The Harder I Swim, the Faster I Sink

Chapter Five

One day the Cantankerous Cantaloupe called all the maids into her office. She made them stand at attention and walked down the line, barking angrily at them.

"Today is a very important day," she yelled. "Today we are having a change of staff." Bella and Laika gave each other anxious glances. Was one of them being fired?

"Today," the Cantaloupe barked, "Maria Louisa, Isabelle, and Sophia are retiring. We wish them well with the next phase of their lives." There was a chorus of goodbyes from the assembled maids and the three retirees smiled warmly at their former comrades.

"And now will their replacements please join us." Three girls filed into the room and stood beside the Cantaloupe. Two of them had long, straight black hair and looked very similar, and one of them had brown hair in a pixie cut. One of the girls with black hair seemed to radiate happiness, like a sun, and the other seemed more subdued and calm, like the moon. The brunette looked quirky and slightly nervous, and she kept fidgeting.

The Cantaloupe introduced the "sun" girl as Marisol, and the "moon" girl as Selene. The brunette was known as Adara. She barked to "be nice" to the new recruits and then left, leaving the new girls to the mercy of the maids. They swarmed the girls, and somehow Laika found herself talking to Selene.

"Hey, I'm Laika," she said cheerfully, shaking the other girl's hand. "Welcome to the palace."

Selene beamed. "Thank you. I was really nervous, coming here ... I didn't know if the people would be friendly or not."

"Well, we are," Laika replied. "We're very friendly, as a matter of fact. It's a close-knit community. We're all friends here, united in our hatred of the Cantaloupe."

"The Cantaloupe?" Selene asked, furrowing her brow.

"You know her as Mrs. Ceannaideach. We call her the Cantankerous Cantaloupe."

Selene laughed, a lovely melodious sound like bells ringing. "That's hilarious. I'm sure we never thought of such creative nicknames back home."

"Oh, where are you from?"

"The North. Salvation, to be specific."

"Salvation! Really? But that's so far north! You must feel so out of place here."

"I do, kind of. It's so warm, for one. I feel like I'm in an oven. But I'll get used to it, I guess. It's kind of nice not being cold all the time."

Laika laughed. "True. I'm from the Great Forest, and while it wasn't exactly freezing there, it did get rather cold at night. I'm glad to be here, where it's always warm."

Selene nodded. "So, what do we do here?"

Laika shrugged. "Oh, you know. Maid stuff. We make the beds and the fires, and we clean. Boy, do we clean. It's crazy. But the place where I work, the Friendly Suites, is pretty cool. I'll see if I can get you assigned there."

"That would be great. I hardly know anybody here, except for Marisol and you. I'd be glad to have a friend."

Laika smiled warmly. "I'll see if I can arrange it, then. By the way, are you and Marisol related? I feel like you must be sisters."

"We are, actually. Twins. Our mother calls me Moon and her Sun. Our older brother is called Storm."

"My, that's an odd name."

"I know. They say it's because he was born during the biggest storm of the century."

"Oh, cool! And when were you born?"

"On a very auspicious day, actually. It was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and everyone was celebrating Midsummer. Miraculously, both the sun and the moon were in the sky at the same time. Then the moon went over to the sun and covered it. The whole day got dark and birds started singing like it was dusk. My ma says it was like a nightmare. I was born during the eclipse. As soon as I was, the moon uncovered the sun and my sister was born. Pa always said it was a prophecy but ma says it was just a coincidence."