Silence

Chapter 25

Another headache came crashing down on her, and she bent over in pain as she pressed her fingers to her temple.

"Adalina!" Sebastian exclaimed, lightly holding her elbows before she toppled over.

Adalina tightly gripped his arms, the pain making her forget that she was afraid of him. Another set of images flashed before her eyes.

She remembered these servants and their abilities...She remembered helping them when they had intruders...

"Alright, we've got people coming up to the manor," Baldroy announced to the other servants. "Here's the plan. Mey-Rin, load up and head to the roof."

"Yes, sir!" Mey-Rin answered as she pushed her glasses on top of her head.

"Finny, go around back in case any of them come that way."

"Right!" Finnian saluted.

"I'll take the front of the house. Adalina, you and Tanaka go guard Lady Elizabeth."

Adalina nodded once.

All of the servants quickly headed to their appropriate positions.

Adalina headed upstairs with Tanaka towards the room where Lady Elizabeth was sleeping.

Just as they got there, the body of a small boy crashed through the window with a bullet wound in his head and his body covered in the resulting spray of blood.

Upon closer inspection, Adalina realized it wasn't a boy at all, but an older teenager who had simply stopped growing.

It was sad that he had been killed, but the protection of the manor came first. If these people were coming here in the middle of the night, she had no doubt their intentions were anything but good.

And it was the servants' job to take care of them.

Adalina and Tanaka quietly opened the door halfway to Lady Elizabeth's room, using the door to shield the body of the intruder.

Elizabeth was already out of bed and halfway towards the door, clutching a Funtom bunny in her arms.

"Oh, you're awake, Lady Elizabeth," Tanaka said kindly. "Whatever is the matter?"

"I guess I was just startled," Elizabeth answered quietly. "Did you hear a loud noise just a moment ago?"

"Ho, ho, ho, I haven't heard a peep all night. You must've dreamed it, Lady."

"It seemed so real though. But I suppose if you didn't hear anything..."

"Now, please, my Lady, get back into bed before you catch cold. There's nothing to worry about, I can assure you. Adalina will be right outside the door if you need anything."

Adalina gave her a small smile and a curtsey.

"Alright," Elizabeth answered as she returned to bed. "Thank you, Adalina."

Tanaka closed the door again. "I'll patrol the halls and take care of this one. Stay on guard here and clean up the mess."

Adalina nodded again and positioned herself outside the Lady's room. The intruders would get in here over her dead body.

Tanaka removed the body of the green-clad stranger from the hallway.

When he was gone, Adalina quickly mopped up all the blood so that if Lady Elizabeth ended up leaving the room again, she wouldn't know that someone had just been killed.

The shattered window might be a bit difficult to explain, but it was easier to explain that away than a huge puddle of blood.

Once her task was complete, Adalina continued to keep watch. Every few seconds or so, a loud crash sounded out in various places of the manor. She winced with each noise, hoping Lady Elizabeth was sleeping deep enough that she didn't hear it.

She removed her apron and shoved it in the small crack underneath the door to the room. It wouldn't do much to muffle the noises, but it would help a little bit.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom in the direction of the kitchen.

Baldroy must've started using his explosives again. As helpful as they were in these situations, couldn't he have been a bit quieter with their unexpected guest in the house?

Finally, all of the noises ceased, and Adalina breathed a sigh of relief. Not a peep from Lady Elizabeth.

The manor was safe.

Books. There was something about books...

Adalina walked along the large bookshelves in the Phantomhive library. Her fingers lightly skimmed across the titles, not really looking for one in particular.

"Do you enjoy reading?"

Adalina jumped a little at Sebastian's voice behind her. How he always managed to sneak up on her so well eluded her.

She slowly nodded her head.

"Is there a particular genre you prefer?"

Adalina looked at the books in front of her for a moment. Then she pulled one of them off the shelf.

Sebastian looked at the cover of the book she handed him: The Leavenworth Case.

"So you enjoy reading mysteries?" he asked with a smirk.

Adalina nodded a little and looked back at the shelves.

Sebastian reached up behind her and grabbed a book off one of the taller shelves. "You might enjoy this one then."

Adalina looked at the cover: A Study in Scarlet.

"The young master enjoys reading mysteries as well. Mr. Arthur Doyle is a favorite of his."

Adalina gave the smallest smile Sebastian had ever seen on a human.

But it was more than she had yet to give during her employment at the manor. At least she was finally warming up to her new life.

"The library is free for you to use. When you are not working, the young master will allow you to choose a book to read at your leisure."

Adalina hugged the book close to her as if it was her greatest treasure.

No...that wasn't the most recent thing about books...

There was something else...

Adalina could remember Ciel asking her to retrieve books from the bookstore. She remembered getting captured by two men on the street. She remembered getting put into an auction to be sold into prostitution.

She remembered Sebastian coming to save her.

The images stopped, and Adalina gasped a little to recover from the onslaught of memories.

She looked up at Sebastian who was holding her to make sure she was steady.

"Did you remember something else?"

Adalina slowly nodded her head.

Sebastian smiled a little. She was clearly much more at ease than she had been before which had to mean she at least wasn't terrified of him anymore.

"How much?"

The young woman held up her thumb and index finger with only a bit of space between them.

"You recall me saving you from a cage?"

Adalina nodded again.

"I told you...you do not have to fear. I do not wish to harm you, and the master has sworn that he will never order me to do so. No one at the manor wishes to you any harm."

Adalina nodded once more and took a deep breath. While she wished she could remember more, that was certainly something to go on. At least now she knew Sebastian didn't have it out for her.

She felt a little guilty that for the past several weeks, she had purposefully avoided him when he had actually been telling the truth about not wanting to hurt her.

"Since we now know that you haven't exactly forgotten your training, I believe we can resume."