Chapter 5

The walk to the kitchen was quiet and awkward. I knew that Rosemary had something to say but didn't care enough to ask about it, so I waited for her to speak up and she did. We were about to enter the hallway that leads to the kitchen when Rosemary suddenly turned, almost crashing into me.

"Harper," she said hesitantly, "I haven't worked here for long, but in the years that I have, I learned to avoid the master as much as I can. I suggest you do the same."

"Why?" I ask. I don't plan on getting cozy with him in fact I would rather not see him at all but having Rosemary tell me that is kind of annoying.

"Well, um, how should I put it," she starts. "There's this rumor of the master killing one his servant a few years back."

"If that's true then why are you here?"

"I have my reasons." Is all she says then she turns and starts to walk off in the direction of the kitchen. After a few seconds I followed her.

After eating lunch Rosemary tells me that starting tomorrow I will be helping her clean her assigned rooms instead of going to the library in the mornings. My guess is that she doesn't want me to run into the Immortal again, which is fine for me. So after helping Rosemary with her duties and eating dinner I walked to the room with my sisters. We were walking across the entryway to get to the maid's quarters when the head maid stopped me.

"Harper come with me for a moment." She tells me, causing me to groan internally, I've never been on my feet for this long in my life and all I want to do is sleep. I follow her up the stairs to the second floor and into a room that Rosemary told me was the head maids, and head butlers office.

"Please have a seat." She tells me after closing the door. It makes me feel like a student in trouble with the principle. "Harper, this morning you cleaned the library on the second floor, correct?" She asks; I merely nod my head in acknowledgement.

"You will be cleaning the Library in the morning from now on. Alright?" She tells me with a voice that says she'll hear no objections yet I still try to object.

"Rosemary said I would be helping her in the mornings."

"You can do that in the afternoon. In the morning you will clean the library, have lunch then you can follow Rosemary." With that she makes a motion for me to leave, so I pick myself off of the chair and leave slowly walking back to the maids' quarters. While walking my mind wonders 'why would I be told to clean the library from now on, it's not like I cleaned it all that well. So why?' I don't think I'll like the answer to this question.

When I make it to the room, my sisters are both asleep, so I quietly go into the bathroom to get cleaned and changed. As soon as my head hits the pillow I'm out.

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There's nothing, no one I'm chasing, no one I'm calling, it's just black. Peaceful black. I don't want to wake up, I don't want to face reality. On the surface I might be fine. I mean I have to be right. I can't let my sisters see me weak. I feel the heat of the morning sun, shining through the window, on my eyelids and forcing them open. When my blurry eyes clear I see my sisters standing in the room getting dressed. Rosemary is helping Ayla put her hair in the cap.

Groaning I sit up startling Aslan who was next me fixing her shoe. "Why didn't you wake me?" I ask groggily.

"You seemed really worn out yesterday so I was going to say you weren't feeling well and have you skip morning cleaning." Rosemary replies not looking at me but instead focusing on Ayla's hair.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact I'm cleaning the library in the mornings and that warning you gave me, would it?"

"When you first came here you were only going to clean the library once a week, think about it Harper," she says looking me directly in the eye, "why would a small library need to be clean every day?"

"I don't know, because he's a clean freak." I say shrugging off her words even though deep down I'm asking the same question.

"Harper, stay in bed for the morning, it will give one more day to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" I ask.

"To meet him, again." she finishes Ayla's hair then moves on to Aslan's leaving me to think about my options.

I only have two so it's not that hard, either I stay and face him tomorrow or I go and face him today. 'They say you should rip a band aid off fast right so why should this be any different, I'm going to have to see him again eventually, and he might not even go to the library today.' I think trying to convince myself that Rosemary has me worrying for nothing.

I get up and get dressed as quick as possible and then the four of us leave for breakfast. While I was getting ready I saw Rosemary staring at me, when I met her eyes she simply shook her slowly then continued to help my sisters.