that’s a requirement for the job. What if I disappoint her?
She combs for a few moments in silence while a thousand thoughts jumble in my mind. I stare at the wall ahead of me, at the shadows of our heads. Hers is smooth and perfect; mine still sticks out in all angles. Beyond that, for the first time, I see that there is an intricately engraved panel on the wall, and there are letters above it. A N R Y, I think it says, but the letters are very faint.
She catches me looking. “Nobody knows what those things mean. They’re all over the castle. I think they had the silly notion of naming all the rooms, when reading and writing were of importance. Can you imagine, naming a room as you would a person? Absurd! Do you remember?”
“Remember?”
“When you and I were just babies and used to play together here,” she says, which shocks me. So she does know that I was the one who used to play with her. Perhaps that is why she is being so nice to me. “You do remember, don’t you?”
“Not very well,” I admit. I remember chasing down a long corridor after Star’s braided head, her giggles echoing upon the stone walls, but I don’t remember anything else about the castle. I think I lost a lot of old memories. It’s almost as if my life began when the scribblers tore off my hand.
She sighs. “Oh, that is right. You are younger than me by more than two entire seasons, so I often had to explain things to you. Well, we used to run up and down here and pretend we knew what all the words said. The three of us pretended it was our own language, and only we could speak it. You and I thought they were the names of the people who once lived in the rooms. But Tiam said it was a secret code that would lead us to treasure.”
I can’t help but laugh. That sounds like him.
“He made us swear together that one day the three of us would crack the code and find the treasure.” She smiles a little wistfully. “It’s silly. But even after we stopped playing together...after your—” her eyes trail down toward my stump, which thankfully I’ve buried under the suds “—after we could no longer play together...I kept trying to find the treasure. There is treasure here, you know.”
I believe she is right; this whole beautiful building is the most wonderful treasure I’ve ever seen. And yet, she must be very brave to venture out in this castle alone. One of the oldest legends about the castle is that it is haunted by the ghosts of the dead. There are so many dead, it must be quite crowded with them. “Have you ever seen one of the ghosts?”
She laughs. “Oh, there are plenty of ghosts within these walls.”
“So it is true?” I ask, inspecting the walls. While the bed in the corner looks comfortable and welcoming, if staying here means being visited by spirits, I’d much prefer the cramped sleeping compartment.
“I’ve never seen one. But I know how the servants talk. They come up with their own legends. You don’t remember the Dark Girl?” She shakes her head. “Oh, of course you don’t. You were probably too little. But when I was a child, all the servants talked about was the Dark Girl. They saw her all the time—hair black as night, with the palest, most translucent skin, roaming the castle hallways at night. They’d see her one moment, and the next moment, she’d be gone. They were all so terrified! Their stories made me terrified, which was one of the reasons I played with you. I wasn’t so scared when you were around.”
“The Dark Girl?” I repeat. It sounds dreadful.
“Don’t worry, though. Nobody has seen her in ages. And I certainly never have.” She sits back on her haunches and picks up a strand of my hair. “I’m sure that if you go walking the castle at night, they might think she has returned. Your hair is so very odd. It reminds me of...someone....”
“Who?” I ask. Someone from a dream, obviously. No one at all has hair the color of night, as I do. Most have silken
She combs for a few moments in silence while a thousand thoughts jumble in my mind. I stare at the wall ahead of me, at the shadows of our heads. Hers is smooth and perfect; mine still sticks out in all angles. Beyond that, for the first time, I see that there is an intricately engraved panel on the wall, and there are letters above it. A N R Y, I think it says, but the letters are very faint.
She catches me looking. “Nobody knows what those things mean. They’re all over the castle. I think they had the silly notion of naming all the rooms, when reading and writing were of importance. Can you imagine, naming a room as you would a person? Absurd! Do you remember?”
“Remember?”
“When you and I were just babies and used to play together here,” she says, which shocks me. So she does know that I was the one who used to play with her. Perhaps that is why she is being so nice to me. “You do remember, don’t you?”
“Not very well,” I admit. I remember chasing down a long corridor after Star’s braided head, her giggles echoing upon the stone walls, but I don’t remember anything else about the castle. I think I lost a lot of old memories. It’s almost as if my life began when the scribblers tore off my hand.
She sighs. “Oh, that is right. You are younger than me by more than two entire seasons, so I often had to explain things to you. Well, we used to run up and down here and pretend we knew what all the words said. The three of us pretended it was our own language, and only we could speak it. You and I thought they were the names of the people who once lived in the rooms. But Tiam said it was a secret code that would lead us to treasure.”
I can’t help but laugh. That sounds like him.
“He made us swear together that one day the three of us would crack the code and find the treasure.” She smiles a little wistfully. “It’s silly. But even after we stopped playing together...after your—” her eyes trail down toward my stump, which thankfully I’ve buried under the suds “—after we could no longer play together...I kept trying to find the treasure. There is treasure here, you know.”
I believe she is right; this whole beautiful building is the most wonderful treasure I’ve ever seen. And yet, she must be very brave to venture out in this castle alone. One of the oldest legends about the castle is that it is haunted by the ghosts of the dead. There are so many dead, it must be quite crowded with them. “Have you ever seen one of the ghosts?”
She laughs. “Oh, there are plenty of ghosts within these walls.”
“So it is true?” I ask, inspecting the walls. While the bed in the corner looks comfortable and welcoming, if staying here means being visited by spirits, I’d much prefer the cramped sleeping compartment.
“I’ve never seen one. But I know how the servants talk. They come up with their own legends. You don’t remember the Dark Girl?” She shakes her head. “Oh, of course you don’t. You were probably too little. But when I was a child, all the servants talked about was the Dark Girl. They saw her all the time—hair black as night, with the palest, most translucent skin, roaming the castle hallways at night. They’d see her one moment, and the next moment, she’d be gone. They were all so terrified! Their stories made me terrified, which was one of the reasons I played with you. I wasn’t so scared when you were around.”
“The Dark Girl?” I repeat. It sounds dreadful.
“Don’t worry, though. Nobody has seen her in ages. And I certainly never have.” She sits back on her haunches and picks up a strand of my hair. “I’m sure that if you go walking the castle at night, they might think she has returned. Your hair is so very odd. It reminds me of...someone....”
“Who?” I ask. Someone from a dream, obviously. No one at all has hair the color of night, as I do. Most have silken
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