Captured Princess

You Know Something

When they got back to the main house, Shanaia went back to her room to wash up before dinner. As she washed her face, she remembered what her uncle told her and she wondered what he meant about it.

She is beginning to ask herself what he could mean when he says that the statue is something none of them can see. She wanted to ask more questions, she wanted to know about the statue, but then she was forbidden to speak about it.

That is when she remembered the lady.

Shanaia wiped her face with a towel and went out of her bathroom. She thought about the lady who seemed to know something about the statue but she didn’t know anything about modern things.

She has grown curious about the lady as much as the statue. She fears that she won’t be able to leave the village without getting answers. She then thought of her uncle; for some reason, he knew something.

Then she was pulled out of her thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

“Yeah?”

“Miss, it's time for dinner,”

Shanaia heard the voice of one of the servants.

“Uhm, thank you. I’ll be there,” she replied.

She then heard footsteps walking away from her room. She then heaved a deep sigh before composing herself and left her room.

When she made it to the dining room, her uncles happily greeted her when they saw her.

“Shan!”

Shanaia greeted them back and then her cousins who were still kids rushed to her and hugged her. Shanaia giggled as she hugged them back.

“How are you little kittens?”

All the kids were eager to converse with her and they were talking rapidly and loudly all at once. When it is too much for everyone to listen to them, their mothers stop them and make them sit.

There was a collective groan from the children before their mothers went to greet Shanaia. And when they took their seats, Samael came in and his face immediately brightened when he saw Shanaia.

“Shanaia!”

“Grandpa!”

Shanaia stood up and approached her grandfather. They hugged each other and Samael showed how happy he was that Shanaia was there.

“How are you? All good with your journey? How about your room?” Samael asked as he pulled away from her.

Shanaia grinned and answered.

“It’s all good, grandpa.”

“Good,”

Then Samael signaled the servants to serve the food.

“Let’s eat,” Samael said and then he went to sit at the end of the table as Shanaia sat down.

As they started to eat their dinner, Shanaia’s uncles started asking Shanaia about her senior year. Shanaia gladly told them even that time when they were once again scolded by the Queen and their parents for once again going to a party.

“I heard from your mother that you turned down Harvard Med School to go to Stanford,” Samael said and everyone looked at Shanaia.

She nodded as she took a sip of her juice.

“Why there?

“Wasn’t Harvard better?”

Her uncles and aunt asked her and she just smiled at them.

“Well, since Crane and I are both taking medicine, I figured we should go to separate schools. We both want to make it on our own and since he only applied to Harvard and he got in, I gave way and chose to go to Stanford instead,” Shanaia explained.

“Was Standford your second choice?” Siegfried asked and Shanaia nodded.

“Oxford was good also but I don’t want to study overseas,”

“Well, it doesn’t matter where as long as you like the place and you learn,” Samael said taking a bite of his chicken.

As they continued to eat, Shanaia was tempted to ask about the statue but she decided against it when she noticed her uncle Styx giving her warning glances. Because of that, it made her even more curious. She is now convinced that her youngest uncle knows something.

After dinner, Samael turned to Shanaia.

“How about we have tea outside?” he asked his granddaughter.

Shanaia smiled.

“I’ll be there, Grandpa. I’ll just have to ask Uncle Styx about something,” she said.

When she said that, Styx’s eyes widened as he was caught off guard by it while the others looked confused.

“Why?”

“What’s wrong?”

“What is it something you need to know?”

Her other uncles asked, making Styx feel a bit nervous while Shanaia was just smiling as she got the reaction she wanted.

“Nothing serious. It’s something that requires his expertise,” she said, convincing the others

They nodded and proceeded to leave the dining room. When it was just Styx and Shanaia, her uncle marched up to him. Before he could speak, Shanaia stopped him by showing him the photo of the statue.

“Before you tell me you don’t know anything about this, I know you know. You are so obvious.” Shanaia said and Styx looked like he was so done.

“Why are you so fixated on the statue? People here cannot see it, no one here knows where it was,” Styx stressed.

“But I do. I saw it and I know where it was. I even have the evidence,”

Shanaia pressed, waving the photo in front of his face.

Styx tried to take her phone so he could delete the photo but Shanaia was quick enough to toss her phone and made it float a few feet above them. Styx tried to jump to get it but her phone just floated higher.

“Not fair!” Styx whined.

“Well, it is not fair that you know something and yet you are withholding information, uncle. I will not stop until I get answers so, spit it out,” she hissed.

Styx looked at her intently before letting out a deep sigh.

“Look, I don’t know much. I just know that there is no statue of any cheetah in our village except for one,” he said.

Shanaia was about to speak but Styx stopped her.

“That one statue was said to be something we cannot see. That’s all I know,” he told her and Shanaia frowned.

“You lie. I know you know more. You are this tribe’s youngest historian so I know you know a lot,” Shanaia argued, making Styx sigh in defeat.

“Shan, keyword, youngest. I don’t know much about this village or this tribe’s history. But if you really wanted to know more, why not ask the tribe’s longest-serving chief,”

Styx told her and Shanaia straightened her back.

“You can ask him but I am pretty sure he will tell you the same,”

“Let’s see about that,” Shanaia replied, and then she patted her uncle’s shoulder before she snapped her fingers, making her phone float back to her hands.

Then she turned around to go and ask the former chief about the statue.

Shanaia quickly made her way toward where her grandfather said to be waiting for her. She found him waiting, standing by the same lounging chairs by the pool where they had beer the last time she was there.

Samael immediately grinned when he saw her. And as she approached her, he handed her an ice-cold bottle of beer instead of a cup of tea.

“Beer?”

She asked as she took the bottle.

“I figured you prefer that,” he said and Shanaia smiled at her grandfather before they clinked their bottles and chugged down its contents.

Both sighed and then they sat down. They sip their beer while looking at the stars.

“You take care of yourself when you go to Stanford. There won’t be any servants to do chores for you, so –“

“Don’t worry, Grandpa. I can manage on my own there. And I will make sure to study well and become the best doctor next to my parents,” she told her grandfather.

“You can say you want to be better than your parents. It’s okay to aim higher and keep yourself motivated.” He told her and Shanaia nodded.

They once again clinked their beer bottles and took a sip of its cold contents.

“By the way, what did you ask Styx earlier?” he asked and Shanaia pressed her lips together, thinking if she should ask or not and just trust what her uncle said about the statue.

“You can ask me,”

Samael said.

He felt that there was something bothering his granddaughter, and if she really was like her mother, she would not stop at anything just to get answers.

Shanaia looked at him and gathered all the courage in her to ask the things she wanted to know.

“Uhm, Grandpa, remember the last time I was here?” she started and Samael nodded in response to it.

“I told you that I saw a statue in the middle of the stream, remember?”

Samael paused before he nodded his head.

“And I told you there were no statues here in our village.” He said and Shanaia did an unconvinced nod.

“I went out earlier after unpacking and I went to look for it again,”

Samael let out an audible sigh.

“Shanaia, you are just –“

“I found it again,” she said, cutting off her grandfather midsentence.

Samael looked at her intently with a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

“Once again, I found the statue of a cheetah. It’s still in the middle of the stream just in the outskirts of the village.” She told him.

“A-Are you sure about that?”

Shanaia nodded.

“I never been sure, Grandpa.”

“But –“

“I know.” She stressed and chugged down the remaining contents of her beer.

Then she wiped her mouth and spoke.

“I know you are just going to tell me that the statue never existed etcetera, etcetera.”

Shanaia looked into her grandfather’s eyes.

“But I am sure the statue existed and I have proof,”

Samael’s eyes widened as he looked at his granddaughter.

“What?”

“I have proof,” she said and then she showed him the photo of the statue that she took earlier.

Samael reached out to get her phone and Shanaia noticed the slight tremors in his hand. When Samael saw the photo, his heart raced and pure disbelief was written all over his face.

Shanaia noticed all of those reactions, convincing her that her grandfather also knew something about the statue.

“Believe me now?” she asked.

Samael slowly shakes his head.

“This… How…” he stuttered, trying to find the proper words to say.

“Grandpa…” she called and Samael looked at her.

“Uncle Styx said that the statue is a statue that no one in this tribe can see,”

She said and she saw how her grandfather’s eye twitched.

“Based on your reaction, you know something too. And you know more than Uncle Styx,”

Shanaia pressed and Samael looked at her but his eyes seemed unfocused,

“Shan, I am sorry but this is –“

“Come on, Grandpa, tell me. I need to know,”