Chapter Four

Glora has been forced to attend Darwick's Academy, and is staying with the Charstons, a family acquaintance, for the duration of her education. She is welcomed warmly only by some, however.

"And did you- did you...steal very often?" Ms. Charston asked dazedly, wiping her hands on a napkin for the fourth time as they waited for dinner to arrive. Saria was watching Glora with excited eyes, Mr. Charston was smiling in amusement, and Jared was scowling at his fingernails in quiet disapproval.

"Well," Glora considered thoughtfully, "we normally sent a little one to you know- snatch a berry, or a loaf of bread, or whatever. And normally they'd just start doing it on their own after a while, and bringing it to us, till no one really payed any mind." She was having very much fun, spewing stories of her adventures in the Eastern Provinces. Mr. Charston was under the impression that Glora was making it all up, as earlier in the conversation she had somewhat exaggerated her tales. For example, Bentley was not really a sinister man out to kill the children, but Glora figured it wouldn't hurt to describe him that way. And in reality her and Wesley had only caught a glimpse of what they assumed was the Sneak, but Glora decided an epic battle among the three of them was far more interesting.

Jared cleared his throat just as Glora opened her mouth with another story ready upon her tongue. "Food's here." The boy looked at Glora with some irritance before turning to accept his steaming plate from a servant. Glora felt her tongue water as she set her plate down, admiring with widened eyes the sheer amount of food piled upon it. And such rare treats - Blackberries and rasberries in a lemon sauce in one corner, toasted sunflower seeds with cinnamon in another, and most delightful and rare of all, real meat! It was one of the best meals the girl had ever had, and for several minutes she didn't even speak, her mouth was so filled with food.

That night, Saria showed Glora what a proper bedroom looked like. The girls dragged Glora's trunk through the door, and Glora raised her eyebrows at the relatively smaller and tremendously overstuffed room. A large bed dominated the center, along the far wall were three dressers -"For extra clothes," as Saria stated - several bookcases and a giant wardrobe entirely covered any spare wall space. Combs, mirrors, ribbons, bracelets, books and pens, several lamps and an immense array of trinkets and slightly useful objects sat upon every availabe space. Two rugs - one blue, one yellow - split the room in half.

"Jared and I used to share the room." Saria explained, attempting unsuccesfully to give Glora's trunk a further shove under the bed. "His was the blue side."

"Okay. And which was yours?" Glora smirked as Saria started to answer. The girl rolled her eyes with playful lips. "Also the blue." She grinned and flopped onto the smooth yellow bedspread. "I suppose you're dreadfully bored to be staying with us. Our house isn't - it's not quite so nice as yours, but it's...well, it's not so bad."

Glora carefully lowered herself upon the bed. It was as soft as her own, and twice as large in order to accomodate two children. She had quite forgotten to be misreable over dinner. In fact, ever since her parents had dropped her off and left for home, the girl had been entertained at every moment. Now she remembered that she wouldn't be seeing Wesley and Harpo and Elli and the others for at least a year without a near impossible escape, which would inevitably result in some even more dreadful punishment. She watched Saria as she watched her, and lightened at the girl's attentative glance.

"It's alright. Better than my manor, anyway. And warmer than the East."

"Did you really live in the East all the time?"

"I suppose."

"And did that Bentley man really chase you to the lowest corner of the Southern Provinces? I know the bit about the Sneak was a lie, by the way."

"It was not, I can prove -"

"Glora, please."

"D'you want me to show you the evidence?" Glora demanded, and promptly yanked her sleeve back to expose the scraped bruises she had received during hide-n-tag the previous week. "Wow!" Saria's eyes widened in admiration. "But, the Sneak?" She shook her head doubtfully.

"Fine, don't believe me. It's still the truth."

Saria only rolled her eyes again and sank onto her back with a smile.

"And no, Bentley did not chase us to the lowest corner of the Southern Provinces. That would be more something we would do to him." Glora confessed with a grin. Saria laughed. "I thought as much. And what's Wesley like? Tell me about him."

"Oh, he's alright." Glora shrugged. "Say, are we allowed downstairs? I'm still hungry."

Saria rolled on her side and gave Glora an inquisitive glance. "You said he was your best friend."

"Yes, he is."

"Okay...Well we aren't allowed downstairs; mother and father are in bed already."

"But would they even hear us?"

Saria frowned. "Well no, but Jared probably would, and he'd be sure to tell them soon as he wakes up, and besides, I said we aren't allowed."

A mischevious smile darted onto Glora's lips. "Let's pull a prank on Jared!"

"We'd get into so much trouble -"

"No we wouldn't, Saria. Trust me."

The girl bit her lip nervously. "What kind of prank?"

"Oh, like a kind of scare prank."

"Scare prank?"

Glora nodded vigorously. "Yes, scare prank. We do something like sneak into his room and scare him. Or make spooky noises outside his window. You know, somethin' like that."

"What if he thinks it's a real ghost or the Sneak?" Saria asked worriedly.

"Saria, that's the point! C'mon, it's fun. What we need is some parchment, have you got any?"

Saria reluctantly pulled a yellowed sheet from her drawer, and handed Glora a pen.

"Okay, so if this is the hallway," Glora sketched two lines and added doorways in their corresponding places. "And this is...the roof over here,"

"There's a balcony at his window." Saria added tentatively.

"Balcony here...Oops. Okay, pretend that's me, climbing the balcony." Glora smudged the paper with the edge of her nightgown. "Sham. Well, ignore that bit."

Saria giggled.

"There." Glora sucked on the end of the pen and examined the paper. "Now, I'm going to shimmy up the roof like so," she said, tracing a path with her finger. "Wrapped in a dark cloth. And you, Saria," Glora scrawled a little figure with a skirt. "Are going to silently - remember that, silently - sneak into your little brother's-"

"Older."

"Older brother's bedroom, and lie under the bed. At this point we are assuming he is mostly asleep. When I give you the signal, which will be a thump on his window or other such noise, you will make creepy sounds. Make sure he's heard them, and then try to disappear or hide. Or something." Glora looked up and smiled. "See? Flawless."

"I don't get it."

"Don't worry, just make sure you sound creepy and I'll take care of the rest."

Glora perched on the edge of the roof, attempting to hang her head over the side without sliding off. The shingles were assuringly rough and grippable beneath barefeet and clutching fingers, the air surprisingly warm at such a height. It was so dark, however, that Glora couldn't see her own hand inches ahead where it gripped the roof. Pressing back, she turned herself around and with some hesitance lowered her feet cautiously into the dimness below. They touched nothing. Stretching her legs further and waving them back and forth, Glora gritted her teeth as her stomach began to slide rather painfully over the edge.

"Come on..." She winced as the hard, jutting edge scraped against her ribcage, and gave a blind kick with both legs. Suddenly her hands were slipping, fingers scrabbling, arms grabbing furiously. And then her chest dropped over the edge and the roof came to meet her chin, knocking her jaws together and down she fell, into a heap upon the ground.

Glora blinked herself back into wakefulness. She had landed on a rug, which was conveniently large and thick. But her chin felt as if it were on fire, and her mouth was full of liquid, which she spat - blood. A sick pain flew to and fro, in her temples and battering through her forehead. She flexed each of her limbs to find they had survived remarkably intact, save a massive throbbing in her elbow and a pounding in both knees which foretold dark bruises.

The balcony door creaked open, and Glora crumpled to the floor with shock. Jared was peering uneasily into the night. He shuffled forward and predictably tripped right over Glora, tumbling forward and crashing into the rail with a yelp and groan. Glora, remembering with a jolt the sleeping adults precisely one room above, hurried forward on her hands and knees. Clasping a hand around the boy's mouth as he opened it to cry out, she glanced into the bedroom, where Saria undoubtedly waited under the bed.

"Shhh, it's me, Glora." She said quietly. The boy fumbled with her arm and ripped her hand away from his mouth.

"What are you doing?!" He hissed furiously. 

"I'm sorry, honestly I am. I didn't expect it to turn out like this." She said sincerely. "Like, you weren't supposed to come out, and I wasn't supposed to get hurt."

Jared stared at her in outrage. "What are you doing?!" he spat again.

But Glora ignored him, her attention caught instead by a sound down below the balcony. "What was that?" Footsteps, maybe, and the echo of a hurried murmur.

Jared stood up, rubbing his head angrily. "I hope you know I'm telling my parents about this."

A crash against bricks, scurrying feet. Glora scrambled to stand up. "Jared, hush for a moment. Listen." She grabbed his arm as he turned to enter his bedroom.

"What!" he snapped. Glora pointed to a lamp a few houses down, barely lit at the late hour. Two figures were arguing, and at their feet was an overturned crate, filled with...

"Berries?" she whispered, confused.

The voices drifted to the balcony, hushed exclamations edged with barely contained terror. "And if Leon finds out? You weren't even supposed to know about the entrance!"

"I -- you never told me that! And besides, you knew what was in the case, you knew it!"

"Shut up, Tolan, calm down. Listen, if they ask..."

The voices pulled into whispers, and Glora leaned forward, straining to hear more as the figures hurriedly rolled the berries back into the crate. After they secured the lid, Glora watched closely as they loaded it onto their shoulders and disappeared into the darkness.

Saria yawned, brushing her hair away with a tired hand. "But why does it matter? They were probably just delivering produce to a store or something." She closed her eyes and nestled her face into the pillow. Glora rolled over onto her back restlessly. Her head gave a sharp protest at the movement, forehead bristling in pain. The lamps were off, so she simply stared into the dark ceiling with a frown.

"Saria, don't you ever wonder where we even get produce? Have you ever seen the source of all this stuff?"

Saria's eyes shot open. "No."

"I know I wonder. It just...it just doesn't make sense! And then I see those people, talking about berries, as if it were a dangerous topic, and...what about that hole, the hole near the East market? Where did that come from?" She saw the infinite darkness again, the unknown in the ground. She heard the scream in her head, the surprise and the horror. She strained to see more through the darkness, and then shut her eyes, suddenly afraid to look.

"Glora, can't we go to sleep? Jared's already angry, I bet if he hears us he'll tell mother about our prank, anyways."

Glora snorted. "I made him promise. He'd better not tell, else he's a liar if I ever saw one."

"'Kay." Saria's eyes fluttered softly, and then with a quick inhale the girl's hands slid from her face to the pillow. Glora watched her for a moment. Her brows were relaxed and peaceful, her lips slackened. Glora clasped her hands over her rising chest, eyes wide open and mind anxious.

~

Both girls had trouble getting up the next morning, although perhaps that was a bit of an understatement on Glora's part. Saria gradually pulled herself from the bed, and hesitated to wake her companion, whose eyes were tucked so tightly shut and whose breaths were so deep and heavy in her chest, she wondered if it wouldn't be better for Glora to arrive at school a little late. But Saria knew that wouldn't sit well with the school master, and so switched her lamps on with a tentative hand, allowing the light to hit the room suddenly and brightly. Glora didn't move.

"Glora," she said softly, nudging the girl's shoulder and rocking her slight form. Her breaths continued as deeply as before, if her brow did knit a little. "Glora, we have to get ready." She tugged her hair gently. Still nothing. She nudged her again a little harder. After pinching, prodding, yelling, and pulling her hair until her head lifted from the pillow, Saria finally resorted to tickling Glora's feet. She received a sudden kick to the chest, but Glora sat up, appearing quite bewildered and very irritated. With drowsy eyes she searched the room for her assaulter, and found it to be empty.

"Saria?"

Saria picked herself from the ground, massaging the center of her chest. "Well, you're up. Come on, we've got to get ready for school."

Glora groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

"What? It's the first day, aren't you excited?"

"No." But she rolled off the bed, pulling the covers to the ground with her all the same.

A note had been left on the kitchen table for them, along with school bags packed with their books and lunches. Saria's maid sat twin bowls of sweet oats in front of the girls, and despite her aching limbs and bruised head, Glora ate with a healthy appetite.

Author's Note

Okay, this is my latest chapter which as you may guess is not yet finished. As always I love every kind of comment, it's totally appreciated no matter what. I will read and comment on your writing if you do the same for mine. Thanks!