The House Is Moving Out

How it begins

The castle had moved six inches during breakfast.

Edith Rowan knew because the queen's gardener had marked its position with a tulip and was now insisting the tulip had been closer to the pantry yesterday.

"Buildings settle," the steward said.

"Usually downward," Edith replied.

She crouched beside the outer wall. A neat crack ran through the mortar, then curved around a small stone that looked remarkably like a toe.

The wall cleared its throat.

The steward left to find someone with a more reassuring profession.

Edith remained crouched.

"Would you like to explain?"

A voice traveled through the stones, low and embarrassed. "I was hoping to make an early start."

From the courtyard, Thomas Reed arrived carrying two mugs of tea. He handed one to Edith without appearing especially surprised.

"The sea," he said. "It's been talking about the sea for years."

"You knew?"

"I assumed it was a figure of speech. Most people in this building say they want to leave before lunch."

The castle shifted. Somewhere above them, a window opened and a royal aunt demanded to know why her bedroom had acquired a different view.

Edith stood carefully. Beyond the walls lay a village, two orchards, a school, and a bridge too narrow for even an unusually modest castle. Departure would require considerably more than a hopeful step.

"You can't just walk through people's gardens," she told the wall.

"I was going to ask."

Thomas looked at the cracked mortar.

"You could have asked us first."

The stones grew quiet. Edith heard rainwater in the gutters and, somewhere deep inside the building, a door closing very softly.

"I've asked for a new roof every winter," the castle said. "Everyone prefers to discuss my historic significance."

Edith looked up at the missing slates.

She had been hired to preserve a royal residence. For the first time, she wondered whether preservation might involve helping it become something else.

"All right," she said. "No more moving until we've talked about the route."