#ectcoberhaunt

[five-rivers]

Ancestral 2

"Has anyone told Alicia?" asked Maddie, after Mr. Kynbaz finished giving instructions to his team.

"A different team is handling her security, ma'am. Operational security."

Maddie nodded, but her expression was pinched and sour. "Your idea, or Matthew's?"

"Prince Matthew won't abandon family, ma'am."

There was tense silence.

"So," said Danny, interrupting, "what happens now? Are we going the usual way, or something else?" He'd said there was a charter, presumably a charter plane, waiting for them, but he'd like more detail. Was it going to take them to Britain, first, before the final leg? Somewhere else in Europe? One time, they'd spent a couple days in France, and that had been fun.

But they probably weren't going to do anything like that this time.

"This plane will take us directly to the islands," said Mr. Kynbaz.

"Isn't that risky if we want to lay low?" asked Maddie.

"We're hoping the speed will throw anyone with ill intentions off, ma'am."

"Well, I think no layovers will be great! What about you, kids?"

Danny and Jazz shrugged.

"Does the plane have phones?"

"And internet," said Mr. Kynbaz. "We intend to stay informed."

Jazz nodded, sharply. "Good." As if reminded of something, she pulled out her phone and started typing.

Danny leaned over to spy on what Jazz was looking at. The Missing Princesses: Whatever Happened to Princesses Madeline and Alicia of Avlynys? read the vividly colored tabloid cover. The picture was an old, grainy, photo of his mother and Aunt Alicia from before they went to college. The subtitle proclaimed One of the greatest mysteries of modern European royalty!

"Why are you reading that?" he asked.

"Forewarned is forearmed," said Jazz, grimly. "I want to know what kind of gossip we'll be facing when we show up."

"We already know about this, though," said Danny.

"It's a good thought," interrupted Maddie. "Goodness knows I try to stay away from it all. Are the Brits still speculating that Alicia and I were murdered?"

Jazz scrunched her nose up. "Unfortunately. It's so…" She trailed off, apparently remembering why they were leaving in such a rush. "Yeah."

"And… after the plane?" asked Danny.

"Straight to Kyr Argyn with the rest of the family. They're increasing security now. After that… I'm afraid I don't know much more than you do, at this point. There are the funerals, of course, and the Assembly will have to meet to discuss the, well, the throne." He gave Maddie a significant look. "It's something you should give some thought to, ma'am."

"We're not interested in that," said Maddie. "I haven't done the 'trials' and I don't want to. Matthew and Joanna are welcome to fight over it."

"They haven't done the trials, either. From your generation, only Prince William and Prince Martin had done them, and no one from your children's generation has tried them."

"Well," said Maddie. "That's… Maybe we can finally transition to a real democracy."

Mr. Kynbaz's expression was pained, but he didn't say anything else about the subject.

.

The plane broke through the high, wispy clouds, and Danny leaned towards the window, his breath just barely fogging the glass. Below was Avlynys. A small, often-forgotten archipelago in the North Atlantic, rising out of the Rockall Plateau, it was home to almost a hundred thousand residents, and had just over a hundred thousand citizens to its name.

The islands were speckled with white and gray, and it looked like an iceberg had grounded itself on Loryn Shoal again, a few miles past Myrgyn and Myrno, the two largest of the nine islands. The other seven, smaller islands - Myz, Gly, Glyteno, Glyton, Tyrono, Thyten, and Thytys - were almost invisible against the backdrop of the sea.

The plane rumbled and shook as it came down, the view rapidly going from map-like, to birds-eye, to skyscraper-high. Danny could almost feel Jazz's eyes on the back of his neck. She knew he could fly, and she was doubtlessly wondering why Danny was so entranced.

But this was different from flying around Amity. He didn't pull back from the window until the plane touched down. As soon as they came to a stop, the plane was swarmed. A population of a hundred thousand didn't support all that many security personnel, but it felt like they were all here, on the airstrip.

The rushing energy of the moment combined with air travel fatigue to make a surreal experience. Were all the police on the island here?

The Fentons were packed into much more obviously armored cars which hurtled to Kyr Argyn. The landscape flew past in a blur of white, green, and gray.

That's why Danny thought he was seeing things at first. Between the long day, the continuing emotional shock, and the speed they were traveling, falling prey to optical illusions, to pareidolia, could be expected.

But as he peered out his window, his breath began to fog up the window much more than it had back on the plane. His eyes weren't making up things out of nothing.

He was seeing ghosts.

Hundreds of ghosts. Maybe even thousands of ghosts.

They lined the road. Watching? Waiting? Danny couldn't tell. The conditions that made him think his brain was making things up were still there. They were whipping by too fast for Danny to make out any detail.

It was very obvious no one else was seeing what he was. If his parents were, they'd be freaking out.

There hadn't been anything like this last time he was here. Or had there? Had all these ghosts been here, present, just invisible to normal people?

Part of him hoped not. Part of him hoped so.

The former, because just thinking about this many ghosts in one place for so long was disturbing. The latter, because trying to imagine where they had come from was worse.

Were his grandparents and great-grandparents out there? His cousins? His great-aunt and uncle? More distant ancestors?

"This isn't the way to Kyr Argyn," said Maddie. "Why have we turned off?"

"Sorry, your highness," said the driver. "Forgot that you wouldn't know in all this. The Assembly is at Kyr Argyn with Prince Matthew, to try to figure out…" He trailed off. "The rest of the family is at Basym Hyws."

"That old ruin?" asked Maddie in surprise.

She wasn't the only one. The old manor and the overgrown vineyards had been striking, but not inviting to anyone but children wanting to explore.

"Prince Martin was restoring it, ma'am," explained Mr. Kynbaz. "It was his personal project, to get the vineyard producing again. Princess Joanna had a thought about exporting…" He shook his head. "In any case, it's entirely livable, and I suppose it is one of the few places on Myrgyn large enough to fit everyone without displacing someone else, or being…" He hesitated. "Politically inexpedient."

"No one wants the royal family in a hotel?" asked Maddie, wryly.

"I wouldn't put it quite like that, but, yes, ma'am. That's the long and short of it."

"What about Kyr Gly?" asked Danny. "That's big enough."

"And on the wrong island," said Mr. Kynbaz. "Although I suppose the Glyé would be happy enough about it."

There was something of a rivalry between the islands, although Danny had never been in Avlynys long enough to get a good grasp of who was on what side. Mr. Kynbaz was a Glytoné, and last Danny knew, all the islands that started with G were in it against everyone else, but especially the islands that started with M.

The road began to wind up a hill, and the car slowed. The grape vines had been cut back, and many of them had even been given new trellises.

There were ghosts here, too. And Danny could see, now, that the pale shades were watching the cars go by, heads turning to keep track, but not moving otherwise. Most of them weren't new, though, sporting obviously archaic clothing, and Danny was thankful for that.

Although, he couldn't call this, any of this, good. He shivered as the car passed by what looked to be an entire viking family, children included, standing on the side of the road. This was creepy for him, and he was a ghost, too, for goodness' sake!

The car pulled to a stop in front of the mansion at the top of the hill. Smoke curled weakly from one of the chimneys, the wind whipping it away into nothing.

"Alright," said Maddie, wiping the palms of her hands on the legs of her pants. Her expression was resolute, but Danny could see that she was still crumpled, inside.

"Mom," said Jazz, before trailing off.

Jack patted Maddie on the shoulder. "We can just… take it slow?" he suggested.

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Maddie. "Out of everyone here, we're probably the least affected, and they're going to be–" She cut herself off.

"It doesn't do anyone good to compare grief," said Jazz.

"It isn't just that," said Maddie. "They're going to want to indulge their ridiculous belief that ghosts can do good and I just– I can't. I know they won't come back as ghosts, they were too good, but how can I take that- that comfort away from everyone? But I can't deal with it right now."

Danny saw Mr. Kinbaz and the driver exchange troubled looks.

"You don't have to," said Jack. "Just don't think about ghosts right now. Man! I can't believe I'm actually saying that. But don't think about them. No one will be thinking about that right now. It's barely been a day. Grief… it needs time to sink in."

"You don't know them like I do."

"And I'm sure you'll be able to handle anything they say, Mads," said Jack.

"Right," said Maddie.

"Are you ready, your highness?" asked the driver.

"One moment," interjected Mr. Kynbaz, putting a finger on his earpiece. "Yes, we're clear."

There was a brief moment of awkwardness when the driver opened the door for them, and Jack, Jazz, and Danny blanked on the proper etiquette for the gesture, but everyone seemed content to overlook it. They were escorted up to the manor with no more fuss.

Danny, however, couldn't help but look back before entering. The ghosts standing among the grapevines stared up at him.

He was stuck by the thought that he would find out what was going on here - but he might not like the way he did it.