Looking like a stunned fish, Stephen slowly stumbled back to his room. In all of his experience playing games and watching moves, he'd never known a prophetic scene to lead to anything good. At least, not in an easy way. Sure, the stories often had a good ending, but Stephen was less excited about the atmosphere 'death waits to strike' gave off. He didn't have the heroic powers people usually possessed to fight off bad omens.

As Stephen rounded the corner, he spotted Sebastian standing outside his door. Instinctively, Stephen backed away and hid before taking a peek. The mad magician was impatiently tapping his foot. Sebastian huffed, turned around to knock on the door, and then ran his hands through his hair. Whatever the sadomasochistic mage wanted, Stephen had no interest.

Turning to leave, Stephen found himself uncomfortably close to Kate's face. It took all of Stephen's willpower to not let out a startled shout, he only barely managed to convert his surprise into a hysterical gasp. This was too many shocks in a single day!

“Kate!” Stephen whispered harshly, almost shouting, “Why are you sneaking around like that! You're going to give me a heart attack!"

“Your heart's going to be attacked?” Kate replied flatly, tilting her head.

“What do you want?” Stephen glanced to his left, trying to listen for Sebastian’s approach. The last thing he wanted right now was to get caught up in another experiment.

Kate narrowed her eyes, “You’re sneaking around.”

“No, I’m hiding.”

“What’s the difference?” Kate tilted her head, looking at Stephen quizzically.

“Well, I might live longer,” Stephen moved to peek around the corner again but Kate reached out and tapped his shoulder. He stopped and Kate lifted her finger to her mouth.

Kate stepped out and Stephen could hear Sebastian gasp.

“Oh, it’s just you, Kate,” Sebastian sighed with relief, “Thought the castle had a shadow-monster. Have you seen my new apprentice, Stephen?”

“I heard the other maids say he went to the garden,” Kate said.

Stephen grimaced, had she been watching him before, too? Then again, he was sure it was like any workplace, whether they be in fantastic worlds or his own.

“Did he, now?” Sebastian replied curiously, “Thank you, Kate.”

Sebastian’s footsteps came closer, Stephen braced himself, sure he wouldn’t have time to run. Kate spoke up again, “The Southern garden.”

Sebastian stopped before turning to where Stephen was and turned to move in the other direction, “Oh! Excellent, thank you again. You always keep a finger on things, I like that. Very helpful.”

“I do my best,” Kate said quietly.

“I hear you’re in charge of taking care of my new apprentice?”

“That is correct.”

Sebastian thought for a moment, “Do keep an eye on him, too. After all, we haven’t had a visitor in a long time, I’d hate for him to have a bad experience.”

“Of course.”

“And another thing,” Sebastian’s voice was quiet, Stephen could barely hear, “You haven’t, by chance, heard anything about the king and his… esteemed guest?”

Kate didn’t reply.

“Of course not,” Sebastian answered for her, “The king’s keen on privacy, as we all know. Ever since the queen…” Sebastian’s voice trailed, “Never mind that, go on about your business. If you could, please have someone clean my study. There's quite a mess now, though it's not as bad as my closet.”

Sebastian let loose a loud laugh that echoed down the hall, growing distant as the wizard left. As soon as Sebastian’s back was turned, Stephen quietly slipped around the corner and headed towards his room. Kate stood in front of the door, tall and proud. Stephen caught a slight smugness in her expression, but it was soon corrected.

"The nuisance is taken care of," Kate gave a tiny bow that could have easily been disguised as a nervous twitch, "Have a great night."

Stephen nodded, "I owe you one."

The smugness in Kate's eyes flared once more, "I'll keep that in mind."

Before Stephen could regret his words, Kate swiftly walked past him and down the hall. Stephen watched her go, thinking she moved like a soft breeze. How she could move so quickly without making a sound astounded him. Stephen could barely walk across his apartment without kicking something.

When he flopped onto his bed, Stephen's thoughts eventually returned to the conversation he overheard between Kate and Sebastian. From the sounds of it, Kate knew everything that went on in the castle and Sebastian was interested in what the king was up to – seemed like the king kept his affairs a secret. Wasn’t there a court, or some kind of noble who the king worked with? When Stephen first heard of the Court Mage, he assumed it was someone who worked closely with the king.

There was an eery element to what Stephen heard that bothered Stephen, however.

“Was Sebastian using Kate?” Stephen muttered out loud.

Stephen paused, unconsciously waiting for Kate to pipe in, but he shook his head.

“If I keep this up, I’ll grow paranoid. There’s no way she’s spying on me, that’s ridiculous. She’s short, that’s why she’s so quiet,” Stephen nodded, content with his obviously warped logic, then changed into pajamas. It wasn’t late, and he hadn’t eaten supper, but Stephen was just ready for tomorrow to arrive.

Stephen fell asleep quickly, he was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Between his bizarre encounters with the castle staff, the dark prophecy he was told, and his stealth mission to reach his room, Stephen had experienced more stress than any gaming session.

In the middle of the night, something woke Stephen up. He thought he’d heard that snapping sound again, like the one he heard in the garden.

“Kate?” He muttered aloud to the dark, then groggily fell back on his pillow and drifted off. The cool nighttime air drifted into his room. His curtains billowed silently in the moonlight.