Luke Swan and the Laistrynians: The Flood

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

~ The Palace ~

I was in heaven.

When the goddess eventually managed to tear me away from the window, she led me to a set of double doors.

"This will be your room," she said. "Imagine any features that you would like it to have, and it will have it. Dinner is at seven. Please don't be late."

She walked down the hallway.

There was a lovely, plush armchair beside the doors, so I sat down there and put my brain to work. I thought of a huge, mahogany California king bed with a built in gaming system and stereo, a swimming pool and a hot tub, a mini-bar with all my favourite munchies, a home-theatre system, an electric guitar, grand piano and karaoke machine, some lava lamp pillars, a fish tank wall and a chocolate waterfall cascading from the ceiling into a chocolate pool. Hey, I didn't exactly live a glamorous life, and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to happen, anyway. I was also convinced that the "goddess" was just a teenage girl in a Halloween costume and some really expensive makeup, and the scene outside the window was probably just a really convincing 3D screen. Maybe this place was just a really fancy hotel that knocked me out and kidnapped me. Maybe my first day of school and that hellhound attack were all dreams inside my head while I was out cold. Still, I got up from the chair and opened the double doors.

"Oh... my... freakin'... God!" I exclaimed.

Everything was how I imagined it.

I was pretty convinced that everything was real by now.

When I had finished trying out all the room's goodies and freshened up, I found I still had an hour to kill before dinner. So I brought myself up to the stage. My fingers hovered over the piano keys.

I took a deep breath... And exhaled.

My fingers moved on their own, banging out a tune that had been burned into my subconscious since I was little. The feeling that music gives me... It always starts at my fingertips, and slowly it spreads to the rest of my body, calming my senses and whisking away everything around me, so it was just me and the piano. I hadn't realised I had been playing for so long until I glanced at the clock. I stopped playing abruptly and headed to the door.

That's when I realised I was lost.

I started walking down the way I came. Presently, a woman with dark hair wearing a ruby red evening gown passed me.

"Uh, Excuse me?" I asked. "Do you know where the dining room is?"

She smiled at me with perfect, white teeth. For some strange reason, she seemed familiar to me. "That's easy!" she said. "Just follow the smells."

"Er, thanks," I replied, and continued walking.

Just as I was about to round a corner, I stopped. I sniffed. An overwhelming combination of scents met my nose and made my mouth water: tomato soup, roast lamb, shepherd's pie, Mexican food, Chinese food and barbeque. I really love barbeque. So I followed my nose and my stomach through the winding hallways of the castle until I was standing in front of another set of double doors. Against one corner was another armchair. So, I sat down.

Hoping that my guess was correct, I started imagining my dining room: a circular room with vines creeping up the walls, a few relaxing water features, and the walls to be painted green. A buffet against one wall, full to bursting limit with that mouth-watering barbeque I had sniffed out earlier. Would I be on my own in there? If so, maybe I could recline on one of those Roman-style couches. When I was satisfied with the picture I had conjured up in my mind's eye, I opened the doors. I wasn't surprised to find almost everything in its place. Almost everything: the colour scheme was white and blue.

I was glad to find that I was on my own, and that my barbeque was in abundance: spare ribs, chicken wings, and other grilled delicacies. I grabbed ten of each and reclined on my chair. Just as I was about to tuck in, I was rudely interrupted.

"May I join you?"

I jumped, and my plate and its contents toppled onto my lap.

I looked around, and found my godly friend standing behind me.

"Uh, sure," I said.

She stepped around my chair, and I gasped: she was wearing a beautiful blue evening gown with flowing sleeves, and her neck and arms were bedecked with diamonds. On top of her head was that silver tiara with a strange, blue stone on it.

She looked at my dinner resting on my lap. She snapped her fingers and my plate rearranged itself. I was also cleaned up. She gave me a funny look: only then did I realise I had been staring at her since she had appeared.

"Er, sorry," I said. I waited for her to say something. She just sat down beside me and watched me expectantly. I racked my head for something to say. "I realised that you didn't introduce yourself earlier."

She shook her head. "Names are not important. What is important is that you eat your fill before you starve."

I ate in silence. She watched me, also silent. I was very aware of those electric blue eyes boring into mine, as if she was trying to figure out my darkest secrets by just looking at me.

When I had finished, my plate disappeared. The goddess rose, and a table materialized in front of me. She sat in a chair on the other side.

"It's time we talked," she said, "About why you're here."