Surreptitiously, the Shadow Fox slipped into the room Agent Chaplen occupied. He had left thirty minutes earlier with Captain Long for some sort of meeting. She supposed it would take much of the night. So, she had pulled on the Shadow Fox’s garb and slinked around her house. Granted, she could simply have walked into the room as Robyn, but she felt exposed doing that. The cloak seemed to protect her in the folds of its dark fabric.
She shut the door behind her and swiftly lit the candle she was carrying. It illuminated the room. Quickly, she set to work. Robyn searched through the chest of drawers, his trunk, the wardrobe, and even under the bed, but her sword was nowhere to be found. She groaned and fell backwards across her parents’ large four-poster bed. She looked up, hoping for some inspiration there and paused. In the folds of the curtains covering the four-poster bed was a most peculiar shape. She jumped up and crossed the room to the desk. As quietly as possible, she dragged the desk chair over to the bed and alighted upon it. Standing on the very tips of her toes, she could just see over the top. There, on top of the bed, lay her sword wrapped in a red coat. Grinning, she drew it out and tossed the coat back on top of the bed.
She leaped off the chair and hauled it back to the desk. Standing by the candle, she drew the sword partially from the sheath and admired the light’s glint off the steel.
Suddenly, the sound of boots stomping up the stairs reached her ears. She froze, praying it was only an officer, and not Chaplen. Her hopes were smashed into a thousand little pieces and replaced by alarm when his voice carried up to her.
“There’s something missing—something that I’m simply not getting.”
If she tried to leave, she would be at Chaplen’s mercy. That was not on her list of preferable actions. She looked around for a hiding spot. Swiftly, she blew out the candle and dove for the nearest hiding place—right under her parents’ bed. Fixing the bed skirt, she hoped he wouldn’t find her.
~~~~~
Chaplen pushed open the door and set the candle he was holding down on the desk. His eye was caught by a scrap of black cloth poking out from under the bed, but he dismissed it. Turning back to Long, he continued their previous conversation. “Do you know how frustrating it is to be out-smarted by a mere boy?!”
Captain Long smiled slightly. “Yes, sir, I do.”
Chaplen paused and eyed the open-faced Captain before him. The man may be somewhat dim, but he had a good heart. His men obeyed him because they liked him, not because they thought he’d have them horse-whipped if they didn’t. Chaplen thought Long would probably not have the heart to hang the Shadow Fox if he ever caught the boy by some miraculous happenstance. However, he was kind and understanding, just the kind of partner the cold, hard agent needed.
“Thank you, Captain.”
Long was confused. “Begging your pardon, but for what, sir?”
“For being simply…” his words trailed off.
“For what, sir?”
Chaplen didn’t answer, for he had seen the extra candle. He touched the wick. It was still hot, and there was a pool of melted wax on the holder. “Long, someone has been in here, and he wasn’t in here too long ago.”
He scanned the room with his green hawk-eyes. Nothing seemed out of place—except, there! The bed cover was rumpled. He knew for a fact he had carefully made up the bed that very morning, and it had not had a single wrinkle on it.
He pulled the desk chair over to the bed and sprang up on it. He threw the red coat on the ground and cursed. “It’s gone! The sword is gone!” He threw up his hands. “I didn’t get long enough to study that. It could have told me a great deal about its owner!” He cursed again and kicked at the coat. “He was in here and—“ The agent halted his tirade and a smirk slid across his face. The black scrap of cloth that had protruded from under the bed was gone. “And he’s still here!”
Both men dropped to their knees and lifted the bed skirt. They saw just who was under the bed.
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O.O
Wow, that's scary. Have they got her? It would be really weird to be hiding under someone's bed and for them to find you. I'd be like, "Heh, hi. How are you?"
Anyway. I really wanted to call this chapter "In your roomz hidin' under your bedz."
See ya'll next week!
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