Royal Pain Page 3

  “Why did you guys let me take so many years of Spanish classes, then?” Noah asked.

  “Because Spanish is a very useful language,” his dad said. “Just not in Evonia.”

  “So it won’t do me any good anymore, I guess.” Noah sighed.

  “Of course it will! Don’t worry,” his dad added, “your mom and I aren’t going to move here full-time until after you’ve finished high school. And while you’re in college, you can decide whether to spend your summers in America or in Evonia.”

  “This whole thing is so weird. It feels so wrong,” Noah grumbled, looking out over the Rotherham Hall grounds.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it eventually. And even if you don’t,” Noah’s mom added in a stage whisper, “that’s okay too. I, for one, will never blame you if you decide this isn’t your scene.”

  “Your grandmother will definitely mind, though,” his dad said, grinning mischievously.

  His mom snorted. “Oh yeah, I mean she would probably be furious, but we promise to support whatever decision you make, one hundred percent.”

  Noah laughed. “Thanks, guys, I appreciate it.” More than you know, he added to himself. “So, what’s the schedule for today?”

  “Your mom and I are taking the train to Alaborn on official business,” Noah’s dad said. “We’re leaving in a few hours, and we’ll be back in three or four days.”

  “What am I supposed to do in the meantime? Please don’t leave me here alone with Grandmother,” Noah said, only half-joking. As soon as the words left his mouth, he whipped around, suddenly paranoid that he would find his grandmother standing right behind him. But the coast was clear.

  “You have Beth and Tori to hang out with,” his dad pointed out.

  “Yes,” his mom chimed in, “they seem like really nice girls.”

  His mom and dad were using the same tone of voice they used whenever they met a female friend of Noah’s who they thought might have girlfriend potential. Noah rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah, they’re both great,” Noah said, “but I’m not really looking for an Evonian girlfriend when I’m not going to be here that long anyway.”

  His mom raised an eyebrow. “I think your grandmother might have other plans,” she muttered.

  “What do you mean?” Noah asked.

  His mom looked like she was about to explain when her expression suddenly froze. Looking over Noah’s shoulder she called out, “Good morning, Mother!”

  Noah turned to see his grandmother beaming at them all.

  “And what a lovely morning it is,” she said. “I was just telling Annabeth here that it would be the perfect time to go explore Claude’s museum.”

  Noah gave Beth a friendly nod. She had followed his grandmother out onto the patio. He was glad to see that she had opted for shorts and a t-shirt as well, although she managed to pull it off a little more fashionably.

  “I’m ready when you are, Noah,” Beth said brightly.

  “You don’t need to worry about breakfast,” Noah’s grandmother said. “I’ve already arranged for one of the staff to drop off a picnic basket at the museum, so you can eat there.”

  “Aren’t we going to wait for Tori?” Noah asked, looking around for her.

  “I’m sure she’ll be along shortly,” his grandmother said, making small shooing motions with her hands. “You and Annabeth can start walking over, and Tori can catch up whenever she’s ready.”

  Noah thought his grandmother seemed in an awful hurry for them to leave. “It seems like it’d be easier to all walk over together,” he said.

  Noah thought he saw his grandmother shoot Beth a knowing look.

  “Tori won’t mind,” Beth said, with a smile a bit wider than seemed appropriate. “Come on, let’s go, Noah.”

  Noah was about to follow when he heard Tori’s voice behind him.

  “Sorry, sorry!” Tori called, dashing up to join them. “I didn’t realize we were on such a tight schedule today.”

  “That’s fine, I don’t mind waiting,” Noah said, looking back at his grandmother, a gesture that his grandmother pretended to ignore. “Shall we?”

  The three of them set off across the lawn for the museum across the lush green grass and past a hedge maze. Fifteen minutes later, Noah was beginning to understand why the few gardeners they had passed on the way had been driving golf carts rather than walking themselves. He was just starting to appreciate how large the Rotherham Hall grounds truly were. He was definitely tired and a little bit hot by the time they reached the museum.

  For something called a “guest cottage,” the building was just as oversized in person as it had looked from a distance. It was made of red brick, its windows framed by flowering vines. A large, checkered blanket had already been set out for them on the front steps along with an overflowing picnic basket. The person who had delivered it was nowhere to be seen, and Noah was reminded of the Easter Bunny as he helped himself to a hard-boiled egg.

  The three of them ate their breakfast on the front steps in the morning sunshine. The basket was filled with enough food to feed an army. It turns out even picnics have multiple courses when royals are involved, Noah thought to himself. The meal was so over the top that he was torn between amusement and exasperation. When they had finished eating and packed the leftovers back into the basket, Noah and the girls headed up the steps into the museum. The building was cool and dimly lit. Furniture covered with dusty drop cloths filled most of the rooms. It was hard to see how it could be turned into a public space.

  “This way,” Tori said, pointing. “The parlor is the only room of the museum that’s been finished so far. Lord Claude wanted to create an example of what the rest of the museum would look like when it was completed.”

  The parlor had been cleared of all furniture. It was a spacious room, with gleaming hardwood floors and a fresh coat of paint. Glass cases stood against the walls, labeled with plaques that listed the items inside and the history of each one.

  Tori flicked one of the light switches near the door, and hidden LED lights inside the cases glowed, illuminating the artifacts. Here and there, Noah could even see the glint of gold and the flash of gemstones.

  Noah sucked in his breath. “Whoa,” he said.

  Tori grinned. “I’m glad you like it. My parents helped Lord Claude design it.”

  “That’s right. You said they were involved with my grandfather’s museum.” Noah suddenly remembered.

  “My parents are archaeologists,” Tori explained. “Lord Claude funded many of their digs, and so my parents donated a lot of their finds to his museum. Lord Claude was so fond of ancient Evonian artifacts. That’s how he became friends with my parents in the first place.”

  Noah smiled to himself, recalling his discussions with his grandfather about ancient history and archaeology.

  “This is only part of the collection,” Tori explained. “Lady Octavia wants the whole place to look as good as this room by the time the museum opens at the end of July.”

  Beth bit her lip. “The whole place? With only the three of us?”

  Tori shook her head. “No, Lady Octavia is hiring professionals to do all of the heavy lifting, floor polishing—stuff like that. But she wants us to be the ones in charge of getting the artifacts ready to display. You know, dusting, sorting, labeling. Someone from the archaeology department at Alaborn University will be supervising of course.”

  “Oh,” Beth said, “that doesn’t sound too bad. I’m always willing to help out, but I wouldn’t want to have to spend all summer stuck inside this gloomy old place.”

  Noah realized Beth was looking at him as though she expected him to agree with her. He forced himself to return her smile, but deep down he knew that there was nothing he would rather do than spend his summer in his grandfather’s museum.

  6

  “It says here that this small clay horse was most likely a child’s toy,” Tori said, reading from the label next to the case. “And apparently there’s a thumb
print in the clay left by the person who made it.” She leaned toward Noah, eyes flashing with excitement. “Can you imagine? A thumbprint belonging to a person who lived over four thousand years ago.”

  “Wow,” Noah whispered, resisting the urge to push his nose up against the glass case to get a better look at the tiny clay animal. He could feel his heart beating quicker, but that had less to do with the artifact and more to do with Tori standing so close to him.

  For the past week, Noah, Tori, and Beth had been working on the museum. Today they’d spent all morning dusting the dining room and ballroom so that the painters could get started. Now they had returned to the finished parlor, taking a much-needed break by browsing the display cases. Noah was thrilled to have a chance to examine the artifacts more carefully. Tori seemed just as interested, but he had a feeling Beth was getting bored. She had been staring longingly out the window, her silence punctuated by occasional polite noises in response to Noah’s comments.

  “Ooh!” exclaimed Beth suddenly, pointing to something in the next case over and sounding more excited than she had all morning. “This is absolutely gorgeous.”

  Noah walked over to look. It was a crown, formed of gold leaves that overlapped to give the impression of a wreath. Flowers made of rubies seemed to sprout from the branches. It was certainly eye-catching, but Noah couldn’t help thinking that the simple clay toy was cooler somehow. It had a lot more character than the overly perfect crown.

  “The label says that this crown once belonged to Queen Helen herself,” Beth said, sounding awestruck. “She was one of Evonia’s first queens from ancient times,” she explained to Noah.

  “This museum—the collection—all of it is amazing,” Noah said. “I can’t wait for the grand opening.”

  “It will be hard work to get it ready in time,” Tori said, “but it will be worth it. Do you want to go through some of the collection boxes they just brought up from the basement storage?”

  Noah opened his mouth to respond with an enthusiastic yes when Beth cut in.

  “It’s already past noon,” she said, “and we haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast. Why don’t we head back to the main house for a quick bite, then we can take horses out to ride the trail along the bluffs. It has the best view, possibly in all of Evonia. And,” she added, “there used to be an ancient Evonian outpost along the bluffs, so there’s bound to be some old ruins to explore.”

  “That sounds great, Beth,” Tori said, “but I’m not very good on horseback.”

  “And I haven’t been on a horse since a pony at camp tried to throw me off,” Noah said. “Why don’t we just hike instead?”

  Beth bit her lip thoughtfully. “It’s too far to walk . . .” Then her face brightened. “But I have an even better idea!”

  ***

  Noah sped along the trail on his moped, enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping past him. Tori and Beth rode ahead of him on their own mopeds. When they had explained their afternoon plans to Noah’s grandmother at lunch, she had tried to convince them that there were only two mopeds available in all of Rotherham Hall. But after Noah stoutly refused her suggestion that he share a moped with Beth, a staff member had conveniently discovered a third.

  Noah rolled his eyes at the memory. It was painfully obvious that his grandmother was pushing Beth at him. He just couldn’t figure out why. Beth was nice enough, sure, but he felt like his grandmother had some deeper motive.

  He pushed these thoughts aside, forcing himself to just enjoy the moment. It had rained off and on for the past week, but today the sun was shining brightly and the sky was a cloudless, vibrant blue. The trail was bordered by a low stone wall, and beyond that the bluffs dropped abruptly down toward the river. Beth had been right about the view. He looked out over the patchwork of golden fields and green pastures to the mountains in the distance. He could just make out the snowcapped peaks through the hazy summer air.

  They rounded a corner, and Tori held up her hand, motioning them to stop. Noah pulled up alongside her and parked his moped. Just off the trail, he could see the remains of a stone building. In some places, the walls and stairs were still visible. In other places, time had worn the stone down into rubble.

  Tori removed her helmet and shook out her hair.

  Beth took off her fingerless leather gloves and laid them on the seat of her moped, placing her helmet neatly on top. She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head and sighed contentedly. “Oh, fresh air and sunshine, it’s been too long!” she said playfully.

  “You make it sound like the museum is some sort of dungeon,” Tori smirked. “But it is great to get outside for a while.” She looked out over the valley. “Hey, look! You can see Rotherham Hall from here!”

  Noah shaded his eyes. “It’s so big, I bet you could see it from space.”

  “If you think Rotherham Hall is big,” Beth said, “you should see the—”

  “Royal palace in Alaborn?” Noah finished. He laughed. “Yeah, so I’ve been told.”

  Beth made her way into the ruins, scrambling over rocks and up half-buried flights of stairs. “Let’s explore!” she called back, before disappearing behind a stone pillar.

  Tori smiled at Noah and they followed Beth.

  “Do you think we’ll find any undiscovered ancient Evonian treasures?” Noah asked Tori.

  Tori shook her head. “This outpost was one of the first ancient Evonian sites to be abandoned. I don’t think there’ve been any artifacts left to find here since your grandfather was a child.”

  “Hey, you never know, right?” Noah ran a hand over the rough, mossy stone of a nearby wall. “Although, the ruins themselves are incredible enough,” he said.

  Tori smiled. “You sound just like Lord Claude. I’ve heard this was one of your grandfather’s favorite places to come and be alone.”

  Noah enjoyed being compared to his grandfather. “I’m sure it’s a great place to be alone,” he said quietly, “but it’s even better having someone to share it with.”

  Tori smiled. Their eyes met, and Noah’s stomach did a somersault as she leaned her face closer to his.

  “Hurry up, you slowpokes,” Beth called from the top of a set of uneven stone steps. She laughed and turned. Then they heard her shriek and she vanished from sight.

  “Beth!” Noah yelled. He and Tori raced up the steps to the spot where they had last seen their friend.

  Beth was on the ground. “I think I twisted my ankle,” she said, teeth gritted in pain.

  Tori bent swiftly to examine the injured ankle. “Can you move your foot?” she asked.

  Beth twitched her foot and let out a small yelp.

  Tori turned to Noah. “We’ll have to get her back to Rotherham Hall. Lady Octavia’s family physician will be able to help. He makes house calls all the time.”

  Rotherham Hall has its own doctor? Noah thought. Why am I not surprised?

  “How are we going to do that?” Beth asked. She whimpered as she pushed herself carefully into a seated position. “There’s no way I can ride my moped with my ankle like this.”

  “One of us will have to ride double,” Tori said. “Noah, why don’t you ride ahead and tell Lady Octavia what happened? I’ll bind Beth’s ankle as best I can, and then we’ll follow more slowly.”

  Beth looked from Tori to Noah. “But Lady Octavia would probably prefer . . .” Noah gave Beth a startled look, wondering why was she thinking of his grandmother at a time like this.

  Beth must have noticed his expression because she quickly added “What if you ride ahead, Tori, and Noah could tend to my ankle. You’re a better moped rider, so you’ll get to back to Rotherham Hall much more quickly than Noah could.”

  Noah wanted to help, but saw a huge flaw in Beth’s plan. He shook his head. “Sorry, Beth, I have no idea how to do first aid for a twisted ankle. Tori seems to know what she’s doing.”

  Tori nodded. “Your ankle is already swelling,” she explained. “I need to stabilize it so you don’t do mor
e damage to it before we ride back.”

  The sun was starting to edge toward the horizon, and Noah suddenly realized he wasn’t sure he knew how to get back to Rotherham Hall from here. Being able to see the place didn’t do him much good since the road to get there twisted and branched. “Wait, this is kind of a silly argument anyway,” he pointed out. “I’ll just call my grandmother. She can send someone with a truck that can fit us and our mopeds, and we can ride back in style.”

  “Great idea,” Tori said. “The trail up here isn’t big enough for cars, but they can pick us up at the base of the cliffs. That won’t be too far if we have help getting Beth down.”

  “And that way we don’t have to split up while we wait for help to arrive,” Beth said brightly.

  Tori set to work bandaging Beth’s ankle using a first aid kit that had been tucked in the storage netting of her moped. Meanwhile, Noah called his grandmother and explained the situation.

  “Why didn’t you just take Annabeth on your moped and drive her back to the house?” his grandmother asked. “That would have been very dashing and chivalrous.”

  “Grandmother!” Noah hissed under his breath.

  “You’re right, though, I suppose it does make more sense to send a car to pick you up. It’s a short drive to the bluffs. I’ll have my butler fetch the doctor, and have a car of suitable size brought round from the garage. Stay where you are—the butler will bring crutches for Lady Annabeth.”

  Noah breathed a sigh of relief. “That sounds great, thank you so much, Grand—”

  “Will the three of you be late to dinner, then?” his grandmother asked.

  “What?” Noah asked. “Yes, of course we’ll be late to dinner. I’m sure your butler can reheat a plate of leftovers for us once we’re rescued. Goodbye, Grandmother,” he said firmly, and hung up before she could express her outrage over concepts like “reheating” and “leftovers.”

  He turned back to Beth and Tori. “She’s sending a rescue party. So now we just have to sit tight and wait until our knight in shining armor arrives.”