Lucky Me (5 page)

“You don't say.”
Who would want to stay in this place?
A castle sounded glamorous, but after a thousand years—blah!

“It seems everyone wants to stay in fancy hotels. But we do have a group of women staying with us now. You'll meet them at dinner. I'm sure the conversation will be very interesting.”

“Why? What do they talk about?”

Finn smiled. “You'll see.”

I looked around the room for the bathroom. “And the . . . toilet?”

“Down the hall and to the right. We have hot and cold water and we try to conserve. There's a tank in the shower. All you have to do is pull the string for the water. Help yourself,” he said. “Oh, I know you said you weren't hungry, but I brought this in case you changed your mind.” He set a banana on the nightstand, then moved toward the door. “If I can't get you anythin' else, Meghan McGlinchey, I'll see you at five o'clock for dinner?” Finn began to close the door, but he stopped before it shut the whole way. “Meghan,” he said. “It's nice to have you, and your family, here.”

He started to close the door again, when I said, “Finn.” He stopped.

“What?”

“What's ‘Finn' short for?”

“Finnegan. Finnegan Leary.”

I nodded, and then he headed down the hall.

I sat on the single bed. No canopy, but there was a blanket. Another bed for Shannon sat on the other side of the room. The thought of Eryn and Piper sharing a room made me chuckle. The bed was very soft, droopy.

How many people over the last thousand years had slept in this room?

Had they been knights? Kings?

Probably none of them had sat thinking about Finn's blond hair and sparkling eyes.

I sifted through the basket of clothes.
Hmmmmm.
Nothing cute like my new clothes, that was for sure. And definitely no ball gowns. The clothes weren't even in my size.
Sigh.

After an awesome power nap, I navigated the hardwood-floored hallway, guided by the sconce candles along the sides, to the shower. I paused and took the last few steps to the bathroom in the form of hops: two, one, two, one, one, two. I figured it couldn't hurt to do my hopscotch routine.

I stepped into the shower and pulled the string to the water tank the way Finn had explained. The water was superhot. The soap smelled like almonds and looked hand-carved.

I lathered all over, including my hair. It felt so good to finally shower. My stomach growled. I couldn't wait for the feast.

My hair wasn't exactly thick, but the curls were taking a while to de-sud. About halfway through rinsing, the water stopped.

I pulled the string. Nothing. I pulled again, harder. The tank was— What is the right way to explain this? It was EMPTY! But I wasn't done! There was still soap in my hair. What was I going to do? Staying soapy wasn't an option.

I wrapped in a towel and looked around the room for a water source. There was a pedestal sink. I tucked my head under it and turned the faucet on. The water was ice cold. My scalp was instantly numb, and I was cold all the way down to my toes. In a minute
that
water was gone too, leaving my head frozen but suds-free.

I shivered and growled, “Clare Gallagher.” When I found her the next day, I might shake her hands right off. But first I had to survive a feast and a night in a haunted castle, and I wasn't going to hop the hopscotch pattern anymore. That clearly didn't work.

I
smelled something unfamiliar as I approached the top of the castle's spiral steps. Looking out the window, I saw the rain stopping. The sun was setting, but it was light enough to see acres of farmland and a town, which didn't seem to limit its use of electricity. And, I guessed, it had plenty of hot water.

I shivered. The castle seemed damp, all the way through the rich red-papered walls and floorboards.

I found Shannon, her injured foot perched on an old-looking chair, sitting with the twin tutors. Her cheeks were flushed, and she laughed at their jokes.

I noticed something strange overhead. A beautiful ornate chandelier that hung at an uneven angle. It filled the room with a wonderful glow.

“ 'Ello!” Gene yelled. “Sit with us, Meghan.”

“Look at you!” Shannon called. “All cleaned and changed.” I'd braided my wet hair and put on a long dark skirt and long-sleeved button-up white shirt from the stuff provided in the community basket. I wasn't actually sure what the ensemble looked like, because I hadn't been able to find a mirror anywhere in the bathroom or bedroom. The outfit was clean and comfortable but far from fashionable.

Mom, Dad, and Hope came down the stairs. They were dressed in donations too—jeans and T-shirts. Hope wore footy pajamas. They must've gotten the normal basket.

The large wooden front door opened slowly, and in walked a drenched Eryn. “Why don't you hustle and change for dinner,” Mom suggested.

Soon Finn appeared holding a platter. On it was a big piece of some sort of meat that still had hooves attached. I tried not to look at it. Behind him trailed Piper with a basket of steaming rolls. “I got the bread!” she announced. “
Hot
bread coming out! Here comes the
hot
bread!”

“Sit,” Finn instructed me. He gestured toward a chair with a maroon velvet cushion, a dark wooden back as tall as me, and ornately carved arms. It was next to a roaring
fireplace that was big enough to stand in. It took only a few seconds for me to completely thaw out.

Finally Mr. Leary joined us, sans the apron, and he rang a bell. At that moment Eryn reappeared in clothes that made my outfit seem cool: a denim jumper and a plaid shirt.

I tried to stifle my laugh.

“You have a comment?” she asked me, annoyed.

“Nope,” I said, grinning.

She said, “Looks like someone accidentally bunked me with Piper, but I want to be with Meg. So I moved in there—not that I had much to move. Dad, what's the 411 on the luggage?”

“They said they'll call,” Dad said. “That's all I know. They don't know where it is.”

“Just grand.” Eryn took a seat.

“About the roommate switch,” I said shyly. “I was supposed to stay with Shannon.”

“Wrong, butt—”

She trailed off as several women seemed to materialize out of the castle's cracks and crevices. One at a time they bowed slightly and sat in the chairs on either side of Eryn. They must've been the women Finn had referenced earlier.

Finn explained, “This is Mrs. Buck.” Mrs. Buck stood
out because she was wearing a cape, not dissimilar to the cloak Frank-O wore during his show. But hers was black. I wondered if she'd gotten it from a donation basket. “She and her friends are on a silent retreat.” I finally got the joke about interesting conversation.

“Why?” I asked.

“They believe it brings them inner peace. Every year at this time they pledge to be silent for ten days. They break their silence at the Spring Fling.”

I nodded like it totally made sense, but what I was really thinking was,
HUH? Seriously?

Piper said, “That's weird,” and put the bread basket down. Then she put her hands firmly on her hips and said to Eryn, “I wanted to room with Meghan. You had no right to switch rooms without a family meeting. No right at all—”

“I'm in!” Eryn announced.

“What?” Dad asked, confused.

“I'm signing up for silent meditation.” She looked at her watch. “Starting now.”

“You can't do that,” Piper said. “Mom, can she? Can she just decide she's joining a silent meditation without a family meeting? And—”

This time Mr. Leary interrupted her, as politely as he
could. “How about if we all sit down, whether we're silent or not. Dinner is getting cold.”

Everyone did as he asked. I sat on one side of Finn; Mrs. Buck sat on his other side. I actually thought it was a great idea for Eryn to be silent. I might not be called any names for a few days, and I thought maybe Piper should join in too.

Finn passed the bread, and Owen filled the glasses with water.

While everyone was preoccupied with filling their plates, Finn lifted a Coke from under his chair and poured himself half. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. I nodded, and he took my glass under the table and filled it.

How did he know I
loved
Coke? “Thanks.” It wasn't cold, but it was still good.

Soon my plate was full (I pushed the mystery meat to the side), and lively chatter (except for Eryn and the silent ladies) began. While the ladies weren't speaking, there was a lot of charade-type communications, and giggles covered with hands or napkins.

It was a truly wonderful feast. I liked everything about it (except the meat) and everyone around the table (except for Eryn). And I liked the table, the castle, the fire, the candlelight.

“Guess what?” Shannon announced. “Owen and Gene have agreed to show me some historic landmarks.”

“How are they going to get you around like that?” I asked.

“They've already thought of everything,” she said.

This surprised me, because they looked like they thought of nothing more than food. They piled butter on rolls and stabbed their forks full of the meat and potatoes.

Shannon said, “Owen and Gene have a special car where I can keep my leg extended. I'm going to write an extra-credit paper for school!”

“Nerd,” Eryn said.

“Silent,” Dad reminded her.

She made an act of zipping her lips.

“Can I go?” Piper asked. “I like history. I like extra credit. I can write a paper too. Just like Shannon.”

Finn eyed Tweedledee and Tweedledum at Shannon's mention of the vehicle. I caught the awkward gaze. “What? Is it a cow-drawn hay wagon?” I was totally kidding and expected them to laugh, but maybe they actually had cow-drawn hay wagons, because no one seemed to think it was funny.

“Not exactly,” Finn said.

“It's a fine automobile,” Owen said through a mouthful of food.

Gene repeated, “Fine automobile.” He emptied his glass. “With plenty of room to lie down in the backseat!” He laughed with a snort.

Shannon narrowed her eyes at them. “What are you two up to?”

The large men were too busy laughing to hear her.

Finn said to Shannon, “It's our hearse. They're planning to take you in our hearse.”

“What's a hearse?” Piper asked.

Gene shrugged. “It was a donation!”

My face froze. I wouldn't be caught dead riding around in the back of a hearse, but Shannon thought it sounded like fun.

“A few pillows, and I'll be traveling like a queen,” she said.

Piper asked again, “What's a HEARSE?”

“A dead queen!” Gene yelled.

And we all laughed, even the ladies on their silent retreat. Then we all laughed at
them
because they were laughing, and soon my stomach was hurting and my eyes were watering.

“WHAT'S A HEARSE?” Piper asked, really loudly this time. Mom leaned in and whispered to Piper. “Ewwwww! I don't think I'll go with you.”

I spread some white cream on my bread and bit into it. Maybe my face said,
Yuck
. This wasn't butter.

“It's goat cheese,” Finn whispered. “Do you like it?”

It had taken me by surprise the first time, so I tried it again. Nope, still yuck. “Yes,” I said.

Finn took the bread from me. “You're a bad liar,” he said, and he ate it.

There was a lull in conversation, but only for a few beats before Piper took the opportunity to tell everyone, “Did you know Meghan is cursed?”

C
urse-hearse. . . . It rhymes!” Gene said.

The ladies giggled at his silliness.

“What's this about a curse?” Mr. Leary asked.

“Well, it's not a big deal, really,” I said. “It's just a little dilemma caused by a chain letter.”

Piper said, “Can you believe she
e-mailed
the three letters instead of regular stamp-and-envelope mailing them?”

There were gasps from the ladies, Owen, and Gene, who all, apparently, knew this was a no-no.

“I know, right?” Piper asked. “Who does that? I'll tell you who—Meghan McGlinchey. And as we know, that's cheating, so her bad luck began Friday—in a big way.”

“I don't think they need to know the details,” I said to
Piper. “She's making it sound much worse than it actually is.”

“Are you kidding me? It was like a colossal fail.” She stuck her arms out to the side like a cheerleader forming the letter
F
. “Listen to this. Her socks.” She told them about my socks. I sank into my chair as everyone listened and laughed. “And her speech.” Piper told the microphone story. More laughter. “If you think that was bad, listen to what happened at the magic show.” As everyone listened to the horror story that was my life a few days ago, I slumped as low in the chair as I could get without going under the table.