The Curse of Adelaide

FOUR

Dedicated to blazing_rose679 for making me this awesome cover! Thanks a lot!

I was about to enter the house, the door handle already in my hand, when I heard my aunts' voices.

"I think we should tell her." I could make out Aunt Iris' voice.

"And what good would that do?" Aunt Kara asked.

"Maybe we should wait for a while and then tell her," Aunt Melody suggested.

I wasn't sure if they were talking about me. Aunt Kara once told me that it is rude to listen in to someone's conversations. So far I had always listened to her and done what she said, but something was telling me not to interrupt them.

"She's too young to know it!"

"For goodness sake, Kara, she is turning eighteen next month."

"That doesn't mean that she is ready to know the truth, Melody."

I furrowed my eyebrows into a frown. They were clearly talking about me, but what truth were they hiding from me? Did it have something to do with why we lived in the forest?

Lost in my thoughts I missed the next part of their conversation. I shook my head, trying to get rid of my thoughts and focus back on what they were saying.

"... the letter? The king said..."

"The king has no idea what he's doing," the voice of Aunt Kara interrupted Aunt Melody's. "Who was the one that raised her? Who left everything behind to go live in the forest? That was us, not the king."

"She does have a point, Mel. Maybe we should just wait for another week, and then decide what to do. When did the king say that he wants to see her?"

The king wants to see me? I thought to myself confused.

"In three weeks," Aunt Melody answered.

"Three weeks, that's only two weeks away from her birthday. What about the cur..."

"Shh, did you hear that?" Aunt Iris interrupted Aunt Kara.

"Hear what? I didn't hear anything."

I looked up to Ray, who had let out a craw. He sat on a tree next to the house and looked at me with a crocked head before letting out another craw.

"There it was again!"

"That was Ray! Quick, be quiet, she's coming back!"

Instantly their conversation died down. I waited for a moment before entering the house.

"I am back!" I called out, letting them know that I was home.

I walked around the corner where I found my aunts sitting at the table, eating lunch.

"Oh, there you are!" Aunt Kara greeted me. "How was your walk?"

"It was wonderful," I told her while taking off my shawl. "Has Taspy arrived yet?" I asked no one in particular and sat down on the only chair left.

"No," Aunt Kara answered after a moment of silence. "Not yet."

I couldn't help but notice how Aunt Melody and Aunt Iris exchanged a look before continuing to eat.

"Did you have one of these dreams again?" Aunt Iris asked me after a while.

When I first started to have these dreams about a month ago, I told my aunts about it. I told them about the room and the bed and how real everything felt. They seemed worried, although I couldn't tell why. They told me that it was probably just my imagination playing a trick on me.