It was dark, and that was the only thing he needed.

            The castle was protected by guards at all hours, and since the threat from the Dark Princess had increased, the guards had doubled around the castle. Yet he was newly a trusted face around the castle, and getting in and out of the stone building wasn't a difficult feat. If he was questioned, he would simply remind the guards of his relationship with the Light Princess and they would immediately let him pass, for fear of being on bad terms with Adriana.

            Lucas approached the castle swiftly, years of sneaking around the village to practice magic making him light on his feet. If you weren't a member of the royal family, the citizens of Gregoria were not very appreciative of magical abilities; they were often seen as a sign of devilish intent and dangerous power. Lucas could remember seeing Marcus, the Dark Princess' old magic instructor, walking around the village from the time Lucas was a small child, constantly being shunned by others around him as he walked from market to market. No one had explained to Lucas why he should fear Marcus, yet he always had.

When Lucas had begun to show signs of magical talent at the tender age of eleven, his parents had tried their utmost to suppress the signs, but that had only served to make them stronger. Eventually, Marcus became Lucas' instructor, and along with the knowledge of how to wield his power came the knowledge of how to deal with the hatred shown towards him constantly, including from his own family.

It was for this exact reason that he needed to become close to Adriana.

            Adriana possessed the same magic that Lucas did, only in a far more powerful form. Becoming close to the Light Princess, in any way that was made possible, was sure to show the villagers who had taunted him and shunned him for years that Lucas was above them, that he was superior, that they should have embraced his gift long ago. The perfect scenario would be for Adriana to wed Lucas, and they could rule the kingdom together. As king, there would be nothing that Lucas couldn't do, and everyone who had jeered at he and his teacher would pay dearly.

            It was a perfect plan. Yet as all perfect plans went, this one had one snag.

            This snag had a shaggy mop of brown hair and was currently sleeping in the infirmary, unaware that he had given Lucas the perfect opportunity to dispose of his retention-deficit self.

            James was the only thing that stood in between Lucas and his happiness. Adriana was hardly ever in any other room in the castle other than the infirmary, and that was for one simple reason: James was there. When the young man had all of his memories intact, there was no reason for Adriana to feel anything for him; she could turn to him in any moment of need and always knew that he was there. Yet now that he didn't remember her or anyone else in the kingdom, Adriana realized what she hadn't realized long ago: James was not someone she could take for granted. This realization, while most likely a great triumph for the memories lost inside of James' head, would be the downfall of Lucas' plan.

            That was why James had to go.

            The guards nodded at Lucas as he passed by them, parting their formation and allowing the gates to open for the young man. Lucas nodded graciously and entered, hoping desperately that on the morrow they would not remember the fact that he had entered the castle at all.

            The castle halls were incredibly familiar to Lucas at this point, and he wasn't about to waste a second in his quest. He made a beeline for the infirmary, entering quietly and closing the door slowly behind him. James' bed was relatively close to the window of the infirmary, which would make the mission a bit easier than it could have been.

            Everyone had to be pushed out of a window head first at some point in their lives.

            James stirred in his sleep as Lucas approached. He could hear Jasmine sleeping in her quarters directly adjacent to the infirmary, snoring gently and breathing deeply. One of the first things Adriana had mentioned to him when they met was how sound of a sleeper the castle nurse was, and for that Lucas was forever grateful.

            He approached James, who rolled over in the bed, muttering broken sentences in his sleep. Lucas stepped closer until he was directly above the young man, and James blinked his eyes open just as Lucas brought his fist down to meet the back of James' head.

            Adriana's lover hung over the bed, passed out. Lucas raised his arms slowly and thought long and hard about what he needed the body to do.

            Lift.

            The simple thought from Lucas caused James' limp body to lift off of the bed immediately, and Lucas smiled at the evidence that he was not out of practice in the art of magic.

            Move.

            James' body floated just four feet off the ground and towards the window, which was usually covered by a sheet during the day to keep the harsh sunlight out of the patients' eyes. Yet at night nothing covered it; it was simply a hole that made it possible for people to fall with little blame to anyone but themselves.

            Suddenly, James' body fell to the ground with a loud thud. Lucas stiffened as he sensed the presence of another magic worker nearby, a magic worker whose power cancelled out that of his own. Lucas quickly lifted James with his own strength, knowing that he had little time to perform his task. He needed to get the young man out of the window and leave the castle himself before this other person found them.

            Lucas grunted as he tried to lift James up with brute force, failing miserably every time he tried.

            Eventually Lucas managed to get James' head to rest on the ledge of the window. Knowing he was just a few seconds away from his victory, the adrenaline inside of him was prepared to do the rest of the work.

            Yet just as he was about to push the snag in his plan out of the window, his entire body was immobilized and the infirmary door opened with a bang.

            "Just what do you think you're doing?"

——-

A/N: Hey guys! I was going to be lazy today and not update but then my friend convinced me to write this chapter so you have him to thank for it.

I have so many things that I need to say and I'm going to try to make it as short as possible so that I don't bore you all to tears.

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT!

I have a writing contest that I'm hosting, called "The Writing Games"! If you want to participate as either a contestant or a judge, PLEASE follow this link to find out everything about it! I need more people to sign up, and it would be AH-MAZING if you guys looked into that! Here's the link to see the post in the Cafe, and if it doesn't work, the link is also on my message board: http://www.wattpad.com/forums/vanilla/discussion/1009586/the-writing-games:-open-for-contestants-and-judges

2: I uploaded a new book called "Mask" that I'm super excited about and you guys should definitely check it out! It's gonna be slow updates at first but once summer comes the updates are set to become more regular. http://www.wattpad.com/story/39429972-mask-the-baron-chronicles-book-one

3: Remember to cast your favorite characters for Spiral! It helps me know how you picture them and is also fun to see. PS: to the troll who cast Morgan Freeman as Lisabeth, I saw and was not laughing. http://www.iflist.com/stories/spiral#

4: CHECK IT OUT. I just finished all the chapter outlines for Shattered (it's set to be between 30-35 chapters if everything goes well) and I just wanted to share with you guys the very last line of the book. I thought it would be fitting, and I hope you guys agree! But I'm not going to tell you who says it; that'll be a surprise! The picture is attached to the chapter.

As always, remember to vote, comment, and check back next Sunday for Chapter Twenty!

-Katherine