Taken

Chapter 11 (Part 1)

I shifted on my feet, drawing her attention back to me. "Who are you?" I asked, returning her question rather than answering it.

Her shockingly light green eyes narrowed on me. "Penelope," she clipped out, her voice still managing to sound soft and delicate like her appearance despite being laced with anger. Her irate features were seemingly etched from porcelain and framed by stands of blond hair so light they neared a warm white. The rest was gathered in a loose braid over her shoulder.

Penelope, that sounded familiar...

"And you are...?"

I adjusted my grip on the shovel, scrambling to come up with an answer.

She shifted her stance at my prolonged silence. "Who are you?" She demanded with a little more force. "What are you doing here? Where are Silas and Hilda?"

It was a little obvious what I was doing.

"I'm a... friend," I said, lowering my shovel to appear less threatening but keeping it between us in case I needed it. "I'm helping out while they... went out."

So creative and not suspicious at all, I mentally groaned as her suspicions grew.

My hesitant and vague answers only had her frown deepening as she took a step back. "You don't sound too sure about that." I couldn't blame her for her skepticism.

Her hand which had come close to making a mistake, avoided the splashes of brown on her clothes as she reached into an inner pocket in her cloak. I discreetly prepared to strike her with the shovel at the first sign of danger, but let out a slow breath when all she pulled out was a phone nearly identical to Hilda's. The only difference was, that the back of Penelope's was decorated with pressed flowers.

"I'm just going to check in with Hilda to make sure."

"That I didn't break in and shovel shit for her?" I questioned with a raised brow despite the relief that had my shoulders dropping as I placed where I had heard her name. Hilda had mentioned her at dinner last night. She had probably wandered in here hoping to find Silas but was disappointed to find me instead. I was sure I didn't make the same sight he did doing his strenuous work.

She gave me a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You can never be too careful so far on the edge of town."

My eyes followed her hand as she pressed the phone to her ear. An ear I hadn't noticed was pointed until then. Were Hilda and Silas's ears pointed too? Had I just not noticed with everything else going on? The detail had me reaching for my own ears when Penelope turned her attention away from me. I quickly untucked the strands tucked behind my ears before pulling my hair loose from the bun I had gathered it in to have it drape over the rounded ends of my ears. The last thing I wanted was to be identified as a human by the small detail that had probably given me away to Hilda when she first set eyes on me. Or at least I hoped that was what it was.

"Hilda!" Penelope greeted with excitement, her voice turning warm and bubbly. "I stopped by to see you and happened up on a strange woman in the stables. She claims to be a friend and I wanted to check with you-

Her lips remained rounded and open at the last word when she stopped speaking. They slowly shifted to press into a flat line as her features transformed into a tight mask at the words being spoken through the device that was probably powered by some sort of magic instead of technology.

The corners of her mouth pulled up into a tense smile that Hilda couldn't see. Or at least I didn't think she could.

"My mistake," Penelope spoke, her voice dulling slightly. "I wanted to stop by to share some scones I had baked this morning but was surprised to find a new face with you or Silas nowhere in sight." Another pause while Hilda spoke. "I'll leave them with your friend for when you get back. Also, I wanted to remind you that my weekly potluck is tomorrow. Do stop by, it's never the same without your desserts to end the night. And bring Silas, we all missed his presence last week." Another pause. "Splendid, I'll see you two then."

The tight smile on her lips dropped as she lowered the phone and returned it to the inner pocket of her cloak, avoiding the mess I had made of her. She looked down at it with a frown.

"I don't think I caught your name," she said, shifting her irritation toward me. It was valid given I was the cause for it.

"That's because I never gave it," I answered brazenly now that I knew she posed no threat to me. It was probably for the best that I didn't go around giving my name out since Cedric and the others were probably looking for me. The fewer people that knew it, the better.

Maybe I needed to think of a pseudonym to use in its place.

She scoffed when I didn't continue to provide her with one. "I should get home and clean this before it stains. You seem busy. I'll just pop in and leave this in the kitchen," she said, jutting her chin in the air to hide her offense.

I considered stopping her and taking the basket from her hand and sending her on her way in case Hilda and Silas would have minded her intrusion but caught myself before I did. It wasn't my problem. They had already provided me with more than I wanted to deal with. Silas could deal with the tall woman who had a crush on him on his own.

"Sorry. About that," I half-heartedly apologized, gesturing towards the specks of brown slashed across her clothes. "You caught me by surprise."

She sniffed her raised nose in annoyance before turning and leaving the way she had come. I watched her retreating back until she turned toward the house and left my line of sight. That's when I returned to attention back to the tipped wheelbarrow with a tired sigh as I lowered my shovel to the ground.

A whined snort drew my eyes back to the obsidian beast locked in the stall opposite the one I now had to clean again. His keen eyes locked with mine, shining as he lifted his tail. A heavy, wet plop sounded, causing my nose to scrunch in disgust before the fresh scent could reach me. Though I had unfortunately become accustomed to the various odors surrounding me over the last hour, I couldn't stop myself from gagging when it did. At least I wasn't covered in it like Penelope.

I narrowed my eyes at the mocking neigh he sounded before I turned my back and righted the wheelbarrow so I could finish in here and get some air that wasn't laced with shit particles. The muscled animal continued to make noises to draw my attention as I worked, but I wasn't going to give it to him, nor was I going to go anywhere near him to clean his latest mess up. That could wait for Hilda to return so she could move the horse like she had earlier. I wasn't going to risk getting trampled just to pick up his excrement.

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