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“We prefer to stay in the same room if it’s all the same,” said Lucinda.
“Yes, of course. We’ll put you in the dragon room, then. It has the largest bed—that is, if you don’t mind sharing,” Gothel said, directing them up the stairs.
“We don’t mind,” said the smiling sisters, looking around the mansion, their little boots clicking on the stone floors. Click click click. The sound was starting to annoy Gothel, making her head slightly spin. She laughed to herself. At least I will always know when they’re coming.
The sisters joined in Gothel’s laughter. Gothel didn’t bother responding. She pretended they didn’t hear her thoughts as they made their way up the stairs and past the skeleton creatures that were placing candles on every surface. There were candles everywhere, on every available space.
“Your room is this way,” said Gothel, pointing to a large stone archway. The dragon room was in the oldest part of the house, and it was one of their grandest rooms. Gothel always wondered why her mother had never stayed in that room herself. It was the best of all the bedrooms, with its stone carvings of dragons stretching across its walls, and the giant fireplace flanked with the winged beasts.
“She didn’t want to live in the room where her mother died,” said Lucinda.
Gothel was startled. The words were like a knife in her stomach, and she knew there must be truth to them. It hurt her to think the girls knew something about her mother that she did not.
“How do you know this?” asked Gothel, eyeing Lucinda.
“The many queens of the dead are legendary. Their histories are written in the volumes of time, which we have read voraciously.”
“You probably know more about my history than I do,” said Gothel, distracted, as she watched a couple of skeleton minions opening the curtains and starting a fire. Never in the time of her mother had there been so many servants roaming the house. At least not that she and her sisters witnessed. She smiled, realizing she had become her own queen after all. She was doing things her own way.
“I hope you will enjoy your stay with us. You’re welcome to stay as long as you wish. I will have someone bring up a number of dresses and everything else you might need. You look to be the same size as my sister Hazel, and we just got a delivery containing more dresses and nightclothes than she could possibly wear in her lifetime.”
“Thank you, Gothel. Or should we call you Queen?”
Gothel laughed. “I’m certainly not your queen. Gothel is fine. Thank you.” She motioned to the stone desk, which held a large blotter, a bottle of ink, and a feather quill. “There is paper in the drawer if you need to write your family to let them know you’re staying. And if there is anything you need, please let one of my creatures know. They can arrange a bath, bring you something to eat, anything you require. None of them speak, of course, other than Jacob, but they can hear and understand you.”
“Thank you, Gothel,” said the sisters, seemingly awestruck as they looked around the room. Gothel suddenly saw it through their eyes, that room she had taken for granted until that moment, its massive feather bed nestled on the large carved-st
one bed frame with its four posts, the tops of which were fashioned in the shapes of dragon heads. The red canopy and bed drapes were new additions to the room since her mother’s passing, as were the crimson tapestries and rugs. It was a striking room, and she wondered why she hadn’t taken it for herself.
“Well, you should! After we leave, of course!” said Martha, laughing.
“Oh yes, before I forget…” said Gothel. “Someone will come get you before nightfall and bring you to the morning room for the celebration. Jacob will ring the dressing bell two hours before the festivities. In the meantime, please be sure to ring the bell if you need anything at all. Now, if you will excuse me, I would like to go check in on my sisters.”
“Of course,” said the witches.
Gothel left the room, closing the door behind her. She could hear the witches laughing as she walked down the hall toward her sisters’ rooms.
What peculiar, odd sisters.
All six of the witches stood silently in the courtyard, waiting for Sir Jacob to come down from the house. Gothel had thought they would all be meeting in the morning room, but it seemed Sir Jacob had other plans.
Hazel, Gothel, and Primrose were wearing lovely dresses Gothel had recently picked out for them for the solstice. They were black, in keeping with their mother’s tradition, but they were speckled with a cascade of embroidered silver stars that swirled down from their right shoulders, twisting around the bodice and then becoming more spread out, like the night sky, when the stars reached their voluminous skirts. All three of the girls had decorated their hair with glittering stars.
Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha had elected to wear the dresses they had arrived in. When Gothel looked more closely, she realized the silver embroidery on their bodices was in little star patterns. Though they hadn’t changed their dresses, the odd sisters had arranged their hair in elaborate buns worn high on their heads, with long ringlets that hung on both sides of their faces. Their buns were adorned with silver stars that matched their earrings and the magnificent necklaces Gothel had sent up to their rooms as solstice gifts. All six of them were bundled in white fur wraps and muffs to protect them from the cold.
The purple twilight sky was starting to darken to the color of eggplants, and there was the stillness in the air that always told Gothel it was about to snow. She could feel the chill kissing her cheeks, likely turning them a rosy color like her sisters’. She could see their breath. To Gothel they all seemed like dragon witches, breathing smoke as they waited.
“Will it be much longer, Gothel?” asked Primrose, clearly becoming impatient.
“I’m not sure, Prim. Oh wait, look. There he is.”
In the distance, they saw Jacob making his way down from the main house. He was carrying a torch, illuminating his skull-like features.
“Good evening, young witches. So sorry to keep you waiting,” said Jacob when he finally got to the courtyard. “Since this is my ladies’ first winter solstice during their reign as queens, I wanted to make the longest night an even more special occasion.” Gothel saw Jacob eyeing their guests. She hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with him privately on the matter, and she was even more curious now what he thought about the witches.
“I present, for the very first time in our lands, the festival of lights!” Jacob raised his torch, signaling Victor, who was watching from the house, and within moments the entire house and its grounds were filled with the most magnificent light Gothel and her sisters had ever seen.
“Oh, Jacob! It’s remarkable! Thank you,” said Gothel, smiling at her sisters’ happy faces.
