“Psst! Julius?” I whispered. I felt dumb tip-toeing around my room looking under the furniture, under the bed, and in the closet.
I even took a very quick look in the latrine, which is not something I would do except I was desperate to find him. Latrines here on this planet had proven to be a definite down-grade from the bathrooms on earth. I’m not even going to try to describe them. Trust me, Porta-Potties would be a great improvement and let’s just let it go at that. Anyway, Julius was definitely not in there.
I got down on my knees and crawled around the edge of the wall until I got to the curtain-covered window. There I found what I was looking for. Not Julius, but the next best thing. A mouse hole chewed into the window frame.
I pushed open a diamond-paned window. They opened from the center like a pair of small saloon doors. It was a romantic-looking window that would have made a great prop in a Romeo and Juliet movie. They could also be deadly if someone tripped into them. They opened outward. I looked straight down two stories to the straggly, needle-grass-covered ground and gripped the window sill harder as I tracked the mouse hole to the outside.
The entire side of the castle wall was covered in klak vines, which is the Dardarian version of ivy, except it will grow in deserts, which most of Dardara is, of course. The point is though; I saw how Julius got out of my room. He simply went out the mouse hole and down the vines to the ground. That was a relief. He was safe from Luther. He would probably have just translocated over the deserted outer wall from there.
I went over and unlocked my door so Luther could get back in whenever he wanted. I lay down on my bed. So much had happened today. The most astounding was the fact that I had an enemy. Someone meant to do me harm. Even thinking about it made me tremble inside as I recalled the feel of that alien entity touching me. It was just such a difficult concept to grasp. It was hard to accept that I, Storm Weatherly, the insignificant earth girl, could be important enough to threaten anybody. All of them, the Hermits, Dr. Spinner, Julius, were right to be so precautious. Where did Nigel fit into all of this? In fact, where did Nigel fit into my life?
The next thing I knew, Luther was sandpapering my cheek with his tongue. The room was midnight dark. I sat up, started to wave my arms around to get the lights going and then realized I didn’t need to anymore. I smiled in the dark. Not after last week’s spell-casting lesson with Natos.
I reached under Luther’s pillow and grabbed my wand—a Golden Leaf twig Natos had presented me with on my first day of class—and pointed it over my head. With a twist of my wrist, I commanded, “Luminosus!” and was delighted when the little light globes over my head winked on, brightening the room.
Maybe learning Latin was going to be worth it, I thought, still smiling as I slipped my wand back under Luther’s pillow.
I would definitely need something to help me. Even though I had worn this stupid necklace for over a month now, there had been absolutely no change in my abilities. Just thinking about the necklace, made it itch, and I reached up to scratch it.
It looked like I would be depending on spell casting for all my magical abilities. I mean other than the First Born talent, of course. That talent seemed to be more trouble than it was worth, so far and useless, to boot. I wasn’t even sure what was so great about having it yet. No one would actually tell me what it did other than letting every Tom, Dick and Harry through an open door into my mind. I felt like an unsecured internet connection.
You’d think I could at least do something cool like mind-reading like Luke, or healing, like Andrew. I was more than a little jealous of them both. Especially right this minute, knowing they were over at the mainland—a place I wasn’t sure I would ever get to go—exploring an alien marketplace. I could go for a shopping trip, too—even an alien one. I tried to imagine a girl’s night out with Chloe. With her personality, now that would be a night out to remember.
My lazy reverie was interrupted by Marta’s timid knock. The girl was actually afraid of me. I could sense her fear everytime she came near me. I wondered why.
“I brought you a tray,” she muttered when I called for her to come in. “You missed Last meal. Varak asked me to bring it.”
Marta’s attitude was so groveling, it made me cringe. Maybe I was just hyper-sensitive right now, but there was something almost repellant about her servility. It didn’t ring true. And come to think of it; neither did her fear now that she had gained access to my room. Why was she faking being afraid of me? More alarming, how did I know she was faking being afraid of me?
“Uh--just it set down anywhere. Thanks.” I couldn’t wait for her to leave.
Marta suddenly pinched her lips together at my terse dismissal. She had not been expecting that. I could feel her disappointment coming off of her in waves.
Luther emitted a low growl and I was surprised to see the hair on his back standing straight up.
I needed to see Natos. He was the only one of the Hermits who still kept a room on the second floor. There was no way I was leaving Marta in my room, however.
“That will be all, Marta.” I said stiffly, leaving her no option but to leave.
I counted twenty seconds using the old one Mississippi, two Mississippi, seconds counting method from my childhood, then I fairly flew out the door and down the hall to his room.
Before I could knock, he opened the door. Why was I not surprised.
“I really need to talk to you.”
“Come in, child.” Natos stood back to let me enter. He guided me over to a cozy fireplace where a small Onxytite fire glowed warmly in its heart. A black iron teapot sat on the hearth sending up tendrils of fragrant steam into the air. Two empty cups sat waiting there beside it.
Natos coaxed me to one of the two chairs facing the hearth. Seeing he had everything laid out for a guest, I felt my face flame.
“I’m so sorry, Natos. I didn’t even think. I just came running. I didn’t realize you were expecting--,”
“You?” he smiled kindly, amused.
“You were expecting me? Of course you were.”
“What has disturbed you, Storm?”
I must have looked shocked. It was the first time any of the Hermits had actually addressed me by my given name. For a moment, I couldn’t remember what I wanted to ask him.
Natos meanwhile stooped over and poured us each a cup of tea. He sat down and handed a cup to me. He looked at me expectantly, lifting his cup to his lips.
“Marta. It’s Marta.”
“How so?” Natos asked sipping his tea while studying me out from wildly-branched eyebrows.
“I can feel something from her.” Then I couldn’t help myself. I had to know. “How long has she been here, at the castle? I mean how well do you know Marta.”
Natos set down his tea and stared into the fire.
Well, not a fire, really. Onxytite crystals didn’t literally burn. But anyone with inborn magic could make them glow hot enough to warm a room, cook a meal, or in this instance, steep a pot of tea. It was beautiful and hypnotic watching them glowing, because they sort of pulsed as the magic glanced off the facets deep in the heart of them. If only earth had a clean-burning fuel source like these crystals, I mused, it would probably save a gazillion trees a year.
I sighed. It was hard to be patient with the Hermits. Sometimes I think they deliberately took so long to do anything just to try my patience. When I had come finally come to the conclusion that Natos wasn’t going to answer me, he did.
“Marta has only been here a few months. She has always been hard to read. What did you feel?” Natos tipped his head slightly as if to listen better to my answer.
“She’s lying. She’s faking being timid and afraid. It’s an act.”
“An act? How so?”
“She tries to act all humble like she thinks a servant should act like, not how one is.I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s, I don’t know if this makes any sense, but it’s like she doesn’t even know how to be a servant. Is that possible?”
“How do you know this, child?”
“That’s what I really came to ask you, Natos. How do I know this?”
“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “Interpretation is a subtle ability, and not many are gifted with it. Is that what you have, though? Or is it only an early presentation of a gift far more common—-mindreading.”
“But it’s definitely something,” I interrupted. “I’m getting some kind of gift, right?” I asked hopefully.
Natos chuckled then, standing up. He left me no choice but to stand up with him. “Go to your rest now, child. Try not to worry about things you cannot rush. We will talk more tomorrow.”
“Good night, Natos,” I said to his retreating back as the old wizard closed the door with a definite click.
Only then, standing there out in the hall, not quite sure how I’d gotten there--and it was too late—did I realize that Natos had not answered my questions.