Anna nodded and grasped Tim’s hand. Tim knelt down and pushed his hand through the wall. “Here we go!” he said, pushing the rest of the way through, pulling Anna behind him.
The room in the castle side of the portal was dimly lit, so Anna let her light go out. She glanced at the window. “It looks like its early morning here. The sun is coming up. I wonder what time we’re in,” she said softly.
Tim let the way towards the area of the castle that had been destroyed. It would be a solid clue if they were in the past or not. They didn’t have far to go. Tim started to notice cracked and crumbling walls. “We’re either in the present time or the future. I don’t know how we’d figure that out unless we actually talked to someone.”
“You can talk to me!”
They spun around at the sound of a voice behind them. Peering out of the shadows was a little girl. Her eyes widened after seeing their faces. She glanced toward the hall filled with his father’s and Einna’s childhood pictures, then back at them. “Oh wow! I never thought I’d get to meet you! We all thought you were dead! Wait till I tell everyone!”
She turned to go, but Anna stopped her. “Please wait. We could really use your help.”
The little girl stopped, conflicted with sharing her discovery or helping the prince and princess. “What’s your name?”
“Yma,” she said softly, “Yma Notlaw.”
“Hi, Yma. I’m Anna, though I think you already knew that. This is Tim,” she said.
Yma looked at Tim, confused at first. Then her eyes brightened. “Your name is backwards!”
“I like to be different,” Tim said, with a smile, and then continued. “How old are you, Yma?”
“I reached my seventh year. I’m half way to my eighth!” she told them, proudly.
Tim and Anna looked at each other. It was possible the girl could possibly help them pinpoint when they were. Anna thought for a moment then asked, pointing to the ruined part of the castle,
“Do you know how long ago that happened?”
Yma nodded, enthusiastically. “Yes! I was just in my fifth year, then. I remember because it was very loud. Xela cried. She was just a little baby then. We couldn’t come here before then. There was no way in. Now we can go right through the wall!”
“That’s wonderful! Thank you, Yma. You’ve been very helpful,” Anna told her, as she glanced at Tim.
Tim had a frown on his face. “Yma,” he bent down so he was level with the child, “Do you live here?”
Two years had passed in Snillotia since their encounter with Aaron and Tim was wondering what had been happening since then. Yma looked at him, like she’d done something wrong. “I know it’s your castle, but it was broken, and no one was here. Derf came exploring and saw lots of food in the kitchen and warm places to sleep and-” she broke off and started to cry.
“Hey now, calm down. You’re not in trouble. We understand,” Anna said, giving the girl a hug.
“Really?” Yma asked, tearfully.
“Really. Right, Tim?”
“Oh, yeah, of course, it’s okay. Who’s Derf?”
“He’s my big brother. He’s in his tenth year. Xela is our baby sister. She’s in her third year now.”
Tim and Anna looked at each other, once again. “So, you and your brother and sister live here all alone?”
Yma shook her head. “Kram and Nevets stay with us too. Oh, and Woof, too.”
“How old are they?”
“Kram is in his ninth year and we think Nevets is in his fourth year or fifth year. He’s bigger than Xela and smaller than me. Kram found him last year. He doesn’t say much. Woof talks a lot, but we don’t know what she’s saying.”
“You don’t know what she’s saying? How old is she?”
Yma laughed. “I don’t know! She’s not a person, silly! Come with me! I’ll show you!”
What do you think? Tim’s voice appeared in Anna’s head.
It’s a better plan than wandering around on our own.
Tim nodded and they started walking in the direction Yma had run off in.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“Which way did she go?” Tim asked as they came to the end of the hallway with the pictures.
Ahead of them was the door that led to the mirrored version of the house Anna grew up in. Off to the right was another hallway which led to a section of the castle that Tim didn’t think he’d ever been in. “They must be living in my house,” said Anna, nodding down the hallway, “That’s the way to the throne room. It’s just a very large room with, well, two thrones in it.”
The door in front of them swung open. A scrawny boy stood there in front of them, with Yma peeking out from behind him. “I told you, Derf! I told you I found the prince and princess! I am not a liar!”
Derf looked from them to the pictures in the hallway behind them. His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know who you are. Why did you lie to my sister? You can’t steal our stuff and we already claimed this place as ours. So, you should just get out of here,” he told them, with his fists clenched.
Anna looked back at the pictures on the wall behind her, realizing that Derf was looking at their parents’ wedding pictures and saw that they weren’t that old. “We didn’t lie to your sister, Derf. I’m Anna and this is Tim.”
“Tim?” the boy asked, letting his guard down in his confusion.
“His name is backwards! He likes to be different,” Yma chimed in.
His sister’s voice reminded Derf to be tough and his expression hardened again. “We aren’t that prince and princess,” Tim explained, “Those are our parents. That’s why we look like them. But Anna is a princess, and I’m a prince, technically.”
Derf still didn’t look ready to believe they weren’t there to steal from him. Before he could say anything else, from behind him there
