The Glass Castle (6 page)

“Does everyone else know?”

“That we’re in the king’s castle?” Kate nodded. “Eventually they all figure it out, though not usually as quickly as you.”

Avery rehearsed her mother’s stories for the group, every detail she could remember. It was nice talking about her mother again, if only for information. “So why are we here?”

A girl burst out laughing and was shushed.

A boy said, “You don’t get out much, do you?”

Avery felt the red creep into her cheeks again.

Getting out
was what got her in this mess to begin with.

Tuck took over explaining. “A month ago, the castle ordered that all thirteen-year-olds without living parents were to be”—he paused—“discarded.”

The group seemed to tense at the word. Tuck continued.

“Entire bands of men have been sent to find and capture as many thirteen-year-old orphans as possible. If you step one foot outside of this castle, the star on your wrist will identify you and you will be destroyed.”

Avery looked at Kate, who said simply, “The old woman brought us here to hide in the one place she’s sure the king will never look—right under his nose in his own castle. And she’s hidden our brothers and sisters somewhere else so that we won’t leave. If we leave, we will never see them again.”

Avery ignored this last bit. She couldn’t imagine never seeing Henry again.

“What’s in it for her?” Avery asked.

“Help,” Kate said. “The castle is severely understaffed by a crippling workload because Angelina doesn’t trust anyone. We live in the rooms once filled with the people who ran this castle.”

“So we work in exchange for safety,” Avery said.

Kate nodded. “The old woman passes along responsibilities and we do them. Anything a working adult can do in a castle, we can do.”

“So then why do we avoid all adults?” Avery asked.

“Because we don’t know which ones we can trust. Each of us has a large bounty on our head—any of the staff left in this castle could retire on the money made from turning us all in to the king.”

Avery nodded. This, at least, made sense.

Tuck continued, “Every kid here is a thirteen-year-old orphan.”

“Not me,” Avery said.

This drew strange looks and murmurs. “Your parents are alive?” a boy asked.

“My father was working at his shop when I was taken from the woods.”

“And your mother?”

A lump rose in Avery’s throat. Who would believe her mom vanished almost two years ago but was never declared dead? Avery just shook her head.

“You’re sure your father is still alive?” Tuck asked.

Avery nodded. “Of course! And he’s probably very unhappy with me at the moment.”

“If that’s true, you’re the only one here who isn’t an orphan.”

Avery could tell the group was not convinced. She had a strong urge to prove them wrong. She would find a way.

By suppertime, a stack of news bulletins had made its way to the kids’ quarters bearing the headline T
HE
K
ING
C
HOOSES A
Q
UEEN
.

Avery and Kate huddled over the bulletin in a small sitting room off the dining room.

Other clusters of girls did the same.

“I don’t understand. What is so special about Angelina?” Avery asked.

Kate glanced both ways before whispering, “Right now the king’s family is in jeopardy of dying out. Without a son, the family name is doomed. Angelina is young and beautiful and has promised him an heir.”

“But can’t he marry anyone he chooses? Why not at least pick someone who is nice?”

“Angelina knows too many secrets. She has made the king dependent on her guidance and now she has given him no choice. He either marries her or risks her telling the world everything she knows.”

“I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well for anyone, including us.”

“I don’t know,” Kate said. “Maybe a royal wedding is what this castle needs.”

“You saw the way they fought in his office! They don’t love each other.”

“Marriages of power are rarely made of love.”

Avery missed Henry more than she thought possible.

She missed his silly questions and stubborn opinions, his pink cheeks and endless talk of food. She wished she had told him she loved him that last afternoon in the woods. She knew he must be terrified wherever he was, and that thought haunted her most of all.

She vowed not to leave the castle unless she was sure doing so wouldn’t put Henry in more danger. There was simply no other choice. She was beginning to wonder if Henry and the other brothers and sisters were being held somewhere else in the castle. It was certainly big enough for everyone.

She would risk her life, if necessary, to find him.

Avery spent her second and third mornings in the castle trying to make pies with the girls in the kitchen.

She almost set the place on fire.

With the room full of smoke, she said, “I didn’t really pay attention when my mom tried to teach me to bake.”

“We can tell,” one said, who, like the others, looked shaken. No one protested when Avery said she thought she should find another job.

Ilsa and her friends worked in the laundry, so that was out. Pot wash sounded like eternal punishment, and the infirmary—for sick kids—was fully staffed, or so they said.

Avery had neither the skill nor the desire to join the woodworking team or the horticulture group. And the scouts laughed when she inquired there.

“Because I’m a girl?” she asked.

“Because you talk too much!”

Avery couldn’t argue.

If only the castle needed an organist or an artist.

She went looking for Kate by climbing the stairs and stopping outside one of the topmost rooms where at least a dozen girls spent their days creating patterns, cutting fabrics, and sewing clothes. When she peeked in and saw what was featured on the mannequin, her hand flew to her mouth.

She had never seen anything like it.

Chapter 10

The Crown

In the center of the sewing room stood a dazzling wedding dress. Yards of ivory silk gave way to lace and tiny pearls that shimmered in the light of a dozen candle stands.

Girls scurried around it as if dancing, their feet barely touching the floor, making small stitches and adding tiny pearls and diamonds as they went. A few hummed in harmony as they worked; others whispered and laughed.

Avery was drawn to the group like a moth to light, desperate to be included in the fun.

How—kept against their will—could these girls be so happy?

All Avery could think about was finding Henry and going home.

Kate came to stand beside her and answered without being asked. “They didn’t have anything before coming here. Two of the girls you’re looking at lived in a sewer. Now they have warm beds at night and full plates of food at every meal. They spend their days doing what they love with people they like. For most of them, this life in the castle is more than they ever had at home.”

Avery took one step closer to the dress and the seamstresses set down their tools and shuffled out of the room.

Avery shot Kate a puzzled glance.

“Their work is done for the day,” she said simply.

Avery was thankful for a few minutes with the dress all to herself. It was an image she wanted to burn in her memory forever.

Time seemed to stand still as she approached it, and a heavy spotlight appeared, leaving everything else in darkness, highlighting the gown’s absolute perfection. She touched the delicate rope of pearls sewn at the waist, imagining what it would be like to wear such a dress in the presence of an entire kingdom.

“I’ve never seen anything more beautiful, Kate,” she whispered. “Have you?”

“A dress is only as beautiful as the woman in it.”

Avery wondered why everything Kate said sounded like a cryptic proverb. She sounded so much older than thirteen. Had Kate had a wise mother, too?

“How did you make this dress so fast?”

“A lot of us work here,” Kate said.

“But a dress like this had to take hundreds of hours, and Angelina’s been engaged for one day. It’s nearly finished!”

Kate let out a sigh. “You ask a lot of questions.”

“And you avoid straight answers.”

They held each other’s gaze in a friendly standoff.

Kate finally lowered her eyes. “Fine. We knew it was only a matter of time. And Angelina has very specific expectations. We knew if we waited until the dress was commissioned, we wouldn’t have enough time to get it done. We can’t have her sniffing around here because she might find out a group of kids made her dress, so we’ve been working on it for a while.”

“You knew the engagement was coming before the king did?” Kate nodded.

“And you don’t find that strange?”

Kate glanced at the door then leaned close. “I’ve been trying to tell you. This place is full of secrets—centuries of them. The less you ask, the better. You don’t want to be held accountable for what you know.” Then, more brightly, she added, “Come. I want to show you something.”

Avery followed Kate to where a full-length mirror was propped against the wall next to a heavily draped window. Kate pulled from behind it a red silk pillow bearing a queen’s crown, and suddenly Avery could not speak.