Free Tales from Dargo Island: The Complete Trilogy by Jerry Hart

some shopping. We decided to meet up in an hour.
    I walked in and was greeted
by a large staircase. A smaller staircase led down, to a basement-like level. I
didn ’ t know
which way to go, so I went up. I asked a guard where I could find Aneela. Helen
had told me she worked here, but not where. I had a hard time wondering why a
princess would work at all, let alone in her own palace.
    The guard told me she was
downstairs, doing paperwork. I thanked him and hopped down the grand stairs,
into the basement level. I walked into a room lined with plastic windows. There
were employees sitting at the counters, talking with customers. There were at
least twenty people here. I grabbed a ticket from a dispenser. It had the
number fifty-four on it. I looked to the red number display on a wall and saw
number fifty being served.
    I sighed and waited. I saw
Aneela straight ahead, talking with a pudgy woman about her paperwork. I ’ d been to a courthouse on
the mainland when renewing my truck ’ s registration, and this place was just like that.
    When my number popped up on
the display, I was ushered forward by an old, grumpy-looking man on the right. “ I ’ ll just wait for her, ” I said to him, pointing to
Aneela. He shrugged and took the person behind me.
    Aneela noticed me and
frowned. I didn ’ t
care if she wasn ’ t
happy to see me, because I wasn ’ t happy to see her either. I just wanted answers.
    “ What are you doing here? ” she asked when I approached
her window. “ You
can ’ t be
applying for anything because you don ’ t live on the island. Or did Rockne illegally invite you
too? He doesn ’ t
have that power; he has to go through my dad first. ”
    “ No, I don ’ t live here, ” I said, annoyed at her
continued jabs at Rockne. “ I
am here to talk to you about him, though. Rockne, I mean. ”
    She leaned back in her
chair, studying me. “ Really?
Why now? ”
    “ I ’ m just interested. He seems
like a nice guy, and I ’ m
having a hard time believing what you told me. ”
    “ That ’ s how he works, ” she said. “ He earns your trust before
twisting the knife. ”
    I waved that away. “ Whatever. Can we talk? ”
    She looked at the rest of
the room behind me. There was only one other customer left, and two other
windows open. “ Charlie,
going on a break. ”
    “ Going on a break, ” the grumpy old co-worker
repeated absently.
    Aneela closed her window and
met me by the entrance to the room. We went outside and walked along the cliff
that lay just behind the palace. The waves didn’t come anywhere near us,
luckily.
    “ What do you want to know? ” she asked me.
    “ Why don ’ t you trust Rockne? ”
    “ Because he ’ s a devil, ” she replied casually.
    “ Okay.... Do you have any
proof, or, you know, anything at all? ”
    She shook her head, like she
was suffering a fool. “ You
just don ’ t know
him. He put a spell around this whole island to keep outsiders away. ”
    “ I know that, ” I said.
    “ Did you know the spell kills
the outsiders if they don ’ t
leave immediately? ”
    “ Yes. It happened a few days
ago. ”
    Her eyes grew wide. “ Really? We weren ’ t told anything about this.
See? He ’ s
keeping secrets from us. ”
    “ Maybe your dad knows but
didn ’ t tell
you. Ever think of that? ”
    “ My dad tells me everything;
I ’ m next in
line to inherit this island. ”
    I looked at the palace. “ Then why do you work here?
It seems like a normal job for normal people. ”
    “ I ’ m normal, ” she said, a little
offended.
    “ Sorry. You know what I mean.
It doesn ’ t seem
like the job a princess would take. ”
    “ That ’ s part of the reason I like
it. ”
    “ Please don ’ t tell me it keeps you
grounded —“
    “ It keeps me grounded, ” she said at almost the same
time I ’ d
started my sentence. We looked at each other and then laughed.
    “ Back to Rockne, ” I said. “ Why do you hate him so much? ”
    “ I just get a bad