by Dakota Lake
“There better be something for me on that tray.” Kenzie joked.
We sat at the edge of the pool nibbling the assortment of snacks which was mainly fruit and cakes. I sipped on the freshly squeezed orange juice looking at the symbols on Kenzie's arms. He took the glass from my hand and finished the drink for me.
“Hey, I was still drinking that.”
“You were taking forever and I was thirsty.”
“Well I like to actually taste my food and drink and not just shovel it down.” I said reaching for the last strawberry. Kenzie's hand got there first and he threw it into the air with his mouth open but I pushed him over as it came back down. He missed it and it hit his shoulder and bounced into the pool.
We both laughed. “You can have it now, I don't want it anymore.” he laughed reaching over to get his cap. He pulled it down onto his head grinning at me.
“Kenzie what do some of these symbols mean?” I asked touching one of the tattoos on his arm. His arm felt cool to the touch, his temperature seemed to be running on whole other level compared to mine. He always felt cold when I touched him.
“Most of them are just random patterns.”
“That's not.” I said pointing to a small Darth Vader.
“No that's Star Wars.” He grinned.
“What about these?” I pointed at the strange markings.
“Those are symbols that my people use.”
“Your people. What are you from a tribe or something?” I asked curiously looking at his arm. “No, not a tribe.”
“What does this one mean?” I asked pointing to a weird pattern with spirals and a thin creepy looking hand appearing out the center of it. There was some strange unfamiliar writing underneath I couldn't even tell what language it was.
“It means collector of souls.”
“That sounds a bit dark.” I said.
He softly laughed. “My life is dark. It's no fairytale it's my purpose.” he said standing up. I may have not understood what he meant but I was sure he was being honest. A rare moment where he opened up about himself.
“Better get cleaned up before dinner.”
“Your vest.” I said pulling at it.
“It's okay, give it back to me some other time.” he said throwing his jeans over his shoulder and picking up his hi-tops.
“You're going to walk outside like that?” I asked.
“Yeah why not? The maids will love it.” He stuck his tongue out at me. “See you in a bit.” He had only just left the room when I saw his bracelets on the side. I jumped up and grabbed them hurrying into the corridor expecting to see him not too far ahead. But he was gone. Kenzie was no runner he hated physical activity. The image of him appearing and disappearing in front of the little girl from my dream/memory briefly crossed my mind. I didn't think Kenzie had run or walked back to his cottage, I think he'd used some other method of travel and I think he used that method a lot.
I went back to my bedroom, got showered and dressed putting on a different dress. A long white flowing dress, with swirl patterns across the top half and small cap sleeves. The fabric felt lighter which meant I felt ten times cooler and not a sticky mess.
I brushed my hair which nearly reached the lower part of back, it was in bad need of a trim. I found my sandals back where they were supposed to be, they looked cleaner than normal. Narmi had obviously had them. I slipped them on, much better than the hot riding boots.
I walked to dinner fifteen minutes early and spotted Senka outside the doors. He was leaning back against the wall looking at his cell. He didn't look up but a smile spread across his face as I walked closer. No doubt he knew it was me.
“Hey you,” he said.
“Hellooo, so are you joining us for dinner?” I joked, that was the most unlikely possibility. For a start I'd never seen Senka eat anything and secondly Cam only allowed certain ones to dine down here.
“You're back early.” I said.
“Yeah I wanted to get back and get cleaned up before your surprise.”
“What surprise?” I asked taking a step closer. I was still a little wary of him, still not sure if he'd taken my memories but all I wanted to do was move closer to him. He looked up from his cell and his eyes made their way from my head to my toes. I fidgeted on the spot and looked at the servant behind us but he was looking down the corridor. I had gone from feeling moderately comfortable to flustered in seconds, the affect Senka always had on me. I felt like my dress was constricting me and I couldn't breathe. I suddenly felt too hot as though I was going to burst just from Senka looking at me. He reached over and pulled me towards him and slipped his cell into his pocket. “What's wrong? You're acting different.”
“No I'm not. I'm fine, there's nothing wrong.”
“Hmm maybe we shouldn't.....” he trailed off.
“Shouldn't what?” I asked.
He looked at me and appeared to be deep in thought. His cell started buzzing.
“Now what?” he said sliding his cell back out his pocket. “Alex what do you want?” he said with the cell to his ear.
He kept his eyes on me and bought my hand up to his lips kissing the back of my fingers. I felt like we shouldn't be doing this in the middle of the corridor, it seemed wrong. The sort of thing we should keep behind closed doors but that didn't mean I was about to stop him. I'd made my mind up I would have to get back inside his head as soon as possible. Tonight seemed like a good as time as any. I needed to know. I really hoped I was wrong and Senka hadn't taken my memories. I didn't think I could bring myself to be with someone that would hurt me like that and thinking I would never find out about it. He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me even closer. He smelled more of smoke tonight, probably because he did smoke a lot but there was something else a damp earthy smell. He leaned down and kissed the side of my mouth, the cellphone still to his ear. “No not tonight, I'm busy.” he said to Alex.
He hung up and took my face in his hands and kissed me again, this time I couldn't help myself I wanted Senka a lot more than I realised. A lot more than I should right now.
I kissed him back, my hands making their way up his waist gripping onto his T-shirt, his tongue found its way into my mouth and I kissed him back with even more hunger.
“Ahem,” someone loudly cleared their throat behind us.
I quickly pulled Senka's hands away from my face and looked over my shoulder. Grayson stood next to Kenzie watching us, he didn't look impressed. I tried to move away from Senka but he'd somehow got his hand and cellphone tangled into the longer part of my hair.
“Sorry,” he said sounding a little flustered himself.
We finally managed to separate and I stepped away to put some distance between us. I didn't like the way Grayson was looking at us. Not that it was any of his business what Senka and I had been doing.
“Tut-tut,” Kenzie said, wagging his head at me. I knew he wasn't being serious from the huge grin on his face.
“Ahem,” Grayson started again.
I looked over him. What was wrong now? He was looking at Senka, I looked sideways at Senka as he quickly slipped his cellphone back into his pocket. I looked back at Grayson, wondering if he could have been any more obvious. Clearly I wasn't meant to know about cellphones. Senka had been a bit lax recently if he was meant to be hiding his cell from me. I don't think he was that bothered about hiding it from me anymore.
Grayson eyed me up and down as the servant opened the door for him.
“Mash potato, mash potato.” Kenzie said walking towards me.
I pulled his bracelets off my wrist. I had put them there for safe keeping so I wouldn't forget to give them back to him. I held them out for him, he took them and winked at me.
I turned back to look at Senka, the edge of his lip curved up into a smile. He walked behind me and moved my hair to the side and kissed me lightly on the side of my neck.
“Wait for me in your bedroom after you're finished with dinner.” he said quietly next to my ear. “Why?�
�� I whispered back.
“It's a surprise.” he said trailing his fingers down my arm as he left.
I sat in my usual seat during dinner, Grayson and Emmett sat on the other side of the table from me and Kenzie sat at his table and was joined by Ryu and Tallen.
Sausages and cheesy mash potato was severed. It now made sense to me why Kenzie was saying 'mash potato' over and over. He did love cheesy mash potato.
I looked over at the other table where Kenzie was. I so wished I was sitting over there. I looked back at Grayson who had a full mouthful, a piece of green vegetable hung out as he chewed. I looked over at Emmett who had randomly poured gravy from the gravy jug into his glass and was drinking it like a drink. He looked over at me.
“What? It's really good, don't want any to go to waste.” he said tipping the glass back. “I'm going to sit over there.” I said picking up my plate.
“Ruby stay where you are, that is your seat.” Grayson said quickly swallowing his mouthful. “Well why not? Cam's not here and personally I don't think it really matters where any of us sit and I want to sit over there.”
I pushed my chair in and a servant came over to me to take my plate.
“Don't, she sits there.” Grayson told the boy servant. The boy looked at me, then back at Grayson, than back at me.
“It's okay, I can carry my own plate.” I said walking through the archway to the other table. “Ruby, come back here this instant.” Grayson said louder.
“No, I want to sit over here. I'm not hurting anyone or doing anything illegal so I will sit where I want. I'm sure you will tell Cam and he can do what he wants to punish me or whatever when he gets back.” I pulled back the chair where Roman usually sat opposite Kenzie.
Ryu and Tallen continued eating quietly as Grayson threw his napkin on the table and stormed out. As soon as he was gone Kenzie burst out laughing, even Ryu showed a hint of a smile. “Ruby, you bad girl.” Kenzie said.
“Well I'd had enough of watching the food move around in his mouth.”
I looked back at Emmett he shrugged at me and went back to shovelling his dinner in his mouth. Kenzie turned to the chair next to him and picked something off the seat. He set it down on the table in front of me.
“I got bored waiting for the main course and made you a little friend. I thought he could keep you company for when I'm not around, you know until he goes bad or you eat him whichever comes first.”
Kenzie had taken a large potato and cut holes out for a face and stuffed various vegetables into it to create arms and legs, he'd even given it a hat made out of orange peelings but it was black so it looked like a top hat.
“Awww! He's adorable.” I said looking at the creative potato. Tallen snorted a laugh and Ryu just shook his head and carried on eating.
Chapter Seven
After dinner Kenzie left with Ryu and Tallen and I went back to my bedroom.
I opened my bedroom door surprised when I saw Senka already waiting for me, I thought he was going to come down later. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a black sweatshirt with a vicious looking dog on the front.
“What is that?” Senka asked looking at the potato man in my hand.
“That is my cute little potato man that Kenzie made for me.” I said putting it down on the table. “That thing will probably be shrivelled and dead in a few days. I thought he could have done a better job at finding you a pet.”
“Don't be mean,” I said patting the potato man on the head. “he can hear you.” I added smiling at Senka as I walked into the bathroom.
I didn't know what plans or ideas he had for us tonight but I wanted to make sure I didn't have any food in my teeth. As I brushed my teeth, Senka appeared in the mirror behind me. He leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed watching me in the mirror.
“You two are as weird as each other, I don't think there are many people that get Kenzie the way you do. It's good for him, he used to spend a lot of time on his own down here. He definitely smiles a lot more with you're around.”
“Hmm, maybe I just have that affect on people?” I said before spitting in the sink. I came back up from the sink and Senka had moved closer. I put my toothbrush back in the pot and he pushed himself up against me from behind, I held onto the sink so not to fall forward. He swept my hair to the side of my neck the way he had done earlier and I tilted my head to the side eagerly awaiting his kiss. His fingers brushed over my shoulder moving the top of my dress off my shoulder. He softly kissed my shoulder and worked his was up my neck, I had to hold onto the wall for support. He stopped at my ear and kissed me gently looking at me in the mirror. “So what's this surprise?” I asked trying to steady my breathing.
He slipped the top of my dress back onto my shoulder, took my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom and spun me around to face him.
“I need you to take your clothes off.” he said pulling at my dress.
“What?” I laughed. I can imagine I would have happily taken my clothes off for him if he asked nice enough.
“I need you to change into something else.”
“Um okay, what did you have in mind?” I asked. My eyes flickered to the bed before I could stop them. He softly laughed and looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Not what I had in mind but we can revisit that idea another time,” he said leading me into the closet. “Is there anything in here that isn't so so...” he pulled at the fabric of one of the dresses. “something that isn't like this, something maybe with legs?”
“You mean trousers?” I asked curiously. He nodded.
I looked around and shrugged. “This is it I'm afraid. Trust me I'd love some trousers, I hate wearing dresses. I have asked about it but apparently ladies don't wear trousers.” I said fidgeting in my dress.
“Well tonight I need you not to be in a dress, I need you looking more or less like me. Trousers, Tshirt and we can hide this under one of my hoodies,” he said gently tugging on my hair. “Why, what are we doing?” I asked.
Senka's eyes connected with mine and a playful smile appeared on his face.
“Tonight I'm breaking you out of here.”
“What?” I replied dumbly.
“I really thought you'd be more excited at the idea,” he said stepping back.
“What, no I am. But what about Cam? What if we get caught? I don't want you to get into trouble because of me.” I said speaking far to quickly it hardly made any sense.
“Ruby stop,” Senka said taking my hand trying to calm me down. “Cam's not here. It will be okay, no one will even notice you're gone. Emmett has gone upstairs and won't be back down for a while. Kenzie's gone out with Ryu and Tallen and Grayson has locked himself in his room. I already checked. You've got twenty minutes to decide. Jack and Rex will be waiting for us in the garage all we need to do is find you something to wear.”
“I don't want anyone to get into trouble...”
“No one is going to get into trouble and if anyone asks where you have been you can say you've been upstairs in my room.”
I thought about it for a few minutes. “Okay.” I said.
“Okay. Now we need to find you some clothes.”
“Why what's wrong with this? Where exactly are we going?”
“The dress is fine but the guards at the gate are going to be a little suspicious of a girl leaving the manor at this hour. The servant girls only travel during the day and usually only on market day. So I need you to be dressed like one of us.”
“One of you, you mean dressed like a boy?” I asked raising an eyebrow.
“It's just to get you out of the gates. Maybe you could wear something of mine, maybe we could roll some jeans up.”
“Are you kidding? I have seen how tiny your jeans are, even you struggle to get them on. I doubt I would even get one leg in and I have hips.” He scratched at his head. “I have a better idea, wait here.” I said leaving the closet.
I crept along the corridor hoping Senka was right about Emmet
t being up in his room. I opened the door and switched the lights on and weaved around the shelves to the back of the room. The trolley hadn't moved from where I'd last seen it and everything seemed to be in exactly the same places as I remembered. I doubt anyone had even been in here since then. I lifted the piles of fabrics to the side and searched for the clothes I had seen before. One by one I pulled out all the pieces of clothing and piled them up on the floor. I wrapped them over and over inside a piece of fabric so if the servants were looking it would look like I had a bundle of fabrics. I hurried back to my room and attempted opening the door but my hands were full and I ended up dropping everything. Senka opened the door looking down at me.
“I really don't think fifteen minutes is enough time to stitch together a whole new outfit.” “Shut up,” I laughed. “Move, before anyone sees.”
Senka squatted down and pulled one of the hi-tops out of the pile and looked at me. “Where did you get this?” he asked while picking up the bra in his other hand. He moved back and I pushed the rest of the clothes along the floor until the doorway was clear then I quickly closed it. “I found these a while ago in the sewing room. It's the weirdest thing they are all in my size.” I said watching him, waiting for him to give something away.
He looked at me and shrugged. “Well get dressed then.” he smiled sitting back on the bed. I picked up the clothes and grabbed the bra from him that he was dangling in the air. I went into the bathroom and quickly changed. When I came back out Senka was trying to figure out the Rubik cube.
“Wow!” he said looking at me. “Just one more thing,” he said jumping off the bed and grabbing a cap that was on a hook on the back of my bedroom door.
“Kenzie's I presume,” he said walking over to me and placing it on my head. He nodded in approval and took my hand.“Come on,” he said leading me out onto the balcony.
