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Doorkeeper 4

"Did you say...the Wight of the Widdle?"

Nicko sighed. "Yes, the Right of the Riddle. We can't be the only ones to have asked for it!"

The DoorKeeper shook his head in disbelief. "No. But it's still wather ware. Folks don't genewally know about the Wight of the Widdle." He drew himself up to his full height of exactly four feet. "Veeeeeeewy well," he said, his old self returning. "You two have surpwised me this once, but I don't think you can surpwise me again!"

But that is exactly what they did. For Aunt Ells knew the answers to all three of the required riddles from her adopted parents, and she had not only told Nicko and Snorri what the answers were, but helpfully drew reminder pictures of them on the map. After answering the final riddle correctly, the DoorKeeper stumbled back in shock, and allowed the teens to enter the House of Foryx.

As they crossed the threshold, Nicko was rather startled not to feel anything different, any sign that they were leaving Time. For all he knew, Nicko could've been taking Snorri into any old cabin—ignoring the cabin's size, shape, and importance, of course. He took one last glance back at the snowy landscape before the DoorKeeper closed the heavy door, never to see it again for five hundred years.

"The checkered lobby," Snorri was saying. "And that is the waiting chair." She pointed to it, and Nicko noticed that there was still a lady dressed white and gold seated there, as Aunt Ells had described. The lady noticed them and gave Nicko a small smile, then resumed staring at the door longingly.

"Nicko." Snorri snapped her fingers in front of his face, jolting Nicko out of his reverie. "We must find our room to stay in, komma ihåg?"

"Ah. Yes. Let's go, then."

They walked through the lobby and stepped into the Great Hall, and it was then that Nicko began to feel strange. The room seemed to sway slightly, as if on a ship, but both Nicko and Snorri knew that it wasn't. Everything seemed to be shrouded in a black, gauzy curtain, and the people milling about were no more than shadowy blurs. Nicko heard Snorri draw a sharp breath, and he put a protective arm around her shoulders.

"Ex-cuse me."

Nicko turned around to find himself face to face with Septimus. Or so he thought, until his hopes were dashed when he realized that the figure in ExtraOrdinary Apprentice robes was a tall girl with long, silky black hair, pale skin, and sharp features. And at that moment her features bore an expression of extreme disapproval. A/N Of course. When isn't she disapproving? "Um...what?" Nicko managed.

The girl sighed. "Hel-loh, your bags?" she said in annoyance, holding up their packs. "I'm showing you to a room, right?"

"Wait...how'd you get—"

Snorri interrupted, "Ja, we want a room. Take us, if you are so kind."

The Apprentice girl softened. But only a little. "Well, at least I'm not dealing with two simpletons. Very well, off we go, then." She set off at a brisk pace through the crowded Great Hall, and Nicko and Snorri hurried after her.

"What is she doing with our packs, Snorri?" Nicko asked as they dodged an armored knight and his page.

"You did not see?" Snorri replied in disbelief. "The DoorKeeper took them when we came in. He put them in a cupboard with an Enchanted Floor and—"

"Enchanted Floor?"

"You know, the Floor moved, like the stairs in the Wizard Tower you talked about. It carried the packs away, and she—" Snorri pointed at the Apprentice Girl, "—takes them to the room for us."

Nicko shook his head. This place is already getting to me, he thought, and we've only been here for, what, five minutes? Or wait—if there's no Time here, then would it be...? Ugh, I'm getting dizzy. Better stop there.

Talmar Ray Bell (though they didn't know it was she) led them up a flight of stairs and onto the landing, giving them the same spiel that she would give to Septimus, Jenna, and Beetle much later. But instead of showing the teens through the concealed door, Talmar took them up into one of the four turrets. Before long, Nicko and Snorri found themselves facing one of many closed doors, their packs deposited on the ground and the Apprentice girl nowhere in sight. Nicko pushed the door open.

The room inside was exactly like the one Aunt Ells had described. It was tiny but very cozy-looking. There was a four-poster bed with white, silken sheets and fluffy pillows on the right, and opposite it on the left was a hearth, in which a fire burned brightly and merrily. A small bureau rested in the far corner, and beside the open door sat a desk and a comfy armchair. On top of the desk was a candle and a platter of biscuits, which Nicko remembered from Snorri's note was never empty. Curious, he selected a biscuit and popped it in his mouth. It was delicious after two weeks' worth of dried herring, but there was a subtle bland taste about it that made Nicko frown.

Snorri set their bags by the hearth and shrugged off her winter cloak. A pang shot through Nicko as he saw the ragged hems of her robes, where the gold thread had been ripped off. Only now did he wonder how the Toll-Man could have possibly seen the trimming from underneath her cloak. That man certainly had an eye for gold. At least he didn't take the important gold item, he told himself.

Snorri caught him staring. "It does not matter now, min älskade. That is in the past."

Nicko sighed. "Doesn't make it right," he muttered as Snorri went back to unpacking. Then something occurred to him. "Snorri, what does 'min älskade' mean?"

She glanced up sharply. "What?"

"'Min älskade'. You know, you said it earlier."

Snorri blushed. "Is not important," she mumbled. "Just a—remark."

Nicko didn't believe her for an instant, but he didn't feel like pressing the issue. He and Snorri were going to be in the House of Foryx for who-knows-how-long, and the last thing he wanted to do was cause tension between them.

Which he would unwittingly do later, regardless.

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