We still need man-things!

Chapter Eleven

In the next few days, he spent most of his time alone, locked in the tower, only occasionally meeting Daniela, who brought him food and water.

Mike was thankful that she and her sisters had decided to keep him safe from their mother, but his happiness faded quickly when he was drained on the second day and learned that he would become Daniela's secret personal blood bag once his wounds had fully healed.

This absolutely didn't like him because being bit in the neck and being drained caused him to feel weak and light-headed, and his brain couldn't work on the escape plans he constantly thought about. Daniela didn't let him go, no matter how much he wished. She kept the door leading to the main areas constantly locked and had taken away everything that could be used as a tool to defeat it.

When Mike tried to get out of the windows, he discovered that they were made of very thick glass that was impossible to break. He was sure that he wasn't her first prisoner, and probably not the last. But what to do then? The poor chimney sweep had no idea.

As he found reading the books to be an easy way to pass time, he spent most of the time on his bed until the sixth day, when Bela suddenly showed up and wanted to remove all of the stitches from his wounds.

She was surprised that Daniela had treated him way better than she had without forcing him to do any work.

"What I experienced was just crazy." Mike spoke briefly about all the previous events. "I never wanted to leave your workshop; they just stole me from you. I tried to find my way back there."

"Oh, that's good that you didn't. My mom did a big search in all my rooms and even in my coal mine on the second day. She would have found you."

"Okay, but it's been almost a week already. Is she still hunting me?"

"Not anymore. Cassandra faked evidence to show her that you escaped, so I think she believes that you are not here anymore."

"Wow, that's nice to hear. She's perfect wife material."

"Ha-ha, that was actually my idea and brainpower. You are such a cute boy that we can't waste time feeding my big mother. We want you to be our pet."

"Hey, I hoped you were going to release me."

"Well, actually, I have nothing against it, but there is alot of trouble in our house now, and I'm afraid we can't."

„What trouble?" Mike wondered. "Don't say I am responsible for that."

"No, you aren't." Bela decided to explain. "I don't want to scare you, but one of our maids got sick at night, and I'm afraid it's a disease from the village."

„What!?"

Mike was horrified to hear that kind of news. A plague or another kind of nasty disease in the house from which he couldn't escape was the last thing he wanted.

"It happened to Monica, another outsider like you. She was exterminating rats in the cellar and closing the holes where they could come in when one of these nasty rodents bit her hand. I really don't know much, but my mom called Miranda in the morning, and I overheard that dozens are bedridden and rats can really be the carriers."

"My god! But where did this disease come from? And how deadly is it?"

"Miranda told me that the plague is a virus that could have been hidden in the toxin you found in the chimney. It was accidentally released by her lab assistant, and now we need to keep all social contacts low to prevent it from spreading. But the good thing is that everyone is still alive, so perhaps it's not a lethal disease, just a common flu."