Children of the Glimmer Pool by Obstinate Anarchist (book series for 10 year olds .TXT) 📕

Without another word to Brendan, Geraldine stormed out of the inn, leaving the innkeep to admire the coins on his desk. "That's a lot of dollops for just one person," he murmured, slipping the coins into his pocket.

*******

Iris made her way down the corridor of the inn, fiddling with the room key in her hand, the sound of the dog sled dragging along the stone floor resonated through the hall. It had not been her intention to stay the night in this village, but after Geraldine had offered to pay, how could she refuse?She was so distracted that she had not even heard the sound of another door in the hall opening.

"Oh. Uh, hi."

Iris' muscles went rigid when she processed that she was not alone in the inn's hallway. She spun around to face another girl around her age.

The girl's hair was not very long, even in dreads. It came down to just above her shoulders and fell haphazardly about her face. Her skin was the color of a sunkissed mocha and her eyes were a startling bronze color. She was dressed comfortably in a tanktop the color of a mountain stream and a pair of well worn black pants. She wore a loose fitting, gray sweater about her shoulders and slid her hands into its pockets. "I didn't know I'd be having company."

The green eyed girl stared dumbly at the other girl and cleared her throat, giving a small nod of her head. "Neither did I," she let out an uneasy laugh. "I'm Iris, your temporary neighbor."

"Rad. I'm Nova. Did you just get here?" The girl asked, trying to make idle conversation. She was not much of a people person and the only reason she had come out of her room at all was because the sound of the sled dragging across the floor had freaked her out.

Iris nodded her head and continued to jingle the keys in her hand. "Yeah. But I'll only be staying for a little bit. I think," she mumbled, shuffling her feet.

"You think?" Nova ventured, raising a brow in question.

"Geraldine, the Village Leader here, said she'd pay for my stay," Iris explained, frowning.

Nova mumbled a quiet, "oh" and shifted her weight to one leg. "That's cool. So you come from the Mountain Village, too?" She asked, taking notice of Iris' clothing.

The blonde girl perked up at this and a grin pricked at the corners of her lips. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I guess you do, too. Good to know," Iris replied, giving a small nod of her head.

There was an awkward silence between the two girls and finally, Nova decided to break it.

"So, uh... I guess I'll see you later?" She took a small step away toward her room again, throwing Iris a small wave of her hand before shuffling into her room.

Iris nodded again and waved her own goodbye. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. See you." With that, she turned on her heel and scampered to the end of the hallway, stopped in front of the seventh door, jammed the key in the lock, and stepped into the room.

She was exhausted from all of her walking and the heat had only made things worse. She unbuttoned her olive cloak and let it fall to the floor and made her way over to the rather cozy looking bed in the corner of the room. Iris collapsed into the plush blankets and kicked off her coal colored boots before pulling her knees in toward her chest. In only a matter of minutes, she drifted off to sleep, blissfully unaware of the busy Desert Village's nightlife.

Iris Lockwood woke with a start, her muddy green eyes snapping open when she heard three loud, rapid knocks at her door. She shifted into a semi-sitting position, forgetting for a moment that she was not in her own home, but rather at a Desert Village inn.

Contemplating as to whether or not she should actually get up, Iris let a small frown cross her lips. The bed was quite comfortable, despite the sheets being dusted with a fine layer of sand.

"Hey, uh... Iris? Iris! Are you in there?" Nova's voice came from the other side of the door and from the sound of it, she was growing a little impatient. The dark haired girl let out a loud sigh of annoyance and slammed her fist on the door roughly so that perhaps Iris would hear.

The blonde girl winced at the loud banging and reluctantly threw off her blankets, muttering bitterly to herself. Iris reached for her boots and tugged them on, not bothering to lace them up. She stumbled over to the door and fumbled for the knob, twisted it, and pulled the door open. "Hello?" Iris asked, stifling a yawn.

Nova stared at Iris in disbelief. Had this girl been asleep? "It's past noon. Were you still sleeping?"

"Mmm? Oh, yeah. Is it really that early?" Iris asked, letting a yawn slip past her lips. She contorted her body position so that she could twist her upper torso, effectively cracking her back. "Did you need something?"

The brown eyed girl frowned and shook her head. She decided she would leave the topic of waking times for another day and switched the subject. "I didn't need anything, I just thought maybe you might want to pack up and get going," she warned, glancing over her shoulder anxiously as though worried someone else might be listening in on their conversation.

Iris stared quizzically at Nova, green orbs meeting brown ones. "What? Why? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing that I can physically prove, but I have my suspicions about the Village Leader and the innkeep. I've been here for a few days but I only intended to rest for a night. Unfortunately, when I tried to leave, the innkeep told me he'd give me a few extra days, on him. I thought it was strange that the Village Leader would be doing the same for you," Nova explained, furrowing her brows in concentration as she mentally played through a few scenarios.

"Isn't that just them being hospitable to travelers?" Iris countered. She was not exactly trying to challenge Nova on her word because she herself had only meant to pass through the Desert Village. There was not much use for selling and trading dog sleds here. In fact, Iris had been a little wary of Geraldine's overly friendly behavior when all of the villagers were being so hostile and quite frightening to say the least.

Nova snorted in contempt and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because the Desert Village has always been known for its kindly inhabitants and generous leader," she muttered, sending another wary glance down the hall. "No," she continued, "I was listening in on one of their conversations and I think they want to keep us here."

"But why? They seem like... nice people..."

"Looks can be very deceiving, Iris. Have you heard of Frederick's Ring?" Nova asked quietly, stepping past Iris and into the girl's room.

Iris stepped back, allowing Nova inside even though she had not really invited the girl in the first place, and sensing that what the dark haired girl would be telling her was not meant for anyone else's ears, the blonde girl closed the door behind her. "Yes, I've heard of it," she confirmed, seeming a little hesitant to answer.

"I'm not one to spread along rumors because I really, really, hate rumors, but this one is a little too serious to ignore. Now what I've heard is that," Nova paused and drew the curtains over the window, just in case, before continuing, "it's gone missing. Or rather, that it's been stolen. Naturally, they'd want to find out who stole it and right now, there's talk of the thieves being one of the children of the Glimmer Pool."

Stiffening up at the mention of Frederick's Ring supposedly going missing, Iris grit her teeth. "Is that so? Do they have any evidence?" The blonde girl asked slowly, leaning with her back against the wall.

Nova shook her head in response. "No. They don't have proof of anything, really. Just that the ring is missing and that things are going to get bad if the villagers find out," she explained glumly. Her warm brown eyes flickered over to Iris again and she added, "But they've been asking me strange questions and I think they're trying to pin it on any of us that they can if only to bring some peace to their villages."

"Oh, I understand now," she mumbled, standing upright and making her way past Nova. Iris moved to strap her dirk to her side again and grabbed the rope tied to the sad wooden dog sled on the floor. "Did you get any of your things?"

"What things?" Nova asked, not quite understanding Iris' sudden question.

Iris turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder at Nova with a grin. "Well, you're coming, too, aren't you? After all, they'd know it'd been you that was passing off information to me. And of course, that'd give them all the more reason to assume that you were the one who stole Frederick's Ring. So, you're coming, too."

At first, Nova was a little surprised by Iris' reply, but deciding that the girl was probably right, she nodded her head. "Oh. Of course. I'll just be right back," she mumbled, turning on her heel, opening the door, and making her way down the hall to her bedroom. Not even five minutes later did the dark haired girl return to Iris' bedroom with a tool belt clasped around her waist and a bag of trinkets tied to it in a messy knot. "Ready."

"That's all?" Iris asked, though she seemed vaguely amused. She was not quite sure what Nova had in the tool belt's pouches, but it sounded like metal clanking and jingling about. And the little bag tied to it sounded just the same, just not nearly as loud.

Nova seemed indignant at first but rolled her eyes afterward, deciding it was best not to argue with the girl. After all, they'd be so much better off as a team. "Yes, that's all. It's not a lot, but it's all I've got with me," she replied, giving a crooked grin. She shifted her feet for a moment  before clearing her throat. "Anyway, we should get going now. The inkeep's already awake downstairs, so we'll have to go out a different way."

Iris gave a small nod and stepped over to the door, closing it and jamming the key in the lock. She twisted it, earning a satisfying 'click', and gave the key a hard jerk to the side, effectively snapping off the top of it. "Open the window, will you? We'll go out that way," she decided, tossing the remaining part of the key off into the room somewhere.

The girl nodded her head and spun around, hurrying over to the window. She threw the curtains aside and frowned. The window was not very big. In fact, they would probably have a little trouble squeezing through it. Not to mention the fact that there were old metal bars in front of it.