Rachel looked in the direction Hunter was pointing. It was astonishing. A large stone castle in the distance with large turrets erected high in the air. It was unlike any castle she’d ever seen before and certainly the biggest.

As they neared the castle, Rachel saw that it was off the coastline of Maine on its own large island. She didn’t even know there were islands off the coast of Maine.

The castle took up most of island’s surface and stood tall and proud. Around the island was dark ocean water that crashed up onto the walls of the castle with each wave. It looked a bit scary to Rachel as she lowered down out of the sky closer to the castle. It was uninviting, cold and dreary looking. There was also no sign of life to be seen from her vantage point. Nobody outside, no outside space actually, unless they were in the water. No green fields or woods or anything. She wondered how they fed, where did they go? Maybe they didn’t feed on the same things? Many questions started swirling around in her head.

“How do you get inside?” Rachel asked as they hovered over the large castle.

“I’m trying to figure that out. It looks like the front door has been sealed up. I don’t know what to do now,” Hunter said.

“Can we get in through another door?” Penelope asked.

“No! We can’t enter through any other door. It’s dangerous. It’s highly armed and we can’t risk being shot at,” Hunter said.

“Shot at?” Rachel asked in fear. “What do you mean?”

“Yes, shot at! My parents had this place totally rigged after the last war. Every entrance was highly armed and guarded,” Hunter said.

“Well, wouldn’t the guards recognize you?” Penelope asked.

“Yeah, you lived there, don’t they know who you are?” Rachel said.

“That’s a good point, and would totally make sense, but the thing is my parents probably put my name on this list of intruders. They don’t want to see me, trust me on this one,” Hunter said. “I’m not welcome here anymore.”

“Oh crap!” Rachel said. “What are we going to do now? We can’t just hover up here forever!”

“Wait, it just came to me. As a kid we would have our friends sneak into our castle through a small window off one of the balconies. We can try that. It’s the only window that my parents felt was too small to guard. They assumed nobody could fit through, but as it turns out most can. The window has to be unlocked though, which could be our only set back,” Hunter said.

“What are the chances it will be unlocked?” Penelope asked.

“I’d say 50/50,” Hunter said.

The three flew to the opposite side of the castle. Rachel couldn’t wait to land on her feet. To finally rest her wings and her body. She’d never taken such a long trip before in flight and was glad it was just about over. She hoped anyway. She wasn’t sure what would happen if the window were locked and they couldn’t get it. She hoped they wouldn’t fly back to Hunter’s school.

It was getting dark and the sun was setting over the castle. The sky had a pink and orange hue and the clouds were full and fluffy looking. The clouds felt moist as she soared through some on her way down to the balcony.

“Shh! We have to be quiet,” Hunter said. “Nobody make a peep.”

Rachel followed Hunter’s orders and didn’t say a word. She looked around at the stone balcony. She was surprised there was no railing, than realized that they really didn’t need one even though they were so high up. If they fell, they could just extend their wings and fly to safety. She thought it was an odd design though. She’d never seen a balcony that one could plunge to their death off of. It was odd to her, but that was probably because she was new to this whole thing. After all it hadn’t been long since her days as a human.

Hunter walked over to the small square window, which was probably the side of a bed pillow and looked in. The room on the other side was dark and there were no lights on. All Rachel could see was her reflection as she looked at the window. She noticed the paint was chipping around the window sill and wondered why they hadn’t kept up the house. She thought it looked a little run down on the outside, but it was hard to tell since stone doesn’t really weather much. It almost looked to her as if there was nobody living in the castle. She hoped it wasn’t true though. She would be devastated to find the place abandoned.

Hunter motioned Rachel and Penelope forward as he started prying open the window with a stick. Rachel watched as he fumbled with the hook on the window, jiggling it ever which way. He pulled and pushed and tugged at the window, but nothing. Then, he took out a small pocket knife and stuck it in the crack of the door, wiggled it ever so slightly and the window popped open. He turned to Penelope and Rachel and gave them both a thumbs up.

Rachel was pleased at his accomplishment, smiled and gave him a thumbs up in return.

“Come inside,” Hunter whispered. “It’s a tight squeeze, but you can fit.”

Rachel took one look at the small opening, and thought to herself it would be almost impossible for her to get her non model like body through. If only she hadn’t eaten that pack of Oreo cookies yesterday, she thought to herself humorously. She thought it would be best to go feet first and then slide her top half through after. She put her right foot in the window trying to feel for a ledge or something to rest her feet on but there was nothing. It was high off the floor so she knew this was going to be tricky. She put her left foot in after and then slithered like a snake through the opening. Her hips just barely fit through the window and luckily that was her biggest asset of her body, and knew if they fit, the rest of her would slip right through. She knew she wouldn’t have any trouble as her chest went through because she wasn’t well endowed. Finally, her head, the last thing to get through the window and then she hung there clutching the window sill by her hands and looking down with her eyes at the floor below her. It was quite a drop, and she’d wished Hunter had warned her that she would have to plunge fifteen feet to reach the floor. As her feet touched the wooden floor boards, they creaked beneath her feet. She stood there, in silence, trying to keep the floors from making noise. She stood there on her tippy toes, creeping across the room to make space for Penelope to land as she watched her body slide through the small window.

After Hunter made his way through the window, having almost gotten himself stuck twice, the three of them stood there in this small room together. The room was the side of Rachel’s bedroom in Bedford, except the ceilings of this room were soaring, they must have been 25 feet high. The room smelled of cedar and as she looked around, she saw storage bags and boxes of clothes. She realized they were in a storage closet, which was surprisingly big for a closet now that she thought about it. Never had she ever seen a closet this large before or a closet with a window. Where was she? She thought to herself. And all the clothes and storage boxes that filled the room were more than the contents of her entire house. She couldn’t believe it.

“We have to search for them,” Hunter said quietly.

“Them who?” Penelope asked.

“My parents, silly! Isn’t that why we came?” Hunter said.

“Why are we whispering?” Rachel asked curiously.

“In case there are guards here. We don’t want them to find us. We don’t want to risk being kicked out for good,” Hunter said.

“But wouldn’t they recognize you?” Rachel said. “Didn’t they used to work for you, too?”

“These guys turn over quickly here. Nobody stays working for my parents for long. They’re hard to be around and certainly hard to work for. So, no, they wouldn’t recognize me and even so, they wouldn’t let anyone in who is unannounced. My parents do not take kindly to people showing up unannounced. Especially strangers,” Hunter said.

A pang of nervousness ran through Rachel’s body. She began to panic at the thought of his parents not being welcoming or accepting of strangers. She hoped they would like her. Actually, what she really hoped was that they would be home. That they would still live in this old castle.

The three of them quietly exited the closet and headed down a narrow hallway, also built of stone. It was like this entire house was erected with stones both inside and out. It was the coldest and most unwelcoming place on the planet, Rachel thought to herself. Who would ever want to live in a place like this?

The hall was lit up with candelabras, that hung from fixtures in the wall, which let off a soft, warm light. Their glow helped Rachel find her way in what would have been an otherwise pitch black hallway. The floors creaked beneath them as they walked which made them jump. They didn’t stop moving though, they were on a mission and weren’t going to let anything get in their way.

At the end of the hall they came to the top of a double staircase that arched it way up from the main foyer below. The staircase was grand, perhaps the most grand entrance she’d ever seen in her life. It reminded her of the houses she used to see on MTV’s Cribs show. The stairs wound down onto a large black and white marble foyer, standing there at the door were four guards, holding up their rifles and ready to attack. Rachel’s heart stopped for a moment as she looked at Hunter to see what he was going to do about this. She knew he was a smart guy and would be able to figure this out.

Hunter then started walking backwards, back down the hall they’d just came from and then turned to them and motioned for them to follow him. They walked down another adjacent hallway, similar to the first and then over to a wooden door with a large brass handle. He opened it slowly as it creaked open. Then he poked his head in and had the girls wait in the hallway until he came to get them. Rachel stood there with Penelope in silence as they waited for Hunter to return. After a few minutes, he came back and motioned them on. They crept through the door and down a narrow spiral staircase that smelled like chlorine. It was an odd smell for a castle Rachel thought but didn’t dwell on it. To her it smelled like she was at a hotel going down the hall towards the indoor pool. Then she wondered if maybe there was a pool inside. It was a pretty big castle and although parts of it were run down, others were quite lavish. It was a weird dichotomy.