Chapter 6
-Open Sesame-
Emily tried to fan away the fog with her hands. It didn't work. It was still hard to see, and also quite hard to breathe. Huddled together, all four of them wandered blindly across the cloud until they bumped their faces against something hard.
They stared ahead and couldn't believe their eyes. They looked up, their mouths open. They had found the doors to the castle—and the doors were enormous!
“It's huuuge!” Senn gasped. “It's like a hundred feet tall!”
Adam pushed against the door. It didn't budge.
“How do we get it open?”
“Maybe it just needs a password,” said Emily. “Like—open sesame?“
Creaaak. Suddenly the whole place was rattling. The doors were opening up, sunlight pouring through the doorway. But it didn't look like anyone was moving it.
“Huh,” said Senn. “I didn't think those words were universal.”
When the doors were fully wide open, Emily peered in. She could see a large hall just past the castle doors. Emily began walking toward it.
Reaching for her, Senn said, “Wait, you're not going in, are you? Didn't your grandmother ever tell you never to go through doors that open by themselves?”
Emily turned to face him, smirking. “What? You scared? I thought you were an explorer.”
“I am an explorer,” said Senn proudly. “Caves? Sure. Forests? Okay. Haunted castles? No way, Emilay. What if the doors slam shut and lock us in?”
Emily said nothing and giggled. Then she stepped into the dark hall and marveled. It was beautiful. Crystal chandeliers were hanging on the ceiling. An elegant carpet covered the floor. Straight down the middle of the hall was a long red carpet that lead up some steps to the dusty throne.
Emily followed the red carpet. This was it. The throne was just a little farther.
Step, step, step. Then she stopped.
Adam wondered why she wasn't moving.
“What's the matter? Cold feet?” he asked.
Emily placed her hand in the air. The spot she touched rippled like water.
“An invisible wall...”
A black cloud fell from above. It swirled once around Emily, then landed in front of her. A man, wrapped in a black cloak, appeared out of the smoke. His hair was silver and his eyes were bright green.
“I opened the door since you called out my name,” said the man. “But I don't remember allowing you to approach the throne.”
“When did we call out your name?” said Senn, cocking his head.
“Oh!” Emily clapped her hands. “You must be Sesame.”
“Yes,” he said, bowing his head, “I am Sesame, the Lord of Shadows!”
Cecil snickered, his pages turning unusually red. Nervous, Senn stuffed the laughing book into his backpack and sealed it tight. But that didn't help much. Now his backpack was shaking, and he could still hear muffled snorts and snickers.
Senn quickly turned to the man and bowed his head. “Greetings, Sesame—which, might I add, is a wonderful name—this here is Emily, the daughter of Evilyn, and she would like to sit on the throne. If you would be so kind, please let her pass.”
Sesame stared at Emily, then shook his head. “She is not ready.”
“How do you know?” Senn asked.
“I can see it in her eyes.”
Adam stepped forward. “Yeah? And I can see you're full of baloney!”
Sesame laughed. “How right you are. I had a bologna sandwich for lunch. Very well. How about a test? I'll make it simple. If Emily can show me three qualities that would make her an evil empress, I will let her pass.”
“Uh oh,” Senn muttered, glancing at Emily. “She doesn't have any qualities of an evil empress.”
Emily beamed at Senn. “Don't worry. This shouldn't be too hard.”
“Really?” Senn looked doubtful.
“I already have a head start because my birth name has the word evil in it.”
“Fair enough,” said Sesame, nodding, “that's one.”
“Huh? That counts?” said Senn, sounding shocked.
Emily took a moment to think of another.
“Also, I can be good at giving orders,” she said.
“I'd like a demonstration,” said Sesame.
Emily turned to Senn and fixed him with a stare. “Senn—sit.”
Senn said, “Um, there's no chair—”
“She gave you an order,” Sesame said impatiently.
“But there's no chair,” Senn snapped.
“No excuses. If she says 'sit,' you sit. If she says 'jump off a bridge,' you jump off a bridge. If she says 'go win the lottery'—”
“I get the point,” Senn groaned, then sat on the floor.
“I'm not impressed,” said Sesame, crossing his arms. “He didn't even listen the first time. In what way are you good at giving orders?”
“Senn, play dead,” said Emily.
“What? I'm not—” Senn noticed Emily's fierce glare. Senn sighed and lay flat on the floor.
Sesame shook his head. “That's playing dead? More like playing nap time.”
Senn rolled his eyes, then let his tongue hang out of his mouth.
Sesame nodded. “Much better. Two down, one to go.”
Emily thought long and hard for the next one.
“Oh, I know!”
“Please tell me you're not going to make me roll over,” said Senn, getting off the floor.
“I'm a girl!”
Senn blinked. “Congratulations. It only took you about—hmm, let's see—600 years to figure that out.”
“That's not what I mean,” said Emily. “I'm saying that guys can't be empresses. Only girls can.”
Sesame smiled. “How very true. That's three for three. Looks like I was wrong. You are capable of being an evil empress after all.”
Emily threw her hands up in the air. “I did it! I passed!”
“Somehow, I feel like half of the world could have passed that test,” said Senn. “But never mind that—hurry up and sit on the throne so we can get out of here.”
Emily walked up to the throne. A thick layer of dust was on the whole chair. She made a face, then turned around and sat down. The dust scattered like smoke.
“Now what?” she asked. “Am I done?”
“Hush,” said Sesame softly. “Just watch.”
Emily glanced around the room. She didn't see anything special. But she did feel something. She looked down. All the dust was flying off the chair. But it didn't stop there. It was flying off the bookshelves, the chandeliers, the carpets and the stairs. A giant cloud of dust was blowing about like a sandstorm. The dust was gathering in one place, clumping together into a large dust bunny.
It was the biggest dust bunny Emily had ever seen. It even looked like a bunny—with big, floppy ears and a furry, round tail. The dust bunny came alive and hopped out the door.
Then a wave of blue light spread out from the throne, brightening the room. It washed over the floor, livening the colors. Next it crawled up the walls and passed over the torches, lighting them up. Finally, it reached the ceiling, and the candles on the chandeliers began to burn.
The throne room had been transformed. It was now clean and bright and wonderful.
Emily leaned back on the throne. It felt rather comfortable now that it was clean.
Sesame came before the throne and bowed. “Welcome home, Empress Emily. What is your command?”
Emily said, “Lift the darkness from the forest, please.”
Sesame snapped his fingers. “Done. The darkness is gone.”
Emily said, “Also, I've decided I want to go on a journey, and I don't think I'll be coming back. You and the owl are free to go wherever you wish.”
“Thank you, Empress Emily,” said Sesame. “But may I ask where you are going?”
“I don't know yet,” she replied. “It's just—well, Grandma told me that the world needs me and that I need the world. I'm not sure what that means,
but I guess I have to go and find out.”
Senn said, “If you'd like, you could come with us.” He paused, feeling somewhat awkward. He had never approached a throne before. “That is—if you're okay with hanging around a bunch of ordinary guys like us, Empress Emily.”
Emily laughed. “You guys are far from ordinary. It'd be more than okay. I would love to come along.”