Excerpt: Three Sisters

The obnoxious buzzing of the alarm clock startled her awake. She’d never get used to all this technology. While it was convenient at times she felt people were far to dependent on it. She stretched her arms above her head and shook off a yawn then stalked irritably over to the clock and turn it off. However irritated she may be with technology she loved plumbing and electricity, it was nice to wake up warm in the morning and not have to start a fire in the old fireplace.
She showered and finished her morning routine in time to make breakfast for her adopted daughter. She loved when there were people around. Now she loved her companions but she longed for a family of her own, but under the circumstances she avoided anything more than the idea.
“Good morning, Linnet,” she smiled at the dark haired teenager.
“I can’t figure out why you are so happy in the morning.”
“The sun is up, what more can you ask for?”
“Three more hours of sleep.”
“If you didn’t stay up all night talking on the phone to that boy you wouldn’t have such a hard time getting up in the morning.”
“Well, Gwenora Elizabethia Noble, I never. I went to bed right when you told me.”
“Of course you did dear.”
“You have no faith in me.” Linnet scrunched her eyebrows together and put her hands on her hips.
“I have great faith in you, except when you are talking to that boy.”
“ ‘That boy’ has a name.”
“Sorry,” Gwenora smiled sheepishly, “Taylor seems like a nice enough boy, I just wish he would obey my rules and not call after ten.”
“You are so old fashioned.”
With a raised eyebrow Gwenora looked over, “I am over a thousand years old, you know.”
“Speaking of age, what do you want for your birthday?”
“You’re not going to let me stop celebrating those, are you?”
“Nope. How old will you be?”
“One thousand and six.”
“Cool, what do you want?”
“You home for more than an hour, without that—Taylor.”
“Alright.”
“Thank you, now eat your breakfast.”
They both ate their eggs, bacon, and hash browns in silence. Gwenora smiled and waved as Linnet drove off to school and then she began her rounds.
“Good morning, Crow.” She greeted the big furry beast. He was almost nine feet tall so the door frames and ceilings were unusually tall so that he could maneuver the hallways and rooms of the castle. “Are you ready to start?”
He grunted and fell into step behind her. She made her way to the basement then stopped at the first alcove. “Good morning Herbert, did you sleep well,” the little creature blinked its two sets of eyelids at her and cocked its head. The little creature almost looked like a lemur with a few differences, he had floppy ears almost like a rabbits but shorter, and his long tale looked something like a squirrels. She fed him his dragon fruit and bananas, then moved on. Morning turned quickly to afternoon as she took care of the creatures under her charge. There was no news about any problems around town and she had heard nothing from her contacts abroad so it was a slow day.
She went to her library, it was something akin to the one from Beauty and the Beast, but her books were histories, legends, and atlases. Her library contained more first additions than Alexander the Great’s though if she was being truthful she would have to admit that many of her scrolls and books can from there. With a sigh she opened a copy of Merlin’s old journal, she needed to study once again, both Ember—a Phoenix—and Reynard—a gryphon, were telling her something was coming and whatever it was, it was bad and powerful. If she possessed a falcon like Merlin had told her she should, she would know exactly when the something was going to happen and what it was. Sadly, falcons had never held much love for her, nor she for them so she was stuck looking up old prophecies and looking at star charts and consulting the magiks, so far there was no luck. She hoped that it wouldn’t happen for sometime but with the way things were going lately she was sure it would happen soon.
Crow interrupted her, “Phone,” his deep voice resonated throughout the room.
She picked up the receiver on her desk, “hello?”
“Aunt Gwen, this is Gareth.”
“Hello, how is school?”
“Good, there is a break coming up and I was wondering if it would be alright if brought a friend home.”
Gwenora was suddenly suspicious, “girl or boy?”
“Boy,” he laughed, “he knows about the ‘real’ world.” He used the reference she often did. “He wants to meet you, he has heard of your sanctuary, though he called it a menagerie. He is curious about the way you run things.”
“Fine, we’ll have a room ready.”
“Thanks, bye,” and the line was dead.
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t find her place. She remembered the last time the twins had brought a man home, they had hoped she’d marry him but the second he had met crow he had run from the house—she was lucky he felt he was too manly to scream. He had never come back and she didn’t mind. Oh, well, she’d put up with the company until he left and then she could go back to her solitude, well as much of it as she had with two twenty one year olds and a sixteen year old. With a sigh she went up stairs to see if Linnet had returned home yet. Once she made sure the girl was actually doing her homework she went to the kitchen to help Crow prepare dinner. As she entered the room and examined the beast in front of her. He was a beast in appearance only, he was actually very kind and considerate. She smiled as she remembered how her and two of her friends had met.