Moon Diamond, Anna P [epub e reader TXT] 📗

be… three months,” said Tatiana with a slight grimace.
“Ooo, bad luck. Usually it’s about a month.” said the longhaired girl, in an almost comically serious voice.
“But we have to talk to her now!” said Mariah, whose tone was getting higher and higher the more panicked she got. The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes at the same time.
“That’s what they all say,” said the longhaired girl with an overdramatic sigh. “But while we’re all still here and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, my name is Taylor and this is my twin, Tatiana.” Tatiana smiled slightly in greeting. She seemed much more serious than her sister.
“Are you sure you don’t want a room?” asked Tatiana.
“How much is it?”
“Three shillings. No less, we don’t bargain.” Taylor answered, very firmly.
Once again, Mariah and Seamus looked at each other, they had heard of shillings in medieval Europe, but what were they talking about right now?
“Erm… How much is a shilling?” asked Seamus. The twins looked at him as if he was from Mars. Although, he thought, to them, I probably am.
“He means,” Mariah said quickly. “What can we trade for it? Our farm isn’t doing as well and we don’t have much money, but we do have a few things to trade.”
Seamus flashed a quick, grateful smile at Mariah. He was pretty sure that she didn’t have anything to trade in her jeans, t-shirt, and zip-up sweatshirt, but they had to find out one way or another, and he didn’t like the sound of sleeping outside.
“Well, I suppose it depends on what you have. If it’s food, you’ll have to talk to cook. If it’s anything else, you’ll have to talk to Lily,” said Taylor. She looked them over more closely. “Mind if I ask what you’re wearing?”
Seamus self-consciously glanced down. In his opinion, he looked perfectly normal, but these girls clearly weren’t, so his jeans and sports sweatshirt probably looked freakish to them. And Mariah’s jeans and t-shirt were more than likely considered
“Oh, well look at that!” exclaimed Tatiana happily. “Here she is now!” Seamus looked up in time to see a stunningly gorgeous petite girl with voluminous raven black hair that Seamus thought was so thick, someone could get lost in it, and hazel eyes, dressed in a black silk gown with full sleeves and a bright purple silk sash, sweep down the stairs as if she were floating.
Despite her stature, she presented herself with a confidence that Seamus doubted even the popular girls in his high school class could have imitated.
“Close the door,” she instructed rather airily. “Have you forgotten what moon it is?” Taylor and Tatiana muttered something and the girl rolled her eyes.
“This is our sister Lily. She owns the inn.” explained Taylor, before turning to Lily, “Lily, they want an appointment and may have things to trade for a room.”
Lily laughed; it was a strange laugh, beautiful and mystical yet also frightening and eerie.
“As it happens, the last person who had an appointment had the nerve to die on me!” she exclaimed a little angrily. “Can you believe it?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “So, coincidentally, I do have an opening in an hour. Taylor and Tatiana will escort you there. I will see you in an hour. Do not be late. I hate it when people are late, it really annoys me. And you don’t want to annoy me. And, girls,” she turned to Taylor and Tatiana. “Don’t leave the door open again. My guests like to at least imagine that they’re safe here.”
She swept off down a different set of stairs, which used to lead into the basement, but Seamus had no idea where they led now. Seamus looked around to see that other guests had come into the hall and they were all staring after Lily in wonder.
“How old is she?” asked Mariah.
“Fourteen. She’ll be fifteen in a few months time,” said Tatiana. Seamus whistled, surprised. After all, she was nearly a whole year younger than he was!
Tatiana looked at him with pity. “I wouldn’t try anything if I were you,” she advised. “She’s been running this inn since she was eleven and ever since she started it people have been trying to take advantage of her, to kidnap her, to force her to marry them, someone even tried to kill her once. It didn’t matter. The ones that tried to kidnap her and stuff like that ended up mysteriously dead a few weeks later. Of course, everyone knew who did it, but honestly, did it matter? No one wants to shut down this inn and they couldn’t prove anything, true or not.”
Seamus’ eyes widened in shock, at both the younger girl’s matter-of-fact tone and the story that she told. He looked at Mariah and found that she, at least, was just as shocked as he was. He figured that he must look about the same.
For a while, there was silence until Taylor asked if they were hungry and Mariah had answered with, “He’s a boy, he’s always hungry.”
So they went down the hall a ways and walked into what used to be the living room and kitchen and was now a huge kitchen with people bustling here and there and large wooden tables that were already set with wooden bowls and spoons.
“Find a place at the table and a cook will find you and give you some food,” Tatiana directed before leaving.
Taylor called, “We’ll be back in an hour to fetch you for your appointment.”
A large, friendly looking man who Seamus assumed was a cook that Lily and the twins were talking about came over and filled up their bowls with soup.
“Thanks,” said Seamus. “What is it?”
The cook smiled in a friendly sort of way and said, “It’s today’s specialty. Yikan soup with some beans and noodles.” He left; apparently unaware of the confusion in which he had left his guests.
“Do you have any idea what a yikan is?” asked Mariah.
“No, but I’m going to find out if it’s good.” He took a bite and shrugged. “Tastes like chicken.”
Mariah sighed and tasted hers. She, too, shrugged, as if it were neither good nor bad. There was a thick, rotten smelling brown drink that looked like something Seamus might shovel out of the barn. For dessert, there was a pie with a very odd fruit that tasted a bit like a pineapple.
“So,” said Mariah when they had finished eating. She looked around to make sure that no one could hear them. “What do you say we do? I don’t think that we really want everyone to know that we aren’t from here; it would make us seem an easy target. Where is here, anyway?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Lily that. Discreetly, though. I think that we’re in a different world or country or something. And I think you’re right,” said Seamus, “I think that for now at least, we should just play along. I don’t think that it would hurt to say that we weren’t from around here, but to say that we come from like a different world would probably be a huge mistake. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on, but I don’t want to ask that. I just have a bad feeling that wouldn’t be good. ”
Mariah nodded absentmindedly.
When Taylor and Tatiana came, Mariah and Seamus were full, but very confused.
“This way.” said Taylor, leading them up a flight of stairs. It really was a beautiful castle; the courtyards were lovely even in the dark and the light in the lanterns shone on some things to make them sparkle with light.
Soon they reached an old looking door that was made of gold. It was not solid, but instead seemed to be carved out of thin air. Tatiana knocked. There wasn’t much that Seamus could see through the door, only the shape of someone coming close. Lily opened the door with a smile that did not reach her eyes.
“Come in.” she instructed and then closed the door behind them.
Seamus felt as if he was going to the principal’s office.
The room was dark, colored in deep purples that matched her sash. There wasn’t much furniture in the room, only two beds; one smaller than the other, a desk draped in purple cloth, a chest, and a few seats, all with purple cushions.
Lily gestured for them to sit in the chairs while she took the larger chair. Seamus sat down, more out of politeness than discomfort, for he would have rather stood. Mariah took the seat next to him. Lily pointed at a candle on the desk and muttered something. The candle lit itself.
“Whoa, magic!” exclaimed Mariah, impressed. Seamus didn’t miss the sidelong glance that she sent him. Even though Mariah was right, he didn’t particularly care if she gloated. They had far more pressing matters, like getting home.
Lily glanced at her. “Anyone who wants to survive knows how to do magic,” she replied coolly, though Seamus didn’t know what they had done to offend her. Mariah looked impressed, but Seamus was unnerved.
“So, what did you want an appointment for?” asked Lily. Seamus couldn’t help but notice that she was eyeing them in interest.
“Where are we?” said Seamus. It wasn’t what he had wanted to say, but it was the most pressing question. Lily looked at him.
“Walking Inn Circles. The greatest inn in the area!”
“What state?”
“State? What’s a state?”
“Country? Empire? Nation? King? Queen? President? Governor? Emperor?”
“Well, we have a ruler, but no one really knows who he or she is. His or her empire is called Verendetta and, currently, we’re in Veranda, in Giant’s Valley, near the Venda Sea. Don’t worry,” she added after seeing the looks on their faces, “the giants aren’t here anymore, and they left over a century ago. I’m guessing that you’re not from the area?”