One cool clear night in the middle of September George and Ruby were both struggling to sleep. They had learnt to communicate at night using Ruby's powers so they weren't discovered by the teachers. George would think of something, Ruby would intercept his thought using her magic and then she would tap on the bars of her bed Once for no, Twice for yes. Miss Bank's hearing was second to none, as one of the ruder children at the Castle had put it she could hear a spider fart. If any of the children dared to speak while she was on corridor duty she would be inside the room escorting them to the dungeons before they knew what had happened. Bank was on corridor duty tonight and had already been into the dorm twice to remove children for making noises in their sleep. George thought about the library, Ruby tapped twice in response. The young boy waited patiently. Ruby tapped another three times, and George made his way down the ladder to his bunk as quickly and as silently as a blink. Grabbing Ruby by her cold tiny hand the children sped along the corridor. Slipping silently into the shadows to escape any patrolling teachers until they finally reached their favourite bolthole. Just as they finished selecting a few of their favourite books and some new ones they had never read before. Ruby grabbed her friend forcefully by the arm and pulled him to the floor. She motioned to him to be quiet, her eyes had grown wide with shock. George obeyed unconditionally. A clip clop of footsteps could be heard along a row of books at the rear of the library. Ruby looked confused as she tried to use her magic, but for the first time in her life at Slaven it failed her.
"What's wrong?" Whispered a concerned George.
Ruby shook her head, "Not Sure." She whispered back. "I can't see anything about the person here. It's like they are blocked from me."
George swallowed hard. Ruby had never failed to keep them safe with her powers before, she was frightened and he could see it in her wide eyes. The young girl kept trying to engage her sight but each time her eyes would return to their normal colour and she would fail. The shoes clip clopped closer and closer, something about their pace was not right, as if the person walking was dragging one of their feet slightly. Whoever it was had now reached the end of the long corridor and was now just around the corner. Ruby turned to George and shook her head. George knew if he didn't act quickly they would be discovered. The children were directly in sight opposite the only entrance and exit in the first room of the giant library. The young boy bit down on his lip then motioned towards the door. The stranger in the room was almost upon them. The duo scrabbled to their feet and staggered to the door. They almost made it but George stumbled at the last moment and knocked a stack of books, scattering them to the floor. Ruby was so caught up in trying to read their pursuers thoughts that she failed to see it coming and was powerless to help as George grew pale at the crescendo.
"Who's there?" Called out a stern but eloquent voice from behind them, the children froze. "I said who's there? I see both of you clearly and if you don't answer me immediately I will give an accurate description of you to Miss Grimm and have her ferret you both out." She advised them irritably.
The children sighed, and clasped each other's hands in support. George nodded, smiling his megawatt smile. "George Miss." answered George. "Ruby'' said the small girl. "George Adamson?" The woman asked. "Yes," Replied a confused George, how did she know who he was? "Then turn around to look at me." The children obeyed, turning around slowly to look at their captor. The young woman in front of them had brown hair which fell to her shoulders in waves. She wore a smart lilac suit dress and sensible low heeled shoes that had made the wonderful clip clop sound upon the parquet flooring, she had painted her lips a dusky rose. George thought that she looked kind and a little bit sad, he felt more confident then he had before.
"What are you doing here children?" The young woman asked.
"We like to read Miss," said George. " but we are never allowed to come here so we sneak up at night."
The woman looked from the small girl back to the boy. George thought she seemed uncertain. "If Miss Grimm finds you here children I will be in terrible trouble. She hates me as it is." The young woman sighed, she looked off into the distance and her sad face seemed suddenly a little sadder.
George sensed the woman was conflicted, he saw an opportunity to win her over. George offered the sad librarian his mega watt grin. "I cant remember you being here before Miss, have you always worked in the library?"
The young woman looked up for a moment, she was only nine years older than the children and as bad as things had gone for her again she could remember vividly how terrible life as a child at Slaven Castle was.
She shook her head. "I will have to turn you in or I will get into trouble with Miss Grimm. Believe me children it will be just as bad for me if she discovers you."
Ruby's eyes turned white. "Too late she's coming."
The young woman looked shocked, "What? How? What just happened? What does she mean?" She was visibly shaken. Ruby's talent was very disconcerting the first time you witnessed it. What with the creepy white eyes and the weird from beyond the grave voice she had. George would have found the reaction to the small girls' magic funny under different circumstances, like if he wasn't experiencing trouser wetting terror at the thought of Grimm rounding the corner and catching them all having a lovely chit chat.
George looked pleadingly at the librarian, She looked back for a moment, then she dropped her eyes, wrung her hands, let out a sigh, and pulled a key from around her neck. She pushed the children aside and opened the large mahogany cupboard at the entrance to the library. The woman bundled George and Ruby inside locking the door behind them. Just in time. The evil viper rounded the corner charging the air with toe curling terror. The two women faced each other, the librarian forced herself into a straight, square stance. I will not let her see the damage she has inflicted on me, she thought.
"Violet, I hope you have settled in. Such a shame about your job but I'm sure you can be of use to me here." George put his eye to the keyhole on the inside of the wardrobe, he could just make out the withered clawed hands of the hunched old bag. The children held their breath, more terrified of being caught in the library than of anything they had ever feared before.
The librarian nodded.
"I hope you understand that I own you from now on, you will never be able to pay back all of the money I have invested into your education. You must work for me for the rest of your life."
Poor Violet merely nodded she did not dare to speak or make eye contact with the evil viper incase she lost her temper, George could see her fists clench in defiance through his tiny spy hole. Miss Grimm let the silence hang for a moment. Desperate for the other woman to make a comment so she could pounce, the other Violet remained silent.
"Good, I'm glad you see things my way. We wouldn't want a repeat of the terrible incident that happened the last time you were here. You wouldn't possibly want two dreadful limps now would you?" The evil creature let out a gut wrenching laugh that almost made George give himself away, then she span on her heel. After a few moments Violet opened the wardrobe and the children stepped out.
A look passed between them, a look that joined them all in a way no-one brought up outside the castle would understand. Violet began to shake, she looked around frantically then spotted a chair at the back of the room. She hobbled visibly now as she tried desperately to get to it in time, George tried to help by offering her his arm but she shrugged him off. "It's fine I can manage." She growled. Violet threw herself into the chair. Her leg was about to completely give way and she didn't fancy becoming a heap on the floor.
"How did you do that?" Violet asked Ruby, breaking the silence once her composure was regained. She hated to show anyone her weakness and she needed something to take her mind off the throbbing that had completely engulfed her painfully damaged leg.
Ruby shrugged, "I was born like this." she replied
Violet stopped to think for a moment. " So you can see anyone at any time and tell what they are thinking and where they will be?"
Ruby nodded. Then paused for a moment, "Except for you," she admitted. "tonight I had no idea who you were or what you were going to do."
"Why can't you see me?" The librarian was puzzled.
Ruby thought for a moment but was at a loss to explain it. "I have absolutely no idea, it's never happened to me before." She said, shaking her head.
Violet sighed. knowing full well that she was playing with fire but that being good and staying quiet had never worked for her before. Maybe it was time she tore up the rule book and took a risk for a change.
"Ok, then I have a proposal for you." She spoke confidently, certain of herself for the first time in her life. "You can carry on visiting the library but you have to warn me when Miss Grimm is coming. You must also come and tell me if she makes any plans for me or has any thoughts about me at all. You must promise to keep out of her way and out of the way of the other teachers while you are up here, they all hate me and would love the chance to catch me doing something I shouldn't be. If you get caught you are completely on your own, you must keep me out of it!"
"Deal." Said Ruby and she spat into her hand and held it out to the well dressed young woman.
"That is not necessary." Advised Violet, utter disgust written across her face.
A Vision of the librarian Playing a piano suddenly slammed into Ruby's mind. The woman in the vision looked slightly older then she did now, her eyes were closed and a smile lifted the corners of her mouth as slender delicate fingers pressed eloquently on the white and black keys.
"What was that?" Asked Violet, shaken again by the odd little girl's strange talent. "Is it one of the teachers? Is it Miss Grimm?"
Ruby shook her head, "I can see you," She advised. "Whatever you've just decided has made you visible to me. I think you must have decided something important, and now I can see your future."
Violet looked back towards the young girl. "Was I still here?" She questioned. Ruby looked down at her feet, "Yes." She admitted. Tears filled the corners of Violet's eyes threatening to spill out onto her cheeks. "But you looked happy," Ruby tried to salvage the situation, "and You were playing the piano."
Violet bit her lip and looked thoughtful for a moment, then she smiled weakly. "Well, that's something." She tried to sound positive. "I've always wanted to play the piano. I never thought I'd be able to, you have to press the pedals and what with my damaged leg I thought that maybe it would be impossible."
"What happened?" Asked George. "Did she do it to you?" The small boy felt anger ignite somewhere inside his stomach.
Violet looked off into the distance. She was quiet for so long that George thought she was never going to answer. Why had he asked? The memory was obviously very painful for her. Why had he insisted on bringing it up?
The librarian lifted her long skirt to just above her ankle. There was a very long and ugly scar that ran up the outside of her leg.
"I came to Slaven Castle as a tiny baby just like you did George. I have no idea who my real parents are either. Miss Grimm gave me her last name as nobody knew what my real one was. I hate it. She called me Violet because I was wrapped in a violet shawl when whoever gave birth to me dumped me on the doorsteps at Slaven. I was here the night that you arrived George, I was not much older then you are now. I came up to the infirmary to see you through the window. I had never seen a baby before and you were so cute."
George grinned. "I still am Miss." Ruby rolled her eyes.
Violet smiled and then continued. "One night, not long after you arrived George, I was woken up by the sound of crying. I followed the sound from my bunk on the fifth floor down the stairs. It was windy and at first I thought the noise was coming from the woods. I thought that maybe it was the wind whistling through the trees. It wasn't. On the second floor the noise got suddenly louder, I recognised it was the sound of a baby crying. The window on the landing was open. The noise was coming from outside. It was you George, all alone wrapped in a blanket. Someone had put you out onto the roof. The wind had picked up considerably. I Climbed out of the window and I picked you up. Your cheeks were bright red and you were absolutely freezing. I started to bring you back inside. The wind was blowing hard and I found it quite difficult to stay on my feet. I was almost back inside when my feet slipped on the tiles and I landed sideways. As I looked toward the window I saw her. She was partially hidden behind a pillar. Her eyes were two pinpoints glowing in the blackness. It was Grimm, she'd put you out onto the roof George. She was watching, waiting for you to blow off!"
Ruby gasped, she clasped a hand over her mouth and it was all that she could do not to be sick. George felt as though his legs had turned to jelly, he held onto a case of books for a moment to steady himself. The children did not think that anything the evil viper did at Slaven could shock them anymore but they had been wrong, neither child could believe what they were hearing.
"Give him to me, '' was all that she said to me as she walked to the window. I didn't want to hand you back but if I hadn't then we would both have fallen from the roof. I gave you back to the evil witch and she closed the window. I pleaded with her to let me back in but she just stood holding you and waiting. I don't know how long I managed to hold on for but eventually the inevitable happened. I lost my strength, a gust of wind blew into me and I fell. I landed on my left leg and snapped the bone in half. I would have stayed on the floor all night and probably bled to death, but the caretaker found me and took me to the hospital ward. I swear to god she was about to throw you out of the window after me at one point but he stood holding me up off the ground and staring at her until she retreated. I left not long after the "accident" it took six months for my leg to mend as well as it could after which I turned thirteen and I left the castle for good. In a way falling that night did me a favour. Having a limp meant that I was no good for working in the pit or at the mill. You have to be strong for those jobs. I was sent to the local accountant. He was looking for a junior clerk and because of my natural flair for mathematics I was chosen to work there."
"Was it nice outside of the castle Miss Gr......" Ruby almost used the librarian's terrible surname then thought better of it. The young woman winced. "Violet, Ruby, please call me Violet." Ruby nodded.
"Yes, it was nice." She continued, "The accountant who took me on was an old kind man called Mr Bromley. He and his wife had never had any children so I was taken in by them and loved as if I was their own. I was so happy for the six years I spent with them. I loved my job, I was well fed and I was given lovely clothes to wear."
"What happened Violet? Asked George. "Why did you not stay there?
Violet sighed, "The old man got sick. His wife and I continued as best as we could, She looked after him at home and I looked after his business, but when things got really bad Mrs Bromley had no choice but to sell the accountancy firm to pay the doctors bills. I was out of a job. I sent out my resume to all the accountancy firms I could think of in the area and I was accepted by a company in Buxton. I packed my things ready to leave their home. I'd managed to find modest lodgings and I was being paid enough to cover all of my expenses and send money back to Mrs Bromley to help towards the doctors fees. I could finally repay some of the kindness they had shown me over the years. Then she turned up." Violet clenched her fists and jaw. "Miss Grimm, waving a bill in the air, I'll never forget the smug look on her evil face. It turns out our education and living costs, although you can hardly call existing at slaven castle living, are added together over the years we spend here. Part of those costs are paid directly to the school by our employers from our wages when we leave. The problem is Miss Grimm charges interest and the money she receives barely covers that. It means we are in debt to her for the whole of our lives. There is no escape. We can be brought back here whenever she sees fit. That's what happened to me, and now I am doomed to work for her here at the castle for the rest of my life."
The atmosphere inside the room became sombre. The children felt too tired now to read the books they had so eagerly anticipated from their beds. George was overcome with gratitude. Tonight was the second time that Violet had saved him. Without thinking he hugged the drawn and tired woman. "Thank you for saving me Violet." He said. And in that instant looking at that megawatt smile Violet knew it had been worth it. "You're welcome George." She embraced the young boy.
The children left the library, using Ruby's powers they waited until the coast was clear before darting their way back to their room. "Do you know where we will go Ruby?" Asked George.
The small girl shook her head. "It mustn't have been decided yet."
George smiled a sad smile which barely turned the corners of his lips. " I can't end up in the pits. I can't stand the darkness, I think I'd rather be ...."
"DON'T!" Shouted Ruby louder than she had meant. "You will NEVER end up down there. Not ever, we will get out of here before that happens. I will protect you George I will never let them take you there. Now we've got to hurry. Bank is on her way."