Hadn’t it been buds just a few hours ago? Its beauty was captivating. I strained to hear its whispers; I knew it was trying to tell me something. My feet were rooted to the ground where I stood, until Adrian tugged on my arm.

“Montgomery, there’s no time for that now. You have to get there before it’s too late—before someone ruins everything.”

I followed him to the door of the Royal Quarters. Fear gripped me. “I can’t be here. I’m not Royal. It’s prohibited.”

Without a word, he took my hand in his. Warmth spread all over my body, like a burning fire. I knew I should pull my hand away; instead, I held his hand tighter.

When we passed through the entrance, a deep feeling in my gut me told me this was wrong, but with his hand in mine, I indulged my defiant side—my curiosity. We were the only souls here, our footsteps sounding across the marble floors as we approached two doors: an indigo-blue door on the left, a wine-red one on the right. Without hesitation, he led me to the one on the right.

“Why not the blue one?”

“It’s not for you,” he said simply.

At a security panel beside the door, he entered a long series of digits to unlock it. How did he know that code? I wanted to ask him, but the view ahead stunned me into silence. Three more doors awaited us inside. As we walked through, I could see that each door was engraved with a crest. They were the Pure Royals’ crests representing the Big Three: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

I let go of his hand and walked closer to admire them. The crest representing the Christoulakis family included a sky filled with clouds and Zeus’s lightning bolt in the middle.

The door in the middle displayed the Ambrosia crest. Kris, Adrian, and Vlad’s family. This one for Poseidon had a beautiful engraving of ocean waves with his trident in the middle.

Finally, I reached the last door: Hades. The god who reigned over the world of the dead. In the middle of what looked like havoc was the Helm of Darkness, a weapon so powerful that it made even Zeus and Poseidon pale with fear. It reminded me of a skull, which was enough to terrify anyone, even me. I might cry if I looked at it any longer.

Feeling that all this was too much to bear, I moved back toward the red door, but Adrian’s hand stopped me. “Don’t be afraid.” He held a cloth in his hand and offered it to me. “You have to clean it.”

“I can’t,” I whispered.

Adrian dragged me back to the last door. “Clean it. You have to.”