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And then I felt it.
A cool breeze tickled the hairs on my arms, making them stand to attention. I looked at the window but it was shut. I raised my hand and felt the wind whisper against my sweaty palm. It wasn’t even coming from the window. It was coming from directly ahead.
From the bookshelves.
It didn’t matter.
I turned and ran from the room, just as Niik licked what remained of the bacon crumbs from his hairy upper lip. He looked very pleased with himself.
I couldn’t bear to face the party and the happy revelers. I needed to get away from them, as far away as I could.
I drifted past the revelers and up the stairs, feeling like a ghost passing through an uninhabited world. I climbed the stairs as fast as I could without looking like I was running from something.
I could have gone to my bedroom and hid there but the house servants knew I might go there. I needed to go somewhere I wouldn’t be disturbed, where I could hide until the Changelings came to get me and take me home.
I wound up one staircase after another, and when I couldn’t go any further, I marched down the endless hallways until I met another series of stairs. These weren’t built like the others. They were narrower, cruder, and steeper.
A tower, I thought. These steps would lead to one of the corner towers. No one would be up there.
Perfect.
They were difficult to climb with my high heels, so I removed them and carried them in the crook of two hooked fingers. The stone steps were roughly cut and the decades of dust caked the soles of my feet.
My breath became thick and I pushed myself harder.
My heart raced and I could barely lift my legs high enough to reach the next step. I didn’t slow. And when they became too steep, I pressed a hand to every fourth step, climbing them like a concrete ladder.
Up and up I went, higher and higher until glancing down gave me vertigo.
I paused a moment. I felt lightheaded and woozy. I thought I might trip and fall down those steps. Just one flight would be enough to kill me if I fell badly. I waited a moment, my forehead beading with sweat.
Then I continued to climb, slower this time, but onward and upward. Then, finally, I reached the top.
There was no sign of congratulations, no finish line ribbon, but it felt like an achievement.
The floor was varnished wood and polished to a high shine. I pulled myself up and moved away from the hole in the floor in case I stumbled through it. The odds were good I would end up doing something like that.
I placed my hands on my head to expanded my lungs. I panted for a good five minutes before I recovered. It felt good. I usually exercised every day and I’d missed it.
I turned to the room I now found myself in. It was surprisingly large, circular, with a pitched roof. A bookcase blocked most of the view but it was a room that was used often.
But for what purpose?
I moved around the bookcase to the other side. A single square table took up the majority of the space. On it, hundreds of tiny, intricately carved models of tiny houses perched on a shallow river. A town. A mountain encircled it on one side and a castle sat like a watchful guardian on the other.
Someone had built a to-scale model of the entire town and surrounding area.
I giggled in wonder and covered my mouth with my hands. I’d always loved little models as a girl. I liked to wander amongst them and feel like a giant.
I peered closer at the tiny buildings and the little people walking through the streets. I reached down with my hand like the finger of God and gently poked one of the little figures.
“Hello there, little man,” I said. “Where are you going today?”
I caught movement out the corner of my eye.
I darted back and almost lost my feet.
Kal raised his hands so as not to scare me.
