Nadine Book 4

70. Ring Leader Of Chaos

"Elek to see the table."

"ENTER."

I smile at him. "Thank you for coming. Please sit down."

He sits in my seat.

"Please tell your version of the story. Your mother began at the festival, but you can begin before that if you feel it is relevant."

"The festival was the first time I ever encountered magicians. And I didn't pay them any attention. My mother didn't seem to like them, I guess we stayed away."

Dipak stops him. "Was anything weird at the festival? Did you or the dragon sense anyone watching you? Did Elroy or Elijah ever say anything like that?"

"No. It went like a normal festival. A lot of the girls watched us, but that was normal."

"Ok continue."

"My mother kept saying weird things were happening. My brothers and I never noticed anything. Elroy did kill a servant in his room one night. He said she wasn't a servant."

"What happened with that?" Dipak flips his paper over.

"I guess she knocked and came in. She seduced him. He went with it."

I stop him. "What does that mean?" His eyebrows shoot up.

The table does a collective "Ugh."

"WHAT? I DON'T GET IT."

Tre smiles. "I will explain it later."

Daddy jumps up. "NO YOU WILL NOT. I FORBID IT."

Omar jumps up. "Miculai we have talked about this. She is getting older. Knowledge is good for her. It will help her make better decisions."

I nod. "Better decisions daddy."

"I DON'T CARE."

Thora leans in and whispers. "They had sex."

I whisper, "Thank you."

"Knowledge is good. She is not a little child anymore." Omar looks at Elek. "We're going to move on without talking about that. Anything you have to add about that, can be told to Dipak... later."

I put my hand up again.

"MY PRINCESS. NO MORE ABOUT IT."

"No, this is something else daddy."

"Fine."

"Did she bring food? Your mom said she brought food."

"Yes, I think she did. It was bread or dessert of some kind. It was on the table. We threw it out."

"Ok, thank you."

"I don't remember what he said that she did that told him she wasn't a servant. She took a bow or something dumb. But he said she wasn't a servant, so he killed her." He shrugs his shoulders.

"Do you think she was a servant?"

"I really don't know. We got some new ones. I never paid attention to the old ones." Dipak nods.

"How was she killed?"

"Her head was off, and a sword threw her heart when I got there. I was first in the room with my brother."

"Was the body burned after?"

"No."

Dipak looks at him. "Did you make any alterations to the room or anything before anyone else came in?"

I put my hand up.

"MY PRINCESS."

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING DADDY."

"LET HIM ANSWER THE QUESTIONS."

"FINE." I sit back and cross my arms. I stare at Elek.

"No alterations."

Dipak nods. "And you said you were first in the room with your brother. Who else was in there?"

"My father and a few guards. Elijah was out that night."

"Go on."

"Everything was fine after that. The day he disappeared, me, Elijah, and Elroy had to go to the village. We were going through the market. Checking out girls. We went home an hour before dinner to get cleaned up. We went to our apartments. Elroy never showed up to dinner. We searched everything. Everywhere. The castle. The village. We made a grid and searched with the guards. He was gone."

Dracul stops him. "That day, was anything out of the ordinary in the village? Any feelings of being followed or watched?"

"Nothing. It was the 3 of us having fun."

I stare at my paper. "Did you see either of your parents when you got home before dinner? Or did you go straight to your apartments?"

"My mother was there. She usually was. I said something about keeping the boys out of trouble. I always said something like that to her. Then she would always say I'm the ring leader of chaos."

Omar opens his mouth to say something, then laughs. "Sorry but that is a good one." He rubs his eyes. "Your mother said he was reading, and a book was left out. Do you know what he was reading at the time?"

"No idea."

"Do you know if he was taken from the sitting area or his apartment?"

"No. There was a towel used in his apartment. His dirty laundry was there. He was definitely there. He did wash up and change. I don't know if he made it to the sitting room to read or not."

"Where was the book found in the sitting area?"

"It was on the floor by the chair he liked to read in."

"Are you certain?"

"No. I did not see it there. The servant said that was where she picked it up."

I smile at Dipak.

"What are you thinking?"

"I want to go see this sitting room."

Omar nods. "And the apartment, wall where the mother had the issue with, the window, and where she kept her jewelry."

Dracul sits back. "And the note."

"Might as well try to find the book while we're there too." Thora smiles at Elek. "I think we invited ourselves over for a full tour and search."

"You're more than welcome in the castle. You can do whatever you want. My mother is scared to death. Too scared to even go home." He looks down at the table. I know he's trying not to cry.

"GUARD SUMMON THE BORIN QUEEN AGAIN."

A few of them give me a weird look.

"Can anyone here imagine someone searching my momma's castle without her permission?" They crack up laughing.

Kane stretches. "So, assuming we get it, are we summoning the herd?"

"NO. God no. Let's see if we find anything first."

"What's the herd?"

Dipak shakes his head then tries not to laugh.

I smile. "It's a group of magicians who help us out when we need it. One day, Dipak or Omar called them the herd. It stuck, now they are known as the herd. Also, as you can tell, Omar gets very stressed with them. So I think if we do end up summoning them, maybe we can take turns with them. That way, Omar doesn't spend the entire time searching for alcohol."

"Queen Borin to see the table."

"ENTER."

She sits by Elek.

"Thank you for coming back."

"No problem."

"We have enough information that we would like to continue with the case. At this point, we would like to enter your castle. We would require full access."

"Yes, anything."

I nod. "You had said your jewelry was coming up missing. I need to know exactly where it was missing from."

"There was a little table inside the front door of the royal house."

"The toy that was pushed through the wall?"

"One of the sitting rooms. I think the blue?" She shrugs her shoulders.

Elek shakes his head. "It was one of them. There's 4 total. I don't know."

"The note was found in the royal home kitchen?" She nods. "And where is it now?"

"In the wall safe behind the painting in the sitting room of the royal home."

"Which window blew out?"

"Sitting room with books in it. Where Elroy would read."

"Are you ok with Elek coming with us?" She gives me a funny look. "It will be easier to explain to the guards that it's not a hostile takeover, if he says it instead."

"I don't want any of my babies there."

"Ma'am, I will put security on him. He will be with at least 1 of us at all times."

Thora smirks. "You may not be able to fight magic, but we can."

"It'll be fine mom."

"Ok."

"WE NEED OUR SPY OUTFITS."

Thora jumps up. "WE NEED PINK HAIR."

We take off.

"STOP."

Tre shakes his head. "No. Sit down."

"I wonder if the glasses still work." Thora runs over and gets in her drawer. She puts hers on her face.

"Can you hand me the glasses out of that drawer, Elek?" He gives me my glasses. "Dipak do something." His hair turns blue. I check through the glasses and his hair is normal. "Mine are good."

"Mine too." We sit back down with our glasses on.

Dipak stands up. "I do need to disclose something. And that is, your house will be trashed when we are done. I watched those 2, tear my entire apartment apart in 20 minutes. They dumped the utensil drawer in the middle of the sitting room and searched each piece for any magic. It took the servants 2 and a half hours to put my apartment back together. Just mine. It took them days to put the castle back together."

Daddy nods. "The plants will not survive them. They will be killed."

Frode writes something down. "The furniture will be flipped over and taken apart."

"Oh my."

Bud smiles. "But if there is anything remaining. They will find it. There is no question about that."

Tye glares at me. "And do not put your hand in any portals this time."

Thora shakes her head. "We have no plans to do that."

Dracul nods. "They will find everything. Every single thing."

Elek puts his eyebrows up.

"Do you wish for us to continue?"

"Yes I do."

"We need our spy outfits."

Dipak rubs his eyes. "This is not a spy mission. They know we are going. This is a search mission."

"We need a search achievement patch."

"Yes we do."

Tye smiles. "We can call it seeker."

"I do believe the young ones are getting bored with the table time, son."

"Yes, they are dropping quickly, dad." He stands up. "We are leaving in 20 minutes. This is not a spy mission. This is not a pirate mission. This is a search mission." We nod at him fast. "Nadine, Thora, Tye, Tre, Kane, Me, Omar, Dracul. Will go. Frode, you are in command. Gunner, I want you on high alert here. Miculai, you know the drill."

I jump up. "I ONLY HAVE 20 MINUTES TO GET READY."

Thora jumps up. "WHAT ARE WE CHANGING INTO?"

"I DON'T KNOW."

"Everyone be back in 20 minutes." We take off running. "AND NO PIRATES."

Halfway to the advisor hall we stop. "Do human. It's comfortable and easy to move in."

I nod at her. "Perfect. I'll do a messy bun with it."

"No. Pony tail. Humans do those now."

We take off running again.