Secret Places and Hidden Things

Chapter Twenty

"Just follow the plants," Michael had said.

It started with a fern under a window. It was the first plant Jack had seen all day. When he turned the next corridor, two orchids were nodding their heads in a wall niche near the end. He hurried forward and turned again to see a fully grown spruce tree blocking his view. The hallway was flaring around it like an egg to accommodate the reaching branches. With each new passage the way became more overgrown—soft grasses flowing out of the stonework and strange flowers clambering out of the walls in hanging bunches. He was following a smell, too, like fresh rain.

Eventually, he came into a corridor so overgrown he couldn't make out the stones beneath his feet. He could hear the sound of water falling gently and felt a cool breeze across his face. The walls at the end flared slowly, hanging vines curling delicately overhead, and suddenly it was as if he had stepped outside.

He had found the solarium, but it had changed dramatically since the last time he'd seen it. The walls were made of wavy, rippling glass—etched with rococo scenes and worked into a wrought iron lattice. Each window was a piece of art, framed by voluminous leaves and flowering vines. It was taller and wider than any other room he'd seen in the helm, and there were even a few trees.

In spite of the name, it wasn't brightly lit. The vines were growing too thick around the windows, and their leaves broke the light into wavering shafts. A dull green gloom lurked in all the nooks and crannies, interrupted by brilliant rays of clear afternoon sunshine. It was nothing like the small room he'd visited to read a while back. It seemed more like the ruins of a cathedral, or some great abandoned temple.

To his surprise, he spotted Marelle off in the distance by a small river. He stopped abruptly without thinking. Marelle had become strange of late—secretive and angry. She hadn't visited the library since her fiery tantrum, but Jack had seen her walking the halls—either avoiding his gaze or glaring at him as he went by. For some reason, at this moment, she was swirling a pan around in the water.

Jack took a deep breath and walked over. "What are you up to?"

She stiffened and looked up at him, her eyes narrowed and a slight grin playing around her mouth. "No need to be so accusatory," she said in a liquid voice. "I'm just doing some prospecting. I thought I saw gold in this stream."

She was sitting on the smooth pebbles, the trailing lace of her dress floating lazily along the surface of the water, little droplets stuck to her like jewels. She looked like a fire nymph caught out of her element.

"What are you doing in here?" Michael asked, walking up behind Jack. He was looking at Marelle with a rather blank expression.

"Oh, is this place off limits now?" she asked, her voice purring like a cat. "Have you all claimed it as your own special hideaway? I'm not stupid, you know! There's something in here you're guarding, isn't there?" She stood abruptly, grabbing the little bag next to her. It jangled metallically. "I'm going to discover all your secrets, even if I have to tear this place apart with my bare hands!" She raised her fingers in front of her like claws, and her nails shimmered with gleaming points.

"Calm down, Marelle, there aren't any secrets." It was Elliot, he wandered over and put a hand on her shoulder. "This is just a room full of plants."

Michael seized the chance to peek in her bag. "Ooh, you found gold in the river? How fun!"

She snatched the bag away with another cat-like growl and stomped away, kicking at some ferns that were in front a doorway before making her exit.

"She's up to something, isn't she?" Elliot asked.

"Of course! I don't think it'll come to anything, though," Michael said.

"You don't suppose we should try to stop her, do you?"

Michael plopped down by the stream and picked up the pan Marelle had been using. "Naw, it'll work itself out." He scooped up some loose mud and swirled the pan in the water. After a moment, he poked his finger in the mud and pulled out a glittering yellow stone. "Wow, she was right!"

"I think she's actually quite anxious behind all that bravado," Jack said. "Maybe we could help her feel better."

"I don't think you can," Elliot said. "We all have to work some things out on our own. It's going to take her a long time, though. At least it should be interesting."

Jack laughed. "Everything is interesting here."