Stronger

Her face flooded with embarrassed blood but she watched the woman closely, looking for signs of she wasn't sure what. The woman smiled another of her gentle smiles but didn't laugh. That was when Juri knew she could love this stranger.

After such a stupid question she didn't laugh, which was more than Juri would have expected from herself had the tables been turned. She was almost ashamed, but not quite. She was too desperate to know the answer to make it all of the way to that particular emotion.

"Yes, dear, I'm real. At least last time I checked. I imagine I'm as real as you if that brings any comfort. Not knowing you I'm not sure if that's a comfort or not," she said kindly.

"I'm real," Juri asserted a little more aggressively than intended, "I'm definitely real."

"Good! That settles things. You might as well tell me your name, then, if we're all going to be living underneath the same roof."

"Um, okay, sure. My name is Juri. It's a weird name, I know -"

"No!" She broke in, "not at all! I think it's a lovely name, completely unique. Not many young women can claim that sort of thing."

"Thanks," Juri mumbled. She blushed again, but this time it was the pleasure-filled kind rather than the mortified one.

"You're very welcome. And now I'll tell you my name, shall I?" The woman continued as if they were having the most normal conversation in the world.

Seriously, they could have been strangers meeting at a bus stop instead of toppers trapped under impossible tons of water.

"Yeah, that would be good," Juri said, trying to keep the disbelief out of her voice and off of her face.

"I'm Eileen Baker but if you ever call me Mrs. Baker I'll just die. I've been here far too long to go by Mrs. I haven't been one of those for a long time, I think," she said matter-of-factly.

"Too long? But what does that mean, too long? How long exactly have you been here? How long do you think I'll be here?" Juri asked, her words spilling out in a torrent.

"I imagine you have many questions, and I'm not surprised that the timing of everything is on the top of your list, but it's a rather difficult question to answer. Time doesn't move the same way down here. Something tells me you've noticed that already," she Eileen answered.

It was kind but direct. Under other circumstances, Juri might have found it a little, but at the moment she considered Eileen to be as close to a godsend as she was apt to get.

"I have," she agreed desperately, "at least I think I have. That's why it's so important for me to have some answers."

"Let's just say that I have been working for Master Marino for quite a while. I am here to tell you that we are lucky to be here. Very lucky indeed."

Juri looked at Eileen in frank disbelief. Honestly, she wasn't even sure where to begin. It was like this lovely older woman had been watching a different scene than the one Juri had just been an active participant in.

She was again reminded of popular Disney movies, many of which she had watched voraciously when she was a kid. She'd loved them like most little girls but never had she expected to be the poor girl trapped by a beast who wasn't really a beast, after all.

Again, looked at Eileen Baker and momentarily saw her morph into a cartoon character, and shook her head to clear the image.

"You look surprised, dear," Eileen prodded, still not unkindly.

"I won't lie. I'm very surprised. You saw what just happened, right? You saw him toss me into this room? He nearly took my arm off," Juri answered.

She sounded somehow defensive to herself, which only frustrated her further. She had nothing to be defensive about, god damn it!

The only one who had done something wrong here, at least so far as she knew, was Marino. The look on Eileen's face was confusing, however, almost confusing enough to make her question her own sanity.

"I saw it, and I won't apologize for his behavior. He's got a temper on him, that one. He's had it since I've known him. It's actually gotten better if you can believe it," she said with a fond smile.

"No," Juri answered dryly, "I don't think I can."

"Well, it has, and it will get better still. I have every faith in him."

"So then you're not a topper?" Juri asked. She half expected the abrupt change in conversation to throw Eileen off her guard, but it did no such thing.

On second thought, there was probably very little that threw this lady off. She was in Marino's fancy digs, too, after all. God only knew what sort of crazy things she had seen go down.

"I am," Eileen laughed, genuinely pleased, "although it has been some time since anyone has called me that. I'm from the South, back in the day. I don't suppose it looks anything like it did when my ship went down."

"Your ship?!" Juri asked, so excited by the tidbit that she almost dropped the cup of water Eileen was in the process of handing her, "Wait a minute. You -"

"Yes, like you, from what Master tells me. A ship that went down and before I knew it Marino was carrying me home." Juri watched in disbelief.

Any time she thought about those last fateful moments on the ship's deck she felt sick enough that it was a battle to keep from losing her lunch. Eileen, on the other hand, looked almost wistful.

It was the same look a person got on her face when thinking of a first meeting with a long-cherished loved one. If Eileen had been younger, Juri might even have thought of a lover.

"You make it sound like a good thing," Juri said, perplexed and a little disgusted.

Although she wanted badly not to admit it to herself, some of that disgust was reserved for herself.

There was an excitement in what was happening to her that was difficult to ignore and hearing some of it reflected in another person gave her permission to feel that more keenly.

She didn't know how she was supposed to take those feelings, but she also couldn't forget the way her life had been before, back when she was a topper.

Aside from the cruise, her life had been far from eventful with no signs of trending in that direction. And if she was honest with herself, even the cruise hadn't been everything she'd made it out to be at the time.

Selene was great, a real friend if a recent one, but most of the time Juri had still been watching life instead of living it. Now, for better or worse, she was living, and she owed it to her unbelievable circumstances.

"It's not a bad thing, Juri, although I'm sure you can't see that yet. I suppose I couldn't, either, when I was still new. But Master Marino is a better man than you think he is; I can see that you don't believe it, it's written all over your face, but it's so. When you come to know him better, I believe you will agree with me."

There was no hint of irony on Eileen's face, and Juri felt certain that the older housekeeper believed every word she spoke.

Juri laughed and was almost startled by how much bitterness she heard in the sound. She wasn't sure when she had become a cynic. She also wasn't sure that she would ever be able to shake the new lens off again.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't hold your breath on that one," she said sourly, "I return your attention to exhibit A if you don't mind."

"Exhibit A?" Eileen asked, genuinely confused, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand."

"The way he tossed me in the room, so he could teach me a lesson, I guess. All I'm saying is that I don't think I'm still in Marino's good graces if I ever was."

"Psssh," Eileen blew out her breath dismissively, waving one hand in the air to make the picture complete, "that scene won't hold water for long. I told you, Master Marino has a temper, but it passes almost as quickly as it comes. Let's get you up to your room, and I'm sure he'll be ready to make amends when you wake up."

"Wake up?" Juri asked, confused, "But I wasn't planning on going to sleep."

"You might think about it," Eileen countered, "you're looking mighty tired if you don't mind my saying so."

Juri was about to contradict her unexpected new friend and then stopped. As soon as she heard it out loud, she realized it was true. It didn't matter that she hadn't actually been up for all that long.

The fighting, the trying to be stronger and braver than she truly felt, was exhausting and a nap was the only fix. Still wrapped in the surreal bubble of everything Eileen was telling her, Juri allowed herself to be led out of the servants' room and through the hallways, up the stairs and to her room.

With every step she expected Marino to pop out of the shadows like a horrific jack in the box, like the monster living under every child's bed. When he didn't come her exhaustion only grew. By the time Eileen tucked her into bed like a child, she was already half asleep.

The last thought she had was that if she could only sleep forever, none of this would matter. If she could sleep forever, it wouldn't matter where she was or who she was with. She would be like a princess in a fairytale only for her; there would be no prince to wake her back up again.