Free Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) by Heaven Lyanne Flores Page B

left.”
    “He’s a mermaid,” Emilie snickered from behind me. She sat down on the seat Yelson had occupied.
    “Hey, how many do you know?” Weldon asked her.
    “Five.” She replied with a smile.
    “And how many are male?”
    “One.” She sighed.
    “That is what I thought.” Weldon’s smile was back as he finished his soup.
    “Anyways, I came to ask you if you wanted to hang out with Arabella and me.” Her purple eyes lit up as she looked at me.
    “Yea, sure,” I said before my spoon hit my lips. It would be nice to be able to hang out with a girl. It was never something I had to chance to do. I did not have any friends back on earth. Simon was the only person who I spent any time with.
    I quickly finished my soup and followed Emilie up to the second floor. There were two staircases in the living room, one on each side of the giant room next to two halls. The stairs connected with each other at the top before opening up to the second floor. Other smaller steps started at the other end of the room. I looked up at the door that blocked anyone from reaching the third level. It looked like all the other doors in the building but had a menacing feel to it reminding me of Cabel’s words not to go up there.
    The second floor consisted of an open area by the stairs that branched out into three hallways. Arabella was on the floor playing with a small doll. It looked to be many years old. Its left button eye was hanging on by a thin string and its black hair had patches missing.
    “Hello Arabella.” I greeted her. She gasped and quickly got her small body off the floor to stand up. Her hands absently went to straighten out her worn out dress and curled hair.
    “Hello Anastasia.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
    “I told you, you can call me Annie.” I smiled at her bright blue eyes. She looked at me in such awe. I could not help but feel a tad bit uncomfortable. What had I done to make her look at me in that way?
    “I’m sorry. I forgot,” she smiled back before returning to her doll.
    “Please sit.” Emilie pointed to the black loveseat the stood in front of a huge window. It looked over the large village. I could see the people moving around below. I was too far to see their faces clearly. I hoped they were happy like the Fay I had seen the night before.
    “What’s earth like?” Emilie asked when she sat down next to me. Her question caught me off guard. No one had asked me about that yet.
    “Oh, it’s very different from here,” I replied trying to come up with the right words. “The colors there are duller than the ones on Bolton. Partly from the fact the humans are killing it.”
    “What?” She gasped clutching at her chest right above her heart. “Don’t they know that if they kill their planet they will die as well?”
    “Yes, many people have tried to stop it. However, there are much more people who only think of themselves and won’t care until it’s too late.”
    “Is it true that it only has one moon?” Arabella asked from her seat on the ground. She stared up at me excitedly wanting to know as much as she could about the planet earth.
    “Yes,” I laughed. “But that one moon is enough for them, their sky is also blue.”
    Her head bounced up and down as she took in what I said. Bolton had two moons and to her it seemed odd to have only one. As for the blue sky, I do not think she would be able to accurately picture it.
    “Have you lived in the palace your whole life?” I asked them. I didn’t like when attention was on me. 
    “Me? Oh goodness no,” Emilie laughed as she tucked her feet under her. “My town was attacked two years ago and the king allowed for me to stay here. I was the only survivor so I had nowhere to go.”
    Her face fell a little as she thought about that time. I mentally kicked myself for asking the question. I always seemed to ask the wrong questions.
    “But it’s alright,” she said when she sensed my regret. “I was an orphan before so I