Chapter Two

I could barely look at the body. It was covered in blood. Blood was something that I hated to look at and I kinda felt weak being grossed out in front of these people. For some reason, I felt the need to prove to them that I was a strong person.
"This is Kylie Jensen's body, isn't it?" Henry asked.
"Yes." Victoria said.
"Why do you ask?" I asked.
"Because there's more than one Kylie." Henry said. "Or, there was rather."

Kylie Jensen was a non-royal. I happened to go to school with her and we were pretty good friends up until she left two years ago. Up until now, I never knew where she was.
"You're taking this pretty easily." I mused.
"I've seen a lot here." he said. "More than you need to know."
I didn't bother asking because I knew that he wouldn't want to talk about it (Besides, Henry seems like a guy who likes to keep to himself and help others before helping himself).
"What are we going to do with the body?" Victoria asked.
"Take it back to Base and give Kylie here a proper burial." Henry said. "It's really the only thing that we can do."
"Okay." Victoria said. "God, Melissa's going to be so upset. She doesn't know what happened yet. All she knows is that her sister is out hunting for us."
"That's her sister?" I asked, feeling stupid for saying that. I had a hard time keeping up with the royal families and an even harder time keeping up with the non-royal families. Sometimes I got a non-royal family mixed up with a royal family and vice versa. There were twenty royal families and most of them contained a decent amount of members.
"Yeah." Victoria said. If she thought that that comment was stupid, she didn't show it in her tone or face. "I'm not looking forward to telling Melissa."
"I wouldn't be either." I said. I then thought about what I would do if one of my siblings was laying on the ground dead right now, particularly Liss. Oh God, if Liss died...
"No!" I thought to myself. "Don't you dare think about that Abbey! Liss is back at the castle and most importantly, she's safe."
"Well, I'll go back to Base and break the news." Henry said. "Tori, I know how much you hate handling dead bodies so I'll round up some people to come down and do so."
"Thanks Henry." she said.
"I'll come back with you." I said.
"No." he said. "Stay here with Tori. Make sure that nothing happens."
"Um, okay." I said, confused about why he would choose to leave me here instead of take me back. After all, I had no fighting experience whatsoever. Though I am wearing my heels so maybe those can pack the power of a punch.

He started making his way back to Base and it was just Tori and I (and the dead body of Kylie Jensen but I tried my best to ignore that).
"You know, I'm quite surprised that the Crown Princess decided to join." Tori said. "I would think that you would be fine being showered in jewels by Victor Williamson."
I almost threw up at the sound of that name. "Oh please." I said. "The only way that I'll ever marry Victor is if every single man on the planet dies and he's the only one left."
"Damn, you really hate him." she said.
"He's a creep." I said. "On my thirteenth birthday, he gave me a necklace with his blood in it."
Tori made a face and said, "Honey, I feel bad for you. I knew the Council was bad but not this bad."
"Wait, how did you know that I was supposed to be marrying Victor?" I asked. "We may be secluded in the forest but we still keep up with the royal news." Tori said. "In fact, we know everything that's going to happen before it happens."
"Wow." I said. "That's pretty impressive. How do you manage to keep up with hat along with coming up with your plan and recruiting new members. It seems like a lot to me."
"It is a lot." she said. "But somehow we get through every single day. It's all thanks to Henry. If he wasn't leader, we would have ripped off each other's heads by now. He's quite the peacemaker though he's such a badass in battle."
"He is?" I asked.
"Oh yeah." Tori said. "He's like a god. It amazes me every time we fight."
"Wait, what do you guys fight?" I asked.
"Sometimes people from other kingdoms decide to sneak into Anima and steal our huge supply of gold." Tori said. "You know about the huge safe of gold that the Council keeps hidden from everyone, don't you?"
"Yeah. "I said. "My brother once snuck in there with one of his friends and they didn't steal any of the gold but they touched a couple of bars of it. Oh my God, Ronald was pissed. My brother almost got thrown into jail for life but his charming personality got him just a ol' slap on the wrist."
"Holy shit." Tori said. "Your brother did that?"
"Yeah. Arn's starting to grow up a little though." I said. "It was pretty hard leaving him behind but it was heartbreaking to leave my sister Liss."
"I bet." she said." You and her were really close. I'm surprised that she didn't come with you."
"Yeah." I said. "I would've asked her to come but Henry told me that there can be one royal per family."
"Huh?" Tori asked, confused. "He told you that? Cindy was allowed to bring her older brother with her."
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know." Tori said. "I brought my little sister along but she..."
"She what?" I asked gently, not wanting to make her seem like she was forced to tell me after she stated that.
"She was killed in a battle with one of the damn gangs that tried to steal the gold." Tori said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I tried to save her but she bled out before I could do anything."
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, not really knowing what else to say.
"No, it's okay." she said. "I've learn to accept the fact that she's dead. Plus, she would probably be mad if I was still upset about her."
"Probably." I said, really wishing to light up the mood.
"You know what I think?" she asked after a few moments of very awkward silence.
"What?" I said.
"I think that the Council is hiding something." she said.
"The Council is hiding tons of things." I said. "Can you enlighten me on what you think that they are hiding?"
"People." she said." Specifically royals."
"What?!" I said. "No way."
"Haven't you noticed that royals have been disappearing?" Tori asked.
"No because no one ever talks about it." I said.
"Oh." she said. "Wow."
Before I could respond, Henry returned with a girl with a red tear-stained face whom I assumed to be Melissa Jenson and another girl with blue streaks on her bangs who happened to be Cindy Atkins.
"Hey guys." I said.
"Hey." Henry said. "Looks like you guys held down the fort pretty well. We'll take it from here. Head on back to Base."
"Sure thing." I said. "Let's go Tori."
"I'll lead the way." she said. "Okay." I said, falling into step with her.

Once we were out of earshot of Henry and the others, Tori and I began talking.
"Hey, this might sound really weird and this will probably come as a shock to you." she said. "But how do you feel about us being half-sisters?"
"Honestly, it's quite shocking." I said.
"Wait, how the hell do you know?" she asked. "You're not supposed to know. Well, either am I but still."
"My little sister did some digging around." I said.
"Let me guess." she said. "It was Alyssa, wasn't it?"
"Yeah but don't ever call her that." I said. "She gets pissed when you do."
"Does she now, Abigail?" she asked.
"Don't!" I said. "Everyone knows that I hate that."
"I'm just messing with you." Tori said. "Calm down. You look like you're going to punch someone."
I looked down at my clenched fists. Why the hell am I getting like this? I Have never fought a day in my life, let alone even get the anger to even want to fight.
Someone please remind me why I'm here again.
Oh, corrupt Council. Right.
I need to stop talking to myself.
"How did you find out?" I asked.
"Well...." Tori began.
"Don't you dare back out on telling me." I said.
"I walked in on it occurring." she said.
"Oh." I said casually. Then it all came crashing down. "Oh!"
"Yeah." she said. "I never forget when-"
"Don't continue please!" I said, covering my ears. "I don't need to know!"
"Just messing with you yet again." she said. "You're really bad at this."
"Gee, thanks." I said. "That makes me feel a lot better."
We were both silent for a few moments. But Tori was the one to break the silence.
"What do you think about the whole school thing Henry came up with?" she asked.
"I think it's nice." I said.
"Is it because he came up with it all because of you?" she asked.
"No." I said. "I honestly really like it."
"Okay then." Tori said. "Well, I don't have to take it. I'm already nineteen."
"I'm going to be sixteen in six days." I said.
"Don't you dare say that you're old." Tori said.
"Fine." I said. "I won't say anything."
"Good." she said. "Hey, wanna know something that will annoy the shit out of Henry?"
"Sure." I said. "I guess that if I really want something from him, I can use it against him."
"Do you know his real name?" she asked.
"Nope." I said.
"That's because he never uses it." Tori said. "He only uses it in formal occasions."
"Interesting." I said. The same applies for me except that my parents called me (and my siblings as well) by our real names which made all of us really mad.
"His real name is Henrik." Tori said, trying to hold back a laugh.
"I've heard worse." I said.
"Same here." Tori said. "If you ever want anything from him and he doesn't crack, that will make him more than crack."
"I'll remember that." I said, feeling a smile form on my face.
A tiny 'mew' came from my jacket.
"Okay, do you have a damn cat in there?" she asked. "Or are you just really good at making cat impressions?"
"I have a cat." I said, taking Daisy out of my jacket.
"No fair!" Tori said. "Henry killed my bunny!"
"He said that if I and I alone can manage to take care of Daisy, my cat, then I'm allowed to keep her." I said.
"He told me that too." Tori said. "I don't even know why I freaked out. So, why'd you bring Daisy?"
"Arn wanted me to take her with her." I said.
"Let me get this straight." Tori said. "Arnold Peterson told you that you can have his cat?!"
"Yeah." I said. "I don't understand what the big deal is."
"Arn doesn't do that shit!" Tori said.
"Well, he gave me Daisy and that"s the end of the story." I said. "So stop acting so shocked about this whole thing. It's driving me crazy."
"Fine." Tori said. "I'll drop it."

We had everyone (except me, since I was the newbie around here) write an eulogy for Kylie and speak it at her funeral. I noticed that Henry wanted to keep things short and sweet since he limited each eulogy to be at most two minutes.
Some of us, such as Melissa, went up to Kylie's body (which was placed in a coffin that was made of wood and it looked kinda crappy)and said their farewells. I didn't do this for two reasons. One reasons was because I barely knew her when she was alive and the other reason was because I didn't like being around dead bodies.
"Oh my God." I said to myself. "I'm a fucking mess. I need to pull myself together."

Once the service was done and over with, no one really spoke for the rest of the night. Also, Henry didn't show me around the rest of the Base so I showed myself around. There was a cave for boys to sleep and another for girls to sleep in. Knowing how Henry is, he probably had a strict rule against sleeping with the opposite gender.
The only really other interesting thing to note was that there was this huge cave where everyone ate.
"Hope you're not vegetarian." said a voice behind me.
I turned around to see, you probably guess it, Henry.
"You scared the living shit out of me." I said.
"That's kinda what I was going for." he said. "But seriously though, hope you're not vegetarian because we're huge carnivores around here."
"I am." I said. I was actually lying. I liked eating meant but I didn't love nor hate it. It was one of those things that I enjoyed to eat every once in a while.
"Liar." Henry said. "You really need to work on becoming a better liar."
"There's just no fooling you, is there?" I asked.
"Nope." Henry said. "If you ever fool me, I'll be your personal servant for an entire week."
"Wow." I noted, "You're very confident that I'm never going to be able to fool you."
"That I am." he said, He paused for a few moments. "So, tell me this Princess, what kind of person are you?"
I sighed in anger. He had called me Princess yet again. How many times do I have to tell him before he understands?
"Call me Abbey." I said. "I'm not going to go over this with you again."
I saw a smile creep up on his face. This is what he wanted all along.
"Wow." He said. "I have never seen anyone get so angry over being called a princess. Most of the time the other princesses start getting bitchy if you don't call them princess."
"Well, I'm not a Royal Bitch." I said.
"You've hung out with them though." He said.
"How the hell do you know that?" I asked.
"I can't tell you." He said. "You would get pissed at me."
"So what?" I asked. "I still want to know!"
"Fine." He said. "Ever since this little group was started, I've been assigning people to go around the kingdom and look for people that could potentially be a good recruit. My spies have been watching you for years, Princess. And before you interrupt me to get all pissy about me calling you a princess yet again, hear me out on this. Everything that we do around here is for the greater good of Anima. It always has been and it always will be. There have been many incidents of you wanting to beat the shit out of someone but you always held back. Well, except for that one time."
I knew what he was referring to. I told him to continue on with what he was going to say. "You remember it all too well." He said. "You were fourteen and that Royal Bitch Lisa Williamson was pissing you off yet again. She taunted you, saying that your parents were a disgrace because they both had affairs and had illegitimate children. You didn't know that it was true then and you hated that she was spreading what you thought to be false rumors at the time. That's when you did it. You nailed her right in the face, breaking her nose and making her cry. It was then that I knew that if you were trained properly to fight, then you could become something amazing."
"What does me punching a Royal Bitch have to do with you being impressed with my fighting?" I asked.
"You didn't let me get to the part where I was going to comment on the punch." He said. "Anyway, you had a pretty good punch. It certainly needed some work but it was really good for a princess who was afraid to break a nail."
"I am not afraid to break a nail!" I snapped. "Not like those royal bitches!"
"I love it when you're mad." He said. "The fire inside you comes alive and you look like you're going to murder someone."
"Thanks." I said sarcastically. "It's nice to know that you enjoy my anger."
He laughed. His laugh was quite nice. It wasn't one of those laughs were it was annoying. In fact, it was one of those laughs where it makes you happy whenever you hear it and you want to laugh too.
"I'm so glad that you decided to come here." Henry said after he was finished laughing. "And not just for the benefit of having more people to help take down the Council once and for all."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You think that I pick people just because they're good fighters?" He asked.
"Yes?" I said confused. "Isn't that the whole point of recruitment?"
"Not entirely." He said. "There's no way on earth that I'm going to have some Royal Bitch around here."
"Oh." I said, feeling stupid for not coming up with the conclusion myself. "Right."
"The same applies for guys too." Henry said.
"No Royal Douchebags?" I asked.
"We don't call them that." Henry said.
"Then what do you call them?" I asked.
"Douchebags." He said. "Or sometimes assholes if they're not quite on the level of being considered a douchebag."
"Hm." I said. "I've never even called a guy a douchebag in my entire life. But that's a different story when it comes to Royal Bitches."
"What if you meet a girl who's a bitch but she's not royal?" He asked. "What do you call her then?"
"A bitch." I said.
"Simple." He said. "I like it."

Henry and I ended up talking up until it was time for everyone to eat.
"Winter's coming up." He said. "So if you noticed that you don't get very much food and you're not allowed to have any seconds, then that's why. We're trying to avoid another famine."
"I see." I said. "Are you about to tell me that you guys have a cave containing a gourmet kitchen?"
"No." He said. "It would be a nice addition. Sadly, it can never happen because there's no way in hell that any of that stuff is going to fit down here."
"So you eat raw meat to get by?" I asked.
"Call us savages if you want but yes, we do." He said. "It's the only way that any of us can get by."
"I understand." I said. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

During The Feed (that's what Henry told me what it was called around here), I tried something that I would have never thought I would have tried in my entire life: squirrel. Before I tried it, I glanced over at Henry (who was sitting next to me) and he was laughing his ass off at my face (that's what he said at least) and told me to just try it.
Thinking that I was going to hate it, I prepared to make a fool out of myself by spitting chewed up squirrel all over the table and took a bite. I was very surprised by how it tasted. In fact, I actually really enjoyed it. While I was eating, I gave some of my squirrel to Daisy (because who could forget about her?)
"Do you like it?" Henry asked me after I had taken a bite.
"Yeah." I said after I had swallowed my bite. "I do."
"Sweet." Henry said. "I was afraid that you wouldn't."

After The Feed, Henry said that he wanted to talk to me and told me to meet him in the Meeting Place. I did so.
"Do you still think that my whole tattoo idea is a good idea?" he asked.
"Of course." I asked. "Why?"
"Just wondering." he said. "I'm going to announce the idea to everyone tomorrow."
"Does anyone around here have tattoos?" I asked.
"Nope." he said. "But that might change tomorrow."
"Hopefully." I said. I had grown a bit attached to the idea. "I'd like to have a face tattoo."
"Really?" Henry asked in surprise. "Most people don't like that kind of thing."
"Well, I'm not a normal person." I said.
"No you're not." he agreed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"You said it, not me." he said. "I merely was just agreeing with you, that's all."

I turned to go and leave when he added something else.
"Red is your best color, by the way."
I turned back towards him.
"Thanks." I said. "I get that a lot."
"Yeah?" he said. "That's good. It's really nice on you."
"Thanks." I said again. "Why are you saying these things?"
"Why not?' he asked. "You think that I'm flirting with you or something?"
"No." I said. "Well, maybe."
"Well, I'm not."he said. "You just look like someone who needed a compliment, that's all."
"Oh." I said. "Well, I'll see you around."
"See you around." he said.

I caught up with Tori when I left the Meeting Place.
"You and Henry sure get along well." she said. "I've never seen him talk to someone so much. He usually likes to keep to himself."
"Really?" I asked. "He doesn't really seem like that type of person."
"He's always been like that." she said. "Ever since the beginning. I think it was mostly because of what happened to his family."
"Yeah. I can understand that." I said.
"But he cares a lot about all of us," she said. "Especially you."
"Me?" I said. "Why me?"
"He probably just thinks that you're special." she said.
"Are you trying to say that he has a crush on me?" I asked.
"No. Not at all." she said. "I mean, maybe he does and maybe he doesn't. You never know with him. He's so mysterious."
"Either way, we're just friends." I said. "I've haven't even known him that long."
"Obviously." she said. "Anyway, enough about boys. I want to show you something."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's the outfits that we wear." she said. "You really think that you're going to walk around here with that kind of dress?"
"What? This thing?" I asked, messing around with it. "It's my favorite dress."
"That doesn't matter." she said. "You're wearing that we're wearing. You've dedicated your life to us: you wear what we wear."
"Fair enough." I said. "Show me the outfits."
Tori led me to a place that was next to where the girls slept. Racks full of goth-looking clothing filled the entire room. The only thing illuminating the room was a string of light bulbs, which seemed to be a common theme around here.
"As you can see, we like to keep things simple." Tori said.
"Does simple mean goth clothing?" I asked.
"They're not goth clothing." she said. "Not everything black has to associated with being goth. For instance, are you going to call a person wearing a simple little black dress goth?"
"No." I said.
"Exactly." Tori said. "Now, pick out which one you want to wear. After that, there's a changing room at the end of the hall. And when you're done changing, come out and show me. I want to see how it looks on you."
"Okay." I said.

It took a lot of going up and down each rack until I found the outfit for me. I had decided to go for the goth look just for the hell of it. The outfit was, of course, black, and had a belt which would hold tons of weapons on it. Honestly, it was pretty badass.
"Is that the one?" Tori asked when I took it down from the rack.
"Yes." I said.
"Well, get to changing." she said.
"Wait." I said. "What do I do with the dress that I'm wearing now?"
"Just hold on to it." she said. "You can put it in your sleeping quarters. By the way, leave the Crown Princess tiara on."
"Why?" I asked.
"Just because." she said. "Now, go on. I don't have all day, you know."
"I'm going!" I said, making my way to the changing room.

"Holy shit." Tori said after I had changed and went out to show her. Of course, I held Daisy in my arms because she's amazing. "You look like a total badass."
"Really?" I asked, looking down at my outfit. Sure, I had said before that it looked pretty badass, but that didn't mean that I thought that I would look badass in it.
"Totally." she said. "Wait until Cindy sees you in this."
"Why do we have to show Cindy?' I asked.
"Just because she's my best friend." Tori said. "But I suppose that I should show you where you'll be sleeping first."
"Okay." I said, following her over to the next cave.

She led me over to the very corner of the cave where a crimson red sleeping bag and a butterfly pillow were waiting for me.
"Oh and I added a little extra something for you." Tori said. "Check under the pillow."
I put the dress on top of the sleeping bag, put Daisy on my shoulder, and checked under the pillow. I saw that there was a penguin sleep mask with a cute little bright red bow on it was under it.
"How did you know that I slept with a sleep mask?!" I asked.
"I was one of the spies that Henry assigned to keep watch on you." Tori said. "You could say that he knows a lot about you."
"Then why did he ask me what kind of person I was earlier?" I asked.
"That is something that you'll have to ask him." she said. "Like I said before, he's very mysterious."
"Yes he is." I agreed.
We were met with an awkward silence hanging in the air. This seemed to be a common thing for me around here. I really needed to learn ways in which to break tension.
"So," I said, trying my best to break the tension. "How are things going?"
"Trying to break the tension, I see." Tori said. "You should really get better at that. Anyway, I need to tell you something. But I need to tell you this something somewhere where other ears won't hear."
"Why can't you just tell me right here?" I asked.
"Because I'm not tell anyone yet." Tori said. "As soon as this leaks out, everyone will blab about it to each other and sooner or later, Henry will know and he'll know that it was me who spread this around."
"I see." I said. "But where do you want to go?"
"I know a place just outside of Base that will be good." she said. "And, on the plus side, everyone is here for the rest of the night so, as long as we managed to go out unseen, we'll be golden."
"Lead the way then." I said.

With our ninja-like grace, Tori and I managed to get out of Base.
"Sweet!" Tori said. "We're out."
"So, what is this place that you were talking about?" I asked.
She pointed to a tree that looked like it was dead. It was bare and it stood out against all the green pine trees.
"Why does that tree look so creepy?" I asked.
"I would tell you the story behind that tree but we don't have time for that." Tori said. "We have to be back by the time that everyone goes to bed."
"Well, let's go over there then." I said.

That is what we did. I don't know why, but I kept thinking that something was going to come out and murder me.
"You need to calm down." Tori said once we had reached the tree. "Nothing is going to happen."
"You're right." I said, taking a slow and deep breath in and exhaling slowly. "I don't know why I'm so jumpy."
"People get like this around here." she said. "Anyway, we haven't got time for this."
"You're right." I said. "I believe that you have some beans to spill."
"I do indeed." Tori said. "So, I have a theory."
"What is this theory of yours?" I asked.
"Well, before I explain it." she said. "Have you noticed the amount of royals that have gone missing?"
"Yes." I said. "But haven't they gone missing because they went to join our group? Wait, you asked me this before."
"Some have and some haven't." Tori said, ignoring my comment. "I have a theory about the ones that haven't gone missing to join us. And I've even got some evidence to back me up on this."
"Let's hear it." I said.
"Okay." Tori said. "One day, some of the spies and I were sent on a mission. our mission was to break into the Council's headquarters and get a good look around there. The reason being is so that we can plan our attack accordingly. Anyway, everything we saw was pretty ordinary. They had rooms for Court sessions, the signing of new laws, and other boring political stuff like that. But there was this strange room that we found. It read: 'Top secret! Do not enter without a key card!'. Obviously, there was a place for this said key card next to the sign. My buddies and I thought that we were fucked because there was no other way for us to even get in. That's when Ronald's assistant walked by. She happened to have a key card to this mysterious room in her hand. Before she could even react, we had her tazed and taken the card. We knew we had to move fast so I took the card and swiped it across the key card pad. The door opened and I slowly stepped inside, not knowing what I was going to see. Then, I saw what was in that room and I never wanted to see it again."
"What was it?" I asked, very much intrigued by this story of hers.
"It was a jailhouse. But it wasn't just any jailhouse. This particular jailhouse held royals in it." Tori said.
"What?!" I said in complete and utter shock. "Why the hell do they have royals in there?"
"I'm about to get to that part." she said. "Anyway, they looked like they were fed very little food every single day. They were stick figures and there were paler than ghosts. Honestly, I did a double take when I first saw it."
"How many do you think were in there?" I asked.
"How many royal families are there?" Tori asked.
"Twenty." I said, confused as to why she was even asking this. It was something that all royal knew. knowing that number was like knowing the alphabet. "Why? Shouldn't you know this?"
"Of course I know that." Tori said. "The thing is that there were twenty royals in there: one for each family."
"No, that's impossible." I said. "There can't be one from each family because Henry is the last of his line."
"That's what he thinks." Tori said. "That's what many people think. Well, I take that back. Those people think that the Ibeson family line is dead but that's beside the point. The point is that one of Henry's cousins is still alive."
"Which cousin is it?" I asked, remembering that Henry had tons of cousins.
"Robert Ibeson." Tori said. "He's two years older than Henry and he's not doing so well."
"So Henry isn't sacred?" I asked.
"Nope." Tori said. "But don't tell him that. Not yet, at least."
"I' won't say a word." I said. "But before you get to your theory, can I ask one more thing?"
"Sure." Tori said. "Hit me."
"Who's the member of my family that's being held captive in there?" I asked.
"Hmmm, let me think." Tori said. She was silent for a moment, "Ah yes. Now I remember. The Peterson that's being held against their will by the Council is your older sister Alexandra Peterson."