The man with no muscles closed the hatch when we had all gotten out. A courtyard, and judging by the red oriental architecture, we were in the center of the palace. I hopped on the stone plates, not touching the grass between the springs, to the pond in the center of the courtyard. My reflection looked back at me from the water. Didn’t look as happy as I remembered myself, and tried to smile, it looked artificial. A red fish swam by, causing ripples in my reflection. The fish was pretty, would probably have made a tasty meal. Voices coming from an open window on the second floor stole my attention.

“The ceremony is about to start, head down into the ballroom.” The voice sounded familiar, but I could not recall where I had heard it before.

I looked at bone meal: “Do you know where that is?”

“No, but we can look for it,” he replied.

Took the only way out of the courtyard; through a red gate that looked similar to the one at the entrance to the palace.

Bone meal read the signs: “Kitchen, dining room, armory..”

“Armory!” I said.

Being without weapons when trespassing was suicide, so I walked to the door, and peeked through the keyhole. Rifles like the ones I had helped put together earlier that day were neatly lined up against the walls. I slowly turned the knob, and opened. It made a squeak that loudly echoed through the silent corridor. There was nobody inside. We quickly headed in, and left the door open as to not make any more noise. My Kodachi and Schofield laid on the table in the center of the room, how convenient. Too convenient. They must’ve left them there in a hurry. I put the Schofield back in its holster and slid the Kodachi into the back of my corset.

“Can you shoot?” I asked Ri and bone meal.

“Only our comrades in grey are trained to handle firearms,” bone meal informed me.

It was probably best to not give them more than they could handle, and besides, two men with rifles that shouldn’t have them would probably attract unnecessary attention. Music flowed through the corridor and into the room we stood in. We left the armory, following the music. It had the same ring to it as what Gao and Wu had played on the boat. It came from the room at the end of the corridor. I got flashbacks from Harald’s Tower, only this time the paintings hanging on the walls depicted mountainous landscapes and characters in black ink rather than little girls.

“Ballroom,” bone meal read the sign above the double doors leading into the room the music was coming from.

I prepared for the worst, and pushed the doors open. It was crowded with men wearing suits. The suits came in different colors of silk, and were held together by diamond knots rather than regular buttons. The women wore dresses similar to what the queen had worn, but with no embroidery. In the front of the room, up on a stage, there she was; the queen.

The music faded, and she spoke: “Welcome to today’s special celebration. We are all gathered here today because a creature that terrorised our trade routes for a long time has finally been put down.”

She hadn’t seen us come in, we were one with the crowd. No grey ants in sight, I knew this was my chance. I lifted my dress, wrapped my hand around the Schofield, and lifted it out of its holster. I wrapped my other hand around it to keep it steady and aimed right at the queen. Everyone was facing the queen, and took no notice to what I was about to do. The queen was evil, I told myself. I had to do it, for Mao.

“Whenever you’re ready, take the shot,” I heard my father say in my mind.

I inhaled deeply, the queen was no deer with no fawn. I exhaled slowly, and squeezed the trigger at the same time.

Click.

Fuck, I should’ve known it wasn’t going to be that easy. She had taken the bullets out. The click made one of the men turn their head, his eyes widened.

“Gun!” he yelled. The queen stopped speaking.

Soon every person was staring at me. Panic filled the room, they all pushed past me out the doors. Everyone but the queen.

“You naive little girl…” the queen spoke, “did you really think I was going to let you kill me?”

The weight of the Schofield made my arms shake, but I refused to lower it.

“You’ve ruined our celebration, do you have nothing to say?” the queen asked.

I cocked the hammer one more time, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

“Pathetic,” she said.

The curtains behind her moved, and out walked familiar faces. Connor, Grimmington, Emily, Bò, and Mike!

“Leah!” Mike yelled.

“Told you,” Grimmington muttered to Mike.

We were equally as surprised to see each other. The smile on Mike’s face quickly faded when he saw my Schofield being pointed at the queen.

“What are you doing..?” he asked me.

“Kill her! What are you waiting for?!” I said.

“Why?”

“Her people are slaving away their entire lives, and for what? She has brainwashed them into thinking this is normal, working day and night. If they can’t keep up, she gets rid of them. Lets them rot in a cave out of people’s sight!”

Grimmington quickly walked over to me, and whispered in my ear: “The queen is about to give us our paycheck for defeating Nessie, so if you want to see your sister again, I suggest you cut that attitude, girl.” He placed his finger on the tip of the Schofield’s barrel, and lowered it for me.

“You people know each other?” the queen wondered.

“Yes,” Grimmington spun and faced the queen, “Leah here, is in fact, the reason Nessie is no longer around.”

“Oh.. Well, Leah has been causing quite a fuss during her time here in Unionsville, disrupting our workflow. I suppose we can call it quits, and I’ll let her walk out of here.”

“Wut about our peyment?” Connor asked.

“I should have Leah executed for her crimes, but I am willing to look the other way and let you all go on with your day.”

“I’m sorrey, but that’s nut hou we do tings hear, a deul is a deul.”

“Guards!” the queen announced. Grey ants stormed the ballroom, aiming at each one of us.

“You can either take my offer, or face the firing squad. It doesn’t make a difference to me,” she said.

We were outnumbered.

“Well, what’s it going to be?”

“We’re leaving..” Grimmington said in defeat.

The guards kept the tips of their rifles pointed at us all the way out of the ballroom.