Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
None of the rooms on this floor had a way out for me. There was nothing that would help me to escape this prison that I was in. I continued to search every room that I came to. I was not going to give up and I would search everywhere to find the way out.
Down the tower I went. Into every room, every space that was big enough for me to fit, I went there. I searched and searched as much as I could. But there was nothing. Nowhere in the entire tower had a way out of here.
That’s fine. I wasn’t going to give up. Not now, not ever.
I went to the other two towers. The ones meant for my nobles. I didn’t like the idea of searching these places, but I had no choice. I needed to find my way out of here. I searched every floor in both towers. Every residence on those floors were searched when the doors opened with the slightest touch. I saw how each place was decorated to the style of those that inhabited the places. Trevor’s place was much more masculine and wild looking, but there was some softness thrown in there from when Aunt Glory had visited. There was even an adorable little nursery for Torben. But there was no door.
None of the noble residences had a door to get me out of here. There was no door, nor a special portal, nothing. They were just regular places for people to live, except that they were in black and white.
I searched the offices after that. That was the next place that I thought I might be able to find a way out of here. I had heard the voice in my office. And I also spent a lot of time in my office, so it only made sense for me to find an exit in my office.
Well, I was wrong. I didn’t find an exit in there either. I did, however, find a pitiful sight there. I found all the work that I had been intending to give to everyone else. All the files and paperwork that I was supposed to pass along to the team that I hired. It was all in my office with my writing all over them. Meanwhile, the offices of the people that I had hired to help me were nearly empty. They didn’t have much to do. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to trust people because of that stupid voice. That voice that I knew was just trying to trick me. It had tricked me too. It tricked me into not trusting my own people.
There was one other thing that I found in those offices as well. I found that a lot of my team had written messages back and forth to each other. In them were written things about me.
-She’s doing too much by herself. She needs to rest.
-I’m worried about the Queen. Is she going to be OK?
-Does she not trust us? Did we disappoint her?
-I think she is getting sick. Have you seen how tired she looks lately? I hope nothing is wrong with her.
I really had disappointed my people. I had turned their hard work and dedication to me into something for them to despair over. I really was a horrible queen.
“I will do better. I promise you all. I will get better. I will be back. And I will share the work with you. I won’t listen to that voice. Not now, not ever again.”
‘You might not want to make that declaration. You need me to show you the way. You need me more than I need you, Riviana.’
The voice came back almost the second that those words were out of my mouth. And I could tell that the voice was not happy with my declaration. Whoever the woman on the other end of this connection was, she was not happy with me right now.
‘If you want to see the complete and utter destruction of everything that you love and cherish, then by all means, ignore me. I will relish in your suffering when you lose it all.’ Yeah, that was definitely not the voice of someone trying to help me.
“I don’t need you.” I growled the words into the silence around me. “I told you I would find my own path. I don’t need you leading me astray.” The voice didn’t respond, and that made me feel quite relieved. I didn’t want to hear what it had to say anymore.
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Riviana
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I forced myself to ignore everything that the voice had ever said to me while I walked away from the office. I pushed all thoughts of that voice away as I continued on my path. I was nowhere near done searching this castle for my exit. And if I didn’t find my exit inside, then I would leave here and search the grounds, then the city, the state, the entire country. I wouldn’t rest until I got home to my family. I wouldn’t rest until I could let them all know that I was never going to leave them.
I didn’t let my constant failure discourage me. Each room that I searched that didn’t have the way back home was just one more step closer to finding that door. I was not going to look at it as another missed opportunity but rather another stone on the path to my success.
I moved on throughout the entire castle. I searched the throne room, the various ballrooms, the dining rooms, kitchens, sitting rooms, meeting rooms, storage rooms, everywhere. And still I found nothing at all. I moved onto the daycare tower and found nothing in there either.
“I will find something, sooner or later. I just know that I will.” I spoke with conviction, determination, and just a little bit of frustration. “I won’t give up.”
I started to search the two underground garages and the very large wine cellar that was under the castle. I was getting hopeful now, since I was running out of places to check in the castle. I was getting to the point that I just knew I had to find something.
The garages were empty, aside from the black and white cars that did me no good right now. And I mean that literally. I wasn’t able to take the keeps from the hooks and I wasn’t able to open the doors to get inside of them. So, I couldn’t use the cars to travel the outside world easier. Not even Joaquin’s dune buggy could be used, and that didn’t need a door opened to get inside of it. Still, I wasn’t able to climb into the driver’s seat.
The wine cellar offered me even less options, if that was possible. The room was naturally dark, but there were no subterranean windows that gave light to this room. It was pure dark and, therefore, impossible for me to see in. That was pissing me off too. I was supposed to have some night vision but that didn’t seem to be working here at all either.
“There is absolutely nowhere inside this castle that will get me home.” I sighed, just a little bit of dejection entering my voice before I pulled myself together. “Alright, that just means that I need to search outside.”
I marched out of the wine cellar and back toward the main floor of the castle. It was taking me a lot less time than it used to, either the atmosphere here was thinning or my body was just used to it more. Either that, or I just wasn’t letting it have power over me anymore. Either way, I was happy to be moving mostly freely.
When I went outside, I saw that it was bright and sunny out, just like it had been the day that I had ended up here. I even found myself needing to shield my eyes from the sun, even though it was in black and white like everything else, it was still bright and blinding. I think that was actually making me feel a little bit better. Now, if only the air tasted sweet and helped to calm me down some more. That would make everything seem almost perfect at the moment. That and some color to my surroundings.
I was just about to start walking down the driveway when something caught my eye. I saw someone, or something, starting to move around on the side of the castle. In truth, I don’t even know how I saw such a slight movement, but it did. And now that I saw it, I wasn’t about to let it get away from me.
I took off running then. I just spun to my right and ran as hard and as fast as I could toward the side of the castle that was closest to me. I saw, just for a moment, another flash of movement that seemed to be moving away from me.
I saw that movement and I was quick enough to pick up on where it was going. It seemed to me that it was heading to the mountain. Was it trying to climb up the slope to get away from me? Did this person, or this thing, whatever it was, think that I wouldn’t chase it up the mountain all the way to the top? It was dead wrong if that was what it thought about me.
“There.” I said as I changed direction to keep following the thing in front of me. “Over there, under the branches of the trees.” The thing that was running was moving fast and was shorter than me but quite a bit. If I had to guess, I would say it was as tall as a child just a little older than Talia. “A child?” I wondered aloud as I thought about the thing that I was chasing. “Am I following them again? Is that what this is?”
I nearly stopped right then and there, not certain if I should actually follow those imps right now. Then again, those imps had saved me from the voice. They had stopped me from following it toward the place that it was trying to take me. They may have gotten me stuck here, but they had actually helped me, in their odd little way.
“I wonder what they want from me now?” I couldn’t help but be curious as I thought about that.
The moment that I started to contemplate it more, the path that we were on opened up into a bigger one. That was when I saw that I was indeed following the imps. All three of them were here again. They were standing in front of another door.
