him."

An enormous hand pulled him to his feet, and made him walk back to the servants' quarters.

You have to make it, girl, he thought as farewell, glancing briefly in her direction. Just before disappearing behind the door, they covered his head and led him to the service elevator, but not before making him turn and turn unnecessarily, to disorient him.

***

"What are they going to do to him? He's a minor, he didn't mean any harm, and no one was hurt," said Daphne.

"I know, my lady. Do not worry, they will only take him to Startos Military Base. The only difference is that they will make it very clear to him how important it is to keep the secret."

"How? They're not going to beat him up, are they?"

"Sometimes, the worst punishment is doing nothing, dear lady, but leaving him on his own to think; there is a small, dark room that is perfect for this kind of situation. With some luck, once they are done with him, he will emerge as a new man."