“I didn’t think it would break so easily,” I admitted, not understanding the logic of making a door-knocker out of something so fragile.
“You’re going to get us all into trouble!” she scolded.
“I didn’t know!” I insisted.
“Girls, the door!” interrupted Justin.
Emily and I hadn’t noticed that the door had slowly begun to open.
Silently, we waited, watching as a bright light sliced through the opening and stretched out wide as the door swung inward. Looking in, we could see an atrium that shimmered brightly with dancing lights.
I was expecting to see someone, possibly a butler or maidservant, but no one appeared from behind the door.
“Hello?” Emily’s voice echoed through the open airy hall. “Anyone home?”
We edged closer, standing on the threshold below the open arch, but only a faint chiming noise returned our call from somewhere within the frigid, icy chambers.
The interior walls were covered in detailed ice carvings of winged cherubs, lacy filigrees and embellishing laurels all reflecting light back at us in a glow of glory. There were no colours, just bright frosted whiteness covering everything.
“Maybe Santa really does exist,” laughed Justin.
It was the most amazing winter land that I had ever seen, but I was beginning to think that no one was home. In fact, the cold stillness and delicate crystals, completely intact, made the place feel desolate and deserted, as though we had come across an abandoned estate. But suddenly, as if to sway my opinion, a delicious scent wafted down the hall, capturing my attention. It instantly inhabited the castle with life, and reminded me of the empty pit that rolled over in my stomach.
My hunger grew exponentially as I stood there by the entrance, salivating at the mere thought of food. I hoped that whoever had been baking had made plenty and would keep all formal greetings to a minimum so that we could eat as soon as possible. Lured by the irresistible aroma, the three of us crossed over the threshold and entered the frozen palace. It was even colder inside. Cold enough that I could see my breath, and yet it didn’t feel uncomfortably frigid, but rather refreshing on my skin. I was startled back to reality when, as if shoved by an invisible hand the heavy door closed behind us.
“Look, there’s no ceiling!” Justin exclaimed.
I looked up. The high walls ended with the bright open sky. “That explains why it’s so light and shimmery in here,” I said. The sun poured down into the castle, making it look more like a courtyard.
The tantalizing aromas continued to lead us down the frozen hall, through an archway and into a large round room where the smell was even stronger. The beveled ice walls were smooth and reflective like mirrors. A large circular block of ice sat in the middle of the room as though it were a round banquet table, and directly above it were several ice trusses that crossed over the open air in the shape of a star. Suspended from the centre of this star shape was a large, lustrous icicle chandelier that dangled downward and chimed whimsically with the slightest breath of air. It held no bulbs, but rather was lit by the sunlight that fell upon it, splintering the sun’s rays into thousands of tiny lights that flit about us.
Equally spaced around the table sat three oversized chairs, all elaborately decorated with icy jewels and frosted filigrees. Each chair was padded with white fur and was large and elaborate enough to be a king’s throne.
Behind each throne stood a monolithic angel, intricately carved from ice. They too shimmered majestically in the dancing light and I doubted that the thrones of heaven could be anymore beautiful than the ones in this room.
“You sure we’re not in heaven?” asked Justin.
“I don’t know anymore,” I sighed.
I walked up to one of the angels. He was larger than myself by a few feet. I skimmed my hand along the carved feathered wing that spread over his muscular shoulder and all the way down his back. His face was beautiful and although he was just a statue, he seemed to smile back at me. It made me feel warm and welcome.
“Woah!” blurted out Justin. “That’s weird!”
“What is it?” I asked coming up beside him.
“My name. It’s carved into the chair.”
“Oh my gosh!” Emily laughed giddily. “This one has Tali’s name on it, and that one has mine!” She strolled across the room with a lofty poise and took her seat at the table.
“If this is heaven, where is everyone?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but isn’t this place magical?” Emily sighed, clearly allured by the fortune into which she had fallen. “Imagine living in a castle like this?” she continued. “Having loads of money and a huge closet to fit a whole bunch of shoes and outfits in? I’d have servants to make my bed and someone to do up my hair and makeup!”
“You’re such a princess,” I groaned.
“Surprised you made it here at all, with you being so nasty,” sneered Emily.
“Oh and you were an angel I bet.”
“Where’s the food?” asked Justin. “I’m starving!”
But something didn’t sit right with me. Whether it was the cold vacancy of the castle, or the fact our names were on the thrones, I got the feeling that we had stumbled upon something more sinister than an eternal paradise. I sat down to think in the chair carved with my name. The table was set perfectly with tiers of ice crystal plates, frosted goblets and shimmering candelabras. Then I noticed something etched in the surface of the table. I moved my goblet out of the way so I could see better.
“Hey guys, look!” It was a letter addressed to us, written in the centre of the table:
Welcome Justin, Emily and Tali,
It pleases me that you have returned, although not without consequence I’m sure. It is unfortunate that your understanding of me may be tainted and blurred by what took place that day we first met. If you give me a chance, you will find that I am more generous than you expect; there is in fact no end to my giving.
Feast, as your hunger must be great and rest, as your souls must be weary. Whatever you see fit to have, it is yours to keep. I promise.
By my hand it is written,
Lustro Basilicus
“Last met?” I said. “Who’s Lustro Basilicus?”
“I have no idea, but the name does sound royal doesn’t it?” giggled Emily.
It was such an odd letter that I couldn’t help but think of the note on the book back in the cellar. I wondered what exactly we had got ourselves in to, but before I had figured it out I was startled by a magical feast that spilled in to and over the platters, bowls and serving trays. The table was transformed into a display of food fit for a king with colours, textures and delicious smells, wiping clean the concerns that had been brewing inside me.
“Whoever he or she is, this Lustro sure knows how to cook up a feast,” said Justin.
There were plates of chicken thighs, meatloaf, crab claws, whipped potatoes, creamed gravy, stuffed partridge, seasoned dressing, and roasted wild boar glazed with honey, pineapples and dressed complete with booties and red apple. There were parsnips, yams, broccoli and carrots. Oranges, tangerines, grapes and apples all colourful and sweet. And breads and cheeses, creams and sauces, butter and marmalades, jellies and jams. Although, it was the dessert that stole the spread with frosted cake, raspberry mousse, crème caramel, apple crisp, pineapple surprise, tapioca pudding, cinnamon rolls, chocolate covered nuts and multi-coloured lollipops.
“The raspberry mousse is out of this world!” mumbled Justin, who was already into his third mouthful by the time I had decided to try the fare. I shoveled the food from the plates to my mouth so quickly that I could barely come up for air. I held my ice goblet under a pink bubbling fountain that sat on the table and filled it to the rim.
“You’ve got to try the soda!” I exclaimed. It tasted like cream soda with a hint of cherry. Once I started
I couldn’t stop myself. I ate feverishly fast and not once did I look up to see if the others had enough. ‘Of course they did,’ I thought. ‘There’s more food than a hundred of us could eat.’
“You two are seriously disgusting,” scorned Emily, completely interrupting my happy thoughts.
“Huh?” I mumbled, my mouth full of potatoes.
“Look at you, eating like savages. Here we are in a royal place and you behave as though we’re at the zoo,” she said with a disdainful look.
Justin seemed apathetic about the whole matter and continued to eat while eyeing Emily and I.
“What do you think the owner of this place would do if they saw you?” she continued condescendingly.
“Well, if you haven’t noticed Em,” I mumbled, tearing off a large chunk of boar with my teeth. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home right now, so why should I care how I eat?”
“That’s the problem with you Tali. You don’t care! You don’t care if you get us all lost or into trouble, and you obviously don’t care about making a good first impression.”
“Oh really!” I spat out between bits of boar. “And you, I suppose, care about everything! You care about your precious little bonnet and expensive shirt and first impressions and God forbid if you should ever get into trouble. I bet you care so much about what your parents think that you’ve forgotten how to think for yourself.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” she snapped back.
“Really?”
“Yeah really. And at least I know how to eat with fork!” she raised her fork and with one single pea on the end of a tine she slowly placed it in her mouth, making sure to chew it thoroughly.
“Surprised you’re capable of eating anything, with your nose so high up in the air,” I said, purposely shoveling in another mouthful of whipped potatoes and sticking it out on my tongue at her.
“Oh you’re just jealous that’s all.”
“Jealous?” I nearly choked. “Of you I suppose?”
“Justin warned me about you. He said the teachers can’t stand you, and you drive your parents crazy, getting into trouble all the time. They’re all probably glad you’re not home.”
Ouch. “You said that?” I looked at Justin, who had stuffed so much in his mouth he could barely respond. His wide brown eyes bounced back and forth between Emily and I.
“Well,” he finally mumbled. “You know the teachers aren’t exactly fond of you.”
“Wow.” I shot him a horrible look.
“BUT,” he quickly continued. “I didn’t say your parents would be happy about you being gone.”
“Okay,” I put my fork down, knowing Emily was loving this. “So who do you like better Justin?” I blurted out. “Emily or me?”
He shrugged.
“We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. Just tell her!” I stared at him looking for a more definitive answer.
But he just shrugged and smiled a messy grin with chocolate cream covering the lower half of his face.
“She thinks you like her Justin!” I laughed. “You’ve got to tell her she’s totally not your type.”
“She’s okay,” he mumbled.
“Okay?” Emily snapped. “That’s not what you said at music camp.”
“I can’t believe how hungry I still am,” said Justin who seemed uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. “Black forest?” He held out a plate of dark chocolate cake topped with glossy red cherries and layers of whipped cream.
“Don’t mind if I do,” I said and I took the offering as a sign that although he was too afraid to admit it, we had a best friend bond that no one was going to break. “Best friends forever!” I said, grabbing a handful of cake and shoving it into my mouth. Then I purposely smiled a toothy grin at Emily, dark cake covering most of my teeth.
“Oh that’s attractive.” She continued to eat with her utensils. “Don’t you think Justin?”
Justin shrugged.
And so it was, that our argument was replaced by a cold silence, as we ate and ate and ate some more, yet the food seemed endless, and our hunger didn’t dissipate, as we finished one plate only to find another plate filled again.
Even Emily was eating full plates of food, although she held steadfast to her manners and ate primly with her utensils. What seemed like hours later, the grunts of gorging slowed and I was beginning to feel tired.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Justin wiped away some whipped cream from his chin and looked at his watch. “Can’t help you there. My watch still says, ten thirty-... hey wait, it says ten thirty-eight. That’s weird! Maybe the watch is just low on batteries and running really slow. Well...” he yawned. “Either way, it’s not gonna tell us the time, but if I had to guess, I’d say by the sun it looks like about twelve noon.”
“I’m exhausted. It feels like it should be nighttime,” I said, feeling sure I had spent a good day already. But for reasons we didn’t understand the sun lingered lazily up in the sky.
“Ha, look Tali!” laughed Justin. “You’ve got frost on your nose.”
“Huh?” I looked at the reflection of myself in the icy table and saw that a dusting of white frost had crystallized on the very tip of my nose. “That’s funny,” I yawned. “It doesn’t feel cold at all.”
And as everyone knows how contagious yawns are, soon we were all into our second and third round of yawns. Each yawn seemed to dull my senses a little more until a numbing comfort blanketed me. It was as though it was Saturday morning and I knew I could stay in bed all day if I wanted to. It was the best feeling ever and I settled back into the soft cool fur on my chair. My mind drifted away into memories of the mansion. Walking into the foyer and seeing Justin’s mom carrying the portrait of the man who had lived there. He stared out from the painting at me, even there in my memory, my dream. But then I noticed his mouth move. He was trying to say something.
“Tali!” he said.
“Tali!”
The voice startled my mind awake, but my body was tired and remained sluggishly unresponsive.
“Tali!”
I just want to sleep a little.
“Tali wake up! You must wake up!”
My eyelids were heavy, as though they had been frozen shut and I couldn’t find the strength to open them. “Let me sleep!” I mumbled.
“No, no. You must wake up now!”
“Just one more minute,” I exhaled.
“Listen to me! You sleep for twenty-two sun already – nearly a moon. You must wake up, dere is no more time for delay.”
Chapter Eight
A Beautiful Deception
Tired and confused, I found just enough strength to open one eye and discovered that my head was resting on the table of ice which was still covered with plates of delicious food. When I was able to focus I discovered a pair of shiny black eyes set on a face of fur directly in front of me. It was Yeri standing on the table.
What had happened to me? Where had Yeri been all this time? How could I have completely forgotten about him?
“Ah, dis is good Tali. Wake up,” he whispered. “Open other eye now.”
I became aware of a stiff chill in the air and the fact that my face was pressed against the ice table top. It bit into my skin and I suddenly didn’t feel comfortable anymore.
“Yes, yes, get up,” Yeri coaxed quietly.
“But I,” my mouth mumbled, its lips sluggish and corners still frozen. “I... I just fell asleep.” I found it painfully difficult to pull enough air into my frozen lungs to produce a full sentence.
“No, no. You have been here for nearly a moon now,” he continued in a whisper.
“A moon?” I wanted to lift my head up off the hard, cold table, but I was too weak.
“Shhh, yes, nearly.” Yeri’s breath felt warm against my face and I
could feel the tight pull of my frosted eyelashes soften. “Twenty-two days to be more exact, but is difficult to tell when sun not set. I fear more days could pass quick without knowing.”
“But that can’t be.” My lashes peeled away from my cheek and I blinked my second eye open. “Where were you?”
“Shushhh!” He seemed agitated. “I try to warn you in desert, but you not listen,” he whispered. “Once you see castle dere was notink I could do. Your leg too long. Very, very hard to keep up. I watch you enter and immediately sent notice to Maker for help. Den I got straight to work. Dig my way in. It very, very hard soil. Frozen below footink. It take me long time, but finally I break in today.”
“Why didn’t you just come in the front door and why are you whispering?” I mumbled.
“Shh!” Yeri glanced around the room. “We must be quiet. The door seal shut. I knew it was trouble. We must get you out of here.”
“No it’s okay,” I tried to reassure him. “We aren’t in any trouble.”
“Listen to me Tali. Delay is all it want. Steal your time and leave you with none if I had not come to wake you.” He climbed up into my hand that was resting on the table.
“But that’s not tru...”
“Shhhh.” He put his ear to my wrist. “Yes, yes, dis is good. Your heart, she pump, but we must get you movink. Must get you warm.” He hopped out of my hand and stood on the smooth reflective table beside it. “Come, come, get up!”
“I d-d-don’t understand why you’re so concerned?” I stuttered. My teeth chattered from the horrible cold that I could now feel within my waking body.
“What about dis Lockhart, your family, gettink home? Have you forgotten everytink?”
A rush of forgotten thoughts pushed its way to the front of my mind. How could I have forgotten something so important? Could I have really been here for twenty-two days?
“It was just so b-b-b-beautiful,” I stuttered from the cold, “and we were s-s-so hungry. You should try the f-f-food, it’s delicious.” Even then, the thought of food seemed too good to pass up. Could there be any left? I eyed the table of food that looked perfectly fresh and delicious.
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