Sorry I haven't updated in like...forever. Enjoy!

Erica's POV

Where am I?

...

Who...

No.

Help me, please.

Ben.

Ben's POV

I woke up to Zoe nudging me with a bright look. "Get up!" she said, a big smile plastered across her face.

I immediately sat up. "What? You found Erica?"
"No." Zoe's face fell. "But here's what's exciting. We're playing UNO again!"

"Again?"

She smiled. "Come on! Piper's joining us!"
I lazily trudged towards the bathroom. As I washed my face up, my thoughts flashed back to yesterday. Catherine had informed me that the king had issued an order. I brushed my teeth, showered and got dressed before walking out of my room.

"There you are!" Jamie said when I finally walked into Cynthia's room. Everyone was sitting on the floor, looking at me. "Come on."

"Any news?" I asked the group, but the question was directly aimed at Piper, who shook her head.

"My dad says they're still searching. I'm worried."

"Catherine's talking to the King and Queen, though. For now, let's enjoy some UNO!" Mike announced triumphantly, trying to cheer me up. I put up a weak smile.

"Alright, I'll begin," Cynthia announced as soon as Zoe had passed out the cards. "Let's do this."

"Seven."

"Three!"

"Draw two cards."

"Why?!"

"Serves you right, Mike."

"Yeah right, Jamie."

"Skip you, Ben."

I groaned. "No."

"Eight."

"It's red!"

"Who changed the color?"

"I did, J. To red. You don't have any reds."

"Sometimes I hate you, Cynthia."

"Five."

"Draw four."

"Why me, Zoe?"

"Because you're looking so down. Erica'll be fine."

"Fine, I'll take four."

"What color are we doing again?"

"GREEN!"

"Too bad, I'm changing it to yellow."

"Mike!"

"UNO!"

"What? Piper, you cheated!"

"Did not."

"UNO."

"Five."

"Draw two, Piper."

"Darn it!"

"And I win."

We all dropped our cards and looked to Jamie, who had absolutely no cards in his hands and a grin on his face. Cynthia sighed, gathering all ten of her cards.

"That was fun." Zoe twirled a lock of her curly brown hair in her fingers. "Let's do it again!"

I stood up. "I'm going to go and talk to Catherine," I announced. "I don't want to play."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I walked out of Cynthia's room and down the hallway. I stopped outside Catherine's room. There were light footsteps, so I assumed that she was inside, doing something.

I softly knocked on the door, and sure enough, she opened it.

"Come on in!" she said, stepping aside.

"No sign?" I asked.

Catherine sighed. "No. Apparently the guards are still looking for her."

I figured that it would be a good time to tell Catherine about my suspicions, figuring that she was suspicious of me the day before already.

"Can I tell you something?" I asked her slowly. She stared at me with a puzzled look, then slowly nodded.

"I...I doubt that we should be protecting the king," I began.

"What do you mean?" was the first thing that escaped her mouth in response.

I took a deep breath. "Do you personally know that SPYDER's existence is confirmed? By the CIA or someone?"

"No."

"Exactly. What if the king is lying to us?"

Catherine's mouth dropped open in shock. "That's not possible, Ben."

"The guards have been searching for a while. If she's close by, why haven't they found her yet? What if us protecting them is an alibi? What if they're plotting something behind our backs?"

"What makes you think so?" Catherine asked. "What makes you say Erica's close by?"
I hoped I was right when I said, "Erica's in the palace. Somewhere."

Catherine shook her head. Her eyes widened even more when she read the note that Erica slipped into my pocket.

"How...how is this possible?" she asked, handing the piece of paper back to me.

"The king and even the queen aren't trustable, and that's what I think," I said firmly and confidently. "I'm sure. There has been no sign for three days. Which means the guards have her holed up somewhere and they're pretending to search for her."

Catherine stood up and brushed lint off her shirt. "What you're saying...it makes sense, but it also sounds a little unbelievable. You're doubting them..." she trailed off.

"Erica would have agreed with me, and you're the closest person to Erica that I have." I ran a hand through my hair, trying to hold my emotions in as I spoke. "I want to find her."

"Where were you yesterday?" Catherine questioned.

I told her all about the library and how the king's office was connected to the secret area. She listened patiently, and when I finally finished, she walked towards the door. "What say we do some investigation?"

I smiled. "Why not?"
"Lead the way," she said, grabbing nothing but her phone.

I led her downstairs and into the library. "I was here, and I saw the extended hallway." I pointed to the door.

"Let's go," she said. "Is no one there at the moment?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I didn't check."

Catherine was deep in thought for a moment. "Okay..."

Just then, a thought flashed back to me. "Catherine!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly. She snapped out of her thoughts, then motioned for me to keep my voice down.

"What?" she whispered silently.

"I remembered that there was some kind of paper on the desk with something written on it..." i trailed off, trying to remember what was exactly there.

"Any numbers?" Catherine pressed.

"No." I hung my head low and sighed in defeat.

Catherine placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It's alright. Let's see what else we can find."

We crept in, and Catherine swiftly pulled out a small button camera, sliding it under the door. She then opened up her phone and connected it to the camera so we could get a good look.

"No one's there," she observed quietly. "What say we barge in?"

I felt a smile play across my lips and she silently opened the door using a cable of some sort, being careful not to leave fingerprints anywhere. She then put a finger to her lips, slyly winked at me and motioned for me to follow her.

The inside was very clean, eerie and quiet. I wandered around, admiring the bookshelves.

Catherine's very loud and obvious gasp startled me, so much that I dropped a book I was holding. I spun around to face her, and she was leaning over a desk, her mouth widened into a perfect o of surprise.

"What's wrong?" I asked, slowly edging closer to her.

She pointed to a piece of paper on the desk. I studied it carefully. It looked like an email that had been printed out.

From [email protected]

To [email protected]

Subject: Plans

Hey Daniel-

Can we meet up tomorrow to discuss what to do next with the girl?

-R. C.

Re: Plans

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Ryan-

Why not? Call me.

-J.H

I stared at the piece of paper, "Who's Daniel Horde?"

"One of Joshua's fake aliases," Catherine breathed, so silent that it was below a whisper and I had to strain my neck to hear her. "Oh no."

I helplessly stared at the piece of paper in dismay. "I was...."

"You were right," Catherine said slowly. "The king...he's...oh no. Not only is he evil, but he's working with SPYDER. This is crazy." She shook her head. "The attempt on his life...it was all a lie, wasn't it?"

I forced myself to nod, not ready to believe the truth. "So they're working together, and they have Erica."

"Erica's somewhere in the palace, but I don't know where," I admitted. "They're hiding her."

Catherine quickly turned to me. "Is it just the king, or..." she trailed off, but I knew what she was trying to say. Piper could be acting good.

"I don't know. If she's acting, she's doing an excellent job of it," I admitted. "This is so...crazy."

"We need to tell the others, and fast." Catherine started walking towards the door. I stayed on her heels, and we walked out of the library office and towards the bedrooms.

Things had gotten bad.