Chapter 24 One Person Missing

**Back in Thalia**

The next morning, princes have all gathered around the dinning area waiting as the servants prepare their food. They were currently the only ones around the table, which they wondered. The King and Queen are always punctual. Rose isn't there either. It didn't help the mood without a jolly girl gulping down every food within her reach.

Well, Ren and Dan are jolly but in a more annoying way.

Once they sat down a servant approached one of them, Fred, and handed him a letter. It came from the king and the queen.

Saying his gratitude to the servant, he opened the letter.

It seems as if they left for an important visit to a friend from another kingdom.

He looked up and noticed the princes were watching him. He assumes that they are wondering what the letter says. He cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, the king and the Queen are out for a visit to their friend. She's leaving me in charge for the meantime." He fought the frown that was trying to form in his face. He hates taking charges. Everyone is always looking up to him. It's pressuring. He thought it was a bit weird for him to be having those thoughts since he is fighting for the throne and all.

But seriously, why can't they ask Nate or Ace to take charge? Or even Dan and Ren?

He looked at the twins who were clapping their hands joyously at the king and queen's absence.

Okay maybe not the twins.

The twins both looked at Fred. "Why do they always leave Prince Fred in charge?" They both asked the same question that he was asking himself.

Until now, he couldn't help but wonder how they always say the same things at the same time. Is that a twin thing or an Alpha thing? He wondered what would happen if he had a twin to finish his every sentence.

Weird.

But it sounds fun!

Nate snorted at the twins' protest. "That's because the king and Queen are so smart as to not let you two be in charge. We all know what would happen when you two got the reins." The twins both glared at Nate, who seemed oblivious to the twins' glare - that or he's just pretending not to notice. Which didn't really help since the two seemed to snap.

Crap. Another fight is about to break loose if he won't do something.

Think Fred!

"Prince Ren, Prince Dan. Why don't the both of you go and fetch Rose? Breakfast is about to be served and it's almost time for her training with Ace." Just as he expected, the frowned from both of their faces vanished and was replaced by a grin. Their eyes sparkled as the both of them got up and made a salute.

"Our pleasure, your highness!" And they were off before he could even have the time to take back what he just said. Knowing them, they might pull some sort of trick on her before escorting her.

At the corner of my eyes, he saw Nate giving me an unsure look. "Prince Fred, are you sure that it is wise to call her now?" He thought about what Nate had said.

He's right. Rose might still be shaken from their little revelation yesterday. She might not like the idea of two werewolves giving her a wake up call. She might even freak out and scream bloody murder.

He nodded. This is why he hates being in charge. He takes the blame if anything goes wrong in the end. "I think that the sooner she'll get to spend more time with us, the easier she'll accept what we are." Was what he said.

Nate nodded. "Yes. I know that. But I wasn't referring to that."

"Oh? Then what are you referring to, Prince Nate?" I asked in curiosity.

"From spending time with her, I have learned that she's not a morning person." Nate chuckled. "Just imagine what she'll do to the twins when they try to wake her up."

Fred laughed. Nate is telling the truth. Right now, he can just imagine himself being the one waking her up for breakfast. He can just picture her glaring sleepily at him and yelling, "What the heck, ugly! Leave me alone."

He chuckled. He hopes she'll get back to her cheery self as soon as possible. It's only been yesterday and they already miss her unruly and refreshing personality. Fred thought about finishing the song that he was composing. He figured that Rose might want to hear it.

"Princes Fred?"

It seems as if the song was stuck to his head and the notes kept on replaying on his mind. He even practiced playing it on the piano yesterday thinking she would be delighted to hear it.

"Prince Fred!"

He was suddenly snapped out of his reverie. Nate had been calling his name while he was daydreaming. Oh wait, that wasn't a day dream! It's called memory recalling.

"Yes?" He asked.

"You were staring at an empty space for a while. Is everything alright?"

He nodded. "Of course. I just had a little thought." He glanced at Ace who was eating silently beside Nate. He didn't even notice that the food was already served.

What the heck is wrong with you, Fred? He thought to himself.

"Prince Fred! Prince Fred!" Before he had the chance to taste the food, they heard the twins screaming. Nate and Fred chuckled while Ace kept on eating. That guy seriously lacks socialization. He's not even joining the conversation.

But back to the matter at hand.

What did Rose do to make the twins scared out of their wits? He was eager to know.

The twins came into the dining area. Once Nate and Fred had a good look at the twins, their laughter died and even Ace stopped eating as he paid more attention to them. Both were out of breath and panic was in their eyes. They were breathing heavily.

His heart sank and he got up from his chair. "What happened?"

"Y-you see....we were knocking on Rose's door and trying to call her out."

"And when no one answered, Dan and I decided to go in and check her."

"When we came in, we immediately noticed that her scent was gone."

"We started to look for her in her room, but when we came to her balcony, we noticed that it was open."

"And not just that. She tied her clothes together so she could use it to climb down! Who knew she was smart!" By this comment, Ren smacked the back of Dan's head. He would have found it funny if the situation was different.

"Rose is gone?" As soon as the words left his mouth, it sounded more real. The twins nodded. By the now, Ace and Nate were out of chairs as they followed him when he started to run to Rose's room. He wants to see it for himself.

If those two are joking around then he will seriously turn them into frogs! Scratch that. He will curse them into frogs until someone kisses them!

I hope they're joking. Please let this not be real.

As soon as he reached her room, he noticed that her closet was empty. The book that held the history of the kingdom was on her desk and opened to a certain page. He didn't bother to check it since he immediately went to the balcony. Just as the twins have said, there was a makeshift rope that she used to climb down.

He heard someone curse behind me. He turned to see that the rest of the princes were able to catch up. Fred got up from his position and made his way to the princes.

"We need to find her." He turned towards the twins. "Can you track her down through her scent?" As wolves, they have a very sensitive nose so they can probably track her down.

Surprisingly, they shook their heads. "We tried, Prince Fred."

"But the scent stopped as soon as we reached the bottom of her balcony."

He quickly grunted and closed his eyes in order to collect myself. After 10 seconds, he let out a sigh. "That's okay. I'll try tracking her with my magic." He said. "Prince Ace, hand me her hairbrush over there." Fred pointed at the large white vanity table, where Ace was currently leaning on. He reached out behind him; grabbed the hairbrush and handed it to me. I couldn't help but notice that his eyes suddenly shifted to the book on her table. He then frowned at it.

He didn't bother to ask what it was about as he took the brush from him.

Fred studied the hairbrush until he was able to find a piece of her hair. He pulled it out and held it to his palm. He pulled out a small ounce of magic and pictured Rose in his mind; all the while trying to recall the word for the tracking spell.

"El' Reos zigreir." He whispered the words. Sparks flew from his palm and into the piece of hair. Suddenly, the piece of hair started to float and turned into a golden light.

"Alright! Way to go, Prince Fred!" Dan cheered.

They all ignored him as they watched the light floating towards the balcony. Without having second thoughts, they followed. The light stopped and then floated downwards and then...

...it just vanished.

"No!" Nate hissed and hit the railing with his fist in frustration. If it wasn't made of fine material, he's afraid that Nate would have broken it by now with his vampire strength. "Damn it!" he cursed.

"I don't understand." Fred shook his head in confusion.

The light was supposed to lead them to Rose. It wasn't supposed to just vanish.

"A cloak." Nate mumbled. Still glaring at the spot where my magic has vanished.

"What do you mean?" Ren asked.

Nate pointed below the balcony before looking at us. "Ren and Dan said that when they tried to track her down with her scent, they stopped just below this balcony. And when Fred casted the tracking spell it also led us to the exact same place. It means that when she has reached the bottom, she must have used something in order to hide her presence and prevent us from tracking her down."

Nate was on to something. He could tell. And Fred had a feeling what he was about to say.

"She's cloaked."

Fred's suspicion was confirmed when Nate nodded. A cloak is a special type of hood made by powerful warlocks. It conceals you so that no one can track you down. Not a vampire, not a werewolf, and not a warlock. It has been used by royals when they are hiding. The only flaw is that you can only conceal your scent and such from magic. But you can still be seen. It just keeps you from being tracked.

Dan shook his head. "But how? She doesn't even know that kind of stuff!"

"Maybe she has just figured it out somehow." Nate said in the middle of thinking. "Or the queen might have told her."

Fred shook my head in frustration. "Enough with this. We have to go look for her." He proposed and called one of the servants who was just passing by. "Tell the guards to prepare our horses!" The girl nodded and ran. Hopefully to deliver my order to the guards.

"All of you." Fred then directed to the princes. "Meet me in the stables in 5 minutes!"

He quickly headed to his room. Not even bothering to look back to see if the other princes have left to do the same. He doesn't really need anything in his room but his sword. He's not sure if he would really use this but he's not taking any chances.

They are in a supernatural world after all; and Rose is only a human. She might encounter some problems. Or worse. piss off a rogue that is capable of ripping her throat out.

He spotted his sword beside his bed and grabbed it. He quickly ran out as fast as he could and headed towards the stables. He could already see that the servants have already prepared their horses.

Surprisingly, Ace was the first one to have arrived. Like him, Ace also carried his own weapon. His bow was slung over his shoulder. Ace may be good in sword fighting but archery is more likely his style. The bow was made of a special elven metal. It's edge is sharp and, if he wills it to, it can be broken in two and be used as a double sword.

He spotted his horse just beside his and made my way to it. The stable boy then backed away to give me the reins, which he gratefully took and quickly jumped to ride his steed. "Where are they?" He asked Ace, who was now on his own horse.

He shrugged. "I don't know. But if they're not here in two minutes, we'll go ahead." If it were some other time, he would have been shocked since Prince Ace is eager to find Rose.

Then he was suddenly locked with a pair of wolves.

"Now that isn't very nice you know."

"Yeah. Considering that we took this time to shift."

Voices spoke in his mind. Nate came into his view with a determined look on his face as he rode his own horse. But he wasn't the one who spoke. It was the two brown wolves in front of us. One has a huge star-like shaped mark covering on its face while the other has a white-like sock on one of it's front legs. They were not like any ordinary wolves.

They were bigger and stronger.

"Ren? Dan? Why did you shift?" He asked curiously. It was their first time seeing the princes in their wolf form.

Both the wolves snorted at him. "We'll be faster this way."

"And our senses will be heightened. Which means the greater chance of finding Rose."

Well that made sense. He thought that they were just showing off.

"Alright." He nodded and told them the plan.

"We'll split up into two groups. Dan and I will try and head to go look in the town while Ace, Nate, and Ren will try and search the forest."

"Why do Dan and I have to be apart?" Asked the wolf with the white star on its face, he assumed it was Ren, and snorted in his wolf form. He was clearly not happy about the arrangement that Fred proposed. It's either he doesn't want to be parted with his twin or he doesn't want to spend time looking for Rose with Nate and Ace at his side.

"You and Dan have this alpha connection - or is that a twin thing? Never mind. What I'm trying to say is that we can communicate with each other through you and Dan. That way we can exchange some information regarding Rose's whereabouts."

"It only works on a limited distance. We'll be sure to inform you when we're out of each other's reach."

The twins let out a huff but agreed otherwise. Fred glanced at Nate and Ace and nodded at them. He pulled the reins of his horse to change courses. "Don't stop looking until we find her." He ordered and gestured at Dan to ready himself. Dan nodded.

Fred let my horse gallop towards the direction of the town. Dan, being a wolf, ran ahead of him.