chat with Cerise. It was much harder to find the second time. He knew about where it was but it didn’t seem to be there. They looked for quite a while, at one point forced into a side room when Mr. Jett went by. It grew far too late when Ackerley finally tried a closed door and was once again in the room with the child like drawings on the walls. The room was still too dark to see clearly, with the only light coming from the bright moon outside the windows and the soft glow of the hall’s lanterns. He immediately looked out for the woman in the blue hood. Thankfully she wasn’t there this time.
“I’ve never seen this room.” Cerise said, looking closely at the drawings. “It has the look and feel of a nursery, but there’s nothing here. What makes you think the stairs are here?”
Ackerley recounted the tale of meeting the woman in blue and how she disappeared without a trace. Cerise grew very excited at the prospect of an even greater mystery than hidden jewels and at once wanted to know as much as she could about the woman. He told her everything else he knew, which only consisted of seeing the woman on his first day, up on the fourth floor walkway. He kept the mystery of her face secret because he didn’t quite know how to explain that part.
Ackerley started feeling around the wall where the woman disappeared. It seemed like an ordinary wall and there wasn’t much to discern it from any other part of the room. After a bit of pushing and feeling he noticed an air current seemingly coming through the wall at one part. This current could be felt only in one particular longitude, but could be felt up to about his waist. This was no doubt the best clue they could find. Cerise felt it as well and they both made to find it’s meaning.
It was Cerise who had the “Aha!” moment. She had the advantage of having longer nails and was able to dig one into the wall. The wall needed to be pulled, not pushed. Her nails did the job well and a small doorway appeared, though two of her nails cracked in the process. She didn’t much mind this, though feared what Thrindle would say.
The small opening, only about three feet high and two feet across, gave a nice breeze from it’s depths. Cerise rubbed her hands together eagerly and crawled in without a thought to her own safety. She disappeared, leaving Ackerley to wonder if he should follow or wait for a response from the other side. The sound of her shuffling around grew quieter and then vanished. He waited a few minutes to see if she would say anything, and then poked his head inside and whispered her name a few times. When no response came he inched his way in.
“Cerise.” He stressed. His voice echoed softly.
“Come on now.”
Her voice came from far above.
Ackerley looked up but couldn’t see anything. “Where are you?”
“Here, I’ll send it back down. Watch your head.”
“My head? OUCH!”
Something hard and broad landed with a thud on the back of his head. He backed away and let it fall to the floor.
“What is this?” He winced, rubbing his head.
“Pull the rope. Come on, it’s fun.”
He crawled on top of the thing and reached around until his hand swiped against two ropes. He pulled on one but nothing happened. He pulled the other and the small platform lurched upward and then landed with a thud on the ground when he let go.
“Pull yourself up. Come on.” Cerise exclaimed from above.
After he got the hang of it, it wasn’t too hard. The platform was very light and it was really only his own weight that needed to be lifted. It took quite a while, however, as the next level was so far above. Surely this one platform took him all the way to the fourth floor.
It clicked into place when it reached its destination. He crawled off and could hear Cerise moving around next to him.
“This must be the place.” Ackerley said, catching his breath.
“Probably.” Cerise added. “Let’s figure out where ‘this’ is.”
They crept around for a bit, trying to stay away from the edge that would probably lead them to a nasty fall back to the first floor. Ackerley found a wall and pushed against it in various places. At one point it opened, revealing a regular sized door. They stood up straight in a very ornate little room with gold decorations along the wall and a small window from where the moon brightly shined. This room was rather small and had no opposing door, instead opening out into a highly decorated hall.
They proceeded down the hall cautiously. Cerise was certain that any one of the wrought doors contained passage to vast jewels, and more importantly, her pendant. She tried a few, and to her surprise they were locked. The one at the end, however, was open. Ackerley at once made it known that he was extremely worried that getting caught would mean getting thrown out of the castle for good. Cerise promised that if things turned ugly she would vouch for him even if it meant telling someone that she kidnapped him.
They went through the door and found a large sparsely decorated bedroom. A man stood at the window with his back to them. Ackerley grabbed Cerise and tried to back away without making a sound.
She came along willingly, having been quite startled by the man by the window. As they inched back Ackerley’s foot caught the edge of the frame and made a noise.
The man didn’t move. He remained stationary, looking out the window. The two children got all the way out and pulled at the door.
“I’m a little surprised that you two were the first up here.”
Ackerley wanted to bolt down the hall. He almost went but saw that Cerise opened the door wide and stepped in the room. Ackerley thought she’d truly lost her mind and stayed frozen in the hall.
“Come on in, you two.” The man said, turning around.
He was old to the point of old being a good description, but not his defining characteristic. His face was clean shaven and he wore a tight yellow cap, as was the custom for affluent men who had begun to lose their hair. His face showed warmth and kindness, and even a little humor as he noticed Ackerley’s terrified expression. He wore an extravagantly fancy nightgown that had tassels and thick borders.
Ackerley reluctantly stepped into the room and joined Cerise, who immediately bowed with one hand out in a gesture of prayer.
The man’s smile turned to surprise. “If anything I should be wishing you honor, princess.” He returned the bow.
“We’re very sorry for intruding like this, sir.” Cerise said, returning to her airy yet mature voice she used as a princess.
“It’s quite alright. I’ve wondered for a long time when a child might finally find their way up here. And don’t worry, princess, I will not tell Madame Thrindle that you're here. It’ll be my secret if you indulge me in an after dark colloquy.” He looked at Ackerley. “And you, I hear a lot about your brother. I hear he protects my nephew.”
“Yes, sir.” Ackerley chocked. His fear had not yet subsided.
The man, Lord Chellion, chuckled. “He’s got his work cut out for him. My nephew is a hard one to keep track of when he becomes impassioned.” He sat on a plush bed and motioned for them to take seats on the other side of the bed. They did. “Good, now that we’re all comfortable let me ask why you two decided to seek me out.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly seek you out.” Cerise began. “You see, I—” She faltered, not sure if she should give the real reason. “We wanted to see if the fourth floor really did exist.”
Chellion lifted his hands in a carefree way. “It does indeed. But children don’t go rummaging around through a castle in the middle of the night just to find a mysterious floor. That is unless you think the mysterious floor has something truly mysterious.” He rested his eyes on Cerise.
“We—” She hesitated. “We heard rumors about you being dead. We wanted to make sure that the owner of this wonderful castle was indeed still alive.”
“Ah, rumors. I do love them so. I once started a rumor that I was half bird and could fly all through the sky any time I wanted. That was when I was a child of cours
e.”
“Did anyone believe you?” Ackerley asked.
“Not a soul. That wasn’t their fault, though. It was mine for going a bit too far. But dead? That’s an interesting one.” He sighed deeply. “I don’t blame anyone for believing that. I haven’t gone down in so long.”
“Why is that, sir.” Inquired Cerise.
“Is it because of us? The children I mean.” Ackerley added.
“In a way, I’m sorry to say.” He sighed again, folding his hands neatly one on top of the other on the bed. “Not directly, I should note. Not really at all, actually. It’s just—I’ve known loss and at times can’t keep it wholly to myself. I found that the best path away from loss is to devote one’s self onto a path one can keep busy on. A road through many towns, I like to say. I, for instance, devoted myself to the Great Spirit. While it fulfilled a wish to be more spiritual—” He leaned in close. “The Great Spirit doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with me.” He whispered. “No, no I found that self-contemplation was the way to go. I wanted to know why I am who I am and discover my place in the world. The deeper I got the less I wanted to be around other people until . . . until I didn’t much want to leave here at all.”
“And what have you learned about yourself.” Cerise asked.
He frowned. “That’s a wonderful question. I’ll have to contemplate on it.”
Lord Chellion felt much