Snow Princess

Chapter 8: A Grand Tour

The two hours passed by in a breeze. As we rode to our destination, there wasn't much but small towns and open space that was covered with snow. As I looked up ahead, I saw the orphanage that I would call my home.

          It was bigger than I expected, and strangely covered with trees, which was odd since there weren't any for miles away from the area. Sam had slept through the whole ride, but was awake as soon as we came close. He was too cute when he slept. He looked so peaceful. I couldn't sleep a wink. I had to take in all the beauty like it would disappear before I had a chance to see it.

          There was a mystic beauty to the orphanage. It was covered in snow, just like everything else around it. We came to a stop as the wolves slowed down. I was grateful that the wolves were obedient and didn't drive us off a cliff somewhere. It aided me in having faith in animals.

          When they stopped, the man came back over to us and let us free from the warmth of the covers. Sam got out first, followed by me. The man was kind enough to help us with our bags. He grabbed them and followed us inside.

          Once inside, I didn't know what to say. I couldn't imagine anything so beautiful in my life, even if I wanted to. I could see Sam staring at me with the widest grin on his face. I looked toward him.

          "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

          "Welcome home," he said.

          Home. That was a word I liked. I looked around to see if Fallon and Mrs. Salazar had arrived, but I didn't see them anywhere. Then I realized that I didn't see anyone here.

          "What's wrong?" Sam said beside me.

          "Where is everyone?" I asked, confused.

          Sam looked around. Then he turned to the man with our bags. "Do you have the time?"

           "It should be around dinner, sir," the man said.

           "Ah, thank you," he said as he turned to me. "They must all be eating right now. Would you like to look around before we join the rest of the people you will be living with?"

          "Umm, I guess we can do that."

          Sam smiled at me, and then took the lead to show me around. I was bewildered by all the rooms in the house. There was one for each person. Each one was decorated differently to that person's needs. It seemed like this orphanage was less strict than any orphanage that I had been to.

          There were two floors to the place and we started upstairs, agreeing to end the tour at the dining hall, which was where everyone was at. The room of each person was upstairs. I counted each of them and ended up with the number of fifteen rooms total.

          We passed a lot of them before coming to a stop at the last room down the hallway. The hallway was long, and if I saw a longer hallway than that one, I wouldn't believe it. The man left my bags at the foot of the door to the room I would be calling mine. He took the other bags that were Sam's to what would be his room, which was downstairs with the rest of the teachers. I knew this because Sam had explained it to me as we looked from room to room.

          I opened the door to my new room, and I would have spit out all my water if I was drinking some. The room was lit with white Christmas lights. It looked more like a loft than anything. There was a bed on the top of this deck that was connected to wooden stairs to get to. Hung over the bed was a chandelier that didn't even belong in this time period. Everything in the room was white. There was a desk under the platform that I assumed was to study on. There was a dresser by the wall for clothes and even a mini fridge near that.