Installment 33

I pulled the pendant over my head and walked along the corridor and past our room, slowly and quietly, listening out for any sound from the other rooms. The silence was almost eery in its completeness. I could hear my footfalls on the soft carpet, slowly making my way along the corridor. The door to a room on my right was slightly ajar. I stopped just before I got to it, trying to see if I could make out anything through the crack in the door. All I could see what a small sliver of the wall, and shadows moving on it, but the caster of the shadows made no sound at all.

I moved closer to the door, trying to make out any sound or sight. I crept almost into the doorway, hardly breathing for fear the noise would alert the occupant to my presence. I listened carefully and heard footfalls behind me on the soft carpet. I spun around and almost fell into the storyteller from the lounge.

"Shit!"
"Language, young lady!"
"Sorry. Wait... You can see me."
"Of course I can see you."
I grasped at the pendant around my neck.
The woman let out a sigh, "So she found it!" she whispered.
"Found it? Who? Found what?"
She waved her hand toward the door, "Come in, dear. We have much to talk about."

I followed her into the room, where the man I'd seen earlier sat on an armchair by the window. I didn't see the girl, and assumed she was in another room.

"This is Brin, my son."
The man looked at his mother, confused.
She waved her hand at me, "Take that daft thing off, the boy can't see you."
I pulled the pendant from around my neck and his face fell into shock.
"What?... How?"
"It's the pendant, love," the woman said, "She found it. She must have."
"I... It was in a shop. I... just... I..." I trailed off into silence.
"Sit down," she said, and pushed me into a chair next to Brin.
"My name is Gwendolyn, and I was once the pendant's keeper, see?"