The Fused & The Muse Ch.7

Transylvania, Romania

Present Day

All of the students gathered around as Jerome–the tour guide–went over a couple of rules again. "Well, with that being said, I want you all to make two lines and follow right behind me. Try not to fall behind from the group please." Jerome made eye contact with me and tilted his head. "Excuse me? Have I seen you before? You look awfully familiar. Perhaps this is your second time on this trip?" I stared up at him. "No, I believe you're mistaken." He nodded his head and walked to the front of the lines. Alyssa nudged me whilst smiling. "I guess I have to give up Jerome too," she joked. I shook my head. "Ha.Ha." Mr.Johnson stood right beside Jerome, forgetting that he had to supervise. He was too excited for the trip to not reserve "front row seats" in the tour.

We stopped at almost every picture and object around the hallways as Jerome explained the significance of each. "Now this! This is the very sword of all sons of House Draculesti—including Radu cel Frumos's son, Kai. In the next room, we will see the portraits of these royalties, to give you an idea of how they looked. Come along!" We all stared at the swords through its individual glass case. They were still shiny and sharp–showing no signs of age. It was pretty hard to believe Jerome that they were the originals and not just copies for the museum.

We made another stop in the next room, which was filled with large portraits that filled up the entire walls of the room. "The bigger the picture, meant the more important you were back then," Jerome explained. "Now this–is Vlad the Impaler, who we all call as the real-life vampire. We call him this because he was known for his savagery during his rule—how he was said to have ate peacefully beside the bodies of his enemies who were dead or dying with their bodies pierced through stakes...there were even rumors that he'd sometimes eat the flesh of his enemies and drink their blood!" Jerome shivered at the thought then stood back straight and tall as he walked to the next portrait. "And this is Radu cel Frumos, brother of our vampire friend. Radu fought beside the Ottoman's in order to dethrone his brother. He was a brave ol' lad to ever think about fighting against his ruthless brother." We walked across the room as he pointed whose portrait was whose. "This is Radu's beautiful wife, the Albanian princess, Princess Maria. And this! This is their handsome son, Kai—I must admit he is quite a fellow." Jerome laughed to himself. "Oohhh~ He real hot," Alyssa cooed. We walked to the last few pictures in the room and Jerome clapped his hands together. "Now this! This is my favorite! This is the portrait of House Harth. It was said that House Harth was to marry off its eldest daughter, Princess Genevieve, with Prince Kai. This however, is debated to have either happened or not happened... But just look at how gorgeous these princesses are! If he'd wanted, Kai could probably marry all three of them!" Alyssa nudged me and I looked directly at her. She nodded her head up to the portrait and I stared at it. "Giiirrll, that one princess right there looks just like you." My eyes wandered around to look for the princess that she was talking about. There she was. She sat in between her sisters, faintly smiling.

We walked by more rooms until we stopped at the very last one. Mr. Johnson really enjoyed himself. He kept asking questions about how Vlad was tied to vampires. He was so enthusiastic about it too. "Well, I guess that closes our tour. I hope you've all learned something new. I know you all want to see the dungeons but it's actually closed today...Perhaps, next time any of you come visit, it would be open. You may all go back to your room now and I'll see you off in the morning." All the students left for their rooms. "Hey, you know, when I think about it, this room is probably for the maids since there's so much beds in it and they're not all that fancy." Alyssa pointed out, as she sat on one of the beds. "They ain't that comfortable either." Most of the students went to sleep early–exhausted from the tour. Meanwhile, Alyssa and I was just talking and stuffing our face with the snacks I've packed.

"So, what are you gonna do with the Kingstons?" I hugged a pillow and closed my eyes. "In all honesty, I still like Edward. And I don't think anyone would ever change my mind on that." Alyssa took a pillow and hit my head with it. "Hey!" She laughed when I sat up. *thud* We froze. "D-did you?" I slowly nodded my head but my whole body stayed frozen. She took her pillow and we walked toward the door of the room. I held onto Alyssa, following her footsteps. "What time is it," she whispered. I checked my phone. "It's 11:18... Hey! I don't know if we should open the door." *knock knock knock* We gasped. Alyssa held her pillow in front of her as a shield and slowly twisted the knob.

"Boo!" Alyssa and I fell to the floor. Josh laughed at us before extending his hand to help us up. We got off the floor and Alyssa hit him with her pillow. "Geez! You jerk! You almost gave us a heart attack." "What are you doing here Josh?" He smirked and walked closer to me. "Nothing. I just wanted to see you before I get any sleep." He cupped my cheek but I slapped his hand away. "Oh come on. It was a joke."

Chloe suddenly popped out of nowhere. She walked to us and held Josh's hand. "Can I talk to you?" Josh raised a brow and followed her. I sighed and Alyssa closed the door. I took a glance at the two as they were seated on Chloe's bed. Alyssa pushed me forward to go back to our beds. I lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. We heard the door open and Alyssa and I looked up at it. We saw Josh and Chloe leave the room together. "At least he's off your hair now." "Yeah, I guess so." Alyssa sat up straight from her bed. "Aren't you even curious about what they're doing? Maybe they're just talking." I sat up and shrugged. "It's not my place to care about what they do." Alyssa tapped her finger on the mattress. "Well....they shouldn't be out at 11. Come on!" Alyssa stood up and left the room. "Aly no!" I tiptoed to the door and peeked outside. It was really dark and I could barely see anything. The only lights out were those from the gigantic windows of the castle, that allowed the moon's light to peek through.

"Aly!" I whispered as I walked through the hallways. I wanted to go back to the room because I knew she would come back either way, but I didn't even know where I was now. I was lost, in a dark, creepy castle....all by myself. Every small sound made me jump. I reached in my pockets to take my phone out, hoping to get more light so I'd be able to find my way back. My hands searched around but...I didn't have it with me, which meant that I probably left it in the room. Ugghhh great. Just great. I heard a sound from one of the rooms, but I was too scared to move. I looked around but I still couldn't see anyone. I started to panic and my heart began to beat faster and faster. I sat at a corner and held onto my legs. Someone would probably find me here if I stay in place. It's probably better not to travel too far into somewhere I may not be found. It was such a bad idea to follow Alyssa. *clank* I jumped and my heart began to beat faster again.

I hid my head under my arms and closed my eyes. *It's nothing. You're going to be fine.* I repeated those words to myself over and over again until my head no longer had any thoughts lingering in it. For what felt like a few minutes, I opened my eyes, only to find myself on my bed inside the room. I jumped off the bed and looked around the room. Everyone was packing their bags and getting dressed.

"You good?" Alyssa held my shoulder. I jumped and turned around. "Whoa there!" She held her hands up. "Aly, did you leave the room last night?" She held my arms and made me sit on the bed. "Yeah, I left and I told you to follow after me." "Well I did! I did follow after you! And then I got lost somewhere in the castle and I waited and waited until someone finds me because I was looking for you and then I sat in a corner so it would be easier for you to find me–" "Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down girl." She crossed her arms and my eyes grew. "Did you find me and take me back here?" My head began to pound all of a sudden. Why does it feel like I skipped over time? There was a whole chunk of memory of last night that felt like it was missing. "Hey! Snap out of it! Josh probably found you out there by yourself and carried you back up here when he saw you sleeping."

"So...you...you didn't find Josh yesterday?" "Well, no. So I went back in the room and found you here in your bed, sleeping. I figured you didn't follow after me and just slept while trying to wait for me to come back. Then...maybe I was just dreaming? I clapped my hands together and stood up. Maybe that's it! Alyssa waited for me to say something. "That's why Jerome didn't want us to be up after 11! The castle probably makes us delusion about things that probably didn't happen and it turns out that it was all just a dream!" "Okay brainiac. Is that your theory of the day? Well, get your tush moving cause we're about to leave after breakfast." It seemed pretty reasonable to me at that time...what I needed, was an explanation. And that was probably the closest I'd get to one.

Alyssa waited for me as I packed my things up and got dressed out of my pajamas. "There. I'm all good now." We took our belongings and walked downstairs to the dining hall. I looked around the area to try and figure out which way I went. There was too many rooms to even get an idea of where I'd go. Maybe it really was just a dream after all. The students were all lined up around the massive, long table. The table was filled with all kinds of breakfast food. My classmates all scorched down their food and took plate after plate. It was like a buffet. All you can eat. Jerome clapped his hands, excited to see us finally show some type of emotion.

Josh and his friends sat beside us while we ate. It made me pretty uncomfortable to think about him still attached to me, while knowing that something may have happened between him and Chloe last night. I began playing with my food, hoping that he'd see the sign that I was uncomfortable with having him beside me while I ate. He turned to look at me and watched as I rolled the small cherry tomato around my plate with my fork. Josh rested his head on his hand while staring at me.

"What's wrong?" His phone suddenly rang. We both stared at it as it lit up on the table. It was Edward calling him. I watched his fingers tap on the table before pressing the green button. "I'll be back." He stood up and took his phone with him. Josh kept a straight face while talking on the phone, so I wasn't sure what they were talking about. Once he hung up, I looked away.

Mr.Johnson rang a bell to get everyone's attention. "Students, students! I want you all to thank our kind tour guide, Mr.Thomlinson. I have enjoyed this trip very much and I hope everyone had learned something new—I know I did." He nodded his head and smiled proudly. Everyone gathered all their belongings and walked outside. "Thank you Mr.Thomlinson," we said in unison. Jerome fixed his glasses and shook hands with Mr.Johnson. "Nice having you over," Jerome called out, as the vans drove away.

I took one last glance at the castle. It stood there, still as creepy and lonely looking as it was when we first got there. Alyssa nudged at me to get my attention. I turned to face her and she raised her brows at me. They were like arrows pointing directly at Josh's direction. I turned my head to look at Josh but he was just staring out the window, lost in thought. It was pretty weird that he said nothing to me after his conversation with Edward earlier. It really did make me wonder what they were talking about. Seeing him so quiet was unusual. He didn't even touch nor look at me—not that I'm asking for the attention but—... Or perhaps it was about him and Chloe. I looked back at Alyssa and shrugged. She sighed and closed her eyes. It was a long trip back and I just couldn't wait to get back home.

*Ding* My phone lit up from my bag. I took it out and found a message from my mom. I slid the screen to open it and her text popped up. *Have a great time on your trip!* I stared at the screen and smiled, but my eyes began to water. She probably just came home and read the note that I left for her. I can't even remember the last time I'd seen her face to face. And chances were, that by the time I get back home, she'd be back in the bakery again. I held my hands over my face to prevent myself from crying. I took a deep breath before uncovering my face. I looked around to check if anyone noticed, but I think I was in the clear. They all seemed preoccupied with their phones. I bit my lip and lifted my phone back up. I tapped on the keyboard to reply and a single tear ran down my cheek. *Thanks mom. See you soon.*

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind could invent."

-Arthur Conan Doyle