Upon entering the château, the five of them are greeted by a man in a butler's uniform. Emelia sees surprise flicker across his face.

"Bonjour, Votre grâce," he addresses François after quickly composing himself. "Your father has been looking for you."

"Tell him to meet me in the parlour, Frederick," François replies.

"Oui, Votre grâce," the butler says. "And what should I tell him about... err..."

His eyes flicker to Sofie and Emelia.

"Nothing," François answers, a hint of warning in his voice. "I will discuss it with him."

The butler bows his head before turning and disappearing so fast it leaves Emelia gawking whilst the unsettling feeling she experienced on the plane returns.

A mere minute later, an angry voice booms from somewhere not far away.

"François!"

Sofie jumps with surprise and Emelia's eyes widen. Who the hell is that?

"Oh, you really messed up this time, little brother." A beautiful woman with long ebony locks appears at the top of the bifurcated staircase. With crossed arms, she glowers down with eyes the same emerald shade as his.

"Hello, Camille," François replies casually. "Could you please take these humans off my hands?"

Emelia frowns, both confused and disturbed by his choice of words.

"You better have a good excuse prepared for papa," Camille tells him, her gaze shifting sharply to appraise both girls. "Come with me," she says, not bothering to see if they obey, disappearing as quickly as the butler had.

"Follow her," François repeats when the two both hesitate.

"François!" the deep voice booms again, getting closer, and the girls react instantly, hurrying up the stairs to catch up with Camille and get away from François and whoever is calling him.

"Hey, wait," Emelia calls when she spots the other woman further down the hall. Camille doesn't turn to acknowledge her but slows down slightly.

Sofie throws her a look of uncertainty but Emelia is undeterred, too determined for answers.

"Where are you taking us?"

When Camille still doesn't respond, continuing to walk ahead of them with confident strides, Emelia becomes flustered by anger.

"Excuse me," she yells. "Hello?!"

Camille comes to a sudden stop outside a room and opens the door, revealing a large and tastefully-decorated bedroom instead of the dark torture chamber Emelia had been expecting.

"I'm sorry," Camille finally speaks, her tone rather abrasive. "But I don't have time to talk. This is one of the guest rooms. You two should stay in here until further notice."

"You're keeping us here?" Sofie asks, voice high with anxiety.

"Only until there's another solution available," Camille replies and Emelia's stomach does a double summersault.

"A solution for what?" she breathes.

Camille looks at Emelia with an expression that resembles someone who has just bitten into a lemon.

"You," she states before leaving the room faster than either of them can reply, closing the door harshly behind her. As Emelia listens to her footsteps recede, she notes instantly that the door, although closed, remains unlocked. They aren't technically trapped in here but what use would heading back downstairs be to them?

"Emmy..." Sofie's soft voice draws her attention. Tears shine in her eyes. "I'm scared."

"Yeah," Emelia mutters absently, resisting the urge to add me too. Her eyes scan the room, soon landing on the large floor-to-ceiling arched window.

Rushing over, she prays with every fibre of her being that they are not locked. Luck appears to be on her side this time as the latch comes undone with ease and the window swings open without a sound.

Emelia turns to her cousin and points to the large queen size bed that has a canopy overhead.

"Help me take those sheets off. We're getting out of here."

Removing the sheets and covers from the bed, and then tying the ends together in order to fashion a makeshift rope is relatively easy. Using it to climb out and down from the window proves to be the hard part.

Tying one end to the nearest bedpost, Emelia tugs on it harshly to test its strength.

Satisfied, she then says, "Ok, I'll go first."

"No, don't leave me alone up here." Sofie grabs her arm, eyes wide with alarm, and Emelia blows air out of her nose in frustration.

"It will only take a few minutes for me to climb all the way down," she assures her. "And then you can follow."

"But what if it breaks?" Sofie squeaks.

"That's why I'm going first," Emelia explains hurriedly. "If it holds my weight then it will hold yours too."

"But what if you fall?" Sofie continues, her panic evidently on the rise. "That's at least a twenty-foot drop."

"I'm not going to fall," Emelia says, sounding a lot more confident than she feels, as she tosses the other end of the fabric out the window. She tries to avoid looking down when lifting herself up and over the window's ledge. When she grabs the rope, her hands tremor slightly.

As someone without the adequate strength and stamina for strenuous physical activities such as the one she's about to embark on, Emelia relies on sheer determination to hold her weight and shimmy her way down the rope inch-by-inch. By the time her feet reach the ground outside below the window, sweat clings to her skin and her palms feel like they are on fire.

She glances back up at her cousin who is watching intently from above, half of her face hidden by the windowsill so only the top of her head, wide eyes and pale nose can be seen.

Silently, Emelia signals for her to come down and after a tense moment of hesitation, Sofie eases herself out of the window and carefully climbs down the rope with more competence than someone with her jitteriness should be capable of, reaching the ground in half the time Emelia was able to.

The two of them then make a beeline for the entrance gate, running on the grass instead of the gravel to avoid making noise which may notify anyone to their escape.

___.___

When I was younger, someone broke into the house when I was home alone with my little brother and we both had to climb out of the window in order to escape. That was the original inspiration for this chapter if anyone was wondering.