Free Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist by Liz Kessler

trapdoor as I pushed a couple of chairs to the side. She poked her head through, and I sat on the floor by the trapdoor to join her. Then Millie came in with the cards and we watched intently as she shuffled, spread the cards in a six-pointed star, and slowly turned them over one by one. She didn’t speak, didn’t explain anything. When they were all faceup, she sat looking at them for ages, nodding slowly.
    “What do they say?” Shona asked.
    “Do they say anything about my mom and dad?” I asked.
    “Or mine?” Shona added quietly. That was the first time I had really thought about her parents. She’d been taken away from them too. Theywouldn’t have a clue what had happened to her. They hadn’t seen her since she went to school that morning. I’d been so selfishly wrapped up in my own problems, I hadn’t thought about Shona’s.
    Would anyone tell them anything back at Allpoints Island? What would happen when Mom and Dad came home — assuming they ever did — and found that Fortuna wasn’t even there? Would they come after us? Would they know where to look? They’d find out, wouldn’t they? But what if they didn’t? Suppose they didn’t come home at all! Suppose they’d had such a big fight, they’d split up and both forgotten all about me!
    No! I couldn’t let myself think like that. I couldn’t! Surely they’d do something. They’d get together with Shona’s parents and send out a search party or something.
    They’ll find us. They’ll find us. They’ll find us. I repeated the phrase over and over and over like a mantra. Please let me believe it, I added.

    The cards didn’t tell us anything. Anything beyond what they normally said when Millie read anyone’s tarot cards. We had a long journey ahead and the outcome was uncertain. A tall, skinny stranger with jet-black hair would help guide us, the truth wouldelude us, and all would be well in the end. Blah, blah. Why I ever put faith in Millie’s card reading, I don’t know. It was about as useful as trying to tell the time from examining your freckles.
    “Look, let’s all try and get some sleep,” she said, shuffling the cards away when it was clear they hadn’t impressed either of us or helped us find an answer to any of the questions we weren’t saying out loud. “Things are bound to look better in the morning, once we’ve had a few hours’ nap — and perhaps a cup or two of Earl Grey.”
    I stifled a laugh. Admittedly, a slightly hysterical one. It was really pretty hard to see how things were going to look better. But she had a point about the sleep thing. I was exhausted.
    “Shona, you take Jake’s room,” Millie said. “You’ll be all right down there, won’t you?”
    Shona bit her lip and nodded.
    “I’ll join you if you like,” I said softly.
    “No, it’s OK. I’ll be fine.”
    “I’ll be just above you. Knock if you need me.”
    Shona smiled, although her eyes stayed misty and sad.
    “It’ll look better in the morning,” I said, repeating Millie’s lie. It kind of helped to keep saying these things out loud. If we did it often enough, perhaps they’d come true.
    “Night-night, you two,” Millie said. “I’m goingto get some shut-eye myself now. Although goddess only knows how I’ll sleep without my agnus castus tablets.”
    We each withdrew to our own rooms, our own thoughts, and our own fears.

    The moon rose as I lay on my bed. I watched it climb past the porthole. A fat, wonky shape like a slightly deflated ball, it shone down on me, right at me, as though it were personal. Just me and the moon, staring each other down. It was getting fuller every day, every single moment. Racing me to my fate.
    The black sky, endless behind it, filled slowly with clouds: some huge and unmoving, like snow-clad hills, others gray and broken-up, like crazy paving. Lighter, wispy clouds sailed slowly in front of them all. And the moon stood firm, almost whole, like a circle drawn freehand by a child. Not quite