Well, the first night at the castle for our team was quiet, except for an owl that kept hooting away for about 2 hours. They didn’t look around much that first day except to find a good place to sleep. They decided to all sleep in one of the big rooms so they would not be separated, which was a good decision. Nice to see that some of our team members are thinking, unlike some others that will be reprimanded soon, even though I can’t really do that.

I’m going to do it anyway though, because this is serious, it’s a security matter. Continuing our little account from yesterday, we had found, or I should say, Cynthia found a book on old castles which happens to mention the castle we are investigating, complete with drawings of the castle and naming each of the different buildings. Plus it mentions something else that is very interesting, the number of people that lived in that small castle.

I figured that must have been a typo, there was no way that many people could live in such a small castle. Anyway, Jennifer had come in, Cynthia had just left and Beryan was about to leave. “Guess I am finished, so I will leave,” she said, “I still have a little of my relaxation period to enjoy.” She began to walk out but Jennifer stopped her.

“Your bag seems rather heavy today,” said Jennifer. “Oh, um, really?” she asked, “Oh, I have some reading material in here too, you know, uh, for my relaxation period.” “I know you love to read,” said Jennifer, “what is the history book about?” “Oh, uh, well, um,” she fumbled with her words, “how did you know it was a history book.” “I have very good eyesight Beryan,” said Jennifer, “it’s a book about castles, correct?”

“Wow, now that’s a good guess,” said Beryan. “No guess,” said Jennifer, “I have good eyes. Let me see the book please?” Beryan handed her the book. “Hmm, lying to me, trying to hide things from me,” she said, “your relaxation period is cancelled and you have 5 demerit points.” “Five?? Steve??” she asked plaintively. “Steve can’t help you,” she said, “in fact, he might be in trouble too. Cynthia, please come back in here.”

Cynthia came into the room sheepishly. “You also get 5 demerits, plus your older brother day is cancelled,” said Jennifer. “Cancelled? Completely? Steeeve?” she said. Jennifer sighed. Just then Kat came in, Jennifer had secretly called her. So I told them both what I had done. “Being on recovery I have had time to notice some things,” I said, “such as our security has gotten rather lax. We have had traitors in our midst before and we need to be continually on guard for anything odd happening around us. How many people in the library when you took this book out, Cynthia?” I asked.

“12, plus Kat and Mr. B,” she answered, “I used Midnight to hide the book so no one would notice.” “Now, what if someone had done that with a bomb,” I said, “only they put the bomb in the library, left it and went somewhere else, then set off the bomb, killing everyone in there? No one would have noticed. Also, when on a historical case like this, first thing is to check our library to see if there is something that might help us.” “That would take a lot of searching,” said Kat, “so guess I just never thought about it.”

“How long did it take you Cynthia?” I asked. “About 3 minutes,” she said, “all the books are listed on our computer and even tells exactly where it is on the shelf.” “I’m actually surprised that Annelie didn’t think of it, she usually takes care of that anyway,” I said. I notice that Cynthia frowned when I said that. “Okay, out with it,” I said.

“Um, well, I’m not sure,” she said, “but it seems like Annelie is thinking about other things lately. I think she is fighting a lot of pain.” “I will check on that,” said Kat, “she should be saying something anyway.” After all of this Kat, Jennifer and I looked at the book to see if anything might be of help to our team. Well, Jennifer let Cynthia and Beryan stay as well. “Oh, demerits are cancelled for you two,” said Jennifer, “and I apologize for acting hastily.”

Apparently there are tunnels and rooms under that castle, quite a large network, so in case of attack they could all go underground. The rooms could hold about 2,000 people, though only 240 lived in the castle area itself. Like many of the castles this one had it’s own story of missing jewels. Apparently the royal jewels have never been found and are reportedly guarded by a complex system of traps. Some of those traps have been found over the years, killing the people who found them.

Perhaps that is why those two sons were killed, they just happened to find one of the traps. Although, if people have been looking for those jewels for some time, that particular trap must have been found already. Unless it can be activated multiple times. The legend states that all those who look for the jewels will die, either at the castle or even after they leave the castle. Kat relayed this information to Matt so they would be extra careful.

They have not found any other traps and if that was a poison trap, it is no longer functional. He mentioned the owl hooting and I asked how many hoots each time it called. He told me and I played a recording of an owl. “That’s the one,” he said, “easy to remember after listening to it for 2 hours.” I told him to be extra watchful if they here it again, since that owl should not be there. “That means someone is here and watching us,” he said, “but the cats didn’t notice anything during the night.”

“That’s good,” said Kat, “but take extra precautions anyway.” That night while Oskar was on watch duty with two of the cats, the owl began to hoot again, but this time it was closer, right inside the walled area. Oskar woke Matt and he woke the other men. They all went outside with the cats, though the cats stayed close to the castle where the girls were sleeping.

“Going someplace guys?” asked Angel. She had put her hand on Oskar’s shoulder and she said he jumped at least a foot off the ground! Matt told her they were just investigating the owl, so she decided it was better to stay with the girls. Matt sent the cats back with her too. Angel and the cats were soon asleep with the other girls and didn’t wake up until it was just starting to get daylight. “Where are the guys, I wonder?” asked Kristina.

That got Angel up quickly and all the girls went outside calling for the guys, but no answer from any of them. Then they noticed that their phones were missing, although that didn’t stop Angel from communicating with Kat right away. Kat came running into our bedroom to wake us up and told us what had happened. “What do we do now Steve?” asked Kat, “And I don’t want to hear anything about you not being the leader right now! I would like an answer, please…”

To Be Continued.

©2024 Steve McLeod.