Past the curtains that hung from the doorways, Fern found that the first room on this side was a study. It was a long, oblong oval like the music room. The right wall held a heavy antique writing desk that was surprisingly neat aside from a porcelain cup filled with utensils that varied from ballpoint pens to quills and a thick, leather bound journal. Underneath the arched, narrow window, was a small nook with pink and peach cusions. The rest of the walls were covered floor to ceiling with stuffed bookshelves.

Fern walked over to the nearest shelf, looking at the titles and authors of the books. Claralell had…varied tastes. There were lots of thick, heavy tomes, many of which had their shiny titles in other languages. But there were also several children’s books, with their bright and softly colored covers sticking out. Fern wasn’t surprised when she noticed that all of the books were in alphabetical order from the last names of the authors. She turned her attention to the writing desk and absentmindedly picked up a quill out of the cup, running her finger over the delicate fibers and looking at the journal.

“Is this your diary or something?”

Claralell chuckled nervously, sliding in between Fern and the desk and taking the quill back, replacing it in the cup, “Well, sort of. Come on, the study is kind of boring to just look at. The next room is the best of all!”

At first, Fern wasn’t sure what she was talking about. The final room was perfectly round, just like the art room. Instead of the lavender carpeting that covered most of the other rooms, this one was covered in tiles polished to mirror perfection and showing off a complex floral pattern. Aside from the single window that looked out into the dark moonscape, there was a huge pile of toys against the wall.

Though there were a few modern toys mixed in there, like some baby dolls that cried, most of the toys were either handmade or antique. Most of them were animal shaped plushes, but there were wooden trains and dolls strewn about to. Fern could see the head of a very old looking rocking horse poking out of the bottom of the pile. Sitting beside the pile was a large pink replica of an elegant Victorian house. The dollhouse was already open and had a number of small dolls gathered in a dining room, like they were having a party the last time their owner had played with them.

“The best room is the toy room?”

“No no, this isn’t just a toy room.” Claralell had an almost sly smile on her face as she twiddled her fingers, “It’s my magic room.”

“What, you’re gonna pull a rabbit out of a hat?”

Claralell rolled her eyes and tugged Fern over to the wall, “No. Now stand here and don’t move.”

The blonde pranced over to the pile of toys, her shoes clacking against the tile, and paused for only a moment before pulling out a baby doll that immediately started wailing when she touched it. She brought it over to the center of the room and set it down, then returned to Fern, grinning.

“Now watch this.”

She turned to face the doll again and stretched out her hand, palm open as though she were telling the doll to stop. Fern saw Claralell’s chest heave in a quiet, deep breath as her face scrunched up in concentration. Fern could hear a faint buzzing and turned to look at Claralell’s outstretched hand, her eyebrows shooting up in alarm.

It was as though Claralell’s blood was on fire, her pale blue veins lighting up and sending icy light dancing across her powdery skin. The light concentrated at her elbow before moving on, pooling again at her wrist before flying to her fingertips and, with a white hot flash and a sizzle like a sparkler, the doll was on fire in the center of the room.

Fern gasped and flattened her back against the wall, watching wide eyed as the doll squealed as it’s plastic skin melted and pooled off in an instant under the blue flames. The screeching became distorted as the flames reached the sound box, the echoes dying slowly.

Fern could feel a harsh grip on her arm and glanced to see Claralell clinging to her, looking horrified. Her right arm wasn’t glowing anymore, but it felt oddly warm.

Claralell looked to Fern, eyes wide, “Goodness! I didn’t know these new kinds of toys did that when they burned!”

Fern stared dumbly at her, “…That was…magic?”

Claralell perked up, that prideful look returning to her pale eyes as she spoke to be heard over the crackling of the plastic and the howls of electronic pain, “You bet!”

Claralell put her arms out and twirled in a circle. It was rather dim this time, but Fern could see Claralell’s veins flitter, like they were full of fireflies instead of blood. The pale girl was grinning, “I actually didn’t learn this until a few decades ago. Throwing fireballs is the most impressive thing I can do, but just imagine what I’ll be able to do in another century or two!”

“Wild. But, um, mind telling me how you did that?” Fern gestured over to the reeking pile of mush at the center of the room, frowning, “I thought you were a normal kid until the whole ‘fell in a well’ thing.”

“Hmm…I wonder.” Clarallell held her arm up, seeming to admire the webbing of light within her wrist, “Maybe it was also the food. Or maybe humans can do magic, we just don’t normally live long enough to develop it.” She looked back up at Fern, still smiling, “Either way, it’s pretty-!”

Fern clapped her hands over her ears as a deafening roar echoed from Lord knows where. Fern couldn’t tell whether the ungodly noise was coming from miles outside the castle or right under feet. It was deep and resonating, it sent her bones vibrating and her teeth clacking. It echoed through her head and, for a moment, Fern was terrified that her brain was going to explode from the noise.

In the midst of this, Fern could feel hands on her, pushing her down to her knees and tucking her head down. And then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped, leaving her ears ringing.

She carefully opened her eyes and pulled her head up, surprised to see that Claralell had tried to physically cover her up, as though her body could keep the sound from splitting Fern’s skill open. Fern expected to see Claralell terrified, or with blood coming out of her ears since she hadn’t covered them. But not only was she ruffled at worst, but she looked…annoyed.

She shot an angry glare out the window, into the distance, “Honestly, how rude!”

Fern staggered to her feet, looking at Claralell with wide eyes, “W-what was that?! An earthquake?! Or…moonquake, I guess?”

Claralell blinked, snapping her attention from the window to Fern, before a dark look overcame her features, “That was nothing you need to worry about. As long as we stay on the castle grounds, it can’t bother us.”

Fern was about to ask again, but Claralell grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, leaving the charred husk of a doll on the tiles. Back in Claralell’s bedroom, the blonde turned around, a tight smile plastered on her face. “Let’s play a game now.”

“A…game.”

“Yes, a game!”

“But what about-”

“Up up up!” Claralell reached up and pressed her finger against Fern’s mouth, shutting her up, “Let’s speak no more of that…unpleasantness. I won’t let something as silly as that ruin your visit. Now, what shall we play?”

Fern didn’t know a lot of games. They had some board games back home, but they were all old and missing a lot of their pieces. “Um…do you have any cards? I know a bunch of card games.”

Claralell’s nose wrinkled in distaste, “Uhg, cards? Fern, if you were as old as I am, you’d never want to see a pack of cards for the rest of your life.” She leaned back, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips, “For centuries it was the only form of entertainment that usually didn’t result in someone getting injured or dead. Unless of course you were in a pub. But in any case,” she shook her head, “I’ve played every card game that’s ever been conceived to death. And I-”

“Okay, I get it. No cards. Then how about…um….” Fern tried to think of games that didn’t require anything equipment. Most of the ones she knew were better with more players though.”

“What about hide and seek?”

Fern looked up, “Huh?”

Claralell clapped excitedly, a spark in her eyes, “Hide and seek! It’s perfect! Okay, the rules are that you can’t hide outside of the castle, got it? That means no gardens.”

Fern started to panic, “This castle is too huge! I’ll get lost! Or I’ll never find you!”

“No problem. Wait here a moment.”

Claralell walked over to one of her bedside tables and started rummaging through it. “They should be right…here!”

She trotted back over to Fern and held up what she’d brought. Two silver pocket watches. Fern took the one offered to her and clicked open it’s face to look at it. It was from Earth, with roman numerals for numbers.

Claralell held out her watch, “You can read an analog clock, can’t you?”

“Round clocks? Of course I can.”

“Just checking. They barely teach kids cursive anymore, how would I know if they’d done away with analog clocks as well?” She started pointing to the clocks hands, “See, these clocks are synchronized. That means they’re exactly on the right time.”

Fern looked and saw that both clocks thought it was three PM. “They’re not right.”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re right, it matters that they’re wrong together. Now, we’ll both have our watches, and each turn will have, say…an hour and a half. You’ll get half and hour to hide, and I’ll get an hour to find you. If I can’t find you by the time the clock says four-thirty, you’ll win that round and we’ll meet back up in the ballroom. Does that sound good?”

“What if I get lost?”

“This place is big, but it’s simple. You can’t get lost.”

Fern bit her lip, running her thumb over the delicate engravings on the watch’s case, “…Okay.”

Claralell grinned, “Okay, I’ll turn and face the wall. We start now!”

“Now?!”

“Now!”

Claralell gave Fern a push towards the door and the redhead stumbled, looking nervously at the blonde. But Claralell had already turned towards the wall and was dangling her pocket watch over her shoulder for Fern to see, “Hurry up Fern! Time is wasting!”

Fern clutched the watch and rushed for the elevator door.