Conner and Bree looked at each other like he was a precious puppy they wanted to keep.
“What’s your name?” Conner asked. They walked up closer to his house to visit with him some more.
“My name is Emmerich,” he was happy to tell them. “Emmerich Himmelsbach. What are your names?”
“I’m Conner and this is my friend Bree.”
“What brings you to Hohenschwangau?” he asked, and then quickly corrected himself. “Oh, that was a silly question; you’re here to see the castle, right? Everybody always comes to see the castle.”
“Yes,” Bree said. “Have you been inside it before?”
“Oh, many, many, many times!” he told them. “My grandfather used to give tours of the castle and my mother works at a gift shop in the village. So there isn’t anything I don’t know about the place.”
“Well, we were here to see the castle,” Conner said dejectedly. “We rode bikes all the way from Munich but the tickets are sold out.”
This completely blew Emmerich’s mind and he almost fell over just hearing it. “You rode bikes all the way from Munich?” he said with enormous gestures. “Why would you do that?”
An idea suddenly came to Conner’s mind. He looked at Bree and she could see the light in his eyes. She was prepared to go along with whatever it was he was thinking.
“Well, we would tell you but we wouldn’t want to endanger you,” Conner said.
“Yes, you’re far too young,” Bree added.
Emmerich’s eyes grew and his mouth fell open. “Tell me what?” he asked.
“I’m afraid we can’t tell you,” Conner said. “It would blow our cover if anyone were to ever find out.”
“What are you covering up?” Emmerich asked, desperate to know. “You can tell me—I don’t have any friends to tell!”
Conner and Bree looked at each other; they had him right where they wanted him.
“Well, we came to Germany to hide something,” Conner said. “We were hired by the United States government because no one would ever suspect kids of traveling with it.”
Emmerich put his hands on his cheeks; the curiosity was eating him alive. “What are you trying to hide?” he asked.
Conner pulled the panpipe from his jacket pocket and showed it to him. “This.”
Emmerich gasped before knowing what it was. “Wait, what is that?”
“It looks like a panpipe, but it’s actually a weapon,” Bree said. “And a very bad man wants to get his hands on it.”
“And you want to hide it in Hohenschwangau?!” Emmerich asked.
They nodded. “We were going to hide it in the castle,” Conner said. “That way no one would ever suspect it was anything but a historical item—but since there aren’t any more tours, we’ll just have to hide it somewhere else.”
“Sorry to bother you, Emmerich,” Bree said. “But we need to get going now. We need to be out of the country by nightfall so they don’t find us.”
They turned to leave but Emmerich ran to stand in front of them.
“No, wait, please!” he said. “I can take you into Neuschwanstein if you want!”
“But how can you do that?” Conner asked.
Emmerich looked around to make sure no one could hear him. “I know a secret passage into the castle,” he explained. “My grandfather took me there once.”
Conner’s and Bree’s spirits soared hearing this, but they had to remain calm to keep their cover.
“I don’t know, I would hate to put your life in danger, Emmerich,” Bree said.
“But I’m putting my own life in danger by offering!” he pleaded. “Please! I can even keep an eye on it for you after you leave!”
They took a few steps away and huddled with their backs to him, pretending to think it over.
“You’re a genius!” Bree whispered to Conner. “What are the chances we would find someone who could lead us to a secret passage into the castle?”
“Yeah, what are the chances?” Conner whispered back with a smile. He knew deep down there was a bit of fairy magic inside of him, although he would never have admitted it openly.
They forced their excitement to fade from their faces and went back to Emmerich.
“All right, Emmerich, if you promise never to tell anyone about this, we’ll let you take us to the castle,” Conner said.
Emmerich jumped up and down. This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him in his young life. “I knew there was something special about you,” he said. “I’ve seen enough movies to know a secret agent when I see one! When do you want to go?”
“Sometime after dark,” Bree said. “So no one will see us there.”
“Great! I can meet you at Mary’s Bridge after dinner, in an hour or two,” Emmerich said. “My mom would kill me if I missed dinner, even if it was to help save the world.”
“Sounds good,” Conner said. “Where is Mary’s Bridge?”
“It’s up the path to the castle,” Emmerich said. “There are signs to guide you, you can’t miss it. It has the best views of the castle.”
“Terrific, we’ll meet you there,” Bree said.
Emmerich was bouncing and his cheeks were extra rosy. “I can’t wait!” he said, but then became very still when another thought occurred to him. “If I’m leaving after dinner, I better clean my room before my mother gets home!”
He hurried past them and ran up the steps into his house. Conner and Bree sighed with relief at the same time.
“So far we’ve run away from our principal, kidnapped an old lady, lied to a concierge, and tricked an innocent German boy into believing we’re secret agents,” Bree listed. “Does that make us bad people?”
“Nah,” Conner said, shaking his head. “Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason. Now let’s go check out this bridge. I’m anxious to see this castle.”
They returned to the village and followed the road up to the castle. There were many signs pointing to the various things that could be seen in the hills, but they followed the arrows that said “Marienbrücke” (“Mary’s Bridge”).
The bridge was very long and narrow. It was wood with an iron railing and stretched from one cliff to another. Several tourists braved the bridge and took pictures of the mountains and forest around it. Conner and Bree faced mild cases of vertigo during their first steps onto the bridge—they weren’t expecting to see a waterfall and stream several hundred feet below.
When they got to the middle of the bridge they looked out and saw Neuschwanstein Castle in its entirety for the first time.
“Oh my gosh,” Bree gasped, and put her hands over her mouth.
“I can’t… I can’t… I c-c-can’t believe I’m seeing this right now,” Conner stuttered.
It was easy to believe Neuschwanstein Castle was referred to as one of the wonders of Europe. It was a massive white structure with thousands of windows, dozens of tall towers, pointed roofs, and sharp spirals the color of the night sky. The castle sat on a stone base surrounded by trees at the peak of the hill, which made it look like it was growing out of the mountainside.
Conner had seen many impressive structures in the Land of Stories but never in his own world. Neuschwanstein Castle had been built brick by brick with the hands of man, using no magic whatsoever.
“I would say this is amazing but that would be an understatement,” he said.
“You’re right, there really are no words,” Bree said. “It’s funny that we’re the only ones who know there’s a portal into the fairy-tale world inside—you would think it’s obvious.”
Conner couldn’t agree more. The luscious green mountains surrounding it, the clear lakes reflecting the thick gray clouds in the sky, and the small villages miles into the horizon made him feel like he was looking at something otherworldly. It was as if a piece of the fairy-tale world had penetrated through the seam of the Otherworld and had been named Bavaria.
The few short hours they waited for Emmerich to arrive we
nt by quickly as they took in the sights around them. Night had fallen over the German countryside and the tourists slowly disappeared until Conner and Bree were the last ones on the bridge. They saw a small light in the trees and soon Emmerich emerged, walking toward them with a flashlight in his hand.
“Guten Abend,” Emmerich said. “Are you ready to explore the castle?”
Emmerich led them to a path that crisscrossed down the hillside to an observation deck near the waterfall. They crawled over the railing of the deck and then followed the stream all the way down to the bottom of the hill the castle was perched on.
“Careful, don’t get your shoes wet,” Emmerich warned them. The closer they got to the hill, the farther the stream flowed into the land beside it, like an overflowing bathtub.
The bridge, the castle, and the mountains disappeared from view behind the thick trees that surrounded the base of the hill. Built into the side of the hill, disguised by a layer of dirt and rocks, was a round door. Emmerich felt around for its steel handle and then heaved the door open.
“This way,” Emmerich said happily.
Conner and Bree crawled through the door after him and into a long stone tunnel. The tunnel twisted and turned for what felt like miles under the castle. Without Emmerich’s flashlight, it would have been pitch-black. Eventually the three arrived at the end of the tunnel and Emmerich pushed through another circular door and into the small storage room of a gift shop.
“This used to be the servants’ quarters,” Emmerich said. “Now stay close behind me, I just have to go punch in the code before the alarm goes off.”
They went past the gift shop and into a hall dedicated to the history of the castle’s construction and design. A large replica of the castle sat in the middle of the hall and the walls were covered with photos of the castle being built and illustrations of its early concept art.
Emmerich found a keypad behind one of the photos and typed in a long code. A green light blinked when he was finished.
“Neuschwanstein is ours!” Emmerich said.
“All right, Emmerich, take us on a tour,” Conner said. “We want to see everything.”
Emmerich marched them down the hall and up a spiral staircase, and the lavishness of the castle began. The circular walls around the staircase were covered in wallpaper patterned with dragons and symbols they didn’t recognize.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Conner said.
“Me too,” Bree said. “I love it!”
“A lot of people think it’s haunted,” Emmerich said. “Many visitors have claimed to see ghosts moving past the windows at night or hear sounds coming from inside when it’s completely empty.”
Conner gulped and Bree grinned. At the top of the stairs they passed a statue of a dragon standing like an overgrown watchdog guarding the hallway.
“I’ll show you the throne room first,” Emmerich said, and guided them down the hallway.
Every inch of the hallway was decorated in wallpaper of diamond, checkered, or floral design. Pillars with animal carvings sat in the arches of the windows and each window was lined with gold. The colors may have faded over the years, but the castle remained a spectacle even more than a century later.
Emmerich escorted them through an open doorway and into the throne room. It had a towering domed ceiling. A gigantic chandelier hung from the ceiling and was rimmed with hundreds of wax candles. The walls were covered in beautiful paintings of mythological and religious figures. Every species of the animal kingdom appeared in the mosaic floor as if the circle of life was right under their feet.
Colorful arches and pillars surrounded the throne room. Balconies wrapped around the top of the room, facing a high platform under a large mural of Jesus Christ. The platform was the perfect place for a throne, but it was empty.
“So if this is the throne room, where’s the throne?” Bree asked.
“He never had one,” Emmerich said. “King Ludwig II had an extravagant throne made to match this room but he was declared insane before it was finished.”
“So the king never got to sit on his throne?” Conner asked. “That’s tough.”
“Most of the castle remains unfinished,” Emmerich said. “Ludwig was spending all of Bavaria’s money to build his luxurious homes and when that began running out he started borrowing money from other countries to complete them.”
“I can see how that might lead to a bad reputation,” Bree said.
Conner had been studying every square inch of the castle as they went, searching for anything that could possibly be the portal, but he wasn’t finding anything that rang a bell in the throne room.
“Do you think this room would be a good place for the weapon?” Emmerich whispered even though they were the only three in the castle.
“No, not here,” Conner said. “Let’s keep looking.”
“I’ll show you King Ludwig’s bedroom next,” Emmerich said.
They followed him back into the hall and entered a pair of heavy wooden doors. The king’s bedroom was covered from floor to ceiling in remarkable wooden craftsmanship. Everything from the washstand to the desk to the bed frame displayed intricate carvings of disciples, nobility, and harvest. Murals of Tristan and Isolde, one of the king’s favorite stories, covered the areas of the walls not decorated in wood.
Then they took a quick look at a small artificial grotto tucked between two rooms; it was as if the king had kept a tiny cave in his closet. But even that wasn’t appealing enough for Conner.
“See any place that works?” Emmerich asked.
Bree was just as interested; she wasn’t entirely sure what they were supposed to be looking for, either. However, it wasn’t something Conner could explain—part of recognizing a portal was being able to feel it.
“Not yet,” Conner said. “I’ll know it when I see it.”
“Then I’ll take you to the Singer’s Hall next! There are many things to see there!” Emmerich said.
They returned to the spiral staircase and walked up to the fifth floor of the castle. When they walked into the Singer’s Hall the first thing they heard was the sound of their footsteps echoing back at them. The hall was by far the largest room in the castle and stretched long and wide.
The Singer’s Hall was such an over-stimulating sight it took Conner and Bree a few moments to differentiate all the artwork. The whole hall seemed to blend into one giant piece of art composed of paintings, statues, busts, carvings, engravings, and symbols of King Ludwig’s favorite myths and legends. There were depictions of knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, royal weddings, and the punishment of evildoers. Candelabras lined the perimeter of the room while enormous chandeliers hung from the high ceiling.
Bree was looking up at a woman in one of the portraits. “Has anyone ever noticed that every woman in an old portrait looks like she’s being tricked into something?” she asked.
“They still use this room,” Emmerich said. “They fill it with chairs and instruments and put on concerts and performances to this day. This would be a convenient place to store your panpipe.”
Hearing this struck a chord with Conner. Emmerich was right; it would make sense for the panpipe to be affiliated with this room. If Conner had built the castle, he would certainly have put a panpipe that gave access to a portal in a room that had something to do with music. The portal had to be in the Singer’s Hall—he could feel it.
At the far side of the room was a platform four steps high. Four pillars of dark red marble stood on the front of the platform and held three colorful arches above them. Behind the pillars and arches, covering the wall, was the largest painting in the room. It was of a majestic forest with trees, flowers, squirrels, deer, and boulders.
Conner couldn’t take his eyes off this area of the room. The painting looked familiar to him, like a place he had seen with his sister. There was something intriguing and inviting about it that he couldn’t explain in words.
“What is this painting of?” Conner s
aid.
“That’s a painting of a magic garden,” Emmerich said. “I don’t know what it’s from, though.”
Conner smiled on the inside and out. “I do,” he said, and then looked at Bree. “I think I’ve found it.”
Bree and Emmerich joined him at the back of the room. They stood by his side and all three of them gazed at the painting behind the pillars.
“You want to put the weapon in there?” Emmerich asked excitedly.
Conner decided to tell his young tour guide the truth. “Emmerich, it’s not really a weapon,” he said. “And we’re not really secret agents.”
Emmerich looked sadly at the floor. “I know,” he said. “But I thought it would be fun to pretend with you guys. I don’t get many chances to have fun with other kids; everyone who comes to Hohenschwangau is only here for a day and then they always leave.”
It broke Conner’s and Bree’s hearts a little to hear this. He was the second person on their trip to let them manipulate him or her due to loneliness. Bree leaned down so she could look him right in the eyes.
“Don’t worry, Emmerich,” she said. “We have to check something out now, and if it works, it’s going to be much cooler than anything secret agents could show you.”
Emmerich looked curious. Bree nodded to Conner and he took the panpipe from his jacket pocket. He looked over the notes carved into the back of it and double-checked that he knew which cylinder played which note.
“The middle cylinder should be middle C,” Bree said. “At least that’s how it works on a piano—my mom made me take lessons when I was younger.”
“Here goes,” Conner said. He blew the first four notes into the pipe and then paused for a second before blowing the remaining four. They were pure and chilling in the empty castle.
The notes echoed through the hall like all the noises they had made—only the notes never stopped. The sound only increased more and more, causing the whole hall to vibrate. The chandeliers above them began to sway and the floor started rumbling.