30. Uninvited Guests

"First get Annalyse and Emmerlyn. Second, into our room and lock the doors. Then, we have a meeting. Understand?" I instruct quickly and quietly.

"Understood." Ollie and Jax discern. We run into Annalyse and Emmerlyn's room without a knock.

"Wake up." I whisper-shout, but nothing happens, so I tap them. "Guys, wake up. It's important. My sister is here. Come with us." I say, and they don't hesitate.

"We're meeting in their room." Ollie says.

"Ok." They both say.

"Come on, let's go." We run across the hall to our guest room. We enter and lock the doors. I turn on one light.

Everyone is still awake.

"What's going on now?" Kayla asks.

"Anna is here." I announce.

"Everyone sit on the floor so that we're all together." Emmerlyn directs.

Everyone sits in a (kinda) circle.

"Listen up. Ollie and I spotted Anna in the hall. And because of the scroll, it probably means Hansel and Gretel are also here." Jax says.

"But, how did they get in??" AG asks.

"Probably because Jack got in first. The doors don't re-lock for about ten minutes after someone passes through." Jax says.

"How did Jack get inside in the first place?" Maxine asks.

"I already told Gilly and Ollie this, but I told the security guards that we had one more person coming, so they can let her in if she says she's with our party. Hayley came in through the docking area and so the guards never saw her, that's why they let Jack in, and assumed he was the 'other person'." Jax explains.

"It's all because of me?" Hayley asks.

"No Hayley, it's not at all your fault." I say.

"It's the guards' fault. They weren't supposed to let in just anybody, I told them it was Hayley. And Jack looks nothing like Hayley." Jax says.

"Ok, good." Hayley laughs. "Well, not good, but you get what I mean."

"Anna, Hansel, and Gretel must've snuck in during those five minutes when the doors are still open." Kayla says. "How'd they know that Jack was coming?"

"I'm guessing they're probably on the same sorta team." I say.

"What are we gonna do? They're probably gonna try to attack in the near future." Maxine says.

"I don't know how much time we have to come up with an actual plan." Jax says.

"How about everyone carries their gingerroot with them! And Jocelyn, do you have any potions on you?"

"I always have a splash paralysis potion on me. I also gave two to Jax." Jocelyn says. "And of course I have my magic."

"Dudes, I have a sword!" Ollie says.

"As I showed you, there is a weapon room in the castle, but our goal is not to kill them... so we probably won't be using that. We could swipe some shields though." Jax says.

"Alright, well, this was very unexpected, so... let's just go." Annalyse says. "I'm sure they won't be that hard to fight."

"I really am not up for a fight at 4:30 in the morning," Jocelyn says, "But whatever."

"Let's go." Maxine says. "Here goes nothing."

Jax grabs my arm. "I installed the attachment you gave me. Hopefully this won't be so bad that I'll have to use it."

☆𖣔︎᯽—𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹—᯽𖣔︎☆

The sun is just barely starting to come up. We walk sure-footed down the grand staircase and find nobody in the grand foyer.

"I saw them down this hall last time. Let's check." Jax whisper-shouts.

We pass a few doorways and hear whispering.

"Caught in 4K." Jocelyn says. "We need to catch them now before they get into any trouble. Let's open the door on the count of three."

"One, two, three!" Ollie pulls open the door, and we only see one person.

"Jack! How did you get un-handcuffed?" Ollie asks.

I swear we heard more people whispering than just one.

"They wanted me to let you know that a battle is starting; now." Jack says. "I'm not on your team. I'm outta here."

He runs out a door that's in the side of the room. I didn't realize that was there before. That's probably how the rest of them got out.

"After him!" Maxine shouts as we run through the door and chase after Jack who doesn't look back even once. Rookie mistake.

"Where are they and why are they trying to hide?" Kayla asks.

BOOM!

"Uh, guys... what was that?" AG asks.

We turn the corner once more and immediately start coughing. A gaping hole in the wall reveals four people holding a gadget of some sort.

"Anna." I forewarn. "Don't take this any further!"

"You're not my boss," Anna says, "He is." She points to Hansel. "And don't call me Anna. My name is Ann."

"It's not." I counter. What has gotten into her?

"Guys, seriously, stop what you're doing. We'll sort it out." Jax says.

"Never." Gretel says. "We want you gone." I notice she's—holding Jack's hand?

"Hold up—are you guys... together?" Kayla questions. "I thought you liked Jocelyn."

Jocelyn fake barfs again. "You're making me sick."

"I do," Jack admits. "But Gretel likes me, so..."

"JACK! I HATE YOU!" Gretel blares. "YOU CHEATED ON ME!"

"This is a weird situation." Maxine whispers in my ear, and I nod.

"Anyways, stop with the nonsense. AHG, and Jack I guess, we came here to do business!" Anna commands. "To the ballrooms!"

They run off. What in the name of Grimm is their plan?

Jocelyn speaks my exact thoughts. "What the heck are they doing? Such amateurs; giving away their location."

"I don't know, but we need to st-" Jax gets cut off by another huge BOOM!

"They can't be seriously blowing up the ballroom, are they?" Emmerlyn asks. "Miri!"

The mirror glows pink, then teal, then yellow. "Yes Miss Emmerlyn?"

"We have a break in. Alert the Royal Court and all of the staff to evacuate!"

"Oh dear!! Will do." The mirror fades back to normal.

"We should go. Now." AG advises.

We race back through the hallways we came through and pass lots of doorways.

"Over here," Jax leads, "In here."

We push through the doors and immediately—"DUCK!" I yell.

A purple laser slices through the doors behind us and knocks them down. There are several gadgets in the middle of the floor.

"ROYAL MANOR SECURITY 3000!" An animated voice speaks. A warning siren starts blaring in our ears. "ROYAL MANOR IS UNDER ATTACK. I REAPEAT: ROYAL MANOR IS UNDER ATTACK!"

"A little late, Royal Manor Security 3000." Jocelyn mutters.

"Get by the corner!" Annalyse yells, and we follow her.

BOOM!

Part of the ceiling crumbles on top of AHG and Jack.

"That was your fault!" Hayley yells. "Not ours!"

Jack runs at us with a laser shooter in hand. Jocelyn uses a fireball to blast him back and he falls to the ground. She holds him down with magical force. "Someone, I need your gingerroot, quick! Tie him up!"

I scan my surroundings and fumble for the gingerroot that Maxine gave me earlier. I rush over to Jack and quickly tie a stem around his wrists. "One down!" I yell, and Gretel hits my arm with a laser. Ouch!

Anna and Hansel come charging at us. Ollie whips out his sword. "Back off!" He shouts.

"Never!" They yell. Jocelyn shoots purple orbs at them.

Anna falls to the ground and holds her arm in pain. I hate seeing her like that; but at the same time, she'd trying to get rid of us.

Jocelyn concentrates and used her magic to pick up the paralyzed Jack and move him all the way to the left corner of the room; away from all the action. She creates a laser barricade for when he comes out of the spell.

Hansel charges at Maxine and Ollie hits him with his sword.

"Ouch!!" Hansel screams.

"You sound like a girl." Kayla says.

"I hate you!!" Hansel bellows.

"Gilly, over here!" Annalyse motions for me to come. "What's that black box with green glowing stuff around it?"

"I don't know," I shout, "But it doesn't look good."

The doors on the left side of the room burst open and about six more kids come running through.

More former members of the RS Squad.