I hurried through the maze of hallways, pausing near the kitchen briefly. One of the benefits of being a wolf is our heightened sense of smell. I sniffed my way to one of the ovens.

"What are you cooking?" I asked the man who basting a slab of meat.

"Pardon?" he asked, not looking up. "You shouldn't be in here."

"I'm sorry. It just smells really good."

He finally stood, and the color in his face drained.

"I am so sorry, Princess. Forgive my rudeness!"

"Oh, it's okay! I completely intruded. It just smelled so good."

"It's a chicken dish that the Queen likes. I try to make it at least once a week."

I nodded. "Well, I think I'm going to like it a lot too. That smells incredible."

"Thank you, Princess."

"Um, is there anywhere I can get some coffees?"

"Of course!" He turned around looking for someone. "Reuben!"

A small blonde-headed boy ran from a small room off to the side.

"Sir?"

"The Princess would like coffee. Help her."

He stared up at me, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. He nodded briefly as his cheeks flushed before ushering me to yet another room.

"Wh-what would y-you like?"

"Um, let's see. Do you know what Prince Edmond's favorite coffee is?"

He nodded his head.

"Perfect. Four of those?"

He nodded again and got to work with all of the machines before he had four cups of steaming, chocolate caramel something or others. He pilled them all high with whipped cream and extra caramel and chocolate sauce.

"D-do you want me to ca-carry these for you?"

"I think I got it. Thank you so much, Reuben. They look delicious."

The boy nodded his head and quickly scurried away. It would take some time for me to get used to the way people acted around me now. It was so weird.

I put the drinks onto a tray and left the kitchen without anyone noticing. The library wasn't too far from the kitchen. 

At least I think.

I made a few turns and ended up somewhere I didn't recognize. The hallway was dark and very uninviting.

"I don't think this is right," I muttered to myself. 

Part of me wanted to explore the darkness, but I resisted that urge and turned around finding my way to the library.

"Hey! Ellie!"

"Hey," I said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Alastair asked.

"Nothing. I guess."

"What?" Edmond asked, standing up.

"Here's some coffee. Uh, Reuben, that adorably little kitchen boy, made them. He said it's your favorite, babe."

"Yum! He's a great little coffee maker. Don't ignore the question, El. What's wrong."

"Seriously. It's nothing. I just got lost and found this really dark and creepy hallway."

"Dark hallway? When you left the kitchen did you make a left or a right?"

"I turned left."

"Yeah. We don't go back there. It's part of the old castle."

"So nobody goes back there?" Ashley asked.

"Not for a long time. We just never have reason to head back that way."

"Well, it's super creepy."

Edmond nodded his head. "That's probably why we don't go back that way."

"Could there be anything back there we could use?" Alastair asked.

"Doubt it. I think it's just a few offices and guest rooms from the old times."

"Why aren't they used anymore?"

"As the packs grew larger and moved further away not as many of the leaders came here as often so they didn't need to have as much space. I guess they just stopped using the older area of the castle."

"Would it hurt to look?" I asked.

"I don't think so. We can go check the place out. I mean, I've never been back there myself. I don't even know if my father has."

"Okay. Well, we aren't finding anything here so let's go!" Ashley jumped up, chugged her chocolate caramel something or other and hurried out the door.

"Does she have a slow pace?" Edmond asked.

"No," Alastair and I said in unison.

We all laughed and slowly followed behind Ashley, sipping our drinks rather than chugging them.

"Hello?" Ashley called out.

"We're coming," I called back.

"I think I'm lost."

"We can hear you. Just stay where you are. What do you see?" Edmond asked.

"Uh, a kitchen."

"Okay, don't move."

We turned a corner and Ashley stood there looking around.

"I got lost," she said.

Alastair shook his head and I laughed. 

"The castle is big," Edmond said.

"I'm guessing that dark, creepy hallway is the old castle?"

"Yeah. That's it." Edmond stepped into the kitchen and came back with a lantern. "We'll need some light."

He led us down the eerie corridor to the first door. He opened it slowly and peeked his head in.

"It's a guest room."

We entered and looked around. It was a very basic room. Just a bed, desk, and washing basin. The curtains were drawn and everything had a thick layer of dust on it.

"It's like stepping back in time," Ashley said, walking around.

"Yeah, it is. I don't think there's anything in here," I added.

We pulled the door shut as we left, heading for the next room. Inside the walls were lined with bookshelves.

"Wow. Look at all of these!"

"I wonder when the last time anyone read these."

"I'm guessing a long time," I muttered.

I pulled one of the dust-covered books off of the shelf and flipped through it. We pulled book after book down from the shelf, trying to find if any of them would help us.

"These seem to just be books from ancient exchequer accounts."

"Let's just keep looking."

"How about we split up?" Alastair suggested. "We can double the time that we look through the rooms."

"That sounds like a good idea," Edmond said, pulling out one of the dusty chairs at the dusty table. 

He wiped it off and sat down. I pulled out one across from him, wiped it off, and sat down.

"I guess we'll take up another room," Ashley said. "Uh, light? What do we do for light?"

"Oh. Okay. Um, there has to be something in here." 

Edmond stood and helped Alastair and Ashley look around.

"Hey, look at this book!" Ashley pulled a large, leather-bound book from the shelf where another lantern was.

"This one is a bit different than the others," Alastair commented.

"It seems even older than these."

We all crowded around the book, looking from page to page. Until we saw a picture that made us all stop.

"Uh, Ellie....is that you?"