Well, the first day of school ended up being pretty boring. The other teachers were not as generous as my first one, so I wasn’t able to talk to many people. The subjects themselves were pretty boring as well, all except history. I figured out quickly that history would be the only interesting class I would have that year, well unless I had some hidden magical capabilities, then I would join a class “relating to proper use of magic and regulations of it”, whatever that meant. I also learned that the aptitude test that Aubrey was talking about would happen next week during the one hour period we currently had unassigned in our schedules at the end.

Despite all that, I still found school to be pretty fun actually. Like I said, the classes were boring, but I was growing very fond of Mei. I spent over half of my day with her, well next to her at least, she wasn’t the type to respond to my teasing in the middle of class. I even managed to get her to eat lunch with Aubrey and Erica as well. At first she seemed very reluctant to join them, but she warmed up to the idea, well she probably just wanted me to shut up but same result either way.

Now I was sitting in my room alone, waiting until I felt tired enough to go asleep. I was given very little schoolwork to do. I still skimmed through the first chapter of the history textbook we were given. I realized how weak I was after getting through a few classes when I could barely carry my bag around anymore. I started putting my textbooks in my locker, but even just walking to my locker and then my next class was taxing on my body. My body was skin and bones and it felt like I had no energy.

That was another thing, it almost felt like I was imprisoned in my room, or rather the building I was in. Despite having a makeshift kitchen, when I asked Alice when I was eating dinner, she said that we would eat when my father called for me. That’s the thing though, he never did. All I had eaten was a light salad and bread for lunch at school. I felt like I was starving, well not felt like it, I was starving. Alice had brought me bread an hour ago, but it was just one measly roll. When she came I asked her if we could take a walk outside, I wanted to at least see more of the property, I wanted to walk by the stream I had seen earlier. She just told me that it would be dangerous for me. When I insisted she looked taken aback, and told me that she would try and convince my father. I wanted to come out and ask her if my father hated me, it started to feel like I was a princess trapped in a tower. I didn’t ask though, part of me was scared to hear the answer. I was starting to appreciate the parents I had in my previous life.

Anyways now you're all caught up!

What to do, what to do… part of me wants to go outside anyways. I learned that Alice lived in the room across from me, but I also learned that she went to bed early as she wished me goodnight when she left my room.

Well, I don’t want to get her in trouble. She seemed like she was responsible for me, weirdly enough I think it was by her choice too. Apparently she’s a very talented mage, and at such a young age there’s no doubt that she could live somewhere else if she chose too. It didn’t even seem like my father particularly liked her either, so I don’t know why he kept her around.

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I guess I’ll settle for exploring the building a bit more then, and hope that I get permission to leave it soon.

I opened the door gingerly and poked my head outside it. It was quite dark, only illuminated by the candles placed sparingly down the hallway. I stepped quietly over to Alice’s door and listened for any sound.

I waited for what felt like a few minutes, breathing as quietly as I could. I heard nothing in response. I stepped softly away from her door and turned my head to face the empty hallway and began my midnight excursion.

There was no sound, and my footsteps were barely audible on the red carpet that spanned the hallway. I felt like I was in a horror movie, like any second a ghostly hand would reach out from behind me and place its hand on my shoulder.

My objective was simple; get to the other side of the hallway and see what the other two doors at the end were. I wanted to familiarize myself with where I lived at least. When I got to the midpoint of the hallway I glanced over the staircase that led downstairs. To my surprise, it wasn’t dark like I had expected, it was dimly lit.

I couldn’t see anyone downstairs though, I wondered why the lights might be on. I stepped down the stairs one at a time, as slowly as I could. It didn’t take long to get to the bottom. The stairs themselves were placed in the middle of the room, and led directly to the second floor. Now that I think about it, they were a bit weird, why put stairs directly in the middle of the room. Different world, different idea of design I guess.

Anyways I stepped into the middle of the first floor and looked around, I still couldn’t see anyone. At this point I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad. I looked aimlessly around for a few seconds before setting my eyes on one of the doors that piqued my interest earlier. It was the only part of the first floor that wasn’t out in the open, even the bathroom just had a curtain that I assume you would sling shut when you were occupying it.

This door, or should I say room, was in the right corner of the back of the building. It was small, not unlike the size of a bedroom. I walked over to it, excitement starting to build in my stomach. I held my ear up to the door, listening for any sign of life. There was none, no snoring, no hushed voices.

Gingerly I tried the handle, and to my surprise it turned fully, opening the door. The room was dark, only illuminated by the small amount of light leaking in from the main room. There were two white bunk beds, and three of the four beds were taken, two women and one man, the women bunked together.

I held in my surprise, careful not to make any noise. How absolutely stupid of me, this must be the room where the other servants slept. Calling them servants feels wrong, so I’ll call them staff from now on.

I guess they all were very quiet sleepers. I shut the door as quickly as I could while keeping the sound to a minimum.

The door finished with a click and I stepped a few feet back. I was sweating. Wait why was i even that worried, I really wasn’t doing anything terrible, was I?

I let out a breath that I was holding in during the whole ordeal.

“Emily?” I basically jumped out of my clothes. The voice scared me so bad.

It came from behind me.

I didn’t know this voice. It wasn’t Alice, and it wasn’t my father. I turned around to face whoever it was, panic rising in me.