No Peace For the Weary

Chapter Three-Surprise

I was awoken by a soft knock on my door. I blinked my eyes open, stretching. Then I jerked upward, covering my mouth to stifle the cry I had let out. For a moment I had forgotten that I was here. I thought it had just been a dream. An odd dream, yes, but a dream nonetheless.

Nope. I was still in the grand palace, surrounded on all sides by soft pillows and warm, white blankets. I yawned, stretching my arms up above my head, until I heard the knock at the door again. I sighed and walked over to the door, checking to make sure I was decent. "Who's there?" I asked, leaning my head against the doorframe.

For some reason I was hoping for Charlie. "It's Ruthy." Came the soft answer from the other side of the door. I sighed and twisted the handle, pulling the door open to reveal Ruthy, who looked slightly upset. I didn't say anything as she pushed past me into my room. "I'm here to help you get ready for breakfast." She announced with a sigh, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward my closet.

"Wait, breakf- oh. Is that a requirement?" I asked as she began look through the clothes in my closet until she pulled out a simple yellow sundress. "Yes. It is. Now get dressed, you don't have all day." She muttered, tossing the dress at me. Wow, moody much? I smiled, running my fingers over the soft fabric.

After I had gotten dressed I stepped out of the closet and into my bedroom. Ruthy sat on my bed, pulling at the fabric of her dress, but she jumped up once I entered the room. "Wonderful. Let's go." She said, running over and yanking me toward the door. "Why are you in such a hurry??" I asked as she threw the door open.

She was bumped back into me, and I fell backward, hitting the floor with a soft thump, the carpet muffling the noise. I glared at Ruthy. "What was that?" I asked, using the wall at my side to pull myself into standing position again. I could see Charlie apologizing profusely to Ruthy, who was pretending to be more hurt than she actually was. He obviously hadn't realized that he had knocked me over in the process, but who would, really?

I sighed, pushing past Ruthy and into the hallway, though I didn't really know which way the breakfast hall was. I heard Charlie hastily apologize to Ruthy one more time before he began running down the hall toward me. "Amara! Wait!" He called, but I quickly turned a corner, slipping into a door on the side of the hall. I closed it gently, not wanting to be found.

I know that he was just trying to apologize, but I didn't really want to talk to anyone right now. And besides, I'm sure Ruthy will be there to comfort him when he can't find me.

I opened my eyes to look around at the dark room I had stepped into. I moved closer to one of the walls and brushed my hand against it, feeling a worn leather cover of a book. I smiled, walking down the room and keeping one hand on the wall. I had stumbled into a library. It seemed to go on forever. I would have to come back here later with a lantern, maybe just spend the night looking through all the books.

The door flew open and I jumped, falling backward into the shelf of books with a small shriek. A small cascade of books fell on me and I just laid there, crossing my arms. I had been found. I heard someone laughing at the doorway and I huffed, standing up and letting the books fall out of my lap to my feet.

"It's not funny!" I cried, stomping toward the doorway. Charlie just laughed harder, leaning against the door frame. "Sure it's not." He told me, shaking his head. "I didn't know anyone could be that clumsy." I rolled my eyes. "I'm not clumsy. Gravity just hates me." I informed him. "Now we need to go to the breakfast hall, I don't wanna make elder mad." I slid past him carefully, not even glancing back at him as I walked down the hallway.

"Uh, Amara?" Charlie called after me. I turned to glare at him. "What is it?" He chuckled. "The breakfast hall is that way." He pointed the other way down the hall. "I knew that." I muttered, turning to walk that way instead with my head held high.