“Well, before that I’ve got something to show you.”
I had them follow me back to my couch.
“I really don’t feel like a nap,” Aahz said.
“Just trust me,” I said, pointing to a pile of furniture ten paces away. “Pull that other couch over here.”
He shook his head, but did as I suggested.
“Now both of you lie on that couch,” I said, dropping onto the one I had been on for hours earlier. “And lie on your backs.”
Neither of them moved, and both looked annoyed. “What, can’t trust me for five seconds?” I asked, smiling up at them.
Aahz snorted and then lay down, scooting over enough to give Tanda a little room as well.
I pointed upward. “What do you see?”
“A dark ceiling and a lot of dust,” Tanda said.
“I see myself wasting my time,” Aahz said. “There’s a lot of information here that we need to-“
Silence filled the old library. After a few long seconds I said, “Interesting, isn’t it?”
“What?” Tanda demanded. “Would you stop playing games and just tell me what is going on?”
To me the map was now as clear as if it were printed on a white piece of parchment. “It’s a drawing,” I said, pointing to the clearest lines to Tanda’s right.
“It’s a map,” Aahz said.
“Exactly,” I said. “And if you study it long enough, you can see where we are.”
“Oh, my heavens,” Tanda said to herself, now clearly seeing the drawing of the castle.
“After a few minutes of looking at it, the lines become clearer,” I said. “Take a look to the right of the room we’re in.”
I didn’t say anything else, giving them both time to study what I had been looking at for hours. Then finally Aahz said, “It looks like there’s a corridor there.”