The monster nodded, then slowly sank back into the water. Cube realized that he understood human talk. The wonders of this castle continued.
They entered the castle. The central hall was enormous, with many arched doors along its sides.
"This way to your room," Rhythm announced, running to a stone stairway.
"But I"m not staying here!"
"Yes you are," Melody said, running beside her sister.
"But I only--"
"Hurry up," Harmony said. "We have a lot of showing to do."
Cube came to a stop. "Look, girls, I appreciate your interest, but I"m just a pa.s.sing traveler. I can"t--"
The three burst into laughter again. "No you"re not," Rhythm said.
Every time she told a half truth, they caught her. What was going on here?
"Children!" a woman called, approaching from down the main hall. "What mischief are you up to?"
"Awww, Mom, we"re just showing Cube around," Melody said innocently, a bright little halo appearing over her head.
"She needs to see the sights," Harmony added.
"And get some Companions," Rhythm concluded.
The woman turned to Cube. "I apologize. The Princesses are so mischievous it"s hard to keep track of them. I hope they haven"t been bothering you too badly."
"Oh, not too bad," Cube said.
The three girls burst out laughing again.
Then something else caught up to her awareness. "Princesses?"
"Perhaps we should make a more formal introduction," the woman said. "I am Princess Ivy, and these are my children, Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm."
Now Cube saw that the woman also wore a crown. She recognized the name. "P-P-Princess Ivy?"
There was more laughter from the children. "She didn"t know!" Melody said.
"We were having real fun," Harmony added.
"Waiting to see how long it took her to catch on," Rhythm concluded.
Princess Ivy shook her head. "They are endless mischief, but it"s hard to stop, because they are Sorceresses."
"Sorceresses," Cube repeated numbly. She was standing before a Princess--four Princesses--and didn"t know whether she should bow or faint.
"Any one of them is a Sorceress," Ivy clarified. "Any two of them square it, and the three together cube it."
"Cube it," Cube echoed, wondering whether this was pure coincidence. She kept encountering squares and cubes of three. Had the Good Magician known?
"Whatever they sing, play, and drum together becomes real. Beware when they start making music."
Melody began to hum. Harmony played a note on her harmonica. Rhythm beat her drum. Cube felt intense magic coalescing around them.
"Girls!" Ivy snapped warningly.
The music cut off in mid note, but the children did not look too abashed.
"They don"t know their own power yet," Ivy confided.
"Yes we do!" Melody said.
"So it"s better to humor them," Ivy continued.
"That"s right," Harmony agreed.
"And hope there isn"t serious trouble," Ivy concluded.
"So there!" Rhythm said.
"I suppose I can do that," Cube said cautiously.
"So now come on up to your room," Melody said victoriously.
Ivy made a slight roll of her eyes.
"We saw that!" Harmony said.
"I"ll go to my room," Cube agreed quickly.
"Now!" Rhythm said in peremptory fashion, imitating an adult. The three giggled.
Cube went. If their mother couldn"t entirely control them, Cube certainly couldn"t.
The room turned out to be quite nice, with a soft bed, a table, chairs, and plenty of closet s.p.a.ce. There was even a comprehensive lavatory. A girl could get to like a room like this. But there was one liability: it had a mirror.
"That"s a magic mirror," Melody said.
Harmony faced it. "Wira," she said.
The image of the Good Magician"s daughter-in-law appeared. "Hi, Wira!" Harmony called.
The blind young woman looked toward them. "Are you spying on me again, you little mischiefs?" she inquired with a smile.
"Sure," Rhythm said. "We"ve got Cube."
"Leave her alone," Wira said. "She has her own life to lead."
"Maybe," Melody said as the image faded.
"Come see the Magic Tapestry," Harmony told Cube.
The triplets led the way to their own room. On its wall was a large picture tapestry showing a scene of Castle Roogna and its orchard.
"Watch," Rhythm said.
Then the picture changed. Instead it showed a section of the enchanted path, and in a moment Cube herself came walking along it. "That"s me!" she exclaimed. "Coming here!"
"We can tune it in to anything except the secrets of the Adult Conspiracy," Melody said.
"We know where you"ve been," Harmony agreed.
"We saw you coming," Rhythm concluded.
"You mean it wasn"t just chance that you intercepted me?" Cube asked, knowing the answer.
"You"re on a mission for the Good Magician," Melody said.
"Because you want to be beautiful," Harmony added.
"But we can make you beautiful right now," Rhythm finished.
Cube was halfway overwhelmed. "But I can"t tell you what my a.s.signment is."
"Mice!" Melody swore. As a child she wasn"t supposed to know any bad words, like Rats.
"We can"t see or hear into Humfrey"s study," Harmony said.
"And his designated wives know how to fuzz out our snooping," Rhythm said.
So they truly didn"t know. That was a relief.
"We don"t like mysteries," Melody said grimly.
"Especially when they are excluding us," Harmony agreed.
"The Adult Conspiracy is bad enough," Rhythm concluded.
"I wish I could tell you, but I can"t," Cube said. "It would ruin everything."
To her surprise, they relented. "Okay," Melody said.
"Now we"ll show you the grounds," Harmony added.
"And maybe help you find some Companions," Rhythm concluded.
"That would be very nice of you," Cube said, not quite trusting this.
"Where shall we go?" Melody asked her sisters.
"Not the Good Magician"s Castle," Harmony said. "Humfrey would threaten us with an Answer."
"Not the Nameless Castle," Rhythm said. "Nimby would take away our magic."
Cube was privately interested. There was a person who could overrule the power of three Sorceresses?
"Not Castle Zombie," Melody said. "Breanna would make us eat zombie pie."
Another person they were wary of? What was her secret?
"Not the realm of Mixed Metaphor," Harmony said.
"Because that puts all our eggs in one place in the sun," Rhythm said.
"And our kettle of fish in the farthest pasture," Melody said.
"You girls are teasing me again," Cube said, forcing a frown. The three looked suitably abashed. They might be Princesses and Sorceresses, but they were also children, who could be cowed by an adult rebuke. That helped.
"So it must be Castle MaiDragon," Harmony said.
"Becka"s fun," Rhythm said.
"Who is Becka?" Cube asked.
The three little princesses exchanged a wicked triangular glance. "You"ll find out," Melody said.
She surely would. While her search for suitable Companions waited. But what could she do?
The Princesses formed a circle around her, so that she was enclosed in a manner. Melody hummed, Harmony played her harmonica, and Rhythm beat on her drum. The music swelled; these were really not toys, it turned out, but full musical instruments. Cube felt the magic intensifying around them. The Princesses might be young, but there was nothing childish about their power of magic.
Then the room wavered and faded. There was a moment of vertigo. Then the room re-formed. What had happened?
Cube saw that it wasn"t the same room. The Tapestry was gone, and the furniture was different, as was the color of the walls.
"We"re here," Harmony said, putting away her harmonica.
"Let"s go find Becka," Rhythm said, putting away her drum.
"This way," Melody said, running out the door.
The others followed, with Cube trailing. The room turned out to be in a high turret, with a long winding stairway down. She got halfway dizzy going around and around. But finally they reached the ground floor. They ran on through chamber after chamber, looking for Becka, but the castle was empty.
"She must be outside," Harmony cried breathlessly.
They ran out the front gate. There was no moat; instead the castle was surrounded by a beaten dirt track. "Not here," Rhythm said.