The Misadventures of Annika Brisby (10 page)

BOOK: The Misadventures of Annika Brisby
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The tiles underneath Annika’s feet were made of black granite that went to the edges of the courtyard, where the floors changed to a creamy white stone underneath the colonnade. Annika could see the massive windows just as large as the arches, with mysterious rooms inside that she couldn’t see into.

In each corner grew a white birch tree; all of them adorned with odds and ends like glass beads, prisms, colored bits of ribbon, and feathers that twisted in the softest breeze. From the branches also hung the most elaborate little birdhouses, some with two tiny stories, roofs made of soft green moss and tiny doors and windows that that were so detailed that they might actually open and shut. Then Annika looked directly in front of them, in between the two trees closest to the set of doors that led into this marvelous house, sat a table where two women were having tea. They were busy watching a dark-haired girl of about four chasing a smaller boy with a mop of blonde curls on his head. He waddled so much that Annika thought he had probably just learned to walk, and was now going to attempt running. The little girl ran across the stone tiles that wove around the trees and flowerbeds. Then she looked up and squealed while her brother crawled the opposite direction to the younger of the two women at the table. She grabbed onto Talvi’s leg and didn’t let go until he dropped his bundle and scooped her up in his arms.

“And how are you today, you nasty little larva?” he asked, and shifted the girl to one hip. His manner suggested he spoke to her this way all the time, and the smile on the little girl’s face confirmed it.

“You have funny hair like the fairies!” she squealed in the cutest little voice. Annika thought she could feel her face turn the same shade as the tresses that hung halfway down her back.

“Come on, you may as well meet the rest of my family,” Talvi said as he bent down carefully and grabbed the bundle with his free hand. Annika hoped she looked presentable, but compared to the beautiful women in front of her, she felt painfully self-conscious. She had been wearing the same clothes for almost a week and hadn’t seen a comb in longer than that, while both women had their long dark brown hair swept off their necks and held in place with jeweled pins. They wore elegant silk saris, where layers of silver and blue fabric hung gracefully on their bodies, and the sleeves were covered in the same embroidered pattern of leaves that Talvi wore on his jacket.

“I assume you’ve already heard of her arrival by now, but you should be properly introduced to Annika Brisby. Annika, this is my mother Althea Marinossian, and my sister Anthea.”

The ladies nodded politely to Annika. Althea had silver wisps intermingling in her dark hair, but otherwise looked very much like her daughter. They both had brown eyes, olive skin, and classic features that appeared chiseled by a great sculptor.

“The little ones are my niece Stella, and my nephew Sloan,” Talvi said before setting Stella down lightly on her feet.

“How do you do?” the women greeted Annika with the same English accent as Talvi.

“Very well, your highnesses,” Annika said and gave an awkward little bow.

“Your highness? That’s one I’ve never heard,” his sister laughed, completely caught off guard, and Althea tried not to join her daughter.

“Well the guards called him Prince Talvi, so I figured, uh…” she stuttered, feeling her face turn red again. Her capillaries were getting one heck of a workout today.

“And he let you think he was a
real
prince?” Anthea cried, hooting with renewed laughter. Annika couldn’t remember ever feeling as embarrassed as she did right now. She glared at Talvi and he seemed just as flustered.

“Talvi Anatolius Marinossian…” his mother scolded. “How can you say such things? You ought to be ashamed.”

“He looks ashamed enough to me,” Anthea said, still shaking violently. “His face is nearly the color of her hair!” She wiped a tear from her eye.

“Annika, I apologize for my son,” Althea said, trying to keep a sense of decorum about herself. “It’s simply a term of endearment. I can’t believe he led you to believe that we were…well, actually I
can
believe it…oh my!” She started to laugh harder, despite herself. His sister raised an eyebrow and smiled slyly at Annika.

“So you’re the girl from the bookstore. You’re just as pretty as he said you were,” Anthea said, happily ignoring her horrified brother. “We’ve heard a lot about you. And I do mean a
lot
!”

“Have you really?” Annika asked, grinning back at his sister. “I hope it was good.”

“Well, if you want to know what he said specifically—”

“Are you thirsty Anthea?” he warned, glaring at his sister. “Why don’t I fetch you a glass of shut the hell up?”

“I want glass of shut the hell up, too!” Stella cried. Annika choked back her laughter, trying hard to remain composed.

“Talvi, that modern slang is no way to speak to your sister, especially in front of the children,” his mother admonished. He turned to Anthea and gave her a very fake smile and batted his long eyelashes.

“I’m so sorry, my dearest sister. Please forgive me for speaking to you in such a crude fashion,” his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“You are forgiven, my dearest little brother. Now run along and go play with your ladies at court. You mustn’t keep them waiting,” Anthea said, trying to sound regal as she made a dismissive motion with her hand.

“Mother!”

“Do not whine, Talvi,” his mother said with laughter still lingering in her eyes. “It’s so unbecoming on a prince.” Talvi wasted no time rushing past their renewed giggles as Annika followed him through another set of French doors.

“I can’t believe you lied to me!” Annika hissed angrily when they were out of earshot. “I thought you said you were a bad liar. You made me look like a total moron in front of them!”

“I did no such thing. You did it to yourself. I never claimed to be a prince; I just asked you if it
mattered
if I was one, remember?” he said smartly.

“Yeah, well, at least my middle name isn’t Anatolius!”

He drew his breath in to make a retort, but appeared stumped.

They walked up to the second floor and down a long hallway lined with oil paintings. Annika heard a door creak open behind her.

“Whisking her away to your chambers already?” asked a deep, rich voice. Annika whirled around and saw a man as tall as Talvi pulling a door shut behind him. Cazadora was perched on one of his broad shoulders, preening her feathers. “And I haven’t even been properly introduced.” He shook his head slowly in disapproval, but was smiling at them both. “
Tsk, tsk, tsk
. How formulaic of you, Prince Talvi.”

Talvi shot him a withering look, but the man walked up to them as if he were immune to it. He cracked his back and stood up straight, revealing that he was even taller than Talvi, though not by much. While he towered over Annika, there was an atmosphere of pure calm surrounding him which instantly put her at ease. His face was clean shaven and a dark mess of loose curls hung in his eyes, helping to soften what could have easily been an imposing figure. There was nothing remarkable about his plain linen shirt or dark trousers, although he wore a bracelet strung with milky white stones that caught her eye.

“This is my brother Finn.” Talvi looked quite annoyed as he made the introduction.

“Yes, the elder
and
wiser of us,” Finn said in his rich, deep voice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Annika.” He stepped closer and tossed his curly hair out of his face to get a better look at her. He was just as handsome as his brother, and if it weren’t for the subtle differences in their physical traits they could’ve passed for twins. Annika waited for him to take her hand or bow, but he made no grandiose gestures. Instead, he gave a polite nod of his head, keeping his hands in his pockets. “I’m pleased to see that your ankle has healed.”

“How did you know about
that
?”

“Cazadora informed me.” He reached up to pet the raven, who puffed out her feathers at his gentle touch. Annika could see that next to the black bird, his curly hair was actually dark brown, not jet black like his brother’s. “She said you had bright red hair, although she was mistaken about your eyes.”

“Oh? I thought birds were colorblind.”

“No, quite the contrary,” Finn said, raising a scholarly brow at her. “They see colors that we can’t even dream of, so when she told me yours were violet like the edge of a rainbow, I had my doubts. I'm more inclined to call them a tempestuous shade of blue…like the sea before a storm.”

“Oh…thanks,” she breathed softly, trying not to blush, but she was reeling from his compliment. Finn smiled sweetly and she wondered how the brothers could have the same smile, yet have it look so different on each of their faces. There was something so familiar about his fathomless dark brown eyes, and the longer she looked into that mesmerizing gaze, the more relaxed she felt. The quiet peacefulness that surrounded him that suggested an emotional depth and a level of wisdom unmatched by anyone else she’d ever met.

“I like the way you draw out your ‘o’s,” he told her with a tender smile. “It’s sort of…twangy. I didn’t know you were an American lass. I’ll have a heap of questions for you later on.”

“Then you can ask her at dinner,” Talvi abruptly announced. He took Annika’s hand, leading her away from his brother. When she turned around for one last look, Finn was already walking down the stairs with Cazadora, shaking his head and humming in his deep voice.

“That thing he said about whisking me away to your room; what was that about? Do you have a lot of company?” she asked dubiously. Talvi scratched his head.

“It’s nothing. Pay no mind to him.”

“Alright, well, if you’re not a prince, why does everyone call you one? I don’t get it,” she pestered.

“It’s just a nickname that Finn gave me a long, long time ago,” he said, trying to make light of the name.

“Aww, does he call you Prince Talvi because you have such a high opinion of yourself?” she teased.

“Yes, that’s the reason.” He scratched his head again and led her up another staircase to the third floor.

“Jeez, Talvi, how many more stairs are there?” Annika huffed, losing steam. The hallway had hardly any windows, but the ones that were open let in just enough light to see.

“I’m sorry to make you walk all this way,” he apologized. “I’m such a light sleeper that I will wake up to anything louder than crickets chirping. Consequently, I have the most remote chambers.” Annika stopped dead in her tracks.

“If your bedroom is in that tower I saw, I refuse to take another step!”

“I assure you it’s not,” he said, looking a little sad. “No one’s been in that tower in years.” He stopped at the last door in the hall and lifted the wrought iron handle. An enormous suite taking the south west corner of the home opened up before them, lit by large picture windows all along the way. Annika set down everything she was carrying and walked around the decadent room. It smelled like wood and books, flower essences and a hundred other things that worked perfectly together.

If she lived in this place, she was certain this is what her own room would resemble. There was a large bed covered with a quilt made of Indian saris stitched together. But most impressive were the heavy velvet curtains tied back to the four wooden corner posts.

The row of windows that ran along both walls stretched from floor to ceiling, and from the tops of them hung yards of sheer fabric which caught in the breeze. She could see there were two doors in the windows that led to a modest balcony. There were two great armoires next to each other off to the side, and a night table to the left of the bed with a water pitcher and basin. A large desk covered with unorganized piles of paper and stacks of books sat in between two very tall bookshelves filled with antique volumes.

Annika was surprised to see what must have been an original printing of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist sitting among them. There was also a copy of Huck Finn and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Looking around, she noticed a lot of things that were familiar to her in this unfamiliar land. There were ballpoint pens and colored pencils on the desk, and a few tshirts lying over the chair, one of which was black, and in white letters it read ‘In Japan, I’m huge’. She almost snorted a laugh-imagining Talvi looming over a crowd of Japanese people was a bit comical.

There was a collection of wind-up toys on another shelf. Her eyes moved over a myriad of Matchbox cars and a little spaceship, and even a monkey with tarnished cymbals. A wide variety of beautiful paintings hung on the plastered walls, as well as exotic Middle Eastern tapestries, but the most interesting thing was the wall over the desk. There were countless Polaroid photographs of unfamiliar smiling faces. Some of them could not have been human. Runa, Finn, and another young woman with long black hair were in many of them, but Talvi was in quite a few himself.

He’s either very photogenic, or quite vain. Probably a little of both,
she thought. Among the photos were ones of him standing in front of places like the pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal, Tibetan monasteries, the ruins of Acropolis, and Stonehenge. It was impressive, to say the least.

The second most interesting thing was that there was not one area that hadn’t been embellished somehow with objects from the outside world. A seashell here, a brilliant stone there, bunches of dried lavender hanging from the ceiling by a long, silver thread, a brightly colored feather, glass jars of various sizes and purposes, containing different colored sands. It would take Annika days of snooping, and she’d probably still find things that she’d overlooked.

BOOK: The Misadventures of Annika Brisby
2.48Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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