The Ruins by Phoebe Wynne

Author:Phoebe Wynne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

* * *

JUST BEFORE DINNER, ANNIE STEPPED into the bedroom, hesitating when she saw the two girls drenched in darkness.

Imogen raised her head from the pillow. Ruby sat up too, and her brain seemed to thump with the sudden movement.

“I’m quite sad,” Annie said, her eyes adjusting to locate the other two girls. She put her hands out in front of her gingerly. “I think I’m leaving tomorrow. Are you all right, Imogen?”

Imogen’s eyes filled with tears. “Yes.”

Annie took a breath and said carefully, “Am I leaving because of what my father did at the pool?”

Imogen let out a small gasp, and Ruby quickly answered, “Maybe you don’t have to leave. Maybe you can stay, Annie, and your father can go?”

“Oh,” Annie said gravely as she moved over to her bed in the darkness. “No, he would never allow that. He is in a terrible mood. I can’t wait to get away from him and back to my mum.”

There was a pause before a quick knock startled all three of them. Ned came in with a push of the door. “Hello, ladies. I gather my little story elf is leaving tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Annie said quietly. “I believe I am.”

“And apparently Imogen is particularly upset about it? I seem to have missed a lot this afternoon.” Ned’s voice sounded too loud in the quiet darkness. “Do you want another Trojan War story before you go?”

“Yes,” Annie said quickly, glad to be distracted. Ruby felt a dim sense of gratitude, despite the constant irritation she felt toward Ned.

“It’s about Iphigenia, and how badly she was treated,” Ned continued as she moved into the room. The door closed behind her and the darkness reigned again. She kicked something, trying to find somewhere to sit.

“Badly treated?” asked Annie. “Did she get revenge, then, like the others?”

“No,” Ned answered seriously. “Sadly, the other way round. Can we open the shutters? I can’t see a thing.”

“Oh.” Annie’s face folded with confusion. “Is she a wife?”

“No, she’s a daughter.”

Ruby stiffened. “Whose daughter? I thought you were telling us about the wives?”

Ned shrugged as she passed her hands over the walls. “No, I’m just telling you the stories I know … We’ve been talking about the men of the Trojan War, and the women that suffered because of them. Wives and daughters.”

Ned had found the dressing table chair, and sat down. “So, before the Trojan War, the Greek ships needed good winds and waters to get to Troy. They say there were a thousand ships sailing from Greece to Troy. To be victorious on their quest, to have good fortune, they needed to please the gods. Do you know about that sort of thing?”

“Yes,” Annie said excitedly. “Sacrifices and things. Goats, or sheep, is that right? Saying prayers, holding festivals even … to make the gods happy, and bring good luck.”

“Sacrifices, yes!” Ned almost yelped. “So, Agamemnon, the king of the Greeks, thought to sacrifice a pure animal. A virgin animal—and the best virgin animal? A virgin girl. Better than a virgin girl? A virgin princess.

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