“I haven’t seen all that much yet. I just now figured out we are underground.”
“Ah, no good.” Manon peered around the garden as if she was looking for someone. I looked too. We were alone. She added, “We must change that immediately. I will be your tour guide.”
“Are you waiting for someone? If you are, we can do this later.”
“No, I came out to be with you,” she said, but her eyes darted around the garden once more before we walked on.
As we passed a pond, golden koi swam in circles around the water lilies. Columbine and poppies grew on the other side of the path. “How is this possible without sunlight?”
“You will find to a Merric, nothing is impossible. Take these gardens, these are not small, non. There are ten acres in total around the house, all green.”
“Ten underground acres?”
“Yes, and inside the mansion is a wine cellar filled with vintages, some hundreds of years old. The library has floors and floors of books. Art is a passion of the Merrics. Fifteen rooms have been dedicated to paintings and sculptures. There are three dining rooms; the largest can seat 450 comfortably, 500 not so much. The Merrics even have a room filled with plate sets and silverware, two floors of various dinner plates. You could use a different design each day and not get through the room for two years. Everything here exquisite, and used only two weeks a year.”
“Only two weeks a year? This place? Why?”
“You’ll know why when you experience the other palaces. The world is… is—how do they say it—your fruit basket? No, your buffet, yes and you will only need to choose what to devour. Yes. It is all yours to try. Just ask. Enzo can do anything. He lives for parties and performances. He would do anything for you; all you must do is ask.”
“Anything?”
“If you ask for it, your team will do it. Balls, parties, festivals. When I first met Bollie, he had his planner, Michelle, create an evening for me. Do you see these earrings?” She leaned in to show me her simple gold rose bud earrings. “They belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette. True, it was when she was eighty… not so advantageous but still.”
I imagined Marie Antoinette with her high wigs and wide dresses at eighty. My favorite podcast, Noble Blood, covered the death of the queen of France and the poor woman hadn’t even made it to forty, her last few years spent in torture. “That’s amazing.”
“She was always my favorite French queen,” Manon said.
I bit my tongue, some facts are better kept to yourself, and paused before asking, “And you said his planner found them?”
“A Merric’s planner can find anything.”
“Do you think he could find a matching necklace for my ring?” I held out my hand, and Manon examined it. “It was my grandma’s,” I said, “and she lost the matching necklace.”
Manon squeezed my hand. “If it is here, Enzo will find it. It will make him happy.”
“That is the best news,” I said with a sigh.
The path veered away from the pond to a tree-lined walk. Thick trees, good climbers. They impressed me more than the marble animals. Anyone can carve marble, but old-growth trees underground? Now, that was amazing.
A swing hung from a branch. Swings need swinging. I left Manon on the path, climbed on and kicked off towards the rocky sky. Manon walked over to join me.
“Perfect! Bollie told me he put that swing in for his nieces. He would be happy to know you swung on it.”
“Nieces?” I asked, shocked. “You mean I’m not his only niece?” I mentally added, if you can call me that…
“There is Bianca and Claudette and you, of course.”
Despite the situation, it elated me. As the only child of two only children, I’d always wanted a cousin but knew it would never be in the cards.
“Bollie has plans for you to meet them.”
This took the wind right out of my sails, and I stopped swinging. Plans for the future. “When did my uncle mention those plans to you?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Manon stopped and thought. “A year ago, maybe.”
“A year! You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I do not understand.”
“Manon, you know Bollard well. Please tell me why he brought me to this place.”
Manon frowned. “He wants to know you and for you to know your family.” The words sounded rehearsed.
“Yeah, and he brought me here to just leave. That makes no sense.”
She shrugged. “Oui, I understand, but that is the reason. He did not expect the troubles when he returned home, but issues arose when he was in your world.”
“But why me? I have nothing to offer him. I am boring and unimportant. I have no special talents. Why would he want me here?”
“You are family, Waverly. That is very important. More important to Bollie than you can imagine. It is a great compliment. Bollard’s nieces, you, Claudette, and Bianca, are his greatest source of pride.”
“Ha! You’ve got to be kidding me. He doesn’t even know me, and I don’t know him.”
“But he knows you. He said you were beautiful, quiet, and bright. He said you were sweet and special, possibly”—Manon stepped closer to the swing so she could whisper—“more powerful and more special than even Bianca.”
I shook my head and snickered. “Did he mention I’m from a different earth and that I don’t know the first thing about this place or that I wasn’t told the truth about this world until I got here and even then, a complete stranger, my new doctor, told me.”
“Yes, he did, but he feels most terrible about not being able to explain things himself. He also mentioned that Helena has been telling you for years she was a princess, but your family wrote her off, all except you.”
“That’s not true,” I said sadly. “I wish I had believed. I feel awful that I didn’t. I only
