The Royal Search for Shenanigans

by Nita Marie Clark

  “To keep them safe she went to a very powerful wizard and requested a twenty-five year spell of isolation be cast on Alistair to prevent the attack. The legend claims at that very same time the land of Zen had an earthquake. Before the earthquake Zen bordered the ocean. When it ended Zen had the beautiful mountains that tower behind the castle today. Neither Alistair nor the O’Toole dragons were ever heard from again.”

  “But like I said it is just a good story, just folklore.” Lilli and Princess Kaylyn had listened politely as the professor told the story.

  When the professor mentioned that there were no such things as O’Toole Dragons the girls both had to giggle. Boy would he be surprised!

  Careful not to reveal too much information, Lilli believed the story to be true.

  Lilli later wished she would have taken a picture of the professor’s face when she gave him the note they had found in her music box to examine.

  The Professor was flabbergasted as he read the message and the signature on the yellowed piece of paper. The identity of the younger sister in the legend had never been revealed. Her name was Princess Kaylyn. This note could very well be authentic and would change everything!

  The very shaken professor promised his secrecy and help in authenticating the message as quickly as possible. Lilli and Princess Kaylyn thanked him and headed back up the steps to Lilli’s quarters.

  As Princess Kaylyn walked down the long hall she felt a new sense of confidence. She shared her name with a very special ancestor.

  The Royal Posse spent the rest of the evening sharing the events of their day. There were a lot of giggles as Lilli and Princess Kaylyn shared details of their visit to the Professor. Prince Ryan and Prince Aidan felt a bit envious they had not been there to see the look on the Professor’s face when they gave him the note. Lilli promised they would be with her when the Professor was introduced to Shenanigan!

  Prince Ryan did have some good news for Lilli. Her friend Kammy had returned home early.

  Then he had some bad news. Even though he had located a ball cap to complete her disguise, she would not need it tomorrow. Shenanigan announced that he had changed his mind, so that even if the boy he was looking for had agreed to accompany him, he would NOT be going back to the Land Of Shenanigans in the morning. This was a once in a lifetime adventure and he decided that he was staying as long as possible!

  Thankfully he did repeat his promise to do his best to stay out of trouble. But sometimes, Shenanigans just have to do what Shenanigans do best.

  Chapter 16

  Time for a Change

  Lilli re-positioned her pillow under her head, closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

  She could hear Miss Prudy in the sitting room as she readied things for the day. Her whistling was usually very reassuring, but now it made Lilli feel a strange sense of guilt. She wished she could share her adventure with her beloved nanny. For the first time in her life, her loyalty was torn between two sets of people she admired. Lilli hoped she was making the right choices, but only time would tell.

  As they shared breakfast Lilli was very quiet. She was completely lost in thought. Miss Prudy had sensed a change in Lilli these last few days. Miss Prudy attributed it to Lilli missing her parents. If that was the problem it would correct itself as they were returning tomorrow.

  What Lilli had to say when she finally started to speak came as a complete and unexpected surprise. Lilli announced that she had decided that at her age she no longer needed the services of a nanny. When her parents returned she would be requesting that the position of nanny be eliminated.

  Miss Prudy could not believe what she was hearing. However she was just the nanny and Lilli was the future Queen. Though she tried not to show her feelings of hurt and disappointment, it was without success.

  Lilli noticed the expression on Miss Prudy’s face and realized how this must have sounded. She took a deep breath and quickly apologized, “Oh no Miss Prudy. You will not be going anywhere. I will always need you just not as a caregiver, but as an adviser, confidante, and friend, you will have a new position as Personal Assistant to the Royal Princess.” Lilli needed her to be more than a nanny and it was time she received the responsibility and respect that would come with this new title.

  Miss Prudy sat stunned and with tears of joy in her eyes.

  Their conversation was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Miss Prudy spoke briefly to the messenger, then walked across the room and switched on the television. There, splashed across the screen, was Lilli’s worst nightmare. A video taken by someone of a big green and yellow dragon running through the park, dragging a Summer Festival banner!

  Chapter 17

  On the Loose

  A news crew was in route to the scene and would be returning with more information shortly. They were hoping to interview the prankster and discover more about this unique Summer Festival promotion.

  Lilli let out an audible gasp. No doubt about it, Shenanigan was the culprit causing problems in the park. Lilli was panicking, she had to get Shenanigan back to the castle before anyone learned the truth, but how?

  One thing Grammy had taught her was, “When in doubt use your Princess rules to figure things out.” Lilli was not sure which one fit her situation the best if it was.

  Princess rule #8:

  Always trust your instincts.

  or

  Princess rule #9:

  Honesty is always the best policy.

  This could be a disaster! She needed to combine both rules and hope they worked. Lilli kept her explanation short and to the point. She needed Miss Prudy’s help to complete a very important task and it involved the situation with the dragon in the park!

  It had only taken a few minutes and Lilli had convinced Miss Prudy to trust her. Lilli quickly changed into her disguise. Then she and the rest of the Royal Posse were on bikes and riding down the hill to meet up with Ethan and Kammy. Lilli remembered wondering what it would feel like to do this, but she had not meant for it to be to round up a runaway dragon!

  Kammy and Ethan had a lot of questions about Lilli’s appearance and details of this unusual outing. They had serious doubts that this had anything to do with finding a talking dragon, but it did sound like it was going to be fun to be part of the hunt.

  The park was teaming with activity. The local television crew was already busy interviewing people who had taken selfies with the prankster. Lilli wanted to steer clear of those interviews.

  The park covered a very large area and Shenanigan moved very fast, he could be anywhere. Something Shenanigan had mentioned when they first met was stuck in Lilli’s head. If he was not joking, it might be a clue as to where to start looking. Could it be, he really could sing?

  They headed towards the sound of the high school cross country track team running through the park singing their running song. “We are the track team from Zen, we are so fast we are never last, we always win, because we are the team from Zen.” Right there in front, singing the loudest and having the time of his life, was none other than Shenanigan.

  As soon as he spotted the Royal Posse, he gave them a big grin, a little wave, and headed across the green grass and into the center of the park. The Royal Posse trying to keep him within their sight.

  The bikes were both a help and a problem. They could move fast, but had to stay on the path. Shenanigan though was even faster and could take shortcuts through the park. In a blink of an eye, Shenanigan was gone.

  But he did leave a trail to follow. Everywhere in the park folks were sharing pictures and videos of the “Summer Festival” prankster and most of them were being shared with the local television station.

  Lilli panicked as she saw a television van with a reporter and his crew coming towards them. The van stopped and the crew stepped out, it was obvious who they intended to interview.

  There was no way possible for her to refuse to speak to the reporter, but Princess Rule number ten might be of big help.

  Prince
ss Rule #10:

  When choosing words to tell the truth, the proper words can keep you from ever telling a lie.

  The reporter started by asking what had they seen and did they have any contact with the prankster?

  Lilli decided to take control and make the interview hers. She explained, “Yes, we know the prankster well, and we are all in the park to promote the new slogan for this weekend’s Sumner Festival.” Without hesitation Lilli announced the slogan, “If summer is boring and dragon-ing you down, it’s time for some fun in our town. So children get your favorite costumes and join us this weekend at the Summer Festival!”

  The reporter ended the interview by asking for Lilli’s name, again she avoided telling him anything she did not want him to know. She instead answered what she considered the more important question, “The name of the dragon is Shenanigan O’Toole.”

  Getting back on her bike, she joined the rest of the group. They all gave her a big thumbs up and continued the hunt for Shenanigan.

  Back at the castle all of the activities in the park had not gone unnoticed. Most of the staff was caught up watching the events on television. The chaos was brought to the attention of Grammy, King David and Queen Beth. Miss Prudy was busy explaining why the children were in the park and appearing on television. After she finished and started back to her quarters, Miss Prudy grinned and whistled a happy tune.

  Suddenly there was a lot of activity in the castle. Within the hour the castle staff was all over town putting up posters with the new Summer Festival slogan.

  Shenanigan left clusters of happy people every where he appeared. This included a group of senior citizens who were there for their morning walk and to celebrate the birthday of one of the members. The television station was already airing their video. The senior citizens were receiving calls from everyone they knew, even their great grand kids thought the video was cool.

  Lilli had to admit watching the video, that it was very funny to see Shenanigan stop at their table, pick up the birthday cake, blow a small flame to light the 80 candles, sing a short version of The Birthday Ditty, wave goodbye, and continue on his way. The shocked expressions and reactions of the seniors was hilarious. Shenanigan had no idea that he too was an instant celebrity or even what it meant, that video was going viral.

  Getting tired and hungry the smell coming from the food vendors reminded Lilli and Ryan it was after lunch time and neither had brought any money. Sadly that problem would have to wait until they found Shenanigan.

  The group cut back across the park towards the front entrance where they found a group of people enjoying the antics of the large green dragon riding on the carousel. Shenanigan had become quite a showman. When he saw Ryan and the fella he was searching for, it was time to end the show. He jumped off the carousel, ran past Lilli, and shouted “See you back at the castle!” and disappeared out of the park.

  Lilli breathed a sigh of relief. However she was not ready to leave the park. She had one more thing she wanted do before this part of the adventure ended, something she had never done before, eat a hot dog!

  Everyone was dreading the ride back to the castle. Going down that long hill had been fun and exciting. The thought of pedaling back up, well, not so much, but not to worry Lilli knew how to solve that problem.

  In just a few minutes they were riding back to the castle in a limousine, going over the events of the day and enjoying their hot dogs. Lilli had to admit being a Princess did have it’s advantages.

  New Chapter 18

  In Trouble?

  As Lilli stepped out of the limo she was being handed a note, instructing her and Ryan to go directly to the Queen’s office.

  She had never been in trouble before and had no idea what to expect. It seemed as if Lilli and Ryan had been sitting on the hard wooden chairs in the hall outside of Grammy’s office forever.

  Lilli just wanted to get this meeting over with, no matter the outcome. There were still a lot of things to do. She still had to convince Shenanigan to go home at sunrise tomorrow morning, and she needed to be ready to go with him.

  Finally the office door opened and Mrs. Scott motioned them inside. Before they could enter Miss Prudy, King David, and Professor Dooretee rushed down the hall to join them. Lilli knew why Miss Prudy and King David might have a reason to be here, but why was Professor Dooretee with them? And, who was the stranger seated next to Grammy’s desk?

  Grammy gave a big smile and instructed everyone to be seated, directing Lilli and Ryan to the big comfy chairs in front of her desk. As Lilli was looking around the room, she noticed Mrs. Scott hand Grammy a note that the professor had handed to her.

  Much to Lilli’s surprise this was not the scene she had been imagining. Considering the events of the day Grammy seemed in a very pleasant mood and she was enjoying her conversation with the distinguished looking gentleman sitting in the chair next to her desk.

  Grammy introduced him as Mr. Thomas, the news director of the local television station. The videos of the events in the park were already going viral.

  Mr. Thomas was at the castle trying to make arrangements for an interview with the prankster, and the creators of this great publicity stunt. The interview would be aired live on the national network in the morning. Lilli glanced over at Ryan, they both were thinking the same thing, there was no way they could do an interview with Shenanigan, live or otherwise!

  Lilli had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. How was she going to get out of this?

  The note from Professor Dooretee had Grammy curious. Why would the Professor have a message so urgent for Lillian that he wanted to deliver it personally? Grammy was eager to get to the answer.

  The Professor apologized for his intrusion, he had planned on delivering a message to Princess Lillian in private, but now he was in her majesty’s presence.

  He gave a short recap of the earlier visit he had with Princess Lillian and Princess Kaylyn and a description of the document that he referred to as a very important historical treasure. He held up a replica of the note for all to see. All the experts agreed this note was authentic. It was written three hundred years ago during the time known as the “Decades Of Legends.” And in all probability it would be changing the known history of Zen.

  Professor Dooretee and the historians were very grateful that the two young princesses had the wisdom to realize the note’s importance, and bring it to their attention. At this very moment every document and record from that time period was being examined for other important information. His excitement and enthusiasm was so contagious, everyone in the room responded with amazement.

  This new information made all other events seem unimportant. The interview that Lilli was worried about was now forgotten. Mr. Thomas was in a deep discussion with the Professor about sending a news crew to the archives to cover this exciting story.

  Ryan was happy for Lilli, she had one end of the string, now to find the other end and she could soon have this knot untied!

  Chapter 19

  The Big Reveal

  Miss Prudy and a very tired Lilli were both quiet as they walked back the long hall to her quarters. Then Lilli spoke, “I will need a couple cartons of bubble gum and two packages of Fig Newtons and can they be delivered yet today?”

  Miss Prudy just chuckled and nodded her head yes. She did not even ask why. After the events of today nothing was going to surprise Miss Prudy!

  Shenanigan was relieved to hear Lilli’s voice, she should have returned hours ago. He had become concerned that his little foray in the park had gotten his new friends in a lot of trouble.

  Although he had been tempted to investigate their delay, he decided to stay in the passage way. The wait had given him time to think about the situation. He would miss his new friends, but it was time for him to go home, however that could be a problem.

  Lilli was surprised to see him sitting in the passage way holding the flashlight and reading a book on the one hundred greatest highlights of the last century. He t
hought the book was very interesting and very impressive.

  Without saying a word she took the book from him. Hurt and confused he watched as Lilli wrote something on the inside cover.

  Finished she handed the book back to him. As he read what she had written Shenanigan felt something he had never felt before. His eyes were leaking and he had wet drops running down his cheeks.

  Shenanigan saw a look of panic cross Lilli’s face as she realized the words she had written inside the book revealed her true identity!

  It took a moment for Shenanigan to speak, but when he did both he and Lilli had a reason to laugh. He explained he had been aware of Lilli’s secret since their first meeting at the castle. He had known Lilli was a princess and there was no fella named Kammy, it had only been Lilli in disguise. But it had been fun to play along. As they like to say back in The Land Of Shenanigans, “I may be green but that doesn’t mean I got picked from the Garden Of Smarts too soon!”

  Although she was laughing Lilli felt a twinge of sadness. She was going to miss her new friend.

  A weight was lifted off Lilli’s shoulders to be able to share the details of her adventure. Especially to Shenanigan although he could not be of much help. It had only been in the last few years that the O’Toole Dragons had been assigned to watch for the incoming Princess, but they did not know why.

  He did know where Lilli might be able to get more information. His Grandpa Shenanigan was the head dragon at the Museum of History for the Shenanigan Kingdom. Lilli felt a surge of excitement, she could not wait to meet Grandpa Shenanigan.