“Yes, I haven’t been here in many years. I don’t remember the last time I was here actually, and as I told you I haven’t spoken to my parents in a long time either. I don’t even know if they will be here anymore. I don’t even know if they live here still. I haven’t kept up with them,” Hunter said. “It is possible that they fled during the last war.”
Rachel grew weak at the thought of what Hunter was saying. She would be beside herself if they weren’t there. They were the key to Benji’s health and survival and if they’d moved on, than he was sure to die. She couldn’t bear the thought.
She thought for a moment, then said, “Do you think they moved? I pray not.”
“Like I said, I don’t know. I really don’t know the answer to that. I wish I did. To save us all time, but I don’t,” Hunter said.
“Well what are we going to do if they’re not there?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, how will we find them?” Penelope asked.
“Let’s just wait and see what happens when we get there. We can’t get discouraged yet,” Hunter said.
“Fine, let’s just get there and see,” Rachel repeated. “When will we be there anyway?”
She was feeling even more exhausted as the flight continued and the thought that it might all be for nothing. She hated that Hunter just told them his parents might not live there anymore. She couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t.
“We’re almost there,” Hunter said. “Look! I can see it in the distance!”
Rachel looked in the direction Hunter was pointing. It was astonishing. A large stone castle in the distance with large turrets erected high in the air. It was unlike any castle she’d ever seen before and certainly the biggest.
As they neared the castle, Rachel saw that it was off the coastline of Maine on its own large island. She didn’t even know there were islands off the coast of Maine.
The castle took up most of island’s surface and stood tall and proud. Around the island was dark ocean water that crashed up onto the walls of the castle with each wave. It looked a bit scary to Rachel as she lowered down out of the sky closer to the castle. It was uninviting, cold and dreary looking. There was also no sign of life to be seen from her vantage point. Nobody outside, no outside space actually, unless they were in the water. No green fields or woods or anything. She wondered how they fed, where did they go? Maybe they didn’t feed on the same things? Many questions started swirling around in her head.
“How do you get inside?” Rachel asked as they hovered over the large castle.
“I’m trying to figure that out. It looks like the front door has been sealed up. I don’t know what to do now,” Hunter said.
“Can we get in through another door?” Penelope asked.
“No! We can’t enter through any other door. It’s dangerous. It’s highly armed and we can’t risk being shot at,” Hunter said.
“Shot at?” Rachel asked in fear. “What do you mean?”
“Yes, shot at! My parents had this place totally rigged after the last war. Every entrance was highly armed and guarded,” Hunter said.
“Well, wouldn’t the guards recognize you?” Penelope asked.
“Yeah, you lived there, don’t they know who you are?” Rachel said.
“That’s a good point, and would totally make sense, but the thing is my parents probably put my name on this list of intruders. They don’t want to see me, trust me on this one,” Hunter said. “I’m not welcome here anymore.”
“Oh crap!” Rachel said. “What are we going to do now? We can’t just hover up here forever!”
“Wait, it just came to me. As a kid we would have our friends sneak into our castle through a small window off one of the balconies. We can try that. It’s the only window that my parents felt was too small to guard. They assumed nobody could fit through, but as it turns out most can. The window has to be unlocked though, which could be our only set back,” Hunter said.
“What are the chances it will be unlocked?” Penelope asked.
“I’d say 50/50,” Hunter said.
The three flew to the opposite side of the castle. Rachel couldn’t wait to land on her feet. To finally rest her wings and her body. She’d never taken such a long trip before in flight and was glad it was just about over. She hoped anyway. She wasn’t sure what would happen if the window were locked and they couldn’t get it. She hoped they wouldn’t fly back to Hunter’s school.
It was getting dark and the sun was setting over the castle. The sky had a pink and orange hue and the clouds were full and fluffy looking. The clouds felt moist as she soared through some on her way down to the balcony.
“Shh! We have to be quiet,” Hunter said. “Nobody make a peep.”
Rachel followed Hunter’s orders and didn’t say a word. She looked around at the stone balcony. She was surprised there was no railing, than realized that they really didn’t need one even though they were so high up. If they fell, they could just extend their wings and fly to safety. She thought it was an odd design though. She’d never seen a balcony that one could plunge to their death off of. It was odd to her, but that was probably because she was new to this whole thing. After all it hadn’t been long since her days as a human.
Hunter walked over to the small square window, which was probably the side of a bed pillow and looked in. The room on the other side was dark and there were no lights on. All Rachel could see was her reflection as she looked at the window. She noticed the paint was chipping around the window sill and wondered why they hadn’t kept up the house. She thought it looked a little run down on the outside, but it was hard to tell since stone doesn’t really weather much. It almost looked to her as if there was nobody living in the castle. She hoped it wasn’t true though. She would be devastated to find the place abandoned.
Hunter motioned Rachel and Penelope forward as he started prying open the window with a stick. Rachel watched as he fumbled with the hook on the window, jiggling it ever which way. He pulled and pushed and tugged at the window, but nothing. Then, he took out a small pocket knife and stuck it in the crack of the door, wiggled it ever so slightly and the window popped open. He turned to Penelope and Rachel and gave them both a thumbs up.
Rachel was pleased at his accomplishment, smiled and gave him a thumbs up in return.
“Come inside,” Hunter whispered. “It’s a tight squeeze, but you can fit.”