Queen Catharine's niece, Lady Anna, arrives at French Court with the expectation of getting married. The court seer, Nostradamus, even predicted it. Things change when she finds out her future husband is a monster and she gets sucked into the world...
I chased after the girl into the pitch black tunnels. She had the advantage of knowing the tunnels, and slipped away into the darkness in front of me.
"Hey, Wait! Come back!" I yelled as best I could muster while running. The tunnels twisted and turned until I no longer knew where I came from.
"I have other books! You can have them!" I called to her although the girls footsteps were long gone.
"Who are you?" The frustration crept into my voice. "What even are these tunnels?"
My hands reached out and touched the walls for support. The overwhelming darkness gave the impression that I was being absorbed into an abyss.
"Hello? I'm not angry, I just want to talk to you."
Nothing.
"Are you there?"
From farther down the hall came a sound of foot against stone. I ran towards it, hoping that I wasn't about to hit a wall.
"That one was a gift, please, give it ba- oof!" My own skirts betrayed me. I tripped over the hem and fell to the stone floor.
"Who's there?" a voice echoed through the passageway. It wasn't the voice of a girl like I expected. This voice was low, almost raspy, with an accent.
The light from a candle appeared around a bend a few feet from where I sat. I recognized the man holding it as Nostradamus. Worry and confusion was etched into his face as he spoke. "Lady Anna."
He hurried to my side and I waved him away. "I'm fine, it was only a little fall."
His eyes searched mine. Today, he did not look like a dullard whatsoever. He took my hand in his and flipped it over. The palm was scraped. My hand started to shake, not from the pain, but from the fact that he stood so close to me.
"It doesn't hurt." I lied, taking my hand out of his.
The concern stayed on his face as he helped me to my feet. "No one knows about these tunnels. What are you doing running around here? In the dark?"
I inhaled as I tried to think of a rational explanation. "Um... I might be going crazy."
He waited for me to continue.
"There was a girl in my room. Her hair- I couldn't see her face. She stole my book. And then she ran in here," I said, knowing full well how insane I sounded.
To my surprise, Nostradamus' expression didn't change.
"There is a ghost that roams the castle. Did this girl wear a pink dress?"
"Yes," I answered.
He exhaled and closed his eyes. "Yes, that would be her. She died many years ago falling down the stairs, it was a tragic accident."
Nostradamus sounded more like he was listing off an ingredient list rather than recounting a tragedy.
"What would a ghost want with a book?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
