“That explains why she’s here. But why is she always kept away?”
“No clue.” Ackerley said. “I’d like to find out though.”
“Yeah, the nobles are weird. They probably think we’ll contaminate her. You know why we have fancy dinners, right? The nobles are trying to make us into real citizens. They think we’re all a bunch of commoners or something.”
“I am.” Ackerley said.
“Well sure, but they don’t want you to be.”
They meandered through the gardens and tried not to run into things. It proved too difficult in the dark and they returned to their room. Murdo sat on his bed and looked rather sour. Jarn took one look at him and decided it best to stay away until everyone was in bed.
Late that night Ackerley was gently shaken awake. He sat up and wondered if it was time to see Mr. Jett before realizing that he was good that day.
“Jarn?” He whispered.
“Nope.” Came an excited whisper.
“Cerise?” Ackerley whispered back, not quite believing it was her.
“Come on, get up before someone hears.”
Between the loud snoring of Murdo, the heavy breathing of Jamie, and the occasional whimper from Jarn, Ackerley figured they could talk normally and no one would notice. He got out of bed.
“What are you doing here?” He asked.
“Hurry up. I’ll wait in the hall.”
The softest of noises followed and the door opened and closed almost silently. He threw on his green tunic and hurried after her.
Princess Cerise looked as though she’d just helped someone escape from prison. She smiled guiltily and kept spinning around to make sure no one was there. Her hair was down and she wore a flowing periwinkle nightgown.
“This is crazy.” She said hurriedly, echoing what Ackerley was thinking. “I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for a while, but never had the nerve. I figured if I had someone to do it with I might. I jumped out of bed tonight and said: ‘tonight’s the night. It’s now or never.’”
“What are you talking about?” Ackerley said, unable to control a grin.
“I’ve lived in this place for well over a year and I’ve never—not once have I been able to roam around by myself. Every second of everyday I have to be with Madame Thrindle.”
“Oh my, that sounds awful.”
“Exactly! After meeting you I thought I might finally have a . . . you know. . . a friend.” She spun around a few times to make sure no one was there. “I was so surprised that you tried to talk to me. No one—I really mean it—no one has ever even attempted. I get stared at everywhere I go and it just makes me so mad. But not anymore. I . . .” She blushed, “I kind of jumped at the chance. I guess—” her eyes grew wide with fright. “Oh no! I just assumed you might want to be my friend. I’m sorry. I’ll go. You get back to sleep. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
She started down the hall.
“Wait,” Ackerley walked with her. “I haven’t been here very long. I only have one friend. Look, I know how you feel.” It was his turn to feel a little frightened. “I mean—I don’t really. I lived by myself for over a year too. It was in a little town far away. I didn’t have anybody. My brother was off fighting and my—anyway he came and took me here. I mean—I know how bad it is to feel so lonely that your heart just aches for company.”
She gasped. “That’s exactly it. You do get it, wow.” She talked really fast. It was almost like she was trying to get a year’s worth of words in while she had the chance.
“So what do you want to do?” Ackerley asked, not sure if he should be excited or terrified. He chose excited, it felt a lot better.
She looked around and bit her lip. “I don’t know. I thought you might have an idea.”
“I don’t really know much about this place. It seems a little odd to me.”
“How so?”
He thought back to that weird woman he met in the nursery. “Oh, I don’t know. There’s just some strange people here.”
“That’s what happens when nobles get together. My dad used to have these big meetings with a bunch of nobles. I had to go to a few and they were terrible. They don’t care about the same stuff as regular people.”
Ackerley had a hard time believing that a princess who wasn’t allowed to do anything on her own knew what problems regular people had, but he let that slide.
“We could wander around and see what’s going on here at night. We’d have to avoid Mr. Jett and his team. I don’t think they would really care, but he might be more into the rules than he lets on.”
“Who’s Mr. Jett?”
“He cleans the floors.”
She puffed up with excitement. “I always wondered how the floors stay so clean. It’s not usually something people think about, but I do. I stare at them so much and they always shine.”
“I help a little with that.”
As soon as he said it he wondered why he even opened his mouth. He didn’t want to be known as Ackerley, the janitor’s helper.
“Why do you help clean the floors?”
He didn’t want to tell her that she was kind of the reason so again he changed the subject. “Let’s just see what’s around at night.”
They started off around the third floor. It proved rather boring as everyone was asleep. The second floor was a little more interesting because they quickly found Mr. Jett. He was busy showing some girl how to use the broom thing. He didn’t notice as Cerise and Ackerley ran around a corner to avoid him.
The first floor was where things felt a little more restricted. All the nobles lived in a back corridor kept off limits to the children. Ackerley had only been back there when Madame Thrindle complained to Yinnib about him being near the princess. This section of the first floor was guarded by a door in the middle of the hall just like the princess’s residence. Ackerley wanted very much to go through there and see what he could find, but found the prospect of running into a noble with Cerise to be too daunting.
While out that night he wondered if there was a punishment worse than Mr. Jett. He imagined Kenton getting a letter saying that his little brother was thrown out of the castle and forced to fend for himself.
Cerise didn’t notice his concern. She was busy being amazed at how everything looked at night. For the first time she was free to explore and wanted to do it right.
In the entryway Cerise decided to take the stairs back to the second floor. She decided that she wanted to keep the rest of her exploration for another day, and that she probably already took up too much of his time. As they climbed the stairs Ackerley noticed the walkway he had seen the woman in blue on.
“Where does that walkway come out from?” Ackerley asked.
“The fourth floor.” Cerise said.
“There’s a fourth floor?”
Cerise stopped on the stairs. “That’s where Lord Chellion lives. I suppose it’s off limits to everyone. I’ve never even been up there.”
“Is Lord Chellion real? I mean my friend Jarn says he thinks he died and no one wants to tell us.”
“I met him when I got here. I haven’t seen him since. I think he really likes his privacy.”
She continued up the stairs and Ackerley followed through the second floor.
“I understand the privacy thing,” Ackerley said, “but he wanted to bring all these kids here. To not even come down to see us during formal dinners is a little weird.”
“True.” Cerise stopped at a door that stood a jar. She carefully pushed it open and gasped. “Look at this.” She entered the room and disappeared into the darkness.
Ackerley slid in the room and left the door open a crack. It was just a classroom.
“I have history in here.”
Cerise ran her hands across the desks as she walked methodically to the front of the room. “I’ve alw
ays liked classrooms.” She said, her voice quiet and thoughtful. “I’ve always wanted to be taught in one.”
“It’s not that special.” Ackerley said.
“It is to me. I’ve only ever been taught in tiny rooms with a tutor.” She sat on the teacher’s desk and swung her feet back and forth. She looked guiltily out at the room.
Ackerley sat in the front desk. “What do you want to teach?”
“Hmm. Tell me about your life.”
“You don’t want to hear about that.”
“No, I really do. It’s no secret what my life’s been like. You saw it all the other night. I have to sit until I’m told to move and be quiet unless told to speak. Nothing much there. But you on the other hand. . . I really want to know about that. You’ve been out—you’ve done stuff.”
“I’ve done a lot.” Ackerley said trying to sound cool. It came across a bit pompous instead. He quickly lowered his eyes and smiled regretfully. “Well, not that much actually. Like I said I lived in a house by myself for over a year. My neighbors checked on me but I don’t think they really cared. I had a lot of time to think.”
“What did you think about?” Cerise said, her voice barely a whisper.
“All sorts of things. I had a lot of fantasies going.” He smiled at the thought. “There was only one book in the house. It was a little fairy tale about a boy who meets a tiny woodland sprite. But the interesting part is that he meets this sprite in the desert. They spend the whole book trying to get the sprite back to the woods. It was really interesting to read about their little adventures all over the place. When I was alone I would