Valley Of Glamorgan

by Julie Eads

  I was just about to ask when Liam stepped forward and placing his hand on Declan’s shoulder he smiled at the young man with adoration, saying, “Declan is soon to be 17 and his animal ritual will be in two weeks’ time.” I was surprised that he was only sixteen as he looked to be at least in his early twenties. Not knowing what to say I just told him it was nice to meet him, the same as I had done with Eirnan, trying to be as polite as possible with all the sensations that were overwhelming me.

  Finally Eleanor linked her arm through mine and announced it was time to go. Turning towards the castle we moved on; although I found I couldn’t help but look back and wave to Declan who, to my surprise was still watching me.

  Chapter 6

  Reaching the enormous door to the castle we walked through the entry way which was poorly lit with candles. I couldn’t really make out the details of the hallway, although I could tell it was breathtaking. We walked down a long corridor illuminated with lanterns, and I tried to muffle a laugh when I thought to myself how much it reminded me of medieval times. Finally we entered a large room that was filled with large, plush leather couches and chairs, which stood a marvelous fireplace, built in the same grey stone as the rest of the castle. The floors were white marble and the whole effect was beautiful.

  Knoll and Maggie made their way to a love seat sat next to the fireplace; Maggie sat with her legs delicately tucked underneath her and her head on Knoll’s shoulder. Knoll reached down and entwined his hand with hers. I had only known Knoll for a few days, yet I knew that somehow this was the happiest I had ever seen him. It dawned at me that I was genuinely happy for him and felt a bit foolish for acting the way I had earlier in the day

  Eleanor and Liam sat across from the couple on another love seat, but motioned for me to join them. I, however, chose to sit in a chair facing the fireplace; that way I wouldn’t feel like a third wheel. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were all thinking. Maybe if I had known I would have actually been less nervous.

  Eleanor’s thoughts……

  Eleanor looked at her daughter. She couldn’t quite believe that she had finally been returned to them after all these years. ‘Her daughter,’ she thought, ‘had turned out to be a beautiful young woman.’ She also knew that Mina would indeed make a wonderful leader for their little country. Eleanor felt awful for springing all this on her child, but she knew Mina was strong and would endure it. Placing her hand in her husbands, for the first time in thirteen years she felt completely whole.

  Liam’s thoughts……

  Liam sat holding the love of his life’s hand. He was happy and warm sitting in front of the fire with his family. He too was thinking how glad he was to have his little girl back, and he felt pride in how well she handled herself. He was looking forward to getting to know her. He was glad to feel the relief from the burden of her disappearance. A great pain was lifted from his heart. Raising his head he sent a silent prayer to the goddess; thanking her for his daughter’s safe return, and hoping that she too would find love and happiness amongst her family.

  Maggie’s thoughts……

  Maggie snuggled closer into Knolls embrace, thankful for his safe return. Also for him finding her sister, and returning her to them. Maggie had missed the little girl thinking how Mina would often steal her toys and follow her around like a shadow. Although she didn’t remember much else about the girl sitting across from her, she realized she wanted to get to know her and form a strong bond with her. Maggie was excited to have her sister back and also glad to see the worry removed from her parents faces. They had all lived in pain for too long! They deserved to be nothing but happy.

  Knoll’s thoughts……

  Knoll leaned his head back against the cool, leather couch; finally feeling whole. He placed his arm around Maggie’s shoulders, occasionally kissing the top of her head or swiping a piece of hair from her face. He felt very happy that things had turned out so well; other than Mina being angry with him. Thinking about Mina’s reaction earlier in the day he felt bad for her but, his heart belonged to only one, and for that he wasn’t sorry. He knew that Carmina would one day understand when she met her soul mate. Knoll looked at Mina seeing how uncomfortable she looked but he hoped that she would feel more settled soon.

  Everyone sat in silence for some time until I finally decided to break it and ask some questions that I was curious about. Clearing my throat I sat up asking, “What now?”

  Liam was the first to answer, “First, you need to rest. Maggie can show you to your room, and then we will have a family dinner!” The smile that had spread across his face seemed contagious as he continued saying, “Then we will get ready for your party tonight.”

  Reacting to his comment I stood up quickly. “My party?” I asked in a shocked tone.

  Maggie stood, and walking over to me she placed her hand on my shoulder. “You didn’t think that you could just come home after all of these years and we not celebrate your return?” she laughingly asked in a joking manner. I smiled, feeling a pull at my heart strings. These people were so nice. They seemed to love me so much, yet I still felt as if I was amongst strangers, although I knew it was wrong to feel this way. These people were my family and I wanted to give them the same love they appeared to be giving me but I just didn’t know how; and there was nothing I could do. With that thought in mind I promised myself to try my best to get to know them better, and then maybe one day I would be able to return their love.

  Leaving the room I followed Maggie back down the corridor towards a flight of stairs. As we walked up the long winding staircase she turned to me, saying, “It truly is good to have you home sister. I know that you are feeling overwhelmed, but I want you to know that you can always talk to me about anything; after all that is what sisters are for, right?” She displayed a brilliant genuine smile so I thanked her as I was truly grateful that she was such a good sister.

  “I always wondered what it was like to have a sister,” I said, “I’m glad that I get to know now.”

  She nodded in agreement and said, “As am I Mina.”

  Finally we reached the top of the stairs, which had seemed endless. Turning right we made our way to the end of the hall until Maggie stopped at a door. “This is your room, try and get some sleep before you clean up. There are clothes in your closest and towels in the dressing room. I will wake you up in about three hours for dinner,” she finished and turned and headed towards the staircase. She had disappeared before I could tell her thank you.

  As I turned the knob of the white, elegant door, I took a deep breath. I was finding it hard to hold in the anticipation as I knew that my room would be beautiful; especially if it looked anything remotely like the rest of the house. Pushing open the door lightly, I was careful not to hit it against the wall. Walking inside I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was to be my new bedroom. It was amazing and suddenly I truly felt like a princess.

  Looking around I saw a giant, four poster bed hung with large yellow silk drapes that hung gracefully down the sides; and there was a yellow silk blanket tucked neatly around the bed. When I looked up at the ceiling I decided it was my favorite part of the room as there was a stained glass window in place of the ceiling. This was made of brilliant yellows and greens, and in the center was a large tulip. I couldn’t believe how breathtaking it was. After several moments of taking in the beauty of my new room, I decided to explore the rest of it.

  Making my way into a huge bathroom, I discovered a large vanity mirror with a counter stocked with numerous beauty products. There was a large bath tub sitting next to the enormous bay window, which at first made me a little uneasy. But, the closer I looked at it, the more I realized it wasn’t a real window after all but a large TV screen that had an image of rolling hills; it was by far the neatest thing I had ever seen. It was even cut into the shape of a window and framed as if it was real.

  After checking out the large walk-in shower, which had beautiful marble floors, I made my way to the walk-in closet. It was
massive and there was no denying that I was in heaven as there were shoes from floor to ceiling on appointed shelves. Plus there were so many clothes, all in my size, that I couldn’t believe my eyes. I wondered how they had known my size, deciding I would ask them later.

  Making my way towards the drawers I selected a simple pair of pajama pants and a matching tank top. Quickly throwing them on, I made my way to the large, comfortable bed, pulling the blankets back as I climbed in. The softness was surprising and it engulfed my body in all the right places; making me feel safe and warm. Laying down I looked up at the beautiful stained glass window, thinking about what my life would have been like if I had grown up here; if I hadn’t been taken away. I wondered if Maggie and I would have been close. Would I have had a boyfriend? All of these thoughts coursed through my mind as I slowly drifted off to sleep…….

  Having left her sister Maggie had made her way back down the stairs. She had a lot to do before dinner and the party but she couldn’t get Knoll out of her mind, so decided to send him a quick text message, writing, ‘I love you, and am happy that you are home. Within a matter of seconds Maggie felt her phone vibrate in her jeans pocket, and as she read the text her heart grew warm. ‘I love you too, my everything. There is not a place I’d rather be.’ Maggie knew that her and Knolls relationship was an unlikely one but she was happy that she had stopped being so stubborn and actually allowed him to take her on a date. She giggled to herself as she reached the bottom of the stairs and headed towards the room they had all been in earlier and where her parents were still cuddling on the sofa.

  Maggie cleared her throat, breaking the silence as she made her way to sit in front of her parents. “She is sleeping soundly,” she said, referring to Carmina.

  “I am glad she is resting, it wasn’t an easy journey here,” responded her mother smiling.

  Her father nodded in agreement, saying, “I know she has faced a lot. It makes me sick what those monsters have put her through.”

  Knoll told them that they had been quite nice to her, appearing to have treated her very well. Liam stood up and stretched; looking agitated as he said, “I am just happy that they didn’t harm her, although the scars of their deception on her go deeper than we will ever know. We must be patient with her.”

  Eleanor chimed in, trying to cut the tension from the air, “I hope she likes the party tonight.”

  Maggie insisted, “I know that she will love it.” Then she disappeared into the kitchen to prepare dinner for them all.

  I woke up screaming as I tried to flee from the images that flashed through my head. It felt as I would never escape that night; I would never feel normal again. A sense of panic raced through my body and I felt utterly helpless as the tears streamed down my tired face. It had been another horrible dream about Jack and Stephanie; how they had broken into the castle as I slept, and had killed everyone. They were laughing at me with blood stained faces, telling me that they would finally kill me too. Shivering, I tried to shake away the eerie feelings the dream had brought me.

  Reminding myself that it was all over and that I was safe I grabbed some towels from the closet and quickly made my way into the remarkable bathroom. I still couldn’t get over the lavender painted walls or the beautiful marble floors. Looking down at my watch I realized that I had slept for almost three hours and that Maggie was due to come and wake me up, meaning I would have to hold off on the giant bath tub until later. However, I made a mental note to ask about the TV window.

  Setting the water for warm I quickly stepped into the shower, enjoying the feeling of the hot water beating on my back; somehow it helped to erase the gruesome memories of the dream I had experienced moments before. If I was honest I was nervous about the party, and wished I could have declined the invitation. Right now all I wanted to do was to crawl back into the comfortable bed and sleep for the rest of the night. But, I knew it wasn’t a choice I had, how would it look if the princess ditched her own party?

  Sighing to myself I wished I could be a regular teenager and just stay underneath the radar. Now I felt like a radiating bomb; everyone would be watching me. They would scrutinize every move I made; maybe they would treat me weirdly? Somehow I knew they would be careful not to offend or scare me; all because of my crazy, pretend parents. I thought about how weird it would be if the roles had been reversed. I mean, how do you treat someone who has been kidnapped by evil, giant demons? The thoughts were still settling down, and I honestly didn’t know if I would ever get used to any of it. Reluctantly I left the shower. As I did I heard someone knocking at the bathroom door.

  “Hello, Mina its Maggie. I’m just laying a few dresses on your bed for you to choose from. They’re for the party. Oh, don’t worry about wearing something fancy for dinner, it will be very casual,” called her sister.

  I laughed, never thinking that I would have a dress code for eating dinner. Grabbing the robe from the back of the bathroom door I put it on, wrapping it tightly around me to make sure that nothing was showing. I opened the door, and just before Maggie excused herself from my room, I asked her if she would mind staying. She laughed nervously, but agreed to stay, finding a place to sit on the corner of the bed but being careful not to mess the blankets up any more than I already had.

  What Maggie didn’t realize was that I wasn’t used to people being so careful around me. Back home Katie would have just walked into my room and kicked her shoes off before bouncing directly on to the center of my bed, saying something like, ‘What’s the plan for tonight?’ Maggie was the exact opposite; she was quiet and self-reserved. It would take me some time to get used to that. Just give it time I kept reminding myself; give it time.

  Making my way to the closet I closed the large door behind me as I first selected some under-garments. Putting on a nice silk blouse with ruffled pieces at the front I matched it with a nice pair of jeans that were dark blue to a faded light blue at the knee. Choosing the right shoes was not an easy task but eventually I chose a pair of black flats with bows on the toes. ‘They go nicely with the blouse,’ I thought as I walked out of the closet and headed back into the bathroom asking Maggie to follow me. Once we were in the bathroom, I stood in front of the oversized, lit mirror. As I looked at my reflection I realized the lack of a goodnights sleep had caused bags to form under my eyes.

  “You look lovely,” said Maggie, taking me by surprise. She had been so quiet I had forgotten she was there.

  “Thank you,” I managed to say, even though I knew she was just being nice. “But I have no idea what I am going to do with my hair,” I said, sounding clearly frustrated with it.

  Maggie laughed and stepping towards me, said, “Why don’t you pull it up away from your face for now? That way it will have a chance to dry.” She was right it did need time to dry.

  “Tell you what, I’ll do your hair for the party… mmmm, that’s if you would like me to,” she said questioningly? Searching for the hair things in the various drawers I finally found what I needed before doing my best to get my wet, unruly curls up into a ponytail.

  “You are very beautiful,” Maggie said, “You resemble mom and dad so much.”

  Laughing lightly I looked at her, “Have you not looked in the mirror recently? You are gorgeous. You look just like Eleanor; and, you have Liam’s eyes.”

  Maggie blushed, saying, “Thank you,” before announcing, “We’d better get downstairs.” Nodding my head I followed her out of the room and we made our way downstairs to the large dining room.

  Entering the dining room I thought the large oak table looked big enough to accommodate the whole village. Looking upwards I caught sight of a beautiful chandelier hanging just above table. Maggie made her way to the end of the table where Eleanor, Liam and Knoll were sitting and she took, not to anyone’s surprise, a seat next to Knoll. I chose to sit between Liam and Eleanor; feeling their delight at my choice of seating. Both told me how lovely I looked and asked me how I liked my room or if I needed anything. After I had reassured th
em that they had supplied me with more than enough, Knoll asked me how I had slept.

  For some reason I felt my body grow rigid so I tried to make my smile as convincing as possible. “Like a baby,” I said with a pretend smile. Suddenly I remembered I had told him that I would never lie to him; yet he had broken his vow to me so I didn’t feel too bad. He looked at me as if he was trying to decide if he believed me or not, so I quickly changed the subject by asking, “What is for dinner?”

  Eleanor smiled, replying, “We are having a traditional Irish stew, which is potatoes, carrots and lamb, along with Irish soda bread. We felt it was appropriate for your first authentic family Irish meal and we wanted your first meal with us to have great meaning and to welcome you home.”

  “It sounds delicious,” I replied, excited to be trying a new dish. It sounded so different to anything Jack and Stephanie had cooked me as they had always insisted on our eating healthy organic food. Stephanie had been a vegetarian, so I had eaten little meat during my upbringing. I couldn’t help but find it all so condescending. They were evil giant demons hidden within human bodies. Yet somehow it was strange that they hadn’t eaten meat? It was hard to know what were lies and what the truth was anymore; for all I knew she and Jack could have been out eating the hearts of the neighborhood children. My mind would have gone on in this tangent if Liam hadn’t interrupted my spiraling thoughts.

  Abruptly he asked, “Have you thought what sort of animal you will choose Carmina?”