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“Hey!” I shout. I thought you couldn’t touch things. Odd.
“It’s taxing but this is an emergency!” My friend’s voice is forceful. “Now, you're getting up and going to Artemis’s room.”
Grumbling to myself, I wonder what’s got her panties in such a twist that she was willing to expend so much energy to make me so uncomfortable.
“Get up now,” Ari warns. “Otherwise, I'll continue to make your room more unbearable until you do so.”
Groaning even louder than before, I finally give in, “You won’t let me sleep until I leave this bed, will you?”
“Absolutely not,” she promises with a serious look. “Trust me, I take no pleasure in pulling you from your precious sleep… You get so cranky every time I do it.”
“Not all of us can survive without sleep,” I grumble.
Sluggishly, I roll out of bed, throwing on a shawl and some slippers.
I mutter, “Lead the way.”
Ari nods before leading me toward the servant’s staircase. Pointing to the sconce, she waits for me to pull the concealed lever.
“Of course, we’re going the back way.” Yanking the floral level, the door springs open.
Ari gestures me to follow her into the passageway.
I shut the door behind us. The darkness here makes my skin crawl. Only the barest licks of light dot the tight walkways. But not enough to fully see anything around us. The lack of windows makes me anxious. So rarely I have ever been in a place absent from the sky. But this feels like a labyrinth in someone’s cellar. Like I was going to be left underneath a staircase and abandoned for all eternity.
“Um, yeah. I said that I could feel something is off and you think we’re going out the front door? No. No. Absolutely night.” My friend rambles. Hypersensitive to each tiny little noise from around us. Jumping at the slightest creak of the floorboards of the servant passage.
“Relax, jitters,” I snark. “Just the flooring.”
“Take this seriously. This is your life at risk,” she warns.
When did she become so paranoid?
Weaving and winding around in the dark, I felt lost with our extensive meandering. Though I choose to keep that comment to myself. I highly doubt Arista would be in the mood to hear any of this.
“Here, follow me through this door,” Ari orders. “Be silent until we’re at the door.”
Nodding, we step out into the main hallways. At night, the walkways were cool and drafty. My wool slippers don’t have the traction necessary and needed to make it easy to keep up with my friend who’s nearly running down the halls, “Slow down.”
How does Ari know where Artemis’s room is?
Pointedly, she ignores me before finding the door she was looking for. Large and silver like the moon. Knocking, I stand, waiting. Feeling ridiculous for this.
Just as I was about to knock again, the door cracked open. The icy hair of Artemis is visible barely from beyond the door.
While I looked like a mess, thrown from bed at an ungodly hour thanks to Ari, Artemis looked put together. Not even the slightest hint of exhaustion even from my little window of a vantage point.
“One second. I'm going to unlock my door.” With a clank, the gears unlocked from the other side and there stood Artemis. Dressed in her normal day attire. “Hey Pandy. What’s up?”
“Lie to her,” Ari instructs gloomily. “Tell her that you're having a tough night or something.”
Turning to the side, Arista was gone. Vanished like she never was there, “Well. I … I was having a hard night and couldn’t sleep. I figured that as a Moon Goddess you may be up. Could I spend the rest of the night with you?”
Smiling, she nods, “Of course. Come on in, we can sit on my balcony. I'll get some tea.”
Her rooms were like the night sky. Deep indigo tile floors span across the room, walls and ceiling with diamond shaped ivory and crystals inlaid onto the surfaces. Some are positioned into constellations. Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Pegasus, Orion, Sagittarius, and more.
Gold and silver astronomy instruments hang in the air. Clicking and making other soft noises as their position needs to adjust. Navy and violet curtains drape her four-poster bed. The fireplace crackles beyond us. Leading me outdoors, I see the fireplace is two sided. Able to be appreciated inside and outside.
