Chapter Twenty

Derek was deep in thoughts as he explored the rooms with the others. He entered a room with bookshelves on the walls. The sight there surprised him. Instead of the room being dusty, it was clean. The tables were polished and the books dusted. What is going on here? He thought. Why is this room dusted and polished? Derek looked around the room. At his right, was a glass-paned glass door. Wait.. This castle should not have windows in the first place. That meant something happened to the castle but what? The glass in the patio door was cracked and some of the dirt was falling through. Derek doubted the glass was strong enough to withdraw the dirt. He was still by the patio door when Nick joined him.

“That’s odd.” remarked Nick.

Derek looked up. “What’s that?” asked Derek.

“The glass in the patio door.” said Nick. “I don’t think it’s that strong to withstand the dirt.”

“That’s exactly my thoughts!” said Derek.

“You think the castle might have something to do with Legacy?” Nick wondered out loud.

“Yes.” replied Derek. “But what kind of connection, I don’t know.”

At the same time, Alex stared in horror as the spirits of the slain couple vanished. The castle of
tragedies, she thought, the place full of deaths. Alex backed away from the bed… and into Dara.

“Whoa!” said Dara.

“I’m sorry.” replied Alex.

“That’s OK.” said Dara. “Are you all right?”

“I’m alright.” lied Alex.

Dara looked at her carefully but didn’t say a word. They went down the hall and came upon the
only room before the stairways – the library. Derek and Nick were at the patio door. Derek had a deep look on his face.

“Dara, Alex.” said Nick.

"Did you find anything?” asked Derek.

“Two people were killed in the room down the hall.” reported Alex. “Someone whispered to me
they didn’t commit suicide. Instead, they were killed.”

“Killed? By who?” asked Derek.

“I have no idea since whoever whispered that to me never said anything more.” answered Alex.

“I wonder how the other group is doing.” said Nick.

The other group was facing the hall in the dungeon. On both sides, was cell doors. The doors of the cells were brown with rust. At the end of the long hall was a shut wooden door. Metis was just passing the first cell when she stiffened with terror. The screaming of the prisoners in the first cell was horrible. She saw the trail of blood on the north wall of the first wall and shuddered.

“Are you okay?” asked Philip.

“I’m all right.” lied Metis. The more cells they passed the more Metis experienced the terror and the pain. At the eighth cell, Metis suddenly stopped.

“Metis?” asked Justis.

Metis was too busy to had heard Justis. She was looking at the cell door with widened eyes.

In the middle of the cell was a lady surrounded in white. She was looking straight at Metis with sad eyes. Suddenly a spot of red appeared on the lady’s chest and she moaned out in pain. The lady crumbled to the knees. Another spot appeared, this time on her back. She gasped in pain but continued to look at Metis with those eyes. Metis fought to look away but couldn’t. Something was forcing her to look at the lady in white. The lady suddenly spoke. “Legacy, my sister… if you could only be here… to watch this torment, you will do anything to stop this… but instead you have vanished… killed off as the guards laughed at me…” The lady suddenly bowed and faded before her head hit the floor.

Metis was snapped out of it when Justis started to shake her. “Metis!” said Justis. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” said Metis. “But I have learned something.”

“What’s that?” asked Philip.

“There was a connection between The Legacy and The Castle of Tragedies.” answered Metis. “But there’s something... something much more than that!”