The Sapphire Room

Prologue

In the dimness of early morning, a small figure silently crept along an attic floor, faint moonlight creating a dim path. A second figure followed the first, long limbs knocking loudly against boxes labeled "Namina Boarding School" lined up along the attic walls.

            "Adelaida!" the first figure hissed, turning to see the source of the noise. The soft moonlight illuminated a young face, revealing the figure to be a girl of no more than eleven. Round, copper cheeks flushed with frustration and ochre eyes glowered at Adelaida from behind corkscrew coils, glinting in the low light. Adelaida looked away guiltily, slowing her movements in the hopes of avoiding another mistake.

With a voice as small as the breath of an ant, Adelaida whispered, "Sorry, Nina."

As the moon passed over Adelaida, her face emerged from the shadows in sharp contrast from Nina's: perhaps younger, though not so round, with too-big, watery eyes black as the night sky glued to the floor. A thick curtain of jet-black hair fell in front of golden cheeks, hiding faint, pink spots of humiliation that hadn't yet faded away.

            Nina, as the first girl was called, moved with the confidence of someone intimately familiar with her surroundings. Adelaida's movements were less sure, and she found herself wondering why she had decided to join this absurd quest up to the attic in the first place. But she knew the answer, though her pride kept her from voicing it out loud: ultimately, she was just as curious as Nina about the dream Adelaida had of glittering treasures hidden in the darkest corners of their school.

            Her mind wandering with thoughts of undiscovered riches, Adelaida was abruptly brought back to the present with the sound of an excited gasp. Nina had come to a stop just ahead and was eagerly scanning the ground for something Adelaida could not see. Squinting through the darkness, Adelaida saw Nina with her ear pressed to a floorboard, gently rapping on the ground.

            "Is this it, Adi? Is this where you saw it?" Nina was breathless with excitement and a little bit of fear, though she kept that to herself, as she pointed to a floorboard with the slightest warp at one end. Adelaida moved closer to inspect the floorboard. She ran her small fingers over the wood, almost reverently, before nodding hesitantly and sitting back, unsure of what to expect.

            Nina quickly tore up the board and moved to thrust her arm down into the dark hole that she had uncovered. Suddenly, before she even realized what she was doing, Adelaida blocked Nina's arm and pushed her own down the opening. Nina only looked at her friend incredulously, hoping her relief wasn't visible on her face. Adelaida wasn't even looking at Nina, though, as she drew her arm out of the crevice, her fingers wrapped around a small, gold object.

            "Is that...an hourglass?" Nina whispered, leaning forward to get a better look.

            Nodding breathlessly, Adelaida traced the intricate designs around the edges of the hourglass: twin gold serpents were engraved on each side, every scale perfectly carved, with miniature sapphires set as the single, visible eye of each creature. Adelaida frowned with slight disappointment. A golden trinket was virtually worthless. Why would her dream have led her to something so ordinary, something she could have probably traded a few guaiba seeds for at any market?

The hourglass made a gentle tinkling sound as Adelaida examined it and Nina's eyes grew in amazement as she realized what was making the sound. Diamonds.

            Sucking a sharp breath in, Adelaida brought the hourglass closer to her face. Diamonds were rare enough that using them in an object like this brought back the spark of anticipation deep in her belly. Her fingertips caught something, and she squinted, trying to read what seemed to be symbols etched onto the glass.

            "What is it?" asked Nina, her fingers drumming against her thigh in anticipation.

            "It looks like there's something on the glass," Adelaida answered, sighing with disappointment. "I can't make it out." She carefully placed the hourglass in Nina's outstretched palms, collecting the delicate, gold chain that it hung from in her own hands.

            "Well," Nina grinned wickedly, eagerly slipping the chain over her neck and tucking the hourglass into her nightshirt, "That just means we have a mystery to solve."

            Adelaida gave Nina a look of nervous excitement, and the two young girls began to make their way out of the attic as heavy clouds passed over the waning moon, shrouding them once again in total darkness.