The Burning of the Palace at Versailles (or, Butterfly) [REWRITING]

Chapter 2 - The Palace at Versailles

The girl with the bubble gum came back, holding a college-ruled notebook and two stationary pens. She practically threw them into Melody's still-chained arms and went back to her place next to the other young woman.

"Melody, meet Diana and," the doctor swallowed with hesitation, "Puzzle."

Suddenly, Melody felt nerves she thought were close to being intimidated. "Diana, and- I'm sorry, what?"

The other girl, the one with the lipstick who had welcomed Melody to the 'Palace at Versailles', smiled and stood up straighter. "Oops. Guess I forgot to introduce myself. Hi, I'm Diana," she said. "It's nice to meet you. I guess Puzzle and I will be showing you around today. Your name is Melody?"

Melody nodded. "Melody Tsushima. Who is Puzzle?"

Diana grinned her pink lips and half-rolled her eyes, jerking her thumb at the girl with the gum. "This is Puzzle. She's a puzzle."

"Diana--" Doctor Riley began like a mother giving a stern scolding.

Diana sighed. "We got this, Doc. We'll see you tomorrow."

The doctor rolled her eyes. "Well, Melody, let's get those chains off. I doubt you want to keep them on any more." She reached into the pocket of her long coat and pulled out a key. She quickly removed the chains, and Melody sighed deeply when they came off.

"Feels better, doesn't it?" Puzzle said for the first time. Her head was tilted slightly as she watched the chains leave the doctor's hands. She handed them to Jim.

"If you'll excuse me, I better go see how the juvenile delinquents are doing out in the garden," the man said with a good-natured grin. "It's the asparagus-planting day."

Doctor Riley sighed again. "Jim, what have I told you about calling our patients that?"

"Yeah, we're technically not juveniles anymore anyway," Diana said.

He flashed Melody a grin. "Our gremlins, then." He turned and left. A few seconds later, a door closed shut with an echoing bang.

"Oh, he's going to freak out," Diana said. "Zac appeared after lunch, so nothing got done." She looked at Doctor Riley. "Seriously, we got this. How many times have we done this?"

The doctor rubbed her brow with her fingertips. "Yeah, yeah." Melody had a feeling she was doing her best to not laugh. "I hope you settle in tonight, Melody. We'll talk tomorrow."

Melody clenched the notebook in her hands. She didn't want the woman to leave. But the doctor followed where Jim had gone, and the two girls turned to the closed gate. Puzzle pressed the button on the gate.

Diana spoke. "So, first thing's first, if you wanna get anywhere around here, you gotta buzz security using these buttons. If you're expected where you're trying to go, they'll let you through. There's not a whole lot of security here, just a few guys up in the camera room, but they're good." She looked Melody up and down. "Just in case you wanna try pulling anything."

The door puzzled, and the three girls went through. "I'm not going to cause any problems," Melody said. "I just want to do my time and get out of here."

"Perfect," Diana said with a shrug as she held open the gate for Puzzle and Melody. Puzzle quietly followed Melody. Melody looked at Diana's hand that was holding the fence. Her nails were long and the color matched her lipstick. She raised an eyebrow, and Melody dropped her gaze.

"Second things second, the old lady who donated the place left some money to run the place, but Versailles doesn't get any government funding or anything like that. So we gotta make our own money. We're the ones that grow the vegetables in the garden, and some of that goes to us for food, but we sell most of it. Jim helps as the main gardener for the estate, but we do all the hard work. Are you any good with plants?"