Aston ran through the rows of the library, laughing while me and our father chased him. He had snatched the book Dad had been reading to me right from his hands, then he started running around the library. We thought it would be easier to catch him, after all he was only six, but he was slippery than an eel. I could have sworn that my brother was teleporting or he had found the hidden passages that were said to be long lost behind layers of wallpaper and brick. Dad thought he was climbing over the shelves and jumping across the tops.
“Aston! Get back here!” Dad shouted, running behind my brother with his arms stretched out.
It had nearly been an hour and neither of us had been able to catch him yet. The only way we knew where he was was by his devilish laugh that made the devil’s angels grant him speed. By some cruel miracle Aston out ran Dad and disappeared again. His laugh was at the other end of the library by the time Dad rounded the bookshelf. I jogged over to my father who was now leaning on his knees. His white shirt had parts that were darker than the rest. I had no doubt that my shirt was the same as his, the back was sticking to my skin.
Dad shook his head, staring at the ground for a moment before looking up at me. “Your brother is the devil. How in the heavens is he so fast?” Dad leaned back, stretching out his back.
The most exercise he got was stretching up to put back books on the highest shelf. I wasn’t in any better shape than him. Aston was the only reason I got a little more exercise than Dad. I was in charge of keeping him entertained while my father helped find books for the king or books for the two princes. Dad constantly tells me that I got the easy job, but we both know it was a lie. I had to chase my brother and keep him out of trouble. Dad sat and read books.
Aston laughed from the other side of the library. Dad sighed and rolled his eyes, looking at me as if I had some sort of magic that would help us catch my brother. I had magic, so did my father, but it wouldn’t help us catch Aston.
Everyone has a magic called an Aatma. There’s various types of them that evolve as time goes on. The more generations there are, the more Aatmas appear. The magic is hereditary. Usually children have the same Aatma or similar Aatma to one of their parents. A lot of the time the two Aatmas of the parents mix and create a new branch of Aatmas off of the originals.
My father, for example, is a Speaker. Aston is too, my brother got Dad’s Aatma that allows him to speak to animals. The animals respond and do nearly anything that they ask. He took after Dad in his looks and his Aatma. I, however, took after my mother.
Her Aatma was a close variation to one of the original Aatmas, she was a Siren. Her gift allowed her to speak and weasel into people’s minds to get them to obey her. I got a variation of her Aatma and my blood-father’s. I am a Seeper, an Aatma that allows me to slip into other’s minds and take away their bad memories, storing them in my own mind or that’s what I’m supposed to tell everyone.
Neither Aatma would be helpful in catching Aston unless the King allowed a giant dog to run in and tackle my brother. I sat down on the ground, defeated. I was supposed to be studying with Dad to learn about history, but I couldn’t do that if my brother was in need of attention (which was, is, and probably will be always).
Dad’s head turned when the door to the library creaked open. He glanced over his shoulder. He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Catch your brother sometime soon.” He said. “I have to help someone find a book.”
He turned away and jogged past the shelves before giving a big greeting to whoever wandered into the library. I sighed as I began wandering the rows of shelves. Aston was hiding somewhere with the book. I checked each row carefully for that devil. He had stopped laughing which meant it was going to be harder to find him.
“Etta!” My dad called. “Can you grab the book about the Northern Kingdom from Queen Mavis’s rule? The translated copy, not the one in Northern!”
I sighed and went to the shelf to my left. I walked among the rows until I reached the very back. Two books were bound exactly the same, the only difference was that one was in the common tongue, not the Northern language. I pulled it out, staring at the maroon and gold cover. The colors of my home kingdom. I hugged the book close to my chest as I walked towards my dad to give him the book. I kept my eyes on the ground to avoid looking at the people who came to check out the book. I always did, I didn’t like seeing them watch me or the attention that they would give me.
“Ah, thank you little jeztsotanedatsoatoiak!” Dad said, he made a gesture forward as he spoke. “Why don’t you hand that to Prince Edward?”
I stopped in my tracks. Prince Edward? I looked up and locked eyes with a boy who was the same age as me. His eyes were a bright brown and he had a big smile. He wore a gold crown on his head with maroon jewels. The Northern kingdom colors, a tribute to the Northern Princess that he was betrothed to. I held the book out for him to take, looking down at the ground. My cheeks flushed red. He was the one person that I should avoid, no matter how much I wanted to talk to him, avoiding him was one of the best things to keep me safe. Dad knew that I shouldn’t be near him, he’s the one that told me to be careful near the prince.
“Thanks!” The prince shouted as he took the book from me. I looked up as he turned around and showed the book to the woman behind him. She gave him a big smile as he held the book up to her. “Does it really have everything about Princess Elina?” He asked.
The woman laughed softly and smiled. She knelt down and touched the book with a smile. “Yes it does, Edders. It’s everything we know and everything the Northern family knows about the lost princess.”
I felt my mouth drop open. Her voice had always amazed me, no matter what she said it was always spoken softly and clear. Her voice was beautiful, all of her words flowed together perfectly as if they had been carefully written in cursive. Her voice wasn’t the only thing that was beautiful, her hair and eyes and the way she dressed was beautiful too. She was my hero.
She was kind to everyone and seemed to never raise her voice. She was always smiling and always wore the prettiest dresses. My favorite one that she wore was pink with flower petals. I saw her wear it when I first arrived at the castle with Dad and Aston.
I watch her move to one of the study tables and sit down with the prince. I ran to Dad’s desk and sat down in his chair, watching her. She opened the book and pointed to a portrait of a girl. My dad chuckled as he grabbed a stack of books next to me.
“How about you come and help me put away these books, then we’ll find your brother and snatch back your book?” He asked.
I stood up quickly and picked up a smaller stack of books. I followed Dad down the shelves, placing books back where they belonged. I could only get the books that were on the low shelves. I wasn’t tall enough to reach anything above the fourth shelf. I went between all seventeen shelves on the ground floor of the library.
The library had two floors, the shelves went all the way up stopping a few feet before the ceiling. Each shelf was stocked with books. There was hardly any room for any new books. You had to look hard for a free space on the shelves. It’s why Dad worked so hard to make sure the books went back to where they belonged, that way we could always find a home for the books.
Especially the history books. Dad said that history was always being made so we had to make sure to have room for it so that there was always a point in the past that we could learn from. That’s why he made me and Aston study history so that we could learn from the past.
My dad handed me the last book to put back. I slipped the book into its place between the wall of the shelf and the rest of the books. I smiled at him. My dad roused my hair, making it stick out at odd places. I gasped and tried to wave his hand away. I covered my head and ducked, backing up.
“Dad!” I complained. “You messed up my hair!” I complained. “It’s a mess now!”
My dad laughed. He crouched down and patted his back. “Come on, I’ll fix it for you.” I climbed onto his back and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry I messed up your hair, my little jeztsotanedatsoatoiak.”
I kissed Dad’s cheek. “It’s okay Dad as long as you promise not to do it again.”
“I promise.” He swore. I put my head on his shoulder and watched the shelves move by as he walked. Dad’s head swiveled to the sides as we walked past each shelf. “Where do you reckon that devilish brother of yours is?”
I looked around, checking for any signs of my brother. I didn’t see any clues, no misplaced books, no laughing. There wasn’t any sign of him. I put my head down. It didn’t matter, Aston always showed up eventually.
“Maybe he found one of the hidden passages. The ones you told us about? The ones that most of the castle walls have, but the entrances are lost? He probably got lost in one of them. We’ll have to go search for him.”
My dad laughed. He walked into the open study area. The queen and prince were still there. The prince was talking a little loud for the library and at my dad’s desk was a little boy with messy brown hair. A blue-bound book was right next to him under his hand. His head was down and his chest rose and fell slowly.
“Looks like we don’t have to search for the devil after all,” My dad said.
He pulled his hands away from my knees. I let go of his neck and dropped to my feet. We both walked over to my brother with big smiles. He was asleep. I went to poke him, but my dad shot me a look that told me not to. He was the best however he always took the fun out of teasing my brother.
“Come on, Etta. Let’s get the rest of these books back to their home.”
He grabbed a stack and waited for me to take another one. I sighed and pulled a pile into my arms. He always had a lot of books to put away, but we hardly had anyone come into the library. Dad sure did read a lot of books. I made my way over to one of the shelves to put back one of the books when bells began ringing through out the library.
I froze and looked over at Dad and Aston picked his head up quickly. It wasn’t an hour since the last bells rang. They rang quickly without a pattern. My dad set his books down quickly. I put mine down too, unsure of what was happening.
“Etta, Aston, go to the hiding place.” Dad ordered. I held my hand out towards my brother and called for him. He raced across the room to the queen and prince. “You two must get to safety. Your son can hide with my children, but three is all that will fit. We’ll have to find another place for you Your Majesty.”
The queen looked my way. She stood up and pushed her son towards me. “Edders, go with them. You’ll be safe.”
“But Mom!”
“No but’s Edward Curry! Go!”
She shoved him harder in my direction. The prince started towards us. My dad touched his nose and then his chin with two fingers, a quick prayer for safety, before he grabbed the queen’s hand and pulled her out of the room. The prince started to slow down. I reached out and grabbed his wrist and started jogging down the rows of bookshelves.
I ran past the first two rows and then turned down the third. I released Aston’s and the prince’s hands. I ran to the shelf that ran along the side wall. I pulled a book out and reached into the back of the shelf and grabbed a handle. I pushed it forward, moving the bookshelf into the wall. My feet slid against the carpet as I moved the heavy shelf. I opened it just enough for us to slip in. I waved my hand towards the opening.
“Go!” I hissed at them.
Aston went in first, then the prince. I let go of the handle and reached to the side, pulling a panel over to hide the handle. I put the book back in place and raced behind the shelf into the cavity in the wall. With the three of us it was a tight squeeze.
I shuffled by the prince to the back of the shelf. I put my hands on it and pushed it forward. My feet slid against the stone. Pushed harder. The shelf only moved a little. The prince ran up next to me and helped me shove it back in place. It roared around us as it scraped against the stone floor. It snapped into place, blocking out all light.
“Etta!” Aston shouted. “I can’t see anything! It’s dark!” He started crying.
I reached out to try and find him. I needed to quiet him. The prince shushed Aston with a hiss. My brother’s crying became muffled sobs. I squinted in the dark to try and see. I could faintly make out their figures. The prince was holding my brother.
“Shhh, there’s no reason to cry. The darkness is keeping us safe as long as we’re quiet. We’re like spies, hiding from our enemies.” Prince Edward whispered. I heard Aston sniff.
“Spies?” My brother asked.
“Spies. We have to stay quiet and listen for any secret information that someone says. Can you do that?” He whispered.
My brother’s outline nodded. The prince crouched down and set my brother down. They moved over to The back of the bookshelf and pressed their ears against it. I was starting to be able to see a little more detail. My brother and the prince laid on the ground on their stomachs, listening for any noise.
I sat down on the floor and sighed. Aston hushed me quickly. We had to be quiet, if anyone walked by they could hear us. I leaned my head against the back wall and shut my eyes. I said a silent prayer that my dad found a hiding place and that he was safe. Please keep Dad safe, I prayed. He had to be safe. The only sounds were the three of us breathing.
I started dozing off, my mind opened up and jumped from each mind. My mind jumped from minds of servants to Lords to men that didn’t belong here. Then I got trapped in one mind that I knew was wrong. The mind felt rough and sharp at the same time, the thoughts came quickly. The thoughts began forming an image.
Continue to the next chapter to read more!!!