“What?”
“Maybe she wasn’t just writing stories. Maybe she was writing about herself! Maybe that’s why the stories were so good!”
“I guess that could be true, but your mom wasn’t technically a princess. She just married the prince.”
“Oh. Maybe not, then. Her stories were so good though. It was like they came alive, right off the page when you were reading them.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “Tim, it was probably her power. I’ve heard of that one. My mom told me she knew someone with it once. It must have been your mom she was talking about.”
“Well, the stories remind me a lot of what I’ve been learning about Snillotia. Maybe they have a clue in them, along with maybe these journals of hers. But we can’t stay here forever reading! We need to get back to the palace!”
“Plus, if your mom wrote these books in the backwards world, they wouldn’t be here.”
Tim looked at her, with a look on his face that said he had an idea. “What are you thinking?”
“Well, you made other stuff happen just thinking about it. Maybe you could do it again. Just try it!”
Anna shrugged. “Okay. Books written by Nelle Rellim, appear!”
Nothing happened. “Try again. Remember she wrote them in the backwards world. Her name was Ellen Tollins there.”
“Books written by Ellen Tollins, appear!”
Again, nothing happened. “You didn’t say you wish.”
Anna sighed. She didn’t really believe this was going to work. She just couldn’t wish for things and have anything come true! That couldn’t possibly be her power. Tim was looking at her, encouragingly. “I wish the books Tim’s mom wrote in the backwards world were here.”
There was a loud crash behind her. She spun around. A pile of book was now sitting on the desk along with some papers that hadn’t been there before. She was shocked. “You did it!”
Anna shook her head. It really hadn’t seemed like she did anything. When the light had appeared in her hand, she had felt that power. But coming back to Snillotia and now these books, she hadn’t felt anything at all. She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. The pug was looking at her, with that expression that resembled a smile again. “It’s her!”
“What?”
Tim had been looking through the books that appeared. “It’s the dog. She brought us back here, not me. I’m pretty sure she brought the books too. I didn’t do it. I just know it wasn’t me.”
Tim looked at the dog. Feeling a little foolish, he asked, “Did you do this? Are you really a magic creature called a gup and not a pug dog?”
“Yes.”
Anna and Tim both froze. Tim hadn’t really been expecting a response, but he’d clearly heard a little girl’s or possibly an old woman’s voice answer him. He looked at the dog, still staring at him from the chair. “You can talk?”
“Not the same way you can, but I can make you understand me. My name is- well, you can just call me Goldie.”
Anna recovered from the shock first. “You brought us here. How do we leave?”
“I don’t want you to leave. I’ve been alone for so long. There are no new rooms in storage. There are no students living here any longer. There haven’t been for many years now. When I felt your wish in the copied version of the room, your wish to return to Snillotia, I complied. You got your wish and I would no longer be alone.”
Anna and Tim looked at each other. “Goldie, we have to leave. We’re the only hope for Snillotia. We must save everyone from the rebels. If we do that, there will be new rooms again, with new students. You wouldn’t be alone,” Anna tried to explain to her.
Goldie did not look convinced. Tim tried another way. "Goldie, do you know who we are?"
Goldie turn her large eyes right on him. "You are Nelle's son. That is the only way you could have been in her copied room. Plus, she already said who you were when she asked for those books," she replied glancing at Anna, "Though, you are bigger then when I last sensed you in the room."
Goldie looked at their confused expressions. "I control the rooms. I can always tell who is in them, even the copies. After the students stopped coming, people also stopped copying their rooms. Your mother was the only one who kept hers. I had no one else to sense except her and whoever entered the room with her. I didn't feel so alone when she was in her room. It's been empty for a while now until you suddenly appeared! I was so happy when I sensed you!"
Tim looked at her sadly. "My mom died."
Goldie's sad looking face appeared even sadder. She whined and nudged Tim's hand. "I am sorry, Tim."
After a moment of silence, Anna said, "If you could sense Tim's mom, do you know who she actually was, after she left school here? Who his dad was, as well?"
"No. I only could feel their presence. Occasionally, if they thought about Snillotia hard enough, like you did, I could hear snippets. Why does this matter? I'm not alone any longer and now I am happy."
"I'm sorry, Goldie, we can't stay here. You have to let us out. We have to defeat the rebels and we can't do that from here," Tim told her.
"You're barely old enough to be students here, I don't see-"
Anna cut her off. "We are the prince and princess! You have to obey us!"
Tim looked at Anna in surprise. He hadn't quite thought of himself as a prince until she said it and he realized it was true. Goldie had gone silent and she looked very sad again. "You can come with us," he told her.
Goldie almost looked surprised. "Leave here? I have never been anywhere else. I always must remain to control the storage."
"But you said it yourself. There are no students, and my mom was the only one who had copied her room. Please, Goldie,
