Chapter 14

Emrickson gently swings the door open to reveal a face I immediately recognize as the black suit they call Benny. With his sculpted hair swooped to the side, strong eyebrows frame his stern, yet young looking face. Deep brown eyes settled above high cheek bones refuse to meet mine and his curved jaw appears clenched. He's quite handsome but so uptight that his aura is awkward.

"Benjamin! Always a pleasure to see you. Take care of her, my boy.", Emrickson says, nudging me forward and patting my shoulder twice.

"Sir, I've told you so many times to call me Benny. We've worked together for years. Must we be so proper?", whines Benny, breaking from his statuesque facade.

Not meaning to, I let a small chuckle escape my lips and quickly catch myself smiling at the two's silly banter. For a moment, it's as if this is a family home and not the manor of a tyrannical lord. Unfortunately, the feeling fades abruptly as Benny turns to me and gestures for me to follow him out.

"Alright, Miss. Mr. Velucia is waiting for you and he's not a patient man. We'd better go."

"Goodbye Emrickson.", I say with a heavy heart.

"I'll be seeing you, my dear. Please do enjoy the view.", he replies with a shallow bow of is head.

I nod my farewell and follow Benny to the courtyard doors, now noticing that the sun has gone already. The light wind is cold but the evening air still carries the warmth of the day's sunny disposition. It appears that the heavens have been in a happy mood today. Soft blue lights illuminate the courtyard around us and it's as if I'm a fairy walking through a majestic forest.

There's a certain magic floating along in the breeze, as though the trees are singing a sorrowful song and the trickling of the pond's waters is the vocalist. Such beauty should be enjoyed thoroughly. Do the people of this manor spend time out here on the pebble paths or in the clover patches? Do they even savor the aroma of the flowers? Everyone seems to always be in a hurry.

I certainly can't imagine how someone wouldn't want to stay out here and take this in every day. All too soon, our short stroll is over and we arrive at the doors. Once again, they open before us and I turn to take one last look at my imaginary fairy forest. I'll remember this view and return to this exact time and place when I can't handle reality.

Having taken my mental photograph, I catch up to Benny and we head toward the staircase. Coming into the warmth of the manor was so pleasant. I must not have realized that I was getting such a chill outside. The change in flooring is a relief to the pebble pathways as well and my senses are heightened with the soft touch of the rug that now cushions my steps.

Instead of heading down the hallway where I had been before, this time we turn right at the front entrance and begin to climb the staircase. Looking over the banister on the way up, I can see so much more clearly how beautifully the large room is laid out. Someone must have gone through a lot of thought and planning to make things line up this way.

So caught up in my thoughts and surroundings, I miss a step. While admiring all the fixtures, I trip, catching myself on the next step. Ouch! The step hits me just under the knee where another patch of bruises dot my leg, already healing from my time on the run and my attempts to escape at the auction house.

"Hey, now!", says Benny. "Let's not repeat last night, shall we?

I nod apologetically as I rub my knee and stand back up to follow him. Reaching the top of the staircase, it opens up into a loft with a hallway on each the left and the right. A wide door is situated on either side of each of those two hallways. A half wall with a banister in top closes in the loft and the fireplace and much of the downstairs can be seen from up here.

Three benches with red and gold cushions line the half wall and a coffee table sits in front of the bench in the center. This must me a lovely place to sip coffee or tea in the morning while looking out the windows to the courtyard below. We head down the hallway to the left and pass three wooden doors before stopping in front of another.

Benny touches his ear and mumbles something to himself. How peculiar that he's got the same strange habit as the driver. Maybe they're related. A moment later, he opens the door and motions for me to go in. Taking a deep breath, I walk into the room and my feet are pleasantly surprised. A huge, overly fluffy rug completely covers this area of the wooden floor. It's soft, like rabbit fur.

I look up and see the back of my master's head and shoulders. He's sitting on a large, black leather sofa, staring into some kind of magical window. What kind of sorcery is this? Pictures moving across the scene in tandem with voices and sounds of music! Is there no end to the wonders that this place holds?

"Im here, Master.", I call out meekly, my eyes still drawn to the moving pictures.

Without even the slightest turn of his head or change in emotion upon my arrival, he simply motions for me to go to him and I walk around the sofa to where he sits. Staring intently into the bewitching picture window, he doesn't seem to acknowledge my presence. Has the window put him under a spell of some sort?

"Master, are you hypnotized?", I inquire as I approach him.

My question breaks his attention. He blinks and his brow furrows at my question as if he pondering it wholeheartedly. He finally shifts his head to look at me, his neck tilted in confusion. Looking me intently in the face, his emotionless stare tells me that the window's magic has no affect on him.

"Who could hypnotize me?"

"The picture window... You were concentrating on it so deeply. I thought you may have been entranced by it's magic.", I reply with my head hung in embarrassment.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Anna standing behind him and she has to cover her mouth to prevent herself from laughing aloud. Maybe he notices this because he immediately lifts up a glass with ice cubes in it. She rushes to take the glass from him and takes it to a table to fill it with more of an amber colored liquid in a delicate crystal bottle.

"This is called a television. It's nothing but a bunch of tiny lights that create pictures on the screen. The pictures you see are recorded with cameras, much like a photograph. But it moves. It has nothing to do with magic.", he says coldly.

I turn to look at it and it truly feels as if I'm watching the people through a real window. Very interesting indeed, this thing called 'television'. It's oddly rather enjoyable to just view the actions of others through a screen.

"My company makes these and many other things. We're constantly finding new ways to innovate and make things clearer, last longer, use less energy. It never ends. There's always a drive to go further, push harder, work longer.", he solemnly states.

Handing the glass back to him, Anna steps back to her original place. Behind the sofa. How obedient she is. I wonder if it's fear that keeps her so eager to please him or something else. I can't picture myself being so pleased to serve a calloused master in the manner she does. Of course, I can obey. But something about Anna's demeanor says that she's more than happy to be here.

"Leave us.", says my master.

Biting her lip, she bows and exits without a word. As soon as the door closes, he turns his attention back to the window, I mean television. After a few moments of listening to the voices on the screen, he inhales deeply and releases the breath once again. Without turning to me or batting an eye, he says only one word.

"Sit."