CHAPTER 1

Torson is woken up by a kiss from his mother, Anneson. She tells Torson that she is about to leave to do her work in Aranthia.

"Can I come too? It's boring here," asks Torson.

"No, Torson, you can't." So replies Moya, his father.

"But I am so bored here. Please! I want to see the royal family and tell my friends I've met them."

"No, Torson, that's final!" Moya raises his voice.

"Why!?" Torson replies as he starts crying.

"It's not safe out there, trust me," Moya replies.

"We'll see you soon, Torson. We love you," Says Anneson

"Trust us. Whatever we're doing here, it's to protect you." says his father.

"Okay, Dad. I understand…" Torson replies.

They hear someone knocking on their door. Moya and Anneson begin to panic. Torson starts to wonder what's giving them such a panic.

"Relax, it's just the door. I'll go get it," says Torson, trying to calm them down.

"No, Torson. Stay away from that door!" Shouts Anneson.

"But…"

"Go to your room," says Moya.

"Another thing that I noticed. My parents never let me answer the door. Especially if it's someone we were not expecting; I've noted how panicky they get when someone randomly knocks on our door."

Torson walks to his room, showing concern over his parents' exaggeration of the situation. He hears his parents talking about something before they open the door. Unfortunately, he can't interpret what they say because they are whispering. Then, he hears the door open. After a few seconds of silence, he hears footsteps approaching. They get louder and louder. Torson becomes a bit panicky himself. The door slowly opens. He starts to panic even more because he knows his parents don't open the door like that. Before he could do anything, someone walked in. It was his friend, Erin. Anneson and Moya enter after Erin.

"Were you expecting him?" Moya asks with a sarcastic facial expression.

"Yeap. Why?" Torson responds with a wide smile.

Moya says nothing, and he leaves with Anneson. Torson follows them to lock the door after they leave. Then, he heads over to his room where Erin is.

"Soooo, what's up?" Erin asks.

"We're going to Sikha's castle," Torson replies arrogantly.

"Dude, I thought we went over this. Your parents don't know Sikha."

"They do; I'm serious; I'll show you."

"And how are you supposed to do that?"

"For the past few days, I have been following my parents without them noticing. And I've finally gotten an idea of where they're headed."

Erin stares at him in disbelief. "Do you know what danger we could be in if found there?"

"Relax. They won't find us, even if they do, S; Sikhaows my parents probably so that he won't be so worried us sneaking around in Aranthia." Torson replies as his certainty returns to him."

Torson takes Erin to the living room while he goes to bathe. Twenty minutes pass, and Torson enters the living room with a map.

"Look. I've been making a direction thingy to guide us to the castle. I made this when I was still spying on my parents on where they were going," Torson tells Erin.

"Why must you go through so much trouble for this?" Erin asks.

"Because I want you to believe me."

"Okay, fine, I believe you."

"Well, I don't believe that you believe me." Claims Torson.

"This is unbelievable!"

"Exactly."

Erin and Torson begin their journey to Aranthia. On the way, they eventually get lost and end up deep in the middle of a forest.

"Admit it. We are lost," says Erin.

"What makes you say that?" replies Torson.

"There's a road where we're supposed to be, and there's no road here."

"Relax, dude. We'll get there eventually."

They arrive at a tall brick wall. Erin realizes that there's a hole at the bottom of the wall, so they crawl under it, and next thing, they are in the royal park. The park is vast. Kids are playing. Erin realizes that these are children related to the royal family. Then, the queen appears near the opposite end of the park. Torson insists on going to meet her, but Erin stops him.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Asks Erin

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to see the queen." Replies Torson showing his irritation.

"Dude. We're not even supposed to be here!"

"Come on, she probably knows me."

"You know what? You stay here. I'm leaving." Erin crawls back through the wall and goes home.

"Dude, come on!" says Torson.

He waited for Erin to change his mind and return, but that would not happen soon. So, he turns around and checks the place out. The other kids begin to leave, but one girl stays behind. She was sitting on the bench with her head facing down. Torson realizes that his skin is becoming worse. He ignores it and goes to her. Torson felt a hard grab on his shoulder as soon as she saw him. His heart drops. The girl visits him. Torson turns around to see his mother looking weak and thin.

"What are you doing here!" Anneson shouts at Torson with a whispering voice.

"Mom! What happened to you!?" Torson replies.

"Shhhh! Leave! Leave now!"

She pushes him back to where he came from. When Torson is out of sight, she pretends as if nothing ever happened. Then, she realizes that the girl saw everything. She goes to her and takes her to the rest of the kids.

Torson, on his way home, thinks of a way to return to the castle without being found. He turns around and goes to the wall. He then peeks into the wall to see what he can find to blend in. He then sees a changing room nearby. He enters Aranthia again, quickly runs to the changing room, and discovers what he is looking for. He changed into more expensive (but smelly) clothes. He even changed his hairstyle to make him look different, I guess. He then goes where the other kids are going, leading him to an open hall. As he walks in, all the kids glare at Torson. When Torson thought he was caught, the kids turned around to continue doing what they were doing. He feels like someone is o to him. The breeze that passed him took his breath away. He couldn't breathe. It was Sikha that passed him. His mother followed. When she turned around, she knew automatically that her son was the kid with the poorly done haircut and smelly clothes. As she walks to him, Torson sees her. He sees her seeing him seeing her. Just as things were about to go down. Sikha tells Torson, not knowing who he is, to not be shy and play with the other kids. Sikha goes out of sight and calls Anneson to follow her, and Torson is saved. His breathing goes back to normal again. After a few seconds, he starts having a heartache and soon finds out why. That girl he saw at the park was standing behind him, staring into his soul.