Page 63 of The Abandoned Princess

“I agree,” Xander said.

“Have we lost Eulalie?” I asked suddenly. “Shouldn’t we be continuing on?”

“I don’t think we need to tail her so closely anymore,” Xander said slowly. “We’ve found her destination. The object she needs is in the royal vault. It doesn’t matter where she goes now because we know she’ll be coming back here. It’s the vault itself we need to watch from this point on.”

“That will be easier than sneaking through the palace.” I stepped around the corner to join him. “Since the guards can’t see us, we can move around freely—at least until Eulalie returns. Shall we go closer and have a look?”

The three of us strode along the corridor, and as expected, the guards gave no sign of noticing our approach.

One was positioned on each side of the door, and another two stood directly in front of them. So even invisible, we couldn’t get close enough to try lifting the large beam that secured the doors.

“It looks extremely secure to me,” I said. “Maybe we’ve been worrying for nothing. I don’t think she’s going to get in there.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Lori said darkly. “We don’t know what that woman has up her sleeve. If she really does have all the objects that used to be owned by that rebel person, she may have something of assistance in a situation like this.”

“That’s an unnerving thought,” I said.

“How come you never let us loiter near the vault, but you’re ignoring them?” asked a young and indignant voice.

All three of us turned to stare at the speaker. Instead of one child, we found ourselves facing a striking trio.

Two of them—a boy and girl—looked so alike that they had to be twins. They both had golden skin and black hair that were similar to Xander's, but their eyes were a startling shade of blue. The second boy had a similar appearance, but his brown eyes changed the whole effect. I could easily believe they were all related, however.

But even though we were all staring at them, the trio showed no interest in us. Their reproachful attention was focused on the guards by the vault doors. Two of the guards gave quiet sighs, but only one of those at the front moved in response to the boy’s words.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing now, but our orders are clear. No one—including you—is permitted to linger near the vault.”

“Especially you,” one of the guards muttered under his breath, and despite everything I couldn’t help snorting in amusement. It was so exactly the sort of interaction I could imagine having had with our own guards at home.

The three children turned to glare at me in response to the noise, but the second boy quickly turned back to the guards.

“We know those are your orders, so I’m asking why you’re letting them just stand there.” He pointed at us. “Do you even know who they are?”

“That’s enough of your games,” the front guard said in a long-suffering tone. “If you don’t leave the area immediately, we’ll be forced to call for reinforcements.”

The boy swelled with outrage and looked about to explode, but the girl spoke first.

“Can you really not see them?” She sounded merely curious rather than incensed. “You can’t see anyone standing in this corridor except us?”

“Naturally we can’t see anyone but the three of you,” the guard repeated. “This is my final warning to leave this corridor.”

I wasn’t sure how I expected the three children to react to that statement, but it wasn’t for all three of them to turn on us with shining eyes and excited expressions.

“You’re invisible!” the girl said, at the same moment as her twin said, “Are you using a godmother object? Can we have a turn?”

“We need to discuss this elsewhere,” the other boy said with a significant look at the guards.

Before the rest of us could protest, or even think of a reasonable response, each of the children had one of us by the arm and were towing us down the corridor. I couldn’t imagine how it must have looked to the guards, but when I glanced back at them, they’d gone back to their earlier rigid postures. They were clearly so used to antics from these three that they weren’t giving their strange behavior a second thought.

Xander and I exchanged looks and then shrugs as we allowed ourselves to be pulled along by the enthusiastic children. When we’d rounded a corner, the brown-eyed boy selected a door and pulled it open.

“It should be empty in here. Last time I checked it was—Yes, this will do.”

He pulled the door the rest of the way open and held it while the three of us were ushered inside.

“Aren’t you worried we might be a threat?” Xander asked. “We were lurking outside your royal vault, after all.”

The twins stiffened at his words, exchanging perturbed looks.

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