"You?!" I blurted out, though I instantly chided myself within my mind for my poor manners. Though the outburst wasn't unwarranted, for there, looking at me with an air of amusement, was the young girl I had met in the Gardens Plaza the first day of my new employment. She was Lady Eizenstrauss.

I absent-mindedly touched the spot under my chin where she had once done the same.

She simply smiled that devilish little curved smile. I felt myself gulp involuntarily and approached wordlessly. As I did, she held up a dainty hand gloved up to the elbow in green silk and motioned towards a chair the opposite from her across a table.

I made sure to curtsy before her before this, an act which seemed to bring an approving smile to her thin pink lips, as well as a nod of acknowledgment as I took my seat.

"My, but you're so cute when you're flustered," she said, her eyes tracing my form. I felt my cheeks growing warm and I cleared my throat.

"Thank you for seeing me, your Ladyship." She wrinkled her nose at my use of the title, but said nothing, simply nodding again for me to continue. "I am sorry for disturbing your evening, but I had a question pertaining to one of the letters I am to deliver for you."

"Yes," she said, picking the very thing up from the table in front of her and looking at it. "I seem to have rushed this one and the address been damaged."

"I'm sure that my Lady has far more important matters that attend her mind. She need not apologize for a simple mistake such as this."

"Oh?" she said, her voice becoming somewhat pretentious and her eyes drifted to meet mine. After a moment, however, she relaxed and continued, "You are too kind, Miss Cleyne, and a far cry more lenient than I am. I shall see to it that you are rewarded adequately for your vigilant attention to detail."

"Ah, that is not necessary my Lady," I said, smiling sweetly, "I only wished to help y--" I said, my words catching in my throat. All the while I too had been studying her intently, and my eyes had settled on a curious silver bracer that she wore on her left arm, to which I realized at that moment was attached the other end of the silver chain that I'd nearly tripped over in the hall below.

She paused and looked at me, though by then I regained myself, pretending to clear my throat again.

"Apologies, I meant to say that I wish to make the most of my service to your Ladyship. She has been most gracious and forthright with my compensation, and I am merely looking out for her interests."

To this she arched a sharp, pointed brow, looking at me discerningly and then glancing at her servant, who stood behind me and out of view--or at least, I did not find it seemly to turn my eyes away from my hostess.

After a moment, she looked back at me and smiled, the upper lids of her eyes sinking slightly as she did so and slid the letter across the table to me.

"As you will, then, Miss Cleyne," she said with a tone of approval, then reaching for a silver tray that sat beside the chair and taking from it two cups and a decanter that smelt of a sticky sweetness. I did not refuse when she offered me a drink, and I inhaled the aroma with relish, instantly spotting the taste of honey swirled amongst fine tea.

"How fair your assignments?" she asked after we had both drunk a little. "I have been quite impressed with your diligence since you took over for..."

"For Mister Dobbs," I found the name for her, seeing that she was struggling to remember it. My friend had said he'd never met her in person, after all. I continued.

"I'm settling into the routine well. I have wanted for nothing beyond what conveniences my Lady has provided me."

She nodded, "That's wonderful to hear. I'm sure you will continue to impress me, which will, of course, be reflected in your stipend."

"My Lady is too kind," I said. She laughed a little through her nose and drank again, afterward placing the cup on the table before her. Though I had very little first-hand experience dealing with the nobility, I knew from my own studies in etiquette that this act was a sign that she wished to adjourn our meeting. I did the same and began to rise from my chair when the servant approached, bending down to take the cups and in one swift action spun on his heel. This caused the chain around his ankle to swirl back into view and I could not help my gaze from settling on its unnervingly silent form as it looped around itself like a coiling snake.

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When I regained myself, I looked back to Lady Eizenstrauss to find her watching me very intently. As our eyes met, I felt the color drain from me and simultaneously her mouth seemed to curve up into a victorious smile. I shrank a little. Pretending not to have noticed wouldn't help me now.

"How fascinating..." she said, her voice enamored and her words trailing off. She looked at me with a queer expression that seemed to me like awe, and before I was able to break away from her gaze, she lifted her arm and dangled the chain before my eyes.

I shuddered visibly at the noiseless object, and her melancholic thankfully broke the unrelenting silence.

"Can you...really see it?"

What a strange question. Of course I could see it, it was as plain as the nose on her face. I nodded, "Yes, I can. What is it?"

"Truly?" she pursued, though the question this time seemed rhetorical and she leaned back, cupping one elbow in her hand and bringing the other hand up to pinch her lip as she stared at me.

A form passed through the edge of my periphery, and I looked to see the butler crossing over to her side where he leaned down and began whispering into her ear. As I watched this take place, I looked from one to another, trying desperately to make sense of what was going on. When I began to trace their features, however, I began to grow aware of a pattern; the two nearly resembled one another, albeit a difference in age. Certainly, they must at least be related, though.

"I-- 'm sorry," I stuttered slightly, struggling to form a complete thought, "I don't seem to understand."

There was a pause and the servant rose, moving to the other side of his mistress's chair. My gaze remained locked with Lady Eizenstrauss's, however.

She continued, her voice now calm and collected, though laced with a hint of anticipation. "It seems that you are indeed a very gifted individual, after all, Miss Cleyne. Tell me, have you always been able to see things that others couldn't?"

I froze a little, though it was this time not out of confusion. No, this time, it was fear. A long-forgotten fear that I was all-too-familiar with.

"Miss Cleyne?" came Lady Eizenstrauss's voice again, now faintly showing impatience. This seemed to sober me a little.

"I..." the words seemed not to come. No one had ever addressed this aspect of my life so...directly. I had grown too accustomed to having to shelter such instances; to defend them from those who thought them merely childish fancies.

Lady Eizenstrauss's impatience seemed to wane a little upon observing my reaction, leaning back in her chair and putting on a smile that seemed to comprehend my distress. "Slowly, then. Tell me what you've seen."

I drew in a long breath. How to even begin?

"I've..always been able to see...things," I said reluctantly. "Sometimes it would be nothing but a shadow moving where none should or something flitting by my eyes so quickly I couldn't follow it. When I grew older I saw...other, stranger things. I once saw a bird with four eyes perched on the windowsill of my neighbor's second story window. I pointed it out to my father, but he saw nothing. That was the day before she..."

"A whippoorwill," she said knowingly. I glanced at her and noticed she was looking at me still, though with a glazed and thoughtful look. "They say that they are the messengers of one's demise."

I felt a graveness take hold of me. "She...died two days later. I spent much of my life putting it out of my mind. Nothing good ever came of it."

"And now this," she said, taking hold of the chain and curling it through her fingers.

"Is that...not real?"

"It is," she said. I felt a sigh of relief escape my lips. "But it also isn't."

"What do you mean?" I asked plaintively, now more confused than ever. "How can it be both?"

"Because I made it so." This seemed to be going nowhere, and I slowly felt myself beginning to lose my patience with this cryptic being.

She smiled again, this time in a way that felt sympathetic. "Tell me, Miss Cleyne, you are...what? Twenty-five? Thirty?"

"Twenty-seven last winter," I remarked, still a bit incredulous.

She nodded a couple of times, and then looked up at me again, "Then, you would recognize that man, would you not?"

A pale finger pointed behind me, and I turned to look, at once beholding a large portrait of a man who did indeed look vaguely familiar. He had a sharp and regal countenance, piercing brown eyes, and a dreamy smile that seemed to sing of wit and charm. It was difficult to forget a face and a figure like that.

"The Cardinal Killer," I said, still gazing at the picture. "I remember attending his execution seven years ago. It was the first time I'd ever seen one done publicly, as well the last time I should hope."

I heard a huff issue forth from behind me and I turned to see that Lady Eizenstrauss's face had turned a shade of scarlet, though she said nothing, and merely squeezed her delicate hands together and let out a breath.

After a moment, she nodded, "Yes. Look again."

I was confused, but I did as I was bidden, carefully examining the portrait again until my eyes settled upon a small golden placard at its base. I squinted to read it and drew a sharp breath. Einen Eizenstrauss, Age 31. The Cardinal Killer was Lady Eizenstrauss's relation?

A shape passed before my gaze and I looked up to see that the servant had come to stand before the picture, his back to me. I was about to politely ask him to move when I heard a sigh echo from his lips, and then he turned to face me.

I was caught then, as if in a trace, and when I finally broke free, I gasped and nearly fell out of the chair. The man before me and the man in the portrait...were the same man! He was paler now, and thinner and his features seemed slightly sunken, but when the very same leering smile twisted on to his lips, I shuddered.

"But...that can't be!" I said in both awe and fear, "You--...you're--?!"

"Dead?" he finished what I could not, his hollow voice ringing in my mind like a bell toll. "Why...yes, I am."