Amy stopped in her tracks, her mouth hanging open. Ocliv didn't seem to notice at first, and continued walking forward as casually as if he were out for a stroll in the park. After a few feet, however, he realized that there wasn't another set of footsteps behind him. Turning around, he looked at Amy with a puzzled expression."What's the matter with you?" he asked. "Haven't you ever seen a castle before?   

"No," Amy breathed.

 Ocliv scratched his left ear. "Oh, yes. That's right. Kidnapping, brainwashing—of course you wouldn't remember this place." He chuckled. "This is only the entrance hall. If you're so amazed, wait until you see the rest of the palace." 

Amy wasn't listening. All of her attention was absorbed in her current surroundings. The room they had entered was so tall that it hurt when she tried to crane her neck back to see it all. It was magnificently huge; the walls stretched out in all directions around her for hundreds of feet, and the hallway that led out straight in front of her went even further, going so far that she couldn't even see the end. 

But that wasn't what she was gawking at.

The walls and ceiling and floor of the room were glowing with a striking blue color, shining as if they were carved directly out of a colossal gem. Tall pillars of a slightly cloudier color rose on either side of her, rising to meet the ceiling hundreds of feet above. Everything was gilded with gold and another jewel that was the color of violets. Looking around even more, Amy saw that the room's light was coming from sun-bright candles floating in the air. Scattered around them and reflecting their light across the walls were more gems the size of almonds. They danced about in space, looking like a chandelier that had nothing to hold it to the ceiling. 

"The ceiling color changes to match the color of the sky outside," Ocliv said from beside her, looking up as well. Amy hadn't noticed him come back. "When its nighttime, those gems glitter like stars."

"They're floating," Amy whispered in awe.

"Don't be so impressed. You'll learn how to do that to all sorts of objects within your first week of magic training. And, speaking of which, I believe that we should be going..."

Amy ignored him. Another thing had caught her eye. "Ocliv?" she said, walking forward a few steps, pointing at something as she went. "Did that pillar just...move?"

Out of the corner of her vision, she thought that she had seen one of the pillars that flanked the right wall sink into the floor, and that it had been replaced by a golden stand holding a vase of blue flowers.

Ocliv looked only mildly interested as he glanced over to where she was pointing. When he saw the flowers he raised his eyebrows. "Hmm. Yes, I think it did. Nice flowers." 

"Well?" Amy said, her voice rising. "What happened to it?"

Ocliv rubbed the bridge of his noise and sighed. "They told me that you'd get all your memories back if I brought you here..." he mumbled. He pulled his fingers away from his face and clasped his hands behind his back. "Well, princess," he said, addressing her, "This castle of yours is a magical one. You know, since you and your family and pretty much everyone and everything in this land are magical."

"And?"

 "Well, this particular magical building is in its teens, and it's never really happy about its appearance. Things change here and there-wherever you look, really. I remember one day, I was taking a nap, and suddenly the castle decided that it wanted to put the bedchambers where the dungeons were. I was stuck there for a week before..."

"Excuse me," Amy cut in. "I really don't want to interrupt, but did you say that the castle's in its teens? You're talking about it as if it's alive."

"Well, why wouldn't I?" Ocliv asked.

The surprise in Ocliv's voice silenced Amy for a bit. Clearly, there's a lot about this place that I'm going to have to get used to, she thought to herself. There was even more to learn than she thought. Out of nowhere, a blur of color shot out like a rocket and hurtled toward them. Amy let out a shout of surprise as the blur whizzed by her and nearly knocked her to the floor.

"What was that?" she exclaimed, her eyes wide.

A few feet away, a squealing girl crashed to the ground, holding a glowing stick. She jumped to her feet immediately, brushing off her yellow-and-red patchwork skirt and checking her elbows for scrapes. When she was satisfied, she looked to Amy with woeful eyes. "I am so sorry, your majesty."

"Excuse me?" was all Amy could say, as she was still not sure about what had just happened.

The girl looked really embarrassed. "It was stupid. I almost flew right into you!"

"Flew?"

The girl turned to Ocliv. "I really am sorry. I've been trying to get better at flying. I really have. But I had to swerve past a fairy and I got out of control!" "That's all right, Freesia," Ocliv replied calmly. "You didn't actually hit the princess. Just make sure you're more careful next time."

Freesia nodded and turned back to Amy. Her eyes gradually lit up, and a smile spread across her freckled face. "You know, despite all the trouble, it's been a real honor getting to meet the princess," she said shyly.

Amy knew she should feel flattered, but she didn't. "I'm not the princess," she said without thinking.

The girl looked confused and disappointed. "Oh," she said quietly. Without another word, she lifted up her glowing stick and floated out of sight.Ocliv walked up to Amy and stared her straight in the eye. "What do you mean, you're not the princess?"

Amy shrugged. "I'm not. I'm just a normal girl from the academy. Just because you say I'm a princess doesn't mean I am."

Ocliv searched for words. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Then why did you tell the guards at the gate your true name?" he asked with a note of triumph.

"I was just telling them what they wanted to hear. I don't really believe it." Ocliv's mouth hung open in shock. "Tria Crystalwood, I really must..."

"I'm not Tria," Amy interrupted, growing furious. "I'm not the princess!"

"Princess?"

Ocliv and Amy both turned in surprise as a guard approached.

Ocliv elbowed Amy in the ribs. After shooting him an angry glance, Amy turned to the guard and cleared her throat. "Uhhh...that's me," she mumbled. Without another word, the guard handed her a note, bowed, and turned to retreat down the hallway.

Amy took the note and turned it over in her hands. On one side, the words, "To the Princess," were written in looping calligraphy.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. "I wonder what it is now?"  

********

I have permission from Albino Kiwi to use this (well, duh, if I didn't why would this even be here?).

Hello! This is Albino Kiwi, or browniegirl678. First of all, I'd like to say that I hope you liked my chapter! I also hope I didn't mess up any details...Anyway, I'd like to thank helloilovecats for inviting me to contribute something to this writing game. It was fun to write my chapter, and I can't wait to see what other people do! If anybody wants to read any more of my works, they can look me up. I've written a few poems and a tall tale, and I'm currently working on a mystery short story (it's turning out to not really be as short as I thought, though). I also co-own an account with the Chalkmaster, so make sure to check out his work, too! Thank you and goodbye, awesome people! -Albino Kiwi

Hi all, its me! By me, I obviously mean the one and only, me (hehe). I hope you all are enjoying all this great work. I mean, they're just getting more and more descriptive! And also, it would be nice if you guys were to check out @PrincessWinter12's writing game, Reflection. I wrote Chapter 2! It is an interesting theme. Its about this girl and her brother who one day find that there reflections in mirrors are gone. Then her brother falls through, and the girl follows. Go on there to see the whole thing!!! And sorry PrincessWinter12 I didn't write this till now, I kinda forgot!