Nobody was there.  Gloria felt a curious mixture of relief and disappointment.  It had all been a gag after all – just a silly game to get her wandering around the castle and worrying about nothing.  It had to be nothing because Gloria had peeked into the room after Lisette went in, and had seen nobody was there, and then she’d heard a noise and panicked and hid behind the door across the hall, but nobody had come by, and certainly nobody had entered the door.  Besides, Lisette still hadn’t come back.

The space behind the door felt cramped and Gloria fidgeted, peeking out at intervals in hopes of seeing Lisette.  But still, Lisette didn’t appear and Gloria began to worry.  Was it possible that she’d been right?  That it really was some crazy murdered luring a little girl in to her doom?  Maybe Lisette was already bludgeoned to death.  The longer Gloria hid, the more her imagination worked itself into a frenzy and the more restless she became.  After a bit, Gloria inched out from behind the door and crept to the Trophy room door, she hid behind the doorframe, chewing at her lower lip and craning her neck trying to see something without giving herself away. 

“Psst,” she hissed.  “Hey.  Are you there?”



Gloria Watkins