Chapter Fourteen: Disgust

Our conversation continued aimlessly after that, and we only left the room when we noticed the light from the window getting dimmer—the sun was setting already.

Jared stood in the doorway of the girls’ room and waved jauntily as I slid into my bed, which was right next to Kaliyan’s. “Get a good night’s sleep,” he advised. “You’ll most likely need it tomorrow—they always work you hardest in the beginning.”

“Thanks for the good news,” I muttered; he laughed and quietly closed the door. I stared up at the ceiling for a while, thinking about the people, the situation, being a maid, and basically my day in general before falling suddenly into a relatively deep and dreamless sleep.
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When I awoke, I noticed that there was a neatly folded dress at the edge of my bed. I grimaced—having been a tomboy all my life, I hated dresses or skirts of any kind—and lifted it into the air.

It was even worse than I’d first imagined.

With puffy sleeves and a slightly ruffled skirt that came to about an inch above where my knee would be, it was my worst nightmare, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that its trim was a light pink color; there was also a pink breast-piece. But, of course, I would probably get in trouble if I didn’t wear it—according to Chaska’s lie on the first day—so I reluctantly slipped it over my head.

Just as I had tied the matching pink bow into my ponytail, there was a knock on the door. “You can come in,” I said, having realized that no one else was there but Kaliyan, who was still fast asleep.

The door swung open to reveal a girl that couldn’t have been much older than me; she was possibly 17 or 18. She donned the same dress as I was, but her trim was a light powder blue instead of pink. “I’m Christine, and I’ll be your trainer today. You’ll be learning the general duties of a household maid, and be assigned to either a wing, room, area, or a specific person or group of people.”

Kaliyan chose that moment to sit up and rub her eyes blearily; Christine glanced over at her, sending her long black ponytail swinging into my face. While I made a grossed-out face, Kaliyan was sent into the storage room to change. Christine did not look happy.

“Wake up on time, please, and have your uniform on, teeth and hair brushed, hair in either a bun or a ponytail, and shoes and socks on and fastened,” she instructed, pointing to a pair of flat Mary Janes that was at the foot of my bed. I quickly sat and pulled them on.

Christine, when Kaliyan had emerged in her uniform, proceeded to lead each of us to a separate large room, and told us to dust, sweep, polish, etc., all of the surfaces and leave the room spotless. I went as quickly as I could, trying to ignore the fact that I was wearing a freaking dress, and when I finished, I went outside to see Christine waiting for me.

Looking slightly surprised and a little suspicious, she headed into my room and performed the white glove test on—I swear—every item in there. Finally, when she was satisfied, she nodded curtly and told me to wait in the hallway until Kaliyan was done, which only took about a minute.

“Please tell me someone’s going to save us soon,” Kaliyan muttered under her breath as we went from those rooms to what seemed to be an office. “I couldn’t stand being a maid.”

I shook my head. “I can’t stand these dresses.”

“Of course you can’t. You’ve always hated dresses, even the really cute ones. You always swore you were going to wear pants to prom, although I still don’t believe you.”

Rolling my eyes, I watched as Christine walked up to the desk and began speaking to the woman behind it in rapid Portuguese. The lady, after checking a file, nodded briskly, and said a name that sent a rack of fear down my spine: Zane, then a last name I’d never heard before: Faulkenrath.

“Sounds like him,” I mumbled to Kaliyan, careful to keep my voice very low. “It sounds dark and dangerous and disgusting.”

Kaliyan frowned. “I still don’t know who he is.”

Just as I opened my mouth to answer, Christine turned back towards us and said, in an authoritative voice, “Emily, you will be with Zane Faulkenrath; Kaliyan, you will be attending to the southwest hallway and its residents. Mr. Faulkenrath can be found in his quarters at the end of the northeast hallway. Your shifts begin in 5 minutes, and end 3 hours after they begin. You are dismissed.”

My best friend and I exchanged a glance, then walked out the door and in our separate directions—no doubt that was on purpose, as well as my assignment to Zane.

Why did I have to end up with him, of all people? I wondered as I made my way to his living quarters. I’ll be serving Zane. I’ll have to do whatever he says, or I’ll get into huge trouble, I then added miserably. This will definitely be horrible.

I knocked on the door with “Faulkenrath” written on it, hoping against hope that it was the wrong one—surely enough, though, it was Zane who answered the door, with his trademark leer. “You’re early,” he commented. “Are you really that excited to see me?”

“Hardly,” I replied, my tone curt.

Zane shook his finger at me, and said, “Now, now, don’t be that way. I’m your new boss, you know. You have to do whatever I want, or my boss will beat you up. Now, I know you want to be fired, so I’ve made it very clear that that’s not to happen—you’ll remain my maid until I say otherwise.”

He paused for a moment and tapped his chin, seemingly thinking hard, then said hurriedly, “I’m sorry, I almost forgot: these are my living quarters, which are also yours for the next few weeks. I’ve arranged your full-time stay here. Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah, it’s fantastic,” I said sarcastically.

Zane grinned. “Well, please allow me to show you around,” he requested, then grabbed my arm and tugged me inside, closing the door swiftly behind me.

And, of course, I could hardly miss the telltale click that followed.