Maude slowly shook her head and closed her eyes, as if frustrated at Sara’s stupid question. Prin was glad she hadn’t asked it.
Maude said, “How fast would word travel if those workmen knew I was a sorceress? And how could they not know if I showed the workroom to them?
Prin said, “Even I haven’t seen it.”
Maude said, “Earlier you and Sara were playing hide and seek and seemed to enjoy yourselves. Forget about this Jam person, and suppose we begin our studies for the three of you with you seeking the location of my workshop? I’ll watch and grade you.”
“Down the hall past our rooms,” Prin shouted, as she raced Brice to the hallway.
He shouted, “I’ll take the doors on the left.”
Prin raced past the first three on the right, those belonging to Brice, Sara, and her. She threw open the fourth on the right, then the next and the next. A quick look in each revealed a neat and tidy bedroom much like the ones they used. Each was a different color, slightly different furniture, or decorations, but while no two were the same, they were not very different.
Eventually, with more than twenty doors on the right open, and nearly as many on the left standing open, she pulled to a stop and tried to catch her breath. “Brice.”
“It’s not down here,” He panted.
She looked ahead, and the hallway was as long as when she’d begun. Looking behind, showed a hallway twenty doors long. She said, “Come on.”
Back in the great room, Maude munched on a tray of small cookies as she sipped tea while watching their antics. Her eyes sparkled. Prin watched her, waiting for the eyes to flick in the direction of the hidden workshop, but they remained centered on her, never giving a clue.
Sara returned from the kitchen, another logical place to hide it. But she was shaking her head. “I also checked Maude’s bedroom.”
Their eyes went to the dining room, a rectangular room with walls covered in tapestries. Brice said, pointing to the dining room, “It’s here.”
“Where?” Sara asked, turning a full turn.
Prin said, “Quit looking for it and use your heads.”
“Impressive,” Maude said, tipping an imaginary hat in Prin’s direction.
Sara said, “Okay, it’s not down the bedroom hall, the kitchen, or dining room.”
“Outside,” Brice shouted.
“No,” Sara said after considering it for a second. “She wouldn’t want to go out there in the snow or rain. Besides, the backyard is too small.”
“Small?” Brice asked.
They ignored him. Sara continued, “For now, let’s rule out a basement or attic. Too many steps to carry large things and besides, we haven’t seen any. It makes more sense to hide it nearby on the same level.”
Prin turned to the crates. “If the steps are too hard to climb with large objects, why would Maude have the deliverymen place the crates anywhere but close to the workroom?”
Their eyes went to the neatly stacked crates near the massive fireplace. Prin noticed a twitch of Maud’s lips. Sara and Brice rushed to the crates, but Prin held back. Twice she’d noticed the fireplace. She’d even said it was massive. The opening for the fire would accept small trees, but she didn’t believe Gallium had winters so cold.
Prin studied the river stones and the mortar used. It all matched, but on the left side of the firebox, she found an oddity. One of the stones located chest high was more triangular than round. Several rows to the left of it was another stone, the same height, shaped exactly the same.
Prin started matching up the stones and found duplicates the same distance away, which was the width of a wide door. A spell copied the stones from one side of the stone wall to another. On impulse, she said, “I’m going to look outside for a second.”
Ignoring the disappointing look Maude threw her, Prin went outside and examined the rear of the fireplace, finding the side with the hidden door perhaps a single step deeper. Using the spell that made the bedroom hallway longer, Maude could make the workshop inside larger.
She went back inside and sat beside Maude, who asked, “Cookie?”
“Why, thank you, Maude.”
“Did you satisfy yourself outside?” Maude asked, with a slip of a smile on her lips.
“The fireplace matches the inside. There is a slight bump, but only a foot, or so.”
Sara glared at Prin. “You’re not going to help us find it?”
“She’ll sit here with me, dear,” Maude said, holding the tray of cookies for Prin to accept another.
“She found it?” Brice shouted, and ran for the door outside, convinced he’d be the second to locate the room.
Maude said to Sara, “Prin was right, earlier. Use your mind instead of eyes and emotion.”
Sara crossed her arms over her chest and strolled around the far end of the room, not touching anything, but examining all things, her mind searching more than her eyes. She finally smiled and said, “I think I’ll have a cookie, too.”
Brice busted back into the room. “Not out there. What are you all doing sitting?”
“Waiting for you to locate the workroom,” Maude said. “Think. Stretch your mind. Tell me what is happening inside there.”
Brice spun around, then again. His eyes went to the fireplace. “It’s too big for the room.”
“Yes, it is, unless it’s used for more than just for fires,” Maude said. “But how?”
He walked to it, feeling several of the stones and when he touched one of the duplicates, Prin expected his hand to find only air. However, it did not. He touched others. He said, “A secret place to touch?”
Maude glanced at her and Sara. “Did you expect only one protection?”
Brice examined the inside of the firebox, the mantle, and turned in frustration. Maude said, “Look closely at the stones beside your shoulder and at others.”
He studied the stones and finally placed a hand on one, then his other hand on another. “The same.”
“Yes, but no door,” Maude said.
“There is a spell here,” Brice said. “It duplicates the look and feel of the stones over there, but you must have another spell that either removes the first or lets you pass right through.”
“Excellent,” Maude said. “Now, which is it?”
“You pass through,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because, if anyone came into this room, or looked in through the windows, they’d see the opening. If you were inside working, they would know of the room.”
“Brice, would you like a cookie, too? That was very good work on the part of all three of you. I watched your minds work and found all three superior to almost all I’ve encountered. True, you lack training, but those things can be taught. Raw ability cannot.”
They beamed at each other. Prin said, “We still haven’t seen your workroom.”
“It uses a simple voice command in case my hands are full. Masha. In the old language of Gallium, that means Maude.”
Brice went to stand in front of the fireplace. “Masha.”
A section faded to a shimmer. An opening in the stone revealed a room beyond. Maude said, “It re-forms when you step through, just as you determined, in case I have unexpected company, but the spell is clever because it allows anyone on the other side to see into this room. That prevents me from accidentally seeming to walk through the rocks when visitors are here.”
Sara watched Brice enter and said, “Maude, you’ve made everything simple, but useful. I’ve known people who take simple things and make them complicated.”
They laughed, but Prin was watching the fireplace that had reformed itself. She called, “Brice, can you hear me?”