She saw all this and more, until finally, their time ran out, and they stood before the Wizard’s tower.
The tower stood out from the rest of Shattered Opals, because it was not opal, but labradorite. Labradorite is a very pretty stone, first found in Labrador, Canada (see what they did there?), and it is a deep greenish-blue, and as shimmery as an opal. The tower wasn’t the kind of circular tower you see in pictures of medieval castles, but was more of an obelisk, with four sides tapering up into an extremely tall pyramid.
A copper door stood on the side they faced, and Tinna led the way through it.
Inside was a large, comfortable room, and to Dawthy’s surprise, a desk with a receptionist.
She looked up as they came in. Her eyes were like big blank silver dollars, her skin was the faintest hint of green, and her long hair was a beautiful lush red. She would have been exceptionally pretty, but her eyes, with no iris or pupil, were a bit frightening.
“It’s a banshee,” Thatcher whispered, giving her a nudge. “Let Tinna do the talking, or you’ll likely set her off.”
“And that, you wouldn’t want to hear,” added Monk. As if preening for the banshee, he raked his fingers through his trimmed hair and puffed out his chest a little.
Tinna shook her head and rolled up to the desk.
“I have…”
“An appointment with the Wizard,” the banshee finished. Her voice didn’t match her face at all; it was high and shrill and almost painful to listen to. Dawthy hung back near the door, firstly because she didn’t want to be noticed as a living being, but secondly because she didn’t want the receptionist saying anything to her with that piercing dog-whistle voice. “Take the elevator to the top floor, and announce yourself through the intercom there. He will admit you when he’s ready.”
Dawthy was a little surprised; she hadn’t seen anything so modern as an elevator here. And as they moved towards it, the banshee shrilled at them, “What?! Wait! All of you?”
“You didn’t say I couldn’t bring friends,” Tinna sang.
The banshee scowled, clearly unhappy that she’d been outwitted. With a loud tsk tsk, she waved them towards the west wall, where a section slid open to reveal the shiny inside of an elevator.
“Does she have a brogue?” whispered Dawthy.
“I don’t know what that is,” said Monk. “Can you eat it?”
“Don’t be ignorant.” Thatcher herded them into the elevator. “It’s a type of shoe.” The doors closed, and Dawthy’s stomach gave a little lurch as it began to move, which was surprising, as no one had pushed any buttons to tell it where to go. In fact, there were no buttons. The inside was all the same gleaming silvery metal, where they could barely make out their distorted reflections.
“I couldn’t see her shoes,” Tinna admitted. “But no one told me to look. I wish I had.”