The one who yields the key.

A U T H O R

"Heather!!" Helena and the palace guards came running after hearing her granddaughter's shouts. "Find her! Just find her! Heather!!" She was panicking. Helena may be harsh and indifferent to Heather but she's still her son's daughter, her granddaughter. Deep inside, she still has love and concern for her. 

They went to Heather's room with their flashlights but found it empty. All they saw was her phone on the floor. 

Victoria upstairs was woken up by the noise and decided to leave the bed. She found a big number of guards with Helena in the main hall. "Grandma? What's happening? What's with all the guards?" Sarah and Van also came after they were waken up.

"Heather's missing. I heard her shouting for help and now, we don't know where she is." Helena answered. 

Van felt terrified. He quickly left the group and searched on his own. Victoria saw him leave and ran after him. "What are you doing? Stop following me." He told her and ran faster. Victoria didn't listen and caught up with him. She forcefully grabbed his arm and made him face her. "Heather's missing and I can't just stand there and watch! You're probably happy that she's gone but I don't feel the same. Stay safe if you want but Heather needs my help."

"Do you think I'm that heartless?! Fine, I hate Heather to the moon and back. I hate her for having everything I don't! I despise her for being perfect! I want to see her losing against me... But not to the point where I want her gone! She's the only cousin I have who didn't force their parents to kick me out even when I did nothing good to her. She's the only person who didn't insult my low status and never bullied me for having no rights to the throne unlike everyone else, even grandma Helena."

"Yet you repaid her nothing but your insults and fake stories. You can't wrap me around your finger. I know how pretentious you are." He yanked his arm away and continued searching.

Victoria stood there and watched him leave. "I guess it all comes back to me in the end. I told the truth for the first time but it ended up sounding like another lie." She smiled bitterly and walked away with sorrow. 

Minutes passed and Levi and his company arrived. "Levi!" Helena called in relief. "You have to help us. Heather's gone missing! We searched everywhere but there was no sign of her."

"Heather called me but we lost contact when she suddenly screamed. There's an assassin roaming around at night, palace to palace. Heather believed this was the case for her. She called for help. If there's no wounded body, she could still be here." Levi assured.

"We'll search the whole palace again. All of you stay here while the guards and I search every room." Philip said and began the search. 

Meanwhile, Van was down to the last place in the palace and that is the basement. He was climbing down the stairs when Levi came to him. "Why are you searching alone? Didn't Heather tell you about an assassin? Heather called me and she was afraid because she heard and saw something earlier."

Van widened his eyes in surprise. "A what? She never told me about this. If I knew I would've guarded her room the whole night." Levi sighed and they continued going downstairs. As they went closer, they heard barks echoing.

"Is that Poppy?" They ran and found the basement door broken. "Holy shit." Levi exclaimed. 

"Heather!" Van called and searched inside. "Heather, are you in here?" They found Poppy barking at the old pendulum clock. "Poppy." Van walked towards her and knelt on one knee. "Have you seen Heather anywhere? We've been looking for her."

Poppy stopped barking and walked closer towards the clock. She raised her paw, touching the lower door. "What is she doing?" Levi asked. "There's nothing there." Poppy barked again and gestured her head towards the door. "Is she telling us Heather hid inside there? I don't see anything. It's just the bob inside."

Van tried opening the door. "And it's also locked. What are you trying to tell us?" Poppy stopped barking and sat, looking down. "I think she's been looking for Heather too. This is probably the last place Poppy thought Heather would be." He carried the lonely pup and placed her on his lap. "It's gonna be okay. We'll find her."

Levi stood up with his hands on his waist. "Seriously. Where the heck did she go?"

---

The moment Heather stepped inside, she faced a never-ending fall from the clouds. She had nothing to hold onto. No ropes, no vines, no walls, and only white clouds which failed to catch her. 

She screamed her lungs out with her eyes closed and kept falling and falling. She thought it was her last seconds but suddenly, she felt someone catch her. "What? Wh-what's happening?" When she opened her eyes, she saw how far she was from the ground. Not actually ground, it was aqua-colored water below. She shrieked and held on tight on the person that caught her, wrapping her legs and arms around him. She hasn't seen who it was though. "Where am I? Am I dead?! Did that person kill me already?! Why are there flowers? Is this a cloud? Wait, wait, why am I floating?" She kept looking at her surroundings but never had the thought of looking at the person holding her. She's too confused to even care. 

Heather kept looking to her left then back to the right, causing the person to lean away from her face every time. "Can you stay still for a moment?" He said, causing Heather to freeze and look at him. 

"Guy...Guy!!" She unwrapped her arms and legs from him and began falling again. She closed her eyes and screamed just like she did before. 

"Heather!" He called and flew after her. Unfortunately, Heather wasn't caught and ended up falling on the water. "You've got to be kidding me." He had no choice but to jump into the water to get her. 

Heather was flapping her hands to stay on the surface. "Help me!" He swam towards her and carried her back to the nearest ground. "No, no, not you, get your hands off me!" She kept pushing him but this time, he didn't let go. 

"Stop moving or you'll get in trouble." But Heather didn't care and stepped on his foot to run away. "Heath-! You know what? Just go! You'll end up coming back here anyway." He sat under a blue flowering tree and picked berries from a plant beside him. 

"Ow!" He heard her shout and immediately came to where she was. "What's this?! What's this? I'm stuck!!" She got herself between two thorny trees and her pajamas are all hooked onto it. "What are you doing? Get me out of here!" 

"You seemed like you can manage on your own a few seconds ago but.." He looked at her state and chuckled. "I think you can manage to get out of this one." He took two berries from his pocket and put them inside hers. "Just don't starve yourself. If you see a wild animal, just stay still because you won't last three seconds if you keep squirming." He threw a berry inside his mouth and walked away. 

"What animal? What are you talking about?! I don't live here!! I know nothing!" She tried pulling her arms but kept failing. "Just help me out! I won't... I won't run." He stopped walking and turned around. He raised a brow and crossed his arms. "I promise."

He walked towards her and broke all those thorns that were stuck to her clothes. Heather was finally free and kept calm, just like she promised. "There. All done."

Heather looked around her, then at him. "Who are you and...where am I? Is this just a dream? Am I just hallucinating because I ended up bumping my head on that clock?"

"You don't need to know anything. I only helped you because you were asking for help back there. Seems like you were chased."

"I was chased! There's this assassin who planned to kill me and slit my arm." She rolled her sleeves and showed it to him. "See?"

He immediately looked away. "Oh- Please don't. I'm not comfortable seeing blood." Heather quickly rolled down her sleeves. "Anyway, I only let you in because you were in trouble. I don't think the person chasing you is still there. You shouldn't be here in the first place."

"I see..." She looked up and furrowed her brows. "But how do I get back up there? I was falling for more than a minute."

He gave a quick smile and said, "Get on my back. I'll take you back to the entrance." He bent down and waited. Heather hesitated. She doesn't know this boy. Yes, he did save and help her but they only met. She can't just ride on someone's back. Especially a guy's.

"Could there be another way?" She asked. He turned around to face her. "I'll be honest with you...sir." She gulped and he scrunched his brows at the honorific. "I can't just ride on your back on our first meeting. That's, that's against the rules of a princess."

"Really? But you can wrap both your arms and legs around me to the point that I couldn't take a hold of you? Isn't that a bigger rule to break?" Heather cleared her throat and looked away.

"That's why I risked my life and let go. Anything without physical interactions will do, please." The guy could only sigh and nod.

"Whatever the royal majesty says.." He grabbed one of the broken branches on the ground and handed it to her. "Here you go. You can ride on this while I lift you up since you are against any physical interactions."

"I appreciate it." She sat on the thick branch and the guy lifted it up from behind. At least, he tried. "Um.. Why aren't we leaving?" He came in front of her, panting. "Are you okay?"

"Not trying to be offensive but I can't lift you up. You're too heavy." Heather widened her eyes and looked away. 

This is the first time someone insulted my weight! I'm light as a feather.

"What do you suggest we do? I have to go back before everyone panics." He stood there for a few seconds, trying to figure out something. Yet he got nothing. 

"Just hold onto me. I promise it won't take long. It's not like I'm gonna try anything. I'm a well-mannered guy." Heather side-eyed him. How am I supposed to trust someone who can fly? "I'll take you back and then you can forget about everything."

"As long as you don't try anything." He nodded and raised his right hand. "All right." He bent down again and this time, Heather got on his back. He secured her legs around him and flew back to the door as fast as he could. 

Odd thing is, it's no longer there. "Where did it go?"

"What do you mean, 'Where did it go'?" He flew higher but all there was, was a bunch of thick clouds. "Hey mister, are we lost?"

"No." He immediately denied it. "I'm sure the door was just over there. I come here every day. I can't be confused." He flew back to where he thought the door was. "The door should be right here. I'm sure of it."

"Well, where is it? I don't see anything but clouds." 

He was about to answer when a loud chime echoed, alarming him. "It's ending today?!" He asked in a panic. "No, no, no, I thought it was gonna end tomorrow." Heather behind him was confused. 

"What's going on? And what's that sound?"

He gulped before answering. Telling her this might cost his life. "Don't freak out. I honestly didn't know this was gonna happen. I wasn't informed. They must've moved the start of school today. I clearly remembered my parents saying it was tomorrow-"

"Enough with the reasons. What's happening?" Heather impatiently asked. "You sounded so scared and sorry. You're scaring me."

"Uh..." He stopped for seconds before continuing. "The portal's closed."

"Portal..?" She wasn't getting the idea. "What portal are you talking about?"

"The pendulum. It's locked. You're locked in here."

--

Update!!🤩 I couldn't update yesterday because I went to bed early😅 I hope you guys understand!💕 I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. I hope this chapter was good enough🥺 I'm excited for the future events. Look forward to it!😊 This chapter could be confusing but I will clear things in the next chapter. This was really supposed to be a cliffhanger, a confusing one😅 I will also reply to comments tomorrow! I'm quite tired because of my modules😆 Don't overwork yourselves guys! It's bad😟