After Regina pokes her head in the bedroom door to tell the girls that she's going back to the office for a bit and that they should play quietly and stay out of trouble, Norah sits on the window seat and watches as her mother's black Mercedes leaves the driveway and rolls out of sight before she heads for the door. There, she stops and places a hand on her cousin's shoulder to prevent the redhead from stepping out into the hallway. "Stay here, Eliana."
"I wanna come too."
"I'll be back in just a minute. You can wait here. I don't need your help to do this part."
"But I want to go with you."
Norah shakes her head stubbornly." "No! You're not very good at being quiet. You don't know how to sneak. You will get us caught."
Offended, Eliana objects a little too loudly for Norah's liking. "Uh huh! I can too be… quiet!" Her last word is muffled as Norah clamps her hand over her cousin's mouth.
Norah rolls her eyes and growls in frustration. "You're not being quiet right now! Wait for me right here. Play with Ember and count to 20."
"Aw! Why do I have to count?"
"If I'm not back before you get to 20, you can come out."
"But Norah I want…"
Norah clenches her fists and stomps her foot. "Just stay!" She hisses.
"I am not a dog!"
Norah shoves her cousin back into the bedroom and closes the door with, "Do you wanna get your parents to come back home, or not?"
Norah walks slowly up the hallway. When she reaches the grand spiral staircase, she jumps over the squeaky first step the way Roland always does and walks halfway down to the second-floor landing. Holding on to the banister for support, she goes up on tiptoe, and peers over the railing down into the great room below.
Papa is reading in his favorite chair, and listening to music on his record player, but he's not asleep yet. He almost always falls asleep when he reads books.
She retraces her steps on nearly silent feet, and returns to her bedroom, making sure to close the door completely before she speaks. With her back to the door, and her hand still on the doorknob, she shakes her head. "Not yet. We still have to wait."
Eliana scowls impatiently. "I can just make him go to sleep."
Norah shakes her head vehemently. "Don't you dare! The last time you tried to make Theo go to sleep, he had to go to the hospital."
"But I know what I did wrong last time. I used too much magic."
Norah shakes her head again. "No way Eliana! If Papa goes to the hospital, then, you can just go home, 'cause we're not gonna be friends anymore!"
"Okay, okay." Eliana pats the air dramatically. "Just calm down." She wrinkles her nose. "You are kind of bossy, you know?"
Norah scowls and shrugs. "My grandpa, my house, my room, my brother's book! If you don't like it, then go get the book yourself."
Eliana crosses her arms over her chest and huffs, "Fine! I was only trying to help."
The look on Norah's face shifts slightly. "Do you think you can call for the book? Or maybe take us to it? You call for stuff better than me."
Eliana wrinkles her nose again. "Don't think so. It's easier to do with people. It's easier to know where people are. Their heads make lots of noise. Stuff, things like books, they don't make any noise unless they have spells or curses on them, and even then, I still have to know exactly where they are before I can move them or go to them."
Norah smiles. "The book is inside Henry's room, and it does have magic in it. The ink he writes with is magic."
Eliana nods. "I know that, but I have to know exactly where in his room. Do you know where the book is? Maybe it's under the bed, or on the desk."
Norah shakes her head. "Henry puts it lots of different places."
"Then we better wait." Eliana admits reluctantly.
They play Old Maid, Memory, and Go Fish – twice before Norah goes out on another reconnaissance mission. Stepping back into the room, she giggles. "Papa is snoring. I can hear him all the way up here in the hallway."
Eliana squints. "Does he keep you awake all night?"
Norah shakes her head. He sleeps with his bedroom door closed. It's only because he's downstairs in the great room, and I can see right down to his chair. The room is so big that it makes extra noise. Daddy says it's because the room is round, and the ceiling is so high. Henry calls our living room the echo chamber." She beckons to Eliana. "Come on, bring Ember, and be quiet."
Norah follows the hallway around to the back of the house with Eliana and her puppy close behind. Once inside her parents' bedroom, she goes straight to the balcony doors and opens them wide. Outside, Eliana watches in confusion as her cousin sits down on the floor of the balcony and removes her shoes and socks. "Why are you doing that?"
Norah wiggles her toes. "Can't hang on with your toes if you can't bend your toes."
Eliana squints as she holds tight lead to Ember's collar. "Hang on to what?"
Leaving her socks and shoes in a pile, Norah stands up and trots across the balcony to the edge, where she climbs up, sits on top of the railing, and swings her feet around to dangle over the outer edge before she points. "To that."
Eliana squints in disbelief. "You're going to hold onto the flowers?"
Norah shakes her head adamantly. "Not the flowers, silly! The wooden thing the flowers are growing on. I forget what Daddy calls it. It starts with a 'T', and it works like a ladder. You can step on it. I can hold on with my toes and my fingers."
Eliana shakes her head and scowls. "Norah! You are crazy in the head! I am not going off this balcony!"
"That's okay. You're not invited anyway!"
"Hey! Why not?"
"Because you're not good at climbing. I don't want you to fall."
"Well, what if you fall?"
Norah shakes her head. "I never do."
"What if that ladder thing breaks?"
"It's not a ladder. It just works like one - and it won't break."
"How do you know."
"Cuz, Daddy built it. When Daddy builds stuff, it doesn't break."
"Why do you have to climb up anyway. We're on the top floor. Except for the attic. Can't you get there without climbing on that thing?"
"I'm not going up to the attic. I'm going sideways to Henry's bedroom window. It's always open."
"I'm not going out there." Eliana repeats and shakes her head.
"You don't have to. Just wait until I get across. Then, be quiet and go to Henry's bedroom door. I can open the door from inside."
"What if you fall? The grass is a long way down, Norah!"
"I told you. I never do."
"What if you do this time?"
"Then use magic to catch me."
"Are you serious?" Eliana covers her face with her hands and shakes her head again.
"Do you want the book, or not?"
Eliana lowers her hands. "Yes!"
"Then, stop being such a girl."
Eliana scowls. "I am a girl. I don't think I'm allowed to stop being one."
Norah rolls her eyes and reaches for the trellis.
Eliana covers her eyes with her hands.
When she is certain that she has a good hold, Norah kicks off the balcony railing and is halfway across before Eliana wrinkles her nose and dares to peek through the gaps between her own fingers to watch her cousin's progress. She gets really nervous for a few seconds when she can no longer see Norah, but just about the time she loses visual contact due to the slight curvature of the old apple barn's round structure, Norah's outstretched fingers clamp securely down on the window ledge outside Henry's bedroom. Norah hoists herself up and over the window seal into the room. Eliana does not see her again until she's had time to scramble over the top of her brother's writing desk, lose her balance, tumble to the floor, and then get up, crawl back onto the desk, and poke her right arm back through the window as far as she can, wave, and whisper loudly, "I'm here, come on over. I'll open the door for you."
