"So," Summer said as casually as she could, "is there any new development in the investigation?"

Al snorted. "Nice try."

They were still standing below the large tree after Leon left. The students around them resumed their sparring sessions under the watchful eyes of several instructors. Summer was not oblivious to the attention aimed her way. It made her uncomfortable. She was more at ease in the shadows, unnoticed, invisible, a mere smear of darkness in the background.

However, her mind was preoccupied by the course of the investigation. As long as they didn't find the culprits, she would be confined to the castle.

Summer was also curious about her supposed mother's identity. She had no doubt Leon would be probing everywhere to make sense of the dead man's words. And if anyone had the resources to find out more, it would be Leon.

Her attempts to lure Al and Ida into revealing more, however, were met with a thick wall of silence.

"Have you seen Rose?" Ida asked in an obvious effort to change the subject.

Summer sighed. She had been thinking about everything other than Rose. She was still bruised, still lost. Her friend would be having a life of her own, one so different from Summer's. One where Summer had no place.

"No," Summer replied.

"I have met Felix this morning," Al said. "He was inviting whoever he met to the wedding."

"When is it?" Summer asked. Rose had said that nothing was decided the evening before.

"No clue." Al shrugged, then looked at her for a long moment. "What are you going to do, when all this is over?"

Summer wished she knew the answer as well. "We'll see."

Maybe she would travel around, see the kingdom. She wondered briefly what it would be like to have a place she called home. Her old town was not home. It had never been. All she had there now was Boyd's grave. And graves were not good company.

"I'll see you guys around," she said, swiftly turning around.

"Do you want a ride?" Ida called after her.

Summer waved her hand without turning. "I'll walk. Thank you."

She hated feeling lost more than anything. Thinking about the investigation was the only reprieve she had from her own thoughts. She wished there was a way to find out more.

Her feet led her up the hill, through the gates, past the guards who acknowledged her presence with a brief nod, then to the lake that had come to be a place of peace and comfort in this foreign land.

Water glittered under the bright noon sun. Summer's stomach growled, hungry from all the activity crammed into one morning. She didn't want to see anyone just yet. So she delayed going for lunch as much as she could.

Perching high on a tree always made her feel safe. So she climbed a tree overlooking the lake and straddled a thick branch. Glimpses of the water broke through the tree's thick foliage.

Summer didn't know how long she sat there, her mind wandering about aimlessly without settling on any one thought.

Light footsteps intruded on her solitude. The silent kid with whom Summer had spent the early morning walked below her to the clearing beside the lake.

Summer shifted to a lower branch so she could watch. The boy performed the routine she'd taught him only hours before. He'd already memorized it perfectly. Summer smiled, the heavy rock on her heart lifting, if only for a while.

The boy moved his short limbs with measured but quick motions. He had performed the routine twice when Summer jumped to the ground.

"You're going to get a headache if you stay any longer in the sun."

The kid jumped, his bright blue eyes wide. Breathing a sigh of relief when he saw her, he moved under the shade of the tree when she ushered him closer.

They sat down for what felt like hours in companionable stillness. The kid picked a stone and scribbled something on the dirt.

Are you okay?

Summer looked at the kid's blue eyes. Open and concerned. Her heart squeezed. It felt good to have someone worry about her. To have someone see beyond the brave front and into the turmoil deep inside. That it was a seven year old kid didn't make any difference for Summer.

She was about to smile, brush away the question, answer that she was fine. But the look in his eyes made her want to speak. And speak she did.

She told him about an orphan girl growing up in an orphanage. She told him how the cruel hands of fate twisted the little girl's reputation into one of bad luck.

But it's not her fault.

The kid wrote on the dirt as Summer told him of the countless "incidents" that had birthed her rotten luck image. She shrugged.

"Some people are like that," Summer said. "They like to find a target to blame for events they can't explain. It makes dealing with things easier, I suppose."

The boy wrinkled his nose. Cute. Summer wondered if he understood what she was saying.

That's stupid, he wrote, next?

Summer grinned. Then told him about the only friend the little girl had. A kind hearted girl with dark, springy curls who didn't care about what the other kids said. The kind hearted girl was the only friend the unlucky girl had. Until she was eight years old.

Then a bear found her. The bear looked mean and dangerous, but his heart was soft and big. The little unlucky girl had thought all adults were unkind until the bear came along. And he took care of the unlucky girl whenever he visited. He taught her a great many things and he cared for her even though he didn't say much.

Then the bear was gone, and her friend was in trouble. The unlucky girl did all she could for her friend. She did some bad things that she didn't regret.

One day, the girl found a pendant in the river. Then three strangers came along. They were looking for the pendant. They thought she stole it, and didn't believe her when she told them otherwise.

The three strangers took the girl away from the place where everyone either hated her or ignored her, on a journey filled with adventures. And along the way, they came to believe that she wasn't such a bad person after all.

The three took her to a big castle the likes of which she'd never even dreamed of, and there, the unlucky girl was not so unlucky anymore. There she found a little boy with blue eyes and a brave heart that had become her secret friend.

The kid giggled, the smile brightening his face. Summer ruffled his hair.

So what's going to happen to the girl?

"Well, I don't know. But the girl was really, really curious about who had stolen the pendant in the first place. The three strangers were trying to find out, but they didn't want to tell her anything." Summer sighed. "I really want to know what's up."

The kid's smile faded away, his eyes gaining a calculative glint. It was vaguely familiar.

I'll come get you when the clock hits ten. Be ready.

Summer blinked at the words. "What do you mean?"

The kid stood up and pointed to the words again, then he ran away. Summer stared after him in confused silence. Then her eyes went back to the message on the dirt.

She had no idea what the kid meant. Nevertheless, she didn't change to her sleep clothes after Lily left her for the night. She sat in her room with no candles until a whisper of sound beyond the wall startled her.

Jumping to her feet, she faced the wall from where the noise originated. How she wished she had her dagger in hand.

More sounds. Familiar steps on rough stone. Rustling of clothes. Metal dragging on rocks. Then a long thin section of the wall opened.

Summer watched, stunned, as the kid appeared in the opening with a candlestick in hand. The orange glow of the candle illuminated a pale face and clothes streaked with dirt.

She opened her mouth, but found no words. She snapped it shut and shook her head. The kid tipped his head towards the dark tunnel behind him.

Follow him into the unknown or stay in her room, alone and bored to death. There really was no choice.

"Where are we going?" she asked, already squeezing into the dark opening behind him.

The boy struggled to pull down some sort of a lever beside the wall, and the opening to her room closed.

The candle lit up the narrow tunnel. The walls on either side were rough, uneven rock, much like the floor. Dirt and cobwebs covered every visible inch the light touched. The air was hot but not stale.

Wordlessly, the kid led the way with sure steps, turning without hesitation when the path forked, never tripping when stairs sprung up in their way. He obviously knew his way well around the dark maze.

By the time the kid indicated that they were close, Summer was almost out of her mind. She was used to open spaces and free wind and the smell of life. With no end in sight, the walls and the darkness suffocated her

The kid suddenly stopped, patted the wall on his left, pushing several rocks on the wall in a specific pattern. Then he pushed the section of the wall with his shoulder. It gave under his weight and opened like a door.

Summer breathed a sigh of relief. The room was perhaps a quarter as big as her room, but it was a welcome reprieve from the narrow tunnels.

The boy picked up a piece of chalk and a small board which had been on the floor.

Stay quiet. I will have to douse the candle.

She nodded and seconds later, they were shrouded in absolute darkness. After some movement, a thin slit of light shone through the wall. Summer had to kneel on the ground so she could look through it.

She recognized Leon's voice first, then Al's. Her vision was limited, but the voices readily reached her ears.

The slit in the wall had an interesting view that made her worry for the kid. A web of tunnels inside the royal palace was dangerous knowledge. How did kid knew about the maze? Judging by the way he navigated the darkness so easily, it wasn't his first time sneaking around.

For the first time, she was curious about the child. But her interest in the meeting taking place beyond the wall was greater. So she listened.

A meeting about the investigation was taking place.

--- ---- ---

Thoughts?

I hope you liked it. Don't forget to vote and comment!

If you notice any mistakes, please let me know! I appreciate it!

Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.