Chapter Fifteen
Willa sat down in the lone armchair in her room and sighed. She did not like what her boss had sent her here to do, not in the least. She did not like this place either. While her quarters were pleasant and comfortable, up here on the third floor of the rambling old mansion, she herself felt neither pleasant nor comfortable. There was a reek of fear and despair about the place, welling up from the secret halls and chambers down below it, that permeated everything. Her boss had been quite explicit about what she would see and what he expected her to do anyway, no matter how she felt about it. He had even promised her a very generous bonus if she succeeded, and a somewhat less generous one if she tried and failed. After her failure today, though, she was willing to forego an
