Leila had entered the sinister castle after the door rose by itself. Taking a step in, she was welcomed by a long and empty hallway. It looked like any dark tunnels you could find on earth.
Leila flinched at the sudden noise. An echoed laughter could be heard all around the tunnel. The high-pitched sound moved from side to side getting closer each time.
“Is someone here?” Leila asked bringing her arms to her chest.
“Haha haha…” it continued sending shivers down her spine.
“It’s not funny,” she said replying to the laughter.
“I think it’s funny,” said the unknown voice. But now, it sounded even closer, in fact, it seemed to come from right behind her. Leila turned around to see a young girl. She might have been only a couple of years younger than her. Her silky pink hair that reached her hip struck Leila. She wore a bright red velvet-coloured dress with black leggings. Although the look on her face made her look like a delinquent, she was well dressed and everything was covered.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” said a male voice from behind her. His words made her turn again with a face as equally shocked as if she’d seen a ghost. It was a young boy with similarly sharp features as the girl. He had blond hair that slightly passed his ears. He wore a long and majestic cobalt blue coat. Many colourful crystals were attached to the collar.
“Who are you?” she asked with her guards up.
“We would like to ask you the same,” replied the girl as she removed the hood off of Leila. Her black hair flowed out in the open and her face was uncovered. The mysterious people now stood in front of her with perplexed looks.
“Well, I asked you a question, didn’t I?” the girl continued.
“I’m Leila, the prince asked for me,” she said breathing slowly trying not to let her human aura escape.
“I never asked you to come?” the boy responded.
Leila looked at him perplexed, “It wasn’t you, it was someone taller with long black hair and red pupils.”
Their eyes widened at her words.
“How do you know the eye colour of our brother?” She exclaimed in anger.
“Brother?” Leila was knocked for a loop when she heard them. “I- I saw his eyes that’s why.”
“I wonder what she is?” the boy had spoken up.
“I’m a witch,” she said a bit too quickly possibly arising suspicion.
“A witch? That still doesn’t explain many things.” The girl replied.
“Could you take me to the prince, your brother?”
“No, find your own way,” they both said before walking away with speedy steps.
Leila had once again found herself alone in the hollow and dark hallway. She decided to keep walking ahead as there was only one road to follow. She walked more and more in agony. It seemed that the people she met earlier were the siblings of the prince, which would mean they were also royals, a princess and a prince. The fact that even they had no clue of her existence or purpose worried her. She knew it was a secret but she wondered why the need for such secrecy. They had chosen a human to make a witch out of because of the shortage. But why a human? And why particularly her and not someone who already practices witchcraft on earth? She wondered what was so special about her. Perhaps they chose at random. Her name might have been written on the ball picked during the Hellish lottery. But if it was the case it would be more public, meaning that it would be known in Hell. For now, aside from Kieran and the prince of Hell, no one really knew about this mission. Luke and Lucie now know of it, but they hadn’t been informed of it beforehand.
“There you are,” said a familiar voice breaking her thoughts. The Zombie-butler had reappeared in front of Leila who let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank god you’re here,” she told him.
“Who?” he said tilting his head.
Leila with an awkward smile changed the subject, “Where do I go now?” she asked.
“Follow me,” he said walking ahead at a slow pace,
“Will it be long till I can see the prince?”
“No.”
They weren’t in the tunnel-like hallway anymore but everything still looked sombre and empty. No furniture on the ground or portraits hung on the walls, simply large empty spaces. They had gone up a long staircase, which was built of black volcanic rocks. It looked and felt sturdy, much more than the ones at Kieran’s apartment building. On top of those stairs were multiple doors. You could easily get lost and enter the wrong room.
The zombie butler had stopped in front of a precise door. No matter how much she looked, Leila could not find a difference with the door next to it.
He knocked on the door three times before pausing and knocking one more time as if it was a code.
“Prince, I have brought to you, Miss. Leila.”
“Come in,” The prince had responded from the inside. Once again, the door had opened by itself. Leila was puzzled at the sight. She wondered if it was magic or a sort of mechanism. Leila had entered the room while the zombie butler stayed behind. The door had closed itself making her jump. In front of her stood the prince, she only saw his back as he faced the window. He wore his long black and red cloak as always.
“Hello,” she hesitantly started, “I’ve come for the evaluation.”
A significant silence had invaded the room. Leila did not dare walk around or approach him. Instead, to cope with the quiet air, she looked around. The room was spacious but contained little to no furniture. Situated on the left wall was a window so large that it illuminated three-thirds of the room with orange light coming from the lava outside. Squarish laurel green tiles were neatly placed on the floor. There were no specs of dust or stains on them.
The prince had turned around to face Leila. Hearing the movement of his cloak, Leila placed her eyes on his. He widened his eyes in surprise.
“You are still looking at my eyes?” were the first words he told her that day.
“I’m sorry, should I look down? Is it too hard to restrain your power if I’m looking?” she asked him fidgeting.
“Strangely enough, I am not restraining my power.” It seemed that his deadly eyes had no effect on her.
“It might be because I am human? Maybe your eyes only work on night creatures?” she remarked.
“I have already used my eyes on humans before, they have all died.” Leila could not say anything after his shocking revelation. It was predictable that the prince of Hell killed many people, he even did it in front of Leila. But it always scared her to hear of killings. “I’d prefer you keep your eyes on me,” he said.
“Alright then,” she said with a gulp. “Uh, before we start, I have a question.”
“I will only answer one.”
“What is your name?” He coughed or almost choked. “I’d hate to only call you prince, it would cause confusion as there is another prince in this castle.”
“Frey,” he sighed, “but I couldn’t care less what you call me.”
“Prince Frey it is,” He looked away as he heard his name come out of her lips. It was not often that he heard his name being called by someone other than his parents.
He coughed, “I called you here for an evaluation.”
“Yes!” she had said enthusiastically. Leila had calmed down and found comfort in the room. The presence of prince Frey might also have been a factor in her enthusiasm.
“There is no evaluation.”
Her face dropped, “Then why am I here.”
“You are here to stay.”
“Stay?”
“Yes stay here in the castle.”
“But what about Kieran and my training?”
“Did you already get attached to a stranger?” he asked with a cold expression.
“Maybe I did. but he’s waiting for me and he helped me so much.”
“I’ll send an envoy to inform him of the situation and I suppose you’ll be able to see him again in the future on certain occasions.”
“What was the point of bringing me to Kieran and having him train me if I was eventually going to do the same thing here?”
“It was for the eyes.”
“The eyes?” What was that supposed to mean? Was he talking of the night creatures?
“There are many eyes everywhere, watching your every step.”
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