“Quick, hide!” Rolf whispered, and we ran. Out of the room, around the corner, and another. And another. Against the wall, we hid. Footsteps came down the stairs. And voices. It was Mena and Eni. “Are you sure you left it here?” Eni asked. Mena sighed, “Can’t be too many other places, cannit?” I snickered, but Rolf shushed me. We heard them enter the room beside us, and the shuffling as they dug through things. “It’s not here! Where is it?!” Mena sounded angry and upset. I stood up to see what was the matter, but Rolf pulled my arm. When I looked down, he shook his head no. Oh right. This was a game. I smiled at him and nodded to let him know I understood. Playing games was fun. “Eni, I swear by the fallen seagods, that if you took it again that wizard won’t save you!” Mena was yelling now. And being mean to Eni. That was good. She should be mean to him. I didn’t like Eni much. He was one of the ones that kept calling me stupid. I knew I used to be smart like them. I knew it. But I wasn’t no more, so he didn’t have to be mean about it. “I promise, I don’t have it. That was one time cause we all was drinking, and that’s that,” he answered her, sounding almost as mad as she was. She huffed and stomped out of the room and back up the stairs. Eni followed a little bit after, his owl on his shoulder. I didn’t like him, but his owl was a pretty bird. Even Lilly said so. Beside me, Rolf started laughing. I guess that meant it was okay to laugh now, so I laughed with him. “Okay, okay. Let’s go,” Rolf said and pulled my arm. I followed him as we crept up the stairs playing sneaky-sneaky. We walked normal past the kitchen, but Rolf’s mom wasn’t there so we didn’t have to worry. On the first floor, we could hear Mena yelling at Tond and Eni all the way up on the roof. She was pretty loud when she got mad. I was about to go see what she was mad about when Rolf pulled my sleeve. “Quick, open the door before they see us!” He whispered. We were going outside? That would be fun. Swimming was always fun with the water things. The fire mice didn’t like it when we splashed them, so we couldn’t do that. They squeak really loud and it sounds like they hurt. I don’t want to hurt the little mice. Not like real mice that I’m supposed to step on. These ones were different. “The door!” Rolf whispered again, and I lifted the bar that kept it locked. It squealed when we opened it, and we waited to see if anyone heard. No one did, so we kept going. This was a fun game! Outside, we went to talk to the green lady. She was super nice and smelled good, even if she said her body wasn’t ready yet. Her face peeked out of the ivy, and Rolf sucked in his breath. I did too, in case that was how you were supposed to say hello to her. She didn't talk with words, either, so that made sense. Hello children. “Hi!” I said. She always says hello and never calls me stupid. It’s really nice of her. “Mistress Ivy, we want you to do something for us. Will you, please?” Rolf asked. I nodded my head too. If Rolf said this would be fun, it would. He was usually right about that. Certainly, children. What do you desire? “We want you to take these and hold them up high in your ivy. Really high so the wind catches it. Like a flag,” Rolf held up the treasure we’d found. “Like a flag,” I agreed. Flags were great. The tower needed a nice flag. Of course, children. Will you play with my babies again soon? “We sure will, Mistress Ivy! We love playing with your babies. Right, Meathead?” I nodded. The green lights were fun and they liked to dance funny. We watched as the ivy took our flag and carried it up the tower. We had to go out by the gate to get a good look when it got really high. We watched and waited and waited. It took almost all afternoon waiting until Mena saw it and screamed. “What are my bloomers doing way out there?!” Rolf and I laughed so hard we fell down. I think everyone in the tower heard her. That was a fun game.