Chapter 5: Lunch and Sneak
Devin opens the door beside the closet and find a master bath, complete with ivory garden tub. The hardware in here is all bronze. The his and hers sinks are both ivory, set into gray granite counter tops. The cabinetry is all ivory as well, the same bronze color of the handles.
The room smells of roses, and she notices an oval bowl holding dried rose petals on the back of the toilet. She empties the trash, scrubs the toilet and sink, sweeps and mops the floor, all without incident.
The shower is already spotless, so she leaves it until it can show some use. The linens shelves, she notices, have ivory towels, washcloths, etc. The usual is here, with a small caddy holding extra toiletries.
One dark brown oil bottle that is unmarked catches her eye. Devin picks it up, and there is an opaque liquid sloshing inside. She gently, slowly undoes the stopper, and is hit with the smell of death.
By death, I mean literally dead flesh. She quickly stoppers the bottle and puts it back where she found it. That was one of the nastiest things she has ever smelled, and she has smelled a lot of nasty scents in her line of work, like dragon dung and zombie slime.
She puts a note in the back of her mind to not open that bottle again, and hopes it is just some beauty regimen that Melanie uses, which Devin will never in her life do herself.
Devin steps out of the room, and notices on her watch that it is almost noon. 'Time to cook lunch, yay…,' she thinks to herself.
Devin heads to the kitchen, but before she gets started, decides to ask Mike what he would like for lunch. As she approaches his office, Devin overhears him in a heated discussion. She decides to pause outside the door to listen.
"I know we lost sales last quarter, that is why—", banging on the desk, "I will not take you mouthing off to me James! I am your brother first!" The phone slams down on the receiver. Devin realizes that he has a desk phone she had not noticed before. Mental note: check his caller id.
Devin enters the room with a knock, and Mike practically jumps out of his skin.
"Oh, I am so sorry. I hope you didn't hear any of that."
Devin feigns ignorance, "Hear what? I just got here. I was wondering what you would like for lunch. Do you have any preferences? Also, what should I make for dinner?" Devin sits down in the chair across from Mike to wait on his answer but just as she finishes the question the phone rings again.
Mike snatches it up, "Hello? What now James? You are sorry? Sure, whatever. Look, we have to get a new strategy in place, and we need to work fast if we are going to recoup our losses," he suddenly remembers Devin is in the room.
Looking up, "Hold on a minute James," he covers the receiver, "please make whatever you would like. I am not a picky eater. Also, make a vegetarian dish for Sarah. Her mother insists she only eat vegetarian, and she has grown accustomed to it. Thank you Devin."
Mike returns to his call is Devin's queue to leave. She heads back to the kitchen, opens the fridge, and pulls out an array of vegetables, along with some sliced chicken. She makes Sarah's meal first, a hearty salad, and then makes salads with shredded chicken for herself and Mike. She walks over and opens the pantry door to look for some croutons or that shakeable bottle of fake bacon, and finds the shelves are slightly off centered, and a light is showing from a crack on the right side of the wall, like it opens...
Devin hurriedly closes the door, planning to return momentarily, and takes Mike his lunch. "Mike, how do I get Sarah's food to her?" she asks. He blanches, realizing that Devin didn't know what to do. "I will take it to her," he tells her. She mentally sighs in relief that she closed the pantry door, because he gets up and goes straight to the kitchen to get her food. He takes it to her, motioning for Devin to stay in the kitchen.
She listens, hears the back-hall door open, "Sweetie, I have lunch for you."
A kind, melodious voice responds, "Thank you Daddy. Is it the new maid that made this?"
Mike responds, "Yes sweetie."
"Can I come meet her?" the voice that must be Sarah pleads.
"Ms. Devin knows the rules. Mom doesn't allow you to meet the new maids until dinner."
Whining, "Please? I just want to talk to her, so I am not alone."
Exasperation in his voice, "Look, if you come to the kitchen, I will allow you to meet her, but only for five minutes."
"Thank you, Daddy!" she exclaims. Devin hears footsteps running down the hall.
What comes into the kitchen is the farthest thing from what Devin expected Sarah to look like. A tall, dark-haired girl with big brown eyes walks in, smiling at her with a dazzling white smile. "Hi, I'm Sarah!" she pipes out. She sits down at the table, and looks at Devin, "Did you find everything in your room to your liking?" Feeling the question below the surface, Devin nods, "Why yes, I did thank you, Sarah. It is nice to meet you, too." Devin sees a wave of relief go over her. Sarah must have been worried sick about her mom finding that letter she left for Devin.
Sarah beams at Devin, "I am so glad you liked it! One of the few things I am allowed to do is decorate for the maid. I though the room would be comforting and cozy with those decorations!" She smiles and continue, "Also, thank you for the salad, it looks great! I left it in my room, so that I can eat there." She looks down, "I would eat with you, but I am not supposed to be out around others while I am sick…"
Her dad clears his throat, "Okay Sarah, time to go." He gently coaxes Sarah up out of her seat by the arm and leads her back to her end of the house. Devin hears a mumbled "Don't tell your Mom about this," from Mike, and the door shuts. Devin shakes herself out of the stupor that put her in, and decides to eat her salad. No croutons today...
After finishing lunch and washing the dishes, Devin checks to see what Mike is up to. He is on another phone call, and it seems to be tying him up well enough, so she decides to check out that pantry again, while tidying up the kitchen after lunch. When she opens the door, the shelves are level, and the light and crack are gone. "Oh great. Now I don't know how to get that back," she mumbles. She moves the herbs and boxes around, pulls on the shelves, pushes, wiggles, all to no avail. 'It won't budge. I missed out on this part of the mystery.,' Devin thinks to herself.
She resigns to finishing the cleaning of the house, dusting the living room and Mike's office, cleaning the guest bathroom, and finally settling down to do laundry. She realizes she doesn't know where the laundry room is, so she goes to ask Mike. It's about 3:00 pm, and he is napping when she walks in. Okay, no laundry now, but I can check out that study of Melanie's.
Devin walks back down the hall, quietly picks the lock, and opens the door. The smell of gardenias attacks her as she slips in and closes the door behind her.
Devin hurriedly walks over to the table and gently picks up the rolled up, as she now sees, scroll-like parchment. As Devin unrolls the parchment, dread comes over her. Not again, she tells herself, as she reads the words of a blending curse. She can tell it is a temporary one, but it is strong, and even though it's temporary, if enacted enough, it can become long lasting, almost permanent. Why do I always have to deal with the blending curses! This curse is one part of why Mike's daughter turns into a beast…She rolls the scroll back up and put it back exactly as she found it.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone