Chapter 12

When Josephine woke up, she found herself wrapped in a blanket and sleeping comfortably on a dusty ripped sofa in a shed. The morning light pierced her strained retinas as she pulled her tired feet off the couch and onto the ground. She had barely gone half way with the cleaning when she gave up and went to bed...but she didn't remember covering herself with a blanket. After stepping over some fallen books and folded clothes, she stumbled out of the shed into the mansion's backyard.

With the flurry of unfortunate events that occurred yesterday and being beaten like some sort of dog every second by the witchy Madia, she never really got to get a good view of her environment. The mansion was bigger than a medium sized house; it had two floors and an attic. There were ferns and plants growing up the sides of the mansion, decorating the brick white paint with green foliage and yellow flowers. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. The entire sight nauseated Josephine; she needed some coffee...or something stronger. Preferably something stronger.

Pushing her way through the back door and into the kitchen, she passed by a giant pot boiling on the stove and saw the reflection of a short red haired girl. And the sight startled her for a moment until she remembered that Luca was still stuck in Josephine's body. Josephine looked round the kitchen for a coffee machine and found nothing; as this was a time where they didn't have machines that made them coffee. The realisation made her grunt loudly. If this time period didn't have coffee she was going to slit her throat and come back preferably as a coffee bean.

Someone stepped into the kitchen and Josephine turned around to see the same man that had come to find her at the cliff the other day; the chef. He stared at her for a long minute then went to the sink to wash his hands. Josephine stood at a distance, monitoring his actions as he lifted the lip of the pot and stirred the contents. He walked over to the oven to inspect something baking. Then he went into the pantry and pulled out a jar of cherry jam, he fished into a drawer for a spoon and walked up to Josephine.

"Here, I know this is what you want." He put it on the table and walked back into the kitchen. "Make sure you eat it all. We don't want Madia catching contraband in the house."

Josephine stared at the jar on the table and a look of disgust stretched on her face. Luca hated jam; its consistency was odd. Besides who in their right mind ate jam right out of the jar; you might as well drink a cup full of sugar. The cook returned to Josephine and stared at her.

"What?" He asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"What is this shit? Do you people not eat normal food here?" Josephine shoved the jar back at him; she wanted eggs, bacon and some damn baked beans, not a jar of sugary poison.

The cook only looked at her with pure confusion. He picked it up and examined it then placed it back on the table.

"But you always beg me to get you some jam. It's your favourite! You know I could get into trouble for buying this; Madia doesn't allow sweets in the house. So you better eat it quickly or we will both be in huge trouble." He picked it up again and opened the lid. Then he placed it in front of her and he handed her the spoon. "If you don't eat it, I'm not sneaking things in for you anymore,"

Josephine stared at the jam in front of her. The cook could be useful in the future; she wasn't sure how yet, but she didn't want to lose his willingness to help her just yet. She reluctantly stuck the spoon into the jam and took a small scoop. The red jelly seemed to contain smushed chunks of fruit and she looked at it oddly.

"Is this shit expired?" Josephine had never seen jam look so thick.

She lifted it to her mouth and it tasted like…

"Crushed strawberries." It wasn't as bad as she thought; it tasted like strawberries with a bit of maple syrup for additional sweetness.

Josephine took another spoonful of the jam...the taste was addictive. She wandered back into the kitchen and was met with a surprising feast.

There were salads, some fruits, something that looked like yogurt and soft boiled eggs in egg cups (the tops had been perfectly cracked off and the gooey golden yolk spilled out). Josephine grabbed a fork of the tray and proceeded to stab at the fruits.

"Stop that!" The cook shouted as he grabbed the fork out of her hands.

Josephine glared at him. "That's for Madia, Valentina and Georgia." He looked at her in complete shock, like he wasn't sure what had happened to her senses.

"So where is my breakfast?" Josephine folded her arms in irritation.

The chef pulled out a small dinner plate that had a sardine sandwich and some grapes. Josephine stared at the plate in horror; no wonder she was so skinny, she was eating barely anything. Josephine took the plate out of his hands and turned her anger back at the cook.

"You must be joking. What is this nonsense?" She growled at the frightened cook.

He tried to explain to Josephine that Madia was punishing her for what she had done last night, but he was cut off by Madia herself. She walked into the kitchen slowly, her shawl flowing as she rubbed some ointment on her wrinkled arms.

"It's your breakfast. You should be thanking Mathew that you even get that much. I was going to have you go without breakfast for your nasty behaviour last night." She snidely spoke to Josephine as she picked at the fruits on the tray.

Josephine gripped the plate in her fingers; she didn't care much for Madia or what her issue was with her. But now that Luca was Josephine, things were going to change around here; she was in no way going to let an old stupid witch like Madia starve he. She needed all her strength to deal with the real witch messing with her life. Josephine dropped the plate on the floor and it smashed into pieces; the sandwich scattered on the floor and Josephine stepped on it.

"Oops. I guess I better eat something else." She shoved past Madia and grabbed her tray. "Why don't you ask the cook to make you a sandwich. It looked so appetizing."

She shoved past the woman and walked into the sitting room. Madia stared wide eyed and the cook placed a hand over his widened mouth; he was just as shocked as Madia, if not more. Madia squeezed her fist, her blood began to boil.

Josephine placed the tray on the table beside the window and sat opposite her meal. Then a funny thought popped into her head. If Madia is her stepmother, then her father owned this house; shouldn't that make her the actual rightful owner of whatever he left behind. She picked up some bread and dipped it into the soft egg and took a bite.

'Then why was the old Josephine letting them walk all over her?' Josephine thought to herself. But before she could take another bite, Madia stomped into the room and slammed her hands on the table.