Donovan Castle Chronicles: Volume 1

Chapter 44: Jake

CHAPTER 44

JAKE

We amble around the statue and down the staircase covered in red carpeting. The staircase is covered with gold metal handlebars with designs carved into them.

At the bottom of the staircase, the walls are lined with busts of heads from different mythological creatures such as medusa as well as people from history such as Nefertiti. Intricate paintings in gold frames hang along the walls.

One bust catches my eye. It is of a woman with a look of horror marring her features.

Nadia points to it. "Oh, that is a bust of a banshee."

"A banshee? Like one of those screaming of death to come?" I ask.

She nods while looking at me.

"Those are real too?"

She chuckles, "Yes, Daff knows one."

Wow, a banshee. Not sure if I want to meet her or not.

"Zeneca Hollier, or Zen for short, is the banshee. Don't worry, she's pretty nice, strange, but nice. She used to live here, but moved out a while ago. Of course, she's free to come back whenever."

"Who's Daff?" I ask.

"Daffodil Narcissus has floral abilities and owns an apothecary. She works for Rowan Underwood who owns a pharmacy. You know that pharmacy apothecary combo in town?"

I nod, "Yeah, we passed it on the way here tonight."

"That's the one. They own it, work together, and professionally compete with each other. Daffodil believes that the old-world remedies are best, where Rowan believes modern medicine is best," she explains.

We walk across the black and white tiled floor, passing more paintings on the golden walls. "What is Rowan?" I ask as we turn a corner.

"Rowan is a dryad," she tells me as we make our way down the elegant hallway.

We soon enter main foyer where the main entrance to the castle resides. "A dryad?"

"Yes, a dryad is from Greek mythology that is tree nymphs or spirits derived from oak trees. Thus, she is a tree nymph.

"So, she's a tree?" I ask, trying to understand.

She shakes her head. "No, she is not a tree, but she can transform into one."

I nod my understanding. Rowan must be an interesting individual.

She points to a room off to the side. "This is the coat room. Everyone in the castle can use it. So can guests who visit. As you can imagine, it's quite large."

I peer into the room. There are rows and rows of coat racks. In the middle of the room, a long, turning coat rack resides, just like at the cleaners. The racks are occupied with coats and jackets while others are bare.

"If you are wondering, the coats and jackets are placed in alphabetical order via last name. But are listed via first initial and last name. Although, should there be two people in the same family with the same first initial, they can include the middle as well. Since I'm the only Felidae at the castle, my coats and jackets have N. Felidae on the hangers. I still keep my N even though my parents are no longer with us."

"That makes sense. I imagine it can be quite difficult to find your coat without some sort of system." I want to ask her about her parents, but don't.

"Exactly." She checks her phone and looks back up at me. "We have a few minutes before Cara and Kira are to arrive."