A Dance of Silver and Shadow_A Retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Melanie Cellier

Author:Melanie Cellier [Cellier, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Published: 2017-09-03T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

I brought up the rear, partly from a lingering protective instinct, and partly because I needed more time to come up with a plan. What do you think? I asked Sophie. Any ideas what this treasure might be?

I thought our lips were supposed to be sealed. Her projection sounded amused.

Do you see my lips moving?

She laughed silently. The only treasure I can think of is the leaves in the grove. I’ve never seen silver or gold, let alone diamond, formed into such delicate shapes.

But it’s not exactly hidden.

No, true. She sighed. And the same goes for our golden plates and goblets.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones whose thoughts had gone to the groves. Almost half of the other girls went straight to the boats.

Should we join them? Or stay here in the mirror palace. Sophie watched them clamber into the coracles.

I considered the question. There must be a clue in the wording of the challenge. Surely we’re not supposed to stumble around blindly until one of us trips over it?

It just said we needed to ‘uncover the hidden treasure’.

Hmmmm. We could check that room with all the cupboards. Maybe that would count as hidden.

It didn’t seem like a great idea, but we both started walking in that direction. The cupboards, not surprisingly, proved bare. I bit my lip and tried to focus.

What about the word ‘uncover’. It could mean simply ‘discover’. Or it could mean it’s actually under a cover of some sort.

I looked around the room. Like all the other rooms I had seen here, it was devoid of decoration. No tapestries, no curtains, nothing that could cover even the smallest of treasures.

Just as I was despairing of coming up with a single idea, the bell’s chimes rang through the palace again. For a brief second, Sophie and I stared at each other. And then we both took off running for the entrance hall. It had only been minutes but, somehow, impossibly, someone else had already found the treasure.

Celine had managed to hobble back into the entrance hall ahead of us, along with Blanche, Pearl and Opal. They were all looking around in confusion, though, so it obviously hadn’t been any of them.

I did a quick count in my head of the girls who had already taken the boats. Only one other was missing.

“Hazel,” I said, just as she walked into the entrance hall. She looked up at us, dazed, and then held up a small leather pouch. It jingled as if full of coins.

“I…I won.” She didn’t sound happy.

“Where was it?” asked Pearl.

“It was down in the kitchens. I think it’s full of gold coins…but it wasn’t when I found it.”

“What do you mean?” asked Blanche. “What was in it when you found it?”

Hazel flushed slightly. “It was full of salt. I found it down in the kitchens, and I remembered hearing cook talking about how important it is. We don’t produce our own food in Marin, so our stored food is particularly valuable to us. The bell sounded as soon as I took it out of the kitchen, and then it started jingling.

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