Hidden Beauty

Chapter 18

Spell work, Mable learned over the next few weeks, was slow.

Every spell they tried didn't seem to go anywhere, with only the tiniest of jumps from the paper they were trying to transport from one place to another, so tiny Mable often wondered if it was just air pushing the slips of paper around. For several days, Mable tried spell after spell, using as much willpower as she could to try and make the bits of paper they were using as practice do something.

Nothing happened.

Thankfully she got some respite from the constant dejection. Every afternoon she forced herself to leave the stuffy library and find something else to focus her mind on. Most days she found herself in the conservatory with Madame Cecile who, after learning about her newfound interest in gardening, gave her a little flowerpot with a snow-white flower inside it to take care of. Every day, after the hours of getting nowhere which was strangely exhausting, Mable would trot down to the conservatory to check on her flower. It was still alive after a week, though Mable wondered if that was because Madame Cecile would check on it after she left.

Other days she would spend in the kitchens, at home among the clatter of pans and the roar of the fireplace, being taught in shouts about the nuances of gourmet cooking. Occasionally the tables would turn and she would teach the chefs a new recipe, such as the night they made brownies from scratch. They turned out so good that Monsieur Carnier dubbed them good enough for dessert, and Mable got to watch as Theo and Maddie inhaled the whole pan.

Almost every night Maddie would request a story, and every night Mable obliged, weaving tales from the leftover fabric of her childhood. Sometimes, if he was in, Monsieur Lune would join them and then she and the Seneschal would share a cup of tea before he escorted her to her own rooms. Those nights were Mable's favorites, because talking with Monsieur Lune was a lot like talking with a favorite uncle, or her father before he fell ill. He would offer advice, warmly congratulate her on any little victories she made during the day, or just talk about working in the castle.

Labelle often found her way to the library for lunch, and those lunches were also fun for Mable. Some days Theo joined them, and the three of them sat at the buffet table that seemed to permanently live in the library now, as they ate and joked with her as if she had been living there for years instead of a few weeks. Mable was reminded of the days before her father's illness, talking and laughing with friends over food and games at the kitchen table.

In spite of the odd circumstances, Mable discovered that she was glad that she had found her way here, however unintentional.

One morning, after she had been there for almost three weeks, there was an excited tap at her bedroom door.

"Let's go play in the attic today." Maddie said. She was dressed casually, in brown sweater and thick slacks, worn from use. Her chestnut hair was tied back in a braid, a few rogue strands poking out around her head playfully.

Mable stopped bushing her hair and looked at Maddie curiously. "Is there really an attic?" She was not aware that castles had such things that were so ordinary.

"Well, it's not really an attic, more of a storage room." said Maddie, jumping onto Mable's bed. "But it's at the top of one of the turrets and is very old. Papa says there are things from a hundred years ago still up there. It's really dusty and dark, too. It should be a lot of fun." she giggled.

"Are we even allowed up there? I don't want to get into trouble." Mable asked. But she was already charmed by the idea. She and her sisters liked to roam through their attic on rainy days, sighing wistfully at old pictures of their mother and playing with toys they had long forgotten. After a while their attic had lost its magic, so Mable found herself excited for the chance to clamber around a dusty attic, looking at old pictures and toys. There were probably all sorts of fascinating things up there, remnants of the castle's former days of glory and splendor.