Clover

chapter 4: missing

Clover had finally fixed herself; she removed her make up with the water from the well in the garden and dusted off her dress. she had looked as if nothing had even happened in the first place.

Clover was just about to leave the garden when she felt as if someone was watching her.

Clover whipped her head around alarmed, but there was nothing there. disturbed clover held her hand to her chest continuing to look around,

everything around her started getting dark, she looked up at the sun seeing if a cloud had caused this, the sky was clear.

Clover could still see the sun but everything else had turned black, at this point Clover had started to panic, her heart was pounding, and her face turned pale, looking as if a vampire had sucked all the blood out of her.

besides the sun Clover could just faintly make out two blood red eyes.

Clover opened the garden doors behind her and ran, she ran ignoring her twisted ankle, running only on instinct.

she couldn't see but she didn't care. while she ran Clover felt the presence of someone else next to her, whispering in her ear.

"Clover..." it whispered to her "were coming for you...".

the voice was deep and husky, obviously a man's voice.

after it spoke to her, Clover's vision had finally started to clear. Clover panted as she caught her breath, exhausted and in pain.

Clover was terrified and didn't know what was happening. slowly Clover made her way through the hallways all the way to the infirmary that was on the opposite side of the castle.

Clover cried once again, but this time she didn't cry from heart break but instead of pain and fear. she had no clue on what to do.

Clover had finally dragged herself to the infirmary, pushing the doors open, she practically collapsed to the floor from peer exhaustion.

some nurses spotted her, running to her side, grabbing both of her arms as they brought her to a nearby bed. 

at this point Clover had already pasted out.

the first thing Clover had thought of as she slowly came to was 'I want water'. out of everything she could have thought of, water was the only thing on her mind.

Clover opened her eyes to see a white ceiling above her. she had sat there feeling numb until a nurse has noticed her.

"Duchess!" the nurse shirked in surprise "your awake!". Clover was just about the tell the nurse to 'shut up' as her yelling making her headache worse that was caused from all the crying she did earlier, when another voice had spoken. 

 "Clover!" that high pitch squeaky voice had obviously belonged to Amber. Clover turned her head to the side seeing a worried, snot nosed girl, her literal red hair all messy.

"What happened Clover?" Amber asked. Clover ignored her and decided to sit up, her black silver hair falling in her face as she moved.

Clover removed the hair from her face sighing deeply. "Duchess, you badly injured your foot" the nurse told her at the same moment Clover had noticed the white bandages and how badly swollen her foot was.

Clover bit her togue in annoyance knowing that the white bandages would throw off her look as it would not match the rest of her clothing for ever how long she wore the bandage.

Clover only wore manly two colors, gray and teal, as it was her favorite colors, and it was tradition in the royal family to wear similar clothing every day. for example, Queen Frankie usually wore gold and white, or Mae preferred to wear black and purple.

ignoring everyone Clover scanned the room realizing Princeton wasn't in the room. it was normal for Frankie or her mother not to be here after hearing the news of her 'accident' but it was very strange for Princeton not to come see her.

confused she asked the nurse and Amber "where is my brother?". the nurse and Amber looked at each other. "The young Duke has not been seen since this morning" the nurse said "yeah, after breakfast I haven't seen Princeton" amber squeaked.

Clover's face paled with worry. Clover always knew Princeton's location and who he was with, but not knowing where her little brother was, and that he didn't know of Clover situation and where she was frightened Clover.

"Can you send for someone to look for him?" Clover asked. the nurse bowed her head agreeing to follow Clover's orders, walking out of the room.

"What happened?" Clover turned her head to amber "Nothing happened, I just tripped is all" Clover put on a fake smile forcing Amber to believe her. "Oh okay" Amber said laying her head on Clover's bed continuing to make small talk.

it had been about an hour since the nurse had gone to look for Princeton and had not come back. at this point Clover had started to really worry.

Clover wanted to get up and go look for him herself, but Amber was currently sleeping on her shoulder as she had crawled into her bed not too long ago.

Clover slowly pushed Amber off of her as to not wake her, replacing her shoulder with a pillow.

Clover grabbed some crutches that a were placed near her by another nurse. standing up Clover made her way out of the room scanning the hallway Clover spotted a guard near the infirmary doors.

guard and maids rarely walked the halls during the day except certain rooms and halls like the big hall or bed chambers.

Clover crutched her way to the guard "excuse me, have you seen the young Duke around" Clover asked. the guard shook his head "sorry Dutchess, I haven't Duke Princeton".

Clover nodded her head, "alright, sorry for the trouble."

Clover started wandering the halls asking any guard and maid if they had seen her brother. all of them had the same answer 'No, I haven't seen the young Duke'.

at this point Clover was beginning to get tired from all the work she put in her arms with the crutches.

It was late noon by the time Clover had searched every room and asked every person she came across about her brother. 

the only place Clover had not searched was the cellar, but he couldn't be there, right?

Clover was desperate now and decided to take the chance.

when Clover was little, she used to slide down the stone railing for fun, liking the cold air that hit her face as she made her way down, liking the feeling of the dust on her fingers. and now she was once again sliding down it, thinking of her childhood memories. it wasn't possible for her to travel down the stairs with her crutches. she decided she would worry about getting back up later.

once Clover finally made her way down, she immediately saw Princeton. but something was wrong.

Princeton stood like a statue, frozen in place.

"Princeton...?". he didn't respond, as if in fear Princeton's body started to shake.

Clover rushed over to him, stuffing her crutch under her arm to grab him. "Princeton? what's wrong?" once again, he didn't respond. his eyes were wide in fear.

"S-Sissy..." Princeton stuttered his voice shaky. he pointed a finger "look...".

Clover followed his finger. seeing what he was looking at. the blood in Clover's face drained immediately in terror.

in front of her was writing 'I'm coming for you, Clover April. love your uncle Jace'.