The Lost Knight (Volume I)

Chapter 28: Let's Make Magic!

I wake up with a start in a strange place with birds singing loudly overhead. Nothing is familiar. I'm in a huge bed and the noise from the birds is deafening. When Albína comes out of her room, the past few weeks flood back to my foggy brain.

She smiles warmly at me and places a full breakfast tray on the bed, completely oblivious to the screaming birds. Then she bids me a good morning and calmly proclaims, "Vido cluana."

The birds shut up. I need to remember that phrase.

"Did you sleep well?" she asks.

"Yes. Thank you. What time is it?"

"It's time to wake up. You've a busy day ahead of you."

I remember that Jonah promised to sleep under my bed, but he couldn't have slept through that racket. I bend over and peek, but he isn't there.

"He left a bit ago. Scared the life out of me when he came out from under your bed like that."

"Yeah, he does that," I say with a shrug and a mouthful of food.

When I'm done with my breakfast, Albína holds up another riding habit. This one has chocolate brown breeches and a royal blue hunting jacket. I appreciate her efforts to find me clothes that are close to what I like, but they're still far too bright for my taste and I look ridiculous in the sherbet-colored frilly shirt. However, I'm not complaining because the alternative is far worse.

She ushers in three women who measure me for new clothes. I make a point of showing them my jeans and sweater so they'll know my tastes. The women are appalled at my clothing choices, especially my love of dark colors.

When we're done, Albína escorts me to the rooftop where Lenox smells me thoroughly. I'm happy he misses me, too. "You seem to be doing okay," I say, scratching his itchy ears.

Albína is anxious to leave, and not just because she's afraid of Lenox; my training starts today and we're late. At least, that's what I surmise from the tension in her face and her constant reminders that we should be leaving soon. I promise Lenox I'll be back, but he's purring so loudly it adds to my guilt when he watches me leave.

She walks me a good distance to another tower in the castle. I'll never learn my way around the twisting, turning structure. If I ever lost Albína, I wouldn't even be able to find my way outside, let alone back to my room.

When we climb about halfway to the top of a massive stone spiral staircase, she stops and knocks on a door that's on the wall in much the same way a large picture might hang. It's mid-step, and has no threshold and a rather sizeable step up.

"Who is it?" says a gruff male voice through the door.

"Pardon me, sir, it's Albína. I've brought you Agatha Stone."

"Come in," barks the voice, sounding upset at the disruption.

Albína opens the door, and I help push her up into the doorway, then she helps pull me through. Once inside, I gape at the bookcases reaching to the top of a very high ceiling and covering the curved walls of the overstuffed room. The cases are brimming with so many old dusty books that it gives the impression that they'll either collapse under the weight or explode into a barrage of paper.

It's difficult to find the source of the voice because the man it belongs to is hidden among the tables scattered throughout the room that are piled high with books, pots, bottles and various bric-a-brac, as well as a thick layer of dust. On the wall across from me, a fire is burning in the fireplace with a black cauldron hanging over the flames. Sunlight is pouring through the only window, and I'm distracted by the airborne dust sparkling in the sunlight.