Chapter 1
Rays of sunlight split through the clouds and reflected off the smoooth white snow. The rays shined in the castles left tower window, and straight into Princess Lilys bedroom. Lily was on her bed, starring out the window at the forest behind the castle. The evergreen trees had snow coating there bright green leaves. Other trees mixed in with the bunch, trees with no leaves had snow covering the branches. Some trees had tall brown trunks, others were short, white with black spots. She sat and watched as the cold, winter breeze swished the trees, and snow fell of in bunches on the ground. Icicles hung from the roof of the castle, and you could see spots where some had fallen off. Water dropped off the roof, as the sun melted the snow up top. It was late winter, and spring began to shine through. Suddenly, the door to her bedroom burst open, and Emily stood in the opening, long hair tied in a bun, smile spree on her face. “It’s here! It’s here!” She yelled as she rushed in and crawled next to her sister on the bed. “The day is finally here!” “What’s here?” Lily sat up and giggled at her little sisters enthusiasm. “I’m finally 15! It’s here! It’s finally finally here!” Emily stood up on the bed, and began jumping up and down, creating a mess on Lily’s neatly made bed. “Now tell me, what makes this any more special then every other year?” Lily grabbed Emily’s arm and gently pulled her down. “Because dad said that when I turned 15, I could go into town! I can finally leave the castle just like you!” “Haha! That’s great! You should be happy, I wasn’t let out till I was 18”. “Yeah well, your twenty, Lil, you’ll be queen in a few years!” Emily got off the bed, and walked to the door. “I’m going to tell mom!” She said, then darted out the door. Lily giggled then turned towards the window again. About two minutes passed. “I don’t care if dads gone! He said I could go to town when I was 15!” Yelled a loud, high voice from down stairs. Lily’s smile disappeared, this didn’t sound good.
5 years ago, Lily was 15, Emily was 10. Neither of them had ever been let out side, and neither had ever seen the town. They were both getting impatient about being locked up like this, so the king gave them each a promise. He told Lily she could go out at 18, and Emily at 15. They both agreed, but neither were happy about waiting. That night, when everyone was asleep. Some how, a group of people got passed the guards, and into the kings bedroom. Th king was attacked in his sleep, and the guard came before the people could get to the others, so they had to retreat. Now it was just Lily, Emily, and the queen. Lily, as promised, was let out when she turned 18. But one night, about two months ago, another attack took place. Luckily, they didn’t get to the queen, but several guards were hurt very badly.
Lily new exactly what was happening down Stairs. The queen wouldn’t let Emily out, because it was two dangerous. Lily heard the sound of Emily’s bedroom door slam. She sighed. She got out of bed, and walked down the hallway two a door that had a paper on it, the paper read, “knock before entering”. Lily could here sobbing from inside. She knocked. The sobbing stopped. “It’s me, Lily” there was a pause, “can I come in?” No answer. She opened the door. Emily was laying on her bed, her face stuffed in her pillow. “Oh Em” Lily said, as she sat next to Emily on the bed. “What happened?” Emily slowly sat up and faced Lily, pillow in hand. Her face was red and tears fell down her hot cheeks. “ mom said it’s to dangerous for me to go, she said I would have to wait until the burglars were gone” Emily took deep breaths in between words, and she pretty much mumbled the whole thing. Lily reached down and squeezed Emily’s in a tight hug. She felt bad for her little sis. She had been waiting for so long, and she was so excited. “Listen to me, this world is dangerous, I know it’s hard but your not old enough to handle yourself yet. I’m sorry, but there’s not a lot we can do about it. I wish I could help, but you just need to have paitience” Emily just sat there, head down for a few seconds, then nodded. “Ok, just know this is all to protect you” Lily got up and walked out the door. Lily, Emily, and the Queen ate dinner in total silence. That night, as Lily lay in bed, she twisted and spun and rolled around. She couldn’t fall asleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about that night, the unfateful nigh of her fathers death. Suddenly, she heard a noise from out her window. She looked out the window from her bed. She sat up and looked again. Rustle, rustle, step step step, she heard. She go tip and be walked to the window. She stuck her head out and looked towards the ground. She couldn’t see anything it was too dark. She assumed it was an animal and went back to bed. That was probably the biggest mistake she ever made. The next morning, she woke up, got dressed, the usual. She went to wake up Emily, but opened her door to a terrifying sight. Emily wasn’t in her bed, in fact her bed was bear. The pillow and blanket were gone. Lily didn’t panic yet. She opened the closet, half the clothes were gone, Emily’s backpack was gone, but no Emily. At that moment, she realized the window was wide open. Lily’s eyes widened with fear, now she was panicking.
She ran downstairs and told her mother immediately. “Organize a search party immediately! Search the castle, the quart yard, the backyard, the forest, the villages, the towns, the neighborhoods, search the entire state if you have to! Just find my daughter!” The queen yelled orders to the leader of the guards. A search party was put up, they searched the entire state, put up million dollar rewards for finding her. They spent years in search, yet no one ever caught sight, or even a hint that she was even alive! Five years past, and nothing. Lily was devistated. For all they new, Emily was attacked by the people who attacked dad. She could’ve died in the wilderness, or worse. Lily blamed it all on her self. The rustling sounds that night had to have been Emily, and if Lily investigated the sounds a bit more, she might have been able to prevent her from running away. But Princess Emily was never found.
