Chapter 1 – The mysteries of friends and family

"C'mon, LSP! Come catch me!"

"Uh, hang on Bon. Just a minute."

"C'mon, LSP, you're it!"

"Wait a minute, I'm eating!"

"Can't catch me-e! Can't catch me-e!" the first girl taunted, her high pitch voice floating across the garden.

"THAT'S IT! I'LL GET YOU!"

The second girl let out a war-like scream, and launched herself from the bench towards the first girl. Cookies, that the second girl had been eating, flew in all directions; landing on the grass around her seat, shattering into a million biscuit shards. The first girl screamed in mock-fear, but her voice carried more as a giggle across the yard. As she attempted an escape across the yard, she stumbled over her own feet and landed face down in the candy turf. She scrambled to her feet, just as LSP slammed into her. They both fell back down to the turf in a fit of laughter, flailing their arms in all directions in an attempt to stand – needless to say their efforts were fruitless.

Suddenly, LSP floated upright and pulled the first girl up with her. From the play-fight, the first girl's bright pink hair was ruffled up, her usually pale cheeks were rosy and her short pink dress dirty. LSP tapped her excitedly on the shoulder.

"Bonnie! Bonnie! I've just had the GREATEST idea EVER!"

Bonnie grinned that kind of smile that only small children have when they are happy.

"Go on, LSP…" she said, still smiling.

"Bonnie, we could, like, totally go and explore the SECRET ROOM!"

Bonnie gasped. It was daring. Too daring for a couple of 5 year olds? Before she could think about it, LSP continued.

"I can see you considering it. Fine, I DARE YOU!" LSP whispered in Bonnie's ear, causing her to gasp again. A dare?

"I double-dare YOU to come with me, then!" Bonnie replied, pointing at LSP accusingly.

"Ok." LSP agreed. "RACE YOU THERE!"

The two youngsters burst into the palace, past the banana guards at the entrance, through the great hall and straight into the Peppermint servant. He was knocked to the ground, and the books he was carrying scattered across the floor. LSP hurtled up the stairs, whooping and laughing, but Bonnie glanced back and said a rushed "Sorry" to Peppermint Servant before chasing her friend and ultimately colliding with her. Peppermint Servant, who had been about to scold them, couldn't help laughing a little at the princesses antics: after all, who could scold two 5 year olds just for being young?

The two whirlwinds rushed on through the castle, bumping into servants, pillars and open doors. They slid across the kitchen floor, annoying the staff who just washed it; through Bonnie's parents' lab and around the portrait corner. The penultimate corner was in sight, with just one corridor between them and sight of the restricted door. The corridor was lined with all the portraits of Bonnie's family – from the very first post-war Queen Caramel to Bonnie's very own mother and father, King and Queen Marshmallow. As LSP ran on, Bonnie felt the need to slow down at least to a walk under the eyes of her dead relatives. At last, she reached the end of the corridor, where she found LSP standing still, staring ahead down the corner. Bonnie turned to look in the direction LSP was.

The large blue door dominated the end of the corridor – it transfixed the two children, and they found that they couldn't look away - if just with the knowledge that behind its candy steel doors was a room they had never been in before. Together, they had explored all the rooms in the palace – even the cold, dark cellar basements. But somehow this door both excited them – and scared them – much more than those rooms. Gargoyles sculpted from gummy candy lined the corridor, looming menacingly above them. Bonnie remembered that their shape was human – she had never actually seen a human in their skin before. Sure, she had seen old films in the royal archives with humans in them, and seen pictures in the books her parents had given her – but never an actual human. It was the one thing she could never see, for the Great Mushroom War had destroyed all human life that could have possibly survived. The only thing she wanted was impossible; she vowed to see a human, and these scary gargoyles with scowling faces were the closest she had ever come. The door itself was printed with the yellow royal symbol, decorated with small yellow birds in flight. Bonnie did not know what kind of birds they were, but they took some of the seriousness away from the door.

In the time they had stood there, the atmosphere had changed entirely. A second ago, the children were laughing, but now they trembled in the presence of the door, holding hands and looking up with large round eyes. They tentatively took a step forward, the floor creaking as they did so. The creak echoed, as if the very palace was questioning why two young ones such as they stepped on its cracked surface. The echo made them flinch.

"Come on, Bonnie, it's just a door. We can beat it." LSP whispered, the wall rebounding every syllable.

"Please don't whisper, LSP, it makes the echo even weirder." Bonnie said, partly to sound superior but mostly from her own fears.

They took another step towards the door, then fear overtook the two and they sprinted the rest of the way. The suspense caused by the door was too much.

The two stood quaking at the door once they reached it. It had, by now, imposed such a presence on them that all attempts at making light of the situation were squashed. They stood there, just staring up at the door, then LSP spoke.

"Go on, Bon, open it."

Bonnie spun around, angered, and clenched her fists.

"Hey, I'm not knocking, you knock!" she shouted.

"No way. It's your house."

"What? But…you're older!"

"So? You're younger, therefore you have less to lose!"

"You butt!"

"You drama queen!"

"You meanie!"

"Whatever."

As they argued, their voices grew louder and louder, until finally someone in the forbidden room heard their voices and came out. The door creaked loudly as it swung open on rusty hinges, stopping the argument in its tracks, and the two turned around, their mouths hanging open.

The room was pink. That was the third thing they noticed. The carpet was pink, the ceiling was pink, everything was pink. So much pink, that it hurt their eyes. The second thing they noticed was the atmosphere of the room. It seemed…a lot colder than all the other rooms – even colder than the coldest basement room, yet in some way they couldn't comprehend…not. It was so big, and desks on either side made the room look like an office block. The first thing they noticed was the many staff running around – papers being stamped, people talking, and the general business taking place. Bonnie assumed that this was where her parents carried out the candy kingdom government affairs. Knowing what this room was, she found the room slightly boring.

There was a polite cough from the figure in front of them, and Bonnie realised she had her mouth open. She turned to LSP, who didn't appear to have heard this cough. She looked up, and the women seemed…stranger than anything else she had ever seen, what with her pink hair, plastic style face and fake smile. Bonnie found this last part particularly creepy, since it reminded her of the dolls in her bedroom; always watching her as she slept. With that, Bonnie made a mental note not to look directly into her eyes. The long pink dress this lady adorned was trimmed with gold and the golden royal emblem was embroidered on her chest. Suddenly, Bonnie realised that she had, yet again, left her mouth open – very unbecoming of a princess.

The tall lady coughed again, then (in a high, patronising tone)said "Can I help you?", never letting the plastic smile falter. LSP, for all her previous bravado, said nothing and started shaking. A wheezing sound came from her still-open mouth, one which sounded like "Nothing."

But Bonnie, who had long since sized this lady up as all appearance and no depth, stepped forward ahead of LSP and glared right back into her eyes with what she hoped was menacingly.

"Someone called us up here. Who are you?" she said with a forceful tone. LSP gasped almost silently – it was very unlike Bonnie to lie.

The tall lady, however, remained unfazed, and looked down her long nose at Bonnie. The lady smiled even wider and said,

"My, aren't we the feisty princess? You shouldn't be in here, darling, this is a room for big people!"

Bonnie gritted her teeth and tried to step around her, but was only met with flapping hands, attempting to shoo her out of the room like flies.

"No no no no no no no, darling! Sweetie, you can't come in!"

At this point, Bonnie had had just about enough of this lady and her fake face. The patronising tone was too much to handle. Bonnie's sharp witted mind quickly formulated a plan, and she stepped back with lowered, submissive eyes.

"Well now dear, that wasn't so hard was it? Now hurry along and play dollies."

the lady continued, unaware that while she was busy talking Bonnie had grasped LSP's hand and was telling her the plan.

"On three." Bonnie whispered as quietly as she could to LSP. "We both run to the left of her."

"Which left?" LSP whined almost silently. Bonnie scowled and subtly pointed in the right direction. After a few seconds, LSP whispered back "Ok."

"On three. 1…"

"What are you whispering about?" the lady said sternly, the plastic smile still not breaking. "You know it's rude to whisper in front of grown-ups!"

"2…"

"Come on darling, tell your Auntie Treacle!"

"3…"

"Sweetie pie…"

"NOW LSP!"

With this shout, the two friends dodged past 'Auntie Treacle' and sprinted across the fluffy carpet towards the large desk at the end of the room. Behind this desk was a black chair, which had obviously had much use since it was clearly repaired with liquorice tape. But at that moment, Bonnie didn't care. With a childish curiosity, she only wanted to see what was on top of the desk. She ran faster, partly dragging the confused LSP across the room. The lady at the door had frozen stiff the moment Bonnie ran past – staring after them, not running; a last patronising word hanging from her lips. The staff inside the room fell silent; the fingers of the writers slowing, the rustling of paper quietening until all Bonnie could hear was the soft thuds of her shoes on the pink carpet.

Finally, she reached the desk and, finding it too high to reach, she rested. At this point, LSP poked Bonnie and said,

"Girl, its super creepy in here. Look!"

Bonnie turned around, noticing for the first time the silence in the room. A hundred pairs of eyes were watching her every move like eagles watching rabbits. The tension in the room could not be heavier if it tried. Bonnie wanted to leave, but a dare was a dare – they had dared each other, and if she left before LSP she would have failed. She was still looking around when LSP tapped her shoulder. She turned around again, and saw LSP's eager face.

"What is it?" she asked, unable to keep a hint of frustration out of her voice.

"Bon, there's, like, a TON of paper up there!"

"LSP, I'm too short to get up there!"

"It's no problem, I'll do it!"

Bonnie was about to ask what she was going to do, when LSP flew up to the top of the desk and a second later she was showered with paper, fluttering around Bonnie like wings. However, Bonnie was less than amused.

"Great going, genius, now whatever order they were in is messed up"

Under her breath, she whispered "When Dad finds out I wasn't studying, I'm as good as dead!"

LSP, offended by her friend's remark, floated down and offered a reply.

"Oh, so how exactly would you have gotton them down?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't have just pulled them all off!"

"So now I'm stupid?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Yeah, right."

"I didn't!" Bonnie insisted, but as LSP began a long-winded argument against everything Bonnie had said she lost interest in the argument and picked up a sheet of paper off the floor. It was part of an information document. She knew, since checking these documents against her studies was one of her duties. She had seen every single file – on every single creature, every single monster. But she had never seen this one before.

It read as followed:

THREAT TO CANDY CITIZENS: Non – existent

CONSERVATION STATUS: Extinct

KNOWN RELATIONS: None

LAST SIGHTING: Year 00 of the creation of the candy monarchy

OTHER INFORMATION: Last spotted by Queen Bonnibel the first.

After this point, the page was blank – the file had ended. Bonnie had her head spinning with questions: What creature was this about? Who was Queen Bonnibel the first? According to the data, the only queen or king to rule in the year 00 was Queen Caramel – no Queen Bonnibel. She absent-mindedly pocketed the file, feeling slightly sick. LSP stopped her rant, and looked at her friend with concern.

"Bon, you ok?"

"Yeah…" Bonnie managed to say, but she didn't feel 'ok'. In fact, she felt slightly faint. She gave herself a shake, and looked back at the staff in the room. They were all still staring at them. As if they were waiting for a show to start.

Well, Bonnie thought. I hate to disappoint, but I think I'll leave.

"Good idea!" LSP said. Bonnie looked startled – it appeared that she had said the last part out loud.

"LSP, help me pick these up before my parents return from the Grand Meeting of Ooo Royalty!" she said, gesturing to the papers on the floor.

The lady by the door suddenly called from the door, "Its ok dearies, I'll pick those up."

Bonnie pretended not to notice the patronising tone, smiled sweetly and skipped out of the room in a feign innocent-girl-in-a-castle act. As soon as the two were clear of the door, they ran out of the castle in silence, much quicker than they had entered. They ran back into the gardens, where they sat underneath a tree and ate the rest of LSP's cookies. Bonnie found herself eating more cookies than LSP, and ignoring the gossip LSP was spouting as usual.

She couldn't concentrate. All she could think about was the file in her pocket, and the darkness surrounding the information on it.