The Lost Princess

Phase One

I serve Eloise her breakfast much earlier than usual. By the time she's finished, she can only finish half of the meal, Ms. Stevens is already downstairs stirring the ominous soup. 

    Her eyes rise to me and she raises a brow when she spots the tray of food I'm holding.

    "Midnight snack," I explain washing the plates in the sink.

    There's no telling how long Eloise has been poisoned for, possibly for as long as she's been the last Moore in the house. However whether or not Ms. Stevens herself is doing the poisoning is unclear. She's old and frail and these spies have proven capable of entering the Manor with ease. It would be an easy feat to simply lace the soup with poison before she could ever be aware. 

    Additionally, she had been the one to invite me into the Manor, and I'm sure if she wanted she could have simply killed Eloise a while ago. For now, I've chosen to believe in her.

    "I'll be going out this evening," I need to buy supplies if I am to deal with the spies today. Mrs. Stevens's brow furrows but she nods.

    "You can use the car, I filled it up just last week." She motions to one of the drawers and I pull out an old Bristol keychain. That explained how such a little old lady made it up and down the hill each week into town. "Make sure to return before lunchtime. Eloise needs to eat."

    I nod and wait for her to serve the soup atop the tray. I take it with me up the stairs to the third floor but when I make it to Eloise's bedroom I'm sure to dump the soup in her toilet. As I turn back into her room even in the soft glow of the lamp her large eyes seem piercing.

    "Macy isn't...?" Her unasked question holds a ton of uncertainty. My heart breaks for her as I realize that she's been living in these shadows with no answers for years.

    "I'm not sure," I admit. "I don't think she's involved. Think about it, why would she have hired me if she was."

    "Actually that was on my suggestion," her lips pull up into a languid smile. "I didn't want her to break her neck and fingers tending to me. I probably shouldn't tell you this but I also chose you amongst the applicants."

    "You did?" I can't hide my surprise.

    She laughs the soft sound fills the room and I find myself leaning forward to hear more of it, "Yes. That day those boys came to catch a glimpse of the house...I saw you then. Despite being there with your friends you were detached from them, I thought I saw a kindred spirit in you. Back then I thought if it was you then maybe..."

    She seemed to trail off. Rolling to her side I heard her soft breaths slowly turn deeper and I knew she was asleep.

    I had never really belonged in Crestview. Everyone here had lived here their whole lives and had a lineage that could be trailed back to the very roots of the town. My mother was a poor woman who had me out of wedlock with a man who had been passing through. Even back when I was fifteen I knew that that meant I was different. Eventually, I would leave to live with my father but when we visited the Moore Manor gates I had been the only one to catch a glimpse of the young girl within. I knew she was no monster, no beast crawled from the depths of hell. But I hadn't been able to call the others attention to her. For an odd reason, I hadn't wanted to share that discovery. 

    In a twisted sense for only as long as our eyes were connected I understood that we were tethered together. Two beings in Crestview who did not fit in.

    "I promise Eloise," I whisper to her sleeping form. "I promise you will never have to hide in the shadows again."

                                                                                                #

"Jonas?" The wood I'm carrying back to the car threatens to fall. I turn to face my girlfriend, Lauren looks the same as usual her pixie cut however was now a bright blonde and she wore thick shades over her green eyes. Behind her were some girls I recognized from the WIllow's manor. Waving my hand at them I let the wooden planks rest against the curve as Lauren approached.

    "Hey, Lauren." I smiled sheepishly as she pulled off her sunglass to narrow her eyes.

    "Don't 'hey' me. I texted you, didn't you see?" 

    Truthfully I had seen. But what with Lucy, Eloise, and everything else I would be lying if I said I hadn't completely forgotten. "I'm sorry."

    Rolling her eyes she studied the planks and then craned her neck to look into the back seat of the car. "What are you doing?"

    "My boss has me working on fixing up the house," I step in her line of sight and raise my hands to grab her arms. Pulling her closer I plaster my most romantic smile onto my face. "Is today your day off?"

    She relaxes in my arms and nods, "The young master is coming home so his mother sent all the young girls out for the week." She grinned. "Although I wouldn't mind a bit of attention from him if I'm being honest."

    Laurens bad habit of boasting of other men in front of me usually filled me with jealousy or rage--or a mix of both. This time I'm surprised to find neither of those emotions. Maybe I'm too stressed to worry about her right now. Not that I usually did.

    In this small town, Lauren and I had dated back when I was in high school, we broke up when I left but got back together when I came back. I think both of us had just decided that we would most likely marry each other.

    I was usually content with that, but a restless feeling had already begun to settle in my fingertips. Rather than try to investigate what that could mean I hugged her.

    "Yeah well I wouldn't," I huffed hoping she wouldn't catch onto the insincere tone of my voice. She evidently doesn't as she turns to grab my face and peck my lips.

    "Of course, I love you too much to cheat on you." She giggles.

    "I should be getting back now," I pull away from her. Her eyes flash from me to her friends.

    "Me too. Talk to you later babe?"

    I nod but she doesn't see.

                                                                                                #

"So... what's her name?" Eloise is sat up on her pillows carefully eating the meal I've set out before her. Her curious gaze has been on me for the past few minutes.

    "Who madam?"

    She rolls her eyes taking a bite of her food. "Please I can smell the cheap Chanel from here. You have a girlfriend Mr. Ryan Jonas."

    It was true that Lauren enjoyed using a knockoff version of Chanel but I wasn't sure how Eloise could tell. As if reading my mind she laughed and pointed to her chin.

    "You have a little something here." She giggled. For an odd reason unlike with Lauren her laughter didn't grate on my nerves.

    WIping my skin I flashed a smile, "Her name is Lauren. She's employed at the Willows Manor."

    "Mind me but is she any fun? You seemed terribly tense when you arrived earlier." She raises a dainty brow quizzically. 

    She's my master and I know I must provide her with an answer but I don't know what to say. If I was being honest Lauren had changed a lot since we first started dating, the vibrant girl I once knew was long gone replaced by a shell of a person. Crestview had a way of doing that to people. Turning them into ghosts.

     "I've brought what we need to fish out all the rats at once," I tell her instead. Her eyes flash with interest so I continue. "Back when I was living with my father I had a cousin who enjoyed creating stink bombs. I learned from him, I'll be dropping a few down particular corridors of interest. As well as sealing all the entrances which lead outside. Lucy agrees it's best to deal with rats as they are, as pests."

    "I expect my room shall smell like rotten eggs," her nose scrunched in disgust.

    Chuckling I shook my head, "No madam. Lucy and I have an idea for that too."