Chapter 3

My heart stopped beating and I tripped over my own feet. Now, when I finally convinced myself to accept all of this, something like this happens. Paul hastily made his way to me to help me get back on my feet, and quickly also fixed a bit of my hair.

“No worries Elias, everything will be fine”

Everything will be fine? Everything will be fine? This man is going to be deciding what to do with my life, and he thinks that “Everything will be fine”? I shook my head, horrified. I had just realized how much a man that I have never even seen would affect my life. So many thoughts went through my head, I could barely understand them. Dorothy rushed into the room while holding a suit. “Please put this on” she said as she gave it to me, still making sure that the sleeves that covered her hands wouldn’t accidentally move..

“Well done Dorothy”, Paul praised her. After that they left and once again left me alone. With the suit in my arms I sat back down and held it close. Everything around me was silent, I didn’t hear a single one of the servants in the courtyard, nor did I hear a single horse neigh, as if the castle awaited its master while trembling. I quickly got dressed and made my way out. What if he doesn’t want me? I tried my best to leave that thought behind, as I rushed down the stairs and reached Paul, who was waiting for me near the entrance. As I got to him he quickly fixed up my suit and hair, as well as giving me a loving smile. I smiled back but still felt my heart race.

Outside, all the servants stood in a single line, and I could feel how they held their breaths. The wooden gate opened up and a black carriage entered, pulled by an equally black horse. It came to a halt sideways and the door opened.

“Welcome back Master” Everyone shouted together, meanwhile I just flinched. They all waited until someone stepped out, but no one did. I couldn’t see anything either, not even the silhouette of a person. Paul noticed that something was amiss and immediately ran to the carriage, stepping in and closing the door behind himself. Now my heart was racing.

What’s wrong? What’s happening? Does this have something to do with me?

I looked for Dorothy with my eyes, and found her to be just as confused. Then her gaze slightly shifted and her eyes widened, as if she immediately understood what had happened, the moment she saw me.

Paul came back out and walked over to me while swiftly sending the others away.

“Young Master Elias, I am terribly sorry but the Master cannot receive you today.” My eyes wandered to the carriage and rage boiled within me. I was brought here against my will to work for him, and he does this? I wanted to walk over to it, kick the carriage and force him to step out, but I managed to control myself. Instead I simply went back to the library to grab another book, to pass the time. But since I’m just the luckiest person alive, I instead met a very stressed Matilda.

She sat at the table, while a slew of documents were splayed on it. She held her head in her hands and groaned. “Everything okay?” I asked, and in response her head shot up, it seemed like she didn’t notice me. “Oh it’s just you…” she said coldly as her eyes moved back to the documents that were in front of her. “Well, I’m sorry that it’s me” I said sassily and went to one of the shelves. I let my finger run across the book backs again, and landed on a book about astronomy. I furrowed my brow and put it back.

“Too hard?” Matilda asked me with a smirk on her lips.

“Boring” I replied and kept going with my search. “The master is back, why are you here?” I asked her curiously. “I need to take care of the documents and fix everything, to make his work easier. The problem is that now we also need to clothe and feed someone new, this requires some recalculations” She put her head back into her hands “It isn’t my fault that I’m stuck here” I growled. “You’re right Elias. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are now here.” She takes a long look at me before she speaks up again. “That which I said last time, I apologize for it, I guess I was a bit irritated.” I had the feeling she only said it because Paul lectured her.

A smile appeared on her lips and once again it seemed to me that her eyes glowed. “Clever Boy” I looked at her in confusion, to which she stood up and turned to the shelf behind her, taking out a book. She walked up to me and then gave it to me. “Fairytale beings and their origins” was the name of the book. I took it, thanking her.

“This could help you.”

I didn’t understand what she meant and she didn’t seem willing to tell me, as she waved with her hand and told me “Now go, I have to work.” I headed out of the library completely confused. What could she have meant by that? Maybe it’s supposed to help me to not get bored, or maybe she just said that to make me seem like an idiot, like the one I currently feel like.

I wanted to head to my room as Dorothy ran up the stairs, running straight into me. She tripped backwards and I just barely managed to grab her arm so she wouldn’t fall. But her sleeve, which was always hiding her hands, slipped, which allowed me to sneak a peek. Her fingertips were black, but they didn’t seem painted. Before my curiosity could get bigger, she tore her arm out of my grip and fearfully covered her hand. “You didn’t see anything!” she yelled and then ran past me. What was that? Should I go after her? I decided against it and simply walked towards my room, only to be stopped by Paul.

“Elias, good that I managed to catch you still.” He shot a quick glance towards the book in my hand and smiled lovingly “That book will surely be of use to you” he added quickly before immediately changing the topic, without giving me time to ask him what he meant. “The Master wants to let you know that he will have time for you tomorrow,” I frowned. How nice of him.

“What if I have no time for him?” Paul's smile vanished and he looked around nervously. “Do you really have no time-” “Sadly I can’t do anything in this fucking castle, so yes I have time” I said loudly and immediately bit my tongue as I saw Paul’s shocked face. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to be loud.” I felt the feeling of shame build up in me. My parents taught me to never raise my voice, no matter what. I was never allowed to refuse to do anything as they believed that when someone trusted you with something, refusing it would be like a kick in the face for them.

“I'm terribly sorry Paul” I apologized. “I’m going to meet him tomorrow, I promise” I said confidently. I shouldn’t refuse as after all he was taking the time to meet me, I should be thankful. You’re really good at lying to yourself. I shook my head and smiled at him. “Is there something on your mind, Elias?” I smiled even wider than before and spoke:

“No, definitely not.” Actor is something you shouldn’t aspire to be. “Elias, If you want to talk about I-” “I’m fine” I said with a serious tone, and he gave up.

I could finally read my book in peace, with no one to bother me. I had refused lunch and sat on my bed. I opened the book and immediately realized that it was some sort of encyclopedia of magical beings, which obviously was interesting. I flipped through the pages and looked at the pictures first. In this book there were many beings that I already knew about: Vampires, Werewolves, Fairies, dwarves. But there were also things I did not know about. For example, Vampires lived in big families that were composed of many vampire generations, all of them having the same special gifts that change from family to family.

And then Werewolves. The transformation of a werewolf happened not only on a full moon, but also in moments where extremely strong emotions are felt.

Fairies are insidious little beasts, and the bigger the Fairy, the more the chance is that she wants to steal your soul.

I kept on flipping to the next page and was already excited about the next being, but as I looked at the page, someone had ripped it out. But not only one, the entire description of a being was missing, and judging from how they were torn, it seems like it was done in the middle of a flush of rage. I closed the book and started contemplating if I should mention it to Matilda, as someone knocked on my door. I opened it and the cook lady stood there.

“Elias right?” I nodded and she waved at me to follow her, which I did. We went to the warehouse and she pointed to a few crates. “I want you to bring me two crates of tomatoes, two crates of pepperoni and one crate of eggs into the Kitchen.” I memorized the ingredients and then asked her happily “Are you perhaps making some Chicken Pie today?” She smiled proudly “Exactly, as it’s the Master’s favorite meal.” I nodded, but didn’t really show any interest. What do I care about what he likes? And so I began to haul.

I spent the entire afternoon helping out in the kitchen. After I brought her all the crates, Mara, that's the name of the cook lady, gave me a few other small tasks to do, although she did tell me I wasn’t allowed near the hearth. This way I felt useful and concentrated on something else, which made the day pass by so fast that I didn’t even notice that it was dark outside. I helped set the very long table in bringing out the plates. As everyone else came to eat, I saw Dorothy. She waved at me and pointed to a chair next to hers.

She behaved normally, as if this morning never happened. I sat down, and for the first time in forever, enjoyed being at a table with someone. But as expected, the Master was missing for this occasion as well, while they were eating, everyone also chatted and laughed together.

“Do you always eat all together?” I asked Dorothy, who was enjoying her Chicken Pie. “Yep, normally the Master sits at the head of the table, but today he went to bed early” I nodded and kept eating “ But Mara said he still came by to grab a plate, and probably went to his room to eat there.” I kept nodding. We quietly enjoyed the food, until a voice caught my attention. “Hey, Newbie.” I assumed he meant me, and replied. “Yeah?”

It was the man that loved to behead Geese. He sat across from me. What was his name again? “I still don’t know your name” he said with a sweet smile. “Elias, and you, Sir?” I tried asking as politely as possible.

“Frederick, and you don’t have to be so formal with me.” I nodded and turned back to my food, thinking that the conversation was over, but Frederick did not share that thought. “How are you liking it so far here with us?” I hope he doesn’t want my honest answer. “Everything’s new for me, so I can’t really say for sure yet” I tried sugarcoating the answer to the best of my abilities, so that I don’t have to tell him that every single part of my body wanted to get away from here.

“You’re going to get used to it soon enough.” He said with a smile. “Oh and by the way, what are you?” I furrowed my brow, and looked at him confused “What do you-” I was interrupted by Dorothy, who was bent forwards and currently stuffing Fredericks mouth full of Chicken Pie. “Tastes really good, doesn’t it Frederick?” she spoke so loudly that even the others looked over towards us. Frederick happily nodded and everyone went back to eating.

I leaned over to Dorothy and asked “What does he mean with that?” She smiled brightly “Well, what he meant by that was…” She paused for a bit and then hastily spoke again “He was asking about your background since we’ve already had aristocrats here, you know?” This answer didn’t really convince me, but for her, the conversation was pretty much over, and so I moved on and kept on eating.

After we were done, everyone helped clean and then went back to their rooms. Mara told me that I had helped enough and because of that could go to bed. I was laying under my covers, unable to close my eyes. So many things were going through my head. Frederick’s weird question, that book that Matilda gave me, and Paul's reaction when he saw it. Dorothy was also kind of strange this morning, and additionally I also have to meet the Master of the house tomorrow.

At some point, the sleep managed to calm my thoughts. The night went by extremely calmly, I only woke up once because I thought I heard someone outside, but I didn’t feel like checking, and fell asleep again rather quickly. The next morning I woke up before the sun did, which was just starting to rise. I ran through my head, all the things I could tell him, I wanted to make a list of what was taught to me, all my skills and in case nothing fit his wishes I could always just quickly learn something new. Because if I have to pay off the debts of my parents, it could be possible that they would take me back.

Confident and resolute, I got dressed and headed to the door. I took a deep breath, opened it and noticed immediately that I wasn’t the only one that got up this early. On the other side of the hall, Matilda was walking with a ton of documents in her hands, while talking to a man that I never saw before. He looked as if he just came out of a fairy tale. He was tall and slender, Matilda didn’t even reach his shoulders. His long legs were clad in black pants. Tucked into the pants was a white blouse with a tall collar. He wore black leather gloves, with which he softly held the documents that Matilda gave him. His hair was an ash gray and seemed to be the only thing on his body that wasn’t orderly. Sadly that was the only thing I could see, as his face was covered in a metal mask, only his mouth wasn’t covered. Not even his eyes were visible.

I stood in the door and barely moved, until his head looked up and he stopped. We stood there for a while, not speaking a word, until: “Are you Elias?” His voice was deep yet still soft and tender when he said my name, as if he was caressing my soul. My heart skipped a beat. What was that? I nodded.

“Yes” I said quietly. He handed the documents back to Matilda, who quickly bowed and then walked off, and then he came towards me. With every step I felt my heart beat louder and louder. What’s going on? He stopped in front of me, and I looked up at him “Forgive me that I couldn’t meet you yesterday” he said and tilted his head a bit to the side. “I was about to head for breakfast, want to join me?” I nodded once more and we went on our way. He didn’t say anything, neither did I, mainly because it knocked me off track. I had expected an old man that was so fat he couldn’t fit in his pants anymore. But this man that silently walked with me, was the complete opposite. I had to rearrange my thoughts.

As we reached the dining hall, I saw how Mara came out of the kitchen at the same time. She spotted us. “My Lord, how delightful to have you with us again!” Judging from her facial expression, one could guess that she really meant it. “I’m also delighted to be back” he replied softly. “Are you here to eat breakfast?” Mara asked us, and the man nodded. She then looked over to me, and to be honest, I was so nervous that I couldn’t have taken a single bite, so I just said “Nothing for me, please.” She shrugged and turned to head back into the kitchen, as the Master held his hand up and spoke: “Then nothing for me as well.” I looked at him, perplexed and he explained “It would be impolite if I were to eat something and you had to wait.” He bid Mara farewell and I followed him out. We went back upstairs and then into the other hallway, most definitely to his office, and my heart was racing. Soon it would be time, soon my life’s purpose would be decided by a complete stranger.