“Well, it has three bedrooms, all of them with thick, colorful rugsand wardrobes that I painted to match. It also has bookshelves in the front room, with a ladder that I can climb to reach all the books.” She gasped. “And a little reading loft with a window where I can sit and look out at the rolling green hills.”
I smiled, picturing her on the ladder plucking out a book to read. I could see it so clearly.
“The outside has a little front porch where we love to drink our tea in the morning, and where we sit and look at the stars at night.”
The castle heaved, Cillian falling forward, but Jerome caught his arm, keeping him steady. A few people lurched forward, and some grabbed on to the banisters or whatever they could to keep from falling.
“Stay calm, everyone,” Cillian yelled.
“Sometimes”—Niamh’s voice broke through the chaos as she whispered—“we make love on the porch at night under the open sky.”
“Mmm,” I rumbled in approval, gripping her tighter.
“We have the perfect couch that’s fluffy and soft and a few chairs for when your family comes over. We also have a big wooden table that you built for family dinners so your mother doesn’t have to host all the time.” She paused. “And I think I have a garden.”
“A garden?” I asked.
She nodded, wincing as the castle shook and she had to brace herself against me. “I think I want to get into gardening,” she yelled over the roaring that picked up outside. “I can’t survive off your beef and turkey jerky. My jaw is starting to hurt from all the chewing.”
I laughed as the castle tilted, everyone in the room falling, chaos breaking out as statues overturned and crashed to the ground, as people let out blood-curdling screams, as the chandelier that had regrown after the brotherhood attack shattered, glass raining down.
Maybe it would fix itself again after the castle landed.
“We take daily walks together through town.” Niamh’s voice grew more frantic, but she didn’t stop speaking. “I get to talk to everyone, and you get to glare at them, so it’s a win-win.”
The castle quaked now, and Niamh buried her head in my chest. All I could do was hold her tight. The quaking seemed to last for aneternity, windows shattering, paintings falling, the lights in the sconces flickering and then burning out and plunging us into darkness other than light splintering through the windows.
I held tight to Niamh, shielding her with my body as we slid across the floor when the castle tilted. She screamed, our bodies gliding. Just before we crashed into the wall, the castle righted itself abruptly, and we fell back, both of us hitting the hard floor with a crack.
Light burst through the windows, flooding the room, and it was hard to see anything at first.
I shielded my eyes, slowly sitting up. The quaking had stopped, and everyone was scattered around the room, most on the floor, looking as disoriented as I felt. I helped Niamh up, and we slowly came to a stand on shaky legs.
The room erupted in yells and cries, with questions and demands.
“What is happening?”
“How do we even know we’ll live through this?”
“We should never have left our home!”
Cillian winced, getting to his feet and holding out his hands. “Please, everyone. Remain calm. I know there are a lot of questions and concerns, but right now, we just need to survive this. Then we can worry about the rest.”
“Look, Mama, the water is green!” A little girl sat on her father’s shoulders, peeking out one of the high windows and pointing.
“You see water?” Cillian straightened.
“The castle landed,” the girl chirped. “And the water is green like a slimy frog. I’ve never seen green water before.”
Cillian and I shot each other alarmed looks as Nevan burst into the foyer from the hallway, hair uncharacteristically mussed and spectacles askew. Morton perched on his shoulder. “My lab is back!”
Everyone in the room turned to look at him, his chest heaving. “It’s back. My alchemy lab.”
He was practically vibrating.
“There’s also a woman in it, which is slightly strange.”
“Only Nevan would mention the woman second,” Cillian muttered, shoving a hand through his hair.
