Chapter 49: Whispers in the Walls

The celebrations lasted for three days, but silence finally returned to the Royal Palace.

It was 2:00 AM. Serenity lay awake in the massive four-poster bed. The room was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the heavy velvet curtains.

Jackson was sleeping next to her—or at least, pretending to. His breathing was too shallow, his muscles too tense.

Hummmmm.

A low, deep vibration resonated through the floorboards. It was so faint that it could easily be mistaken for the wind, but Serenity felt it in her bones.

She sat up. "Jackson? Did you feel that?"

Jackson opened his eyes instantly. He didn't look sleepy at all.

"Feel what?" he asked, his voice steady.

"The floor... it vibrated. Like a subway train passing underneath," Serenity whispered. "But there are no subways in Montbert."

Jackson sat up and pulled her back into his arms. "It's an old castle, babe. The pipes are ancient. The heating system probably just kicked in. Don't worry about it."

"It didn't feel like pipes," Serenity frowned. "It felt like... a heartbeat."

"Go to sleep, my Queen. You are just tired from the coronation," Jackson kissed her forehead firmly. "I'll call the engineers tomorrow to check the boiler room."

Serenity lay back down. "Okay. Goodnight, Jackson."

"Goodnight."

She closed her eyes. Her breathing evened out.

Ten minutes later.

Thinking she was asleep, Jackson slowly, silently slid out of bed. He grabbed his robe and slipped out of the room, closing the door without a sound.

In the dark, Serenity’s eyes snapped open. She wasn't sleeping.

He is hiding something.

---

Meanwhile, in the East Wing of the Palace.

Alex’s room was glowing blue.

He wasn't sleeping either. He was wearing his dinosaur pajamas, staring at a complex graph on his main monitor.

"Weird," Alex mumbled, adjusting his glasses.

On the screen, the Palace’s energy consumption chart was spiking red.

"Why does the basement use 80% of the palace's electricity?" Alex tapped his chin. "And it only happens between 2 AM and 4 AM."

He typed a command to trace the power lines.

The blueprint of the palace appeared on the screen. The power lines went down... down past the wine cellar... down past the dungeon... into a blank space on the map.

[ ERROR: Sector Unknown. Blueprint Redacted. ]

"A secret room?" Alex’s eyes lit up. This was way more interesting than the Lego Death Star.

Suddenly, the signal pattern changed. The graph wasn't random noise anymore. It became rhythmic.

Dot. Dash. Dot. Dot. Dash.

"It's not noise," Alex whispered, realizing what he was seeing. "It's a code."

He grabbed his notebook and started transcribing the spikes.

H... E... L... P...

Alex froze. The pencil dropped from his hand.

"Help?"

Someone—or something—was down there. And they were using the power grid to scream for help.

At that moment, the door handle to his room turned.

Alex quickly minimized his windows and jumped into bed, pulling the duvet over his head.

The door opened. Heavy footsteps walked in.

"Alex? Are you awake?" It was Jackson’s voice.

Alex faked a snore.

Jackson stood by the bed for a moment. Then he sighed.

"Sleep tight, son. Daddy has some monsters to fight tonight."

The door clicked shut.

Alex waited a full minute before popping his head out.

"Monsters?" Alex looked at his computer screen where the "HELP" signal was still flashing.

"I don't think they are monsters, Dad," Alex whispered, a determined glint in his eyes. "I think they are prisoners."