Free Midnight's Song by Keely Victoria Page A

the servants’ quarters.”
    I nodded in silent
agreement. I surely didn’t want Emily to get in trouble by any
means either; so we quickly scampered away. On our way out, she led
me up several hidden walkways and stairwells that seemed to be for
the servants exclusively. They certainly weren’t as lavish as those
meant for the Devereauxs – that was for sure. But, they were vast
and cavernous.
    Though I was now shrouded by the
protection of being in a place where a Devereaux would not dare go;
Emily still took care – and perhaps even pleasure – in showing me
through the most secret of the passages. As she smuggled me back to
my room in this way; I found myself getting a grander “tour,” of
the manor than Wren could ever have given me.
    “You wouldn’t
believe how far these passages go,” Emily told me in a whisper,
guiding me through a dreary hallway by candlelight. “The Devereaux
Manor is hundreds of years old. There used to be tunnels – even
living spaces for the servants and workers – that spanned for miles
underground. Some say that the tunnels are still there,” she
explained. A clever smile rolled across her expression. “Some even
say that the deepest parts of the tunnels contain doors to another
world .”
    I grinned. We’d both grown up with the
same stories. Whether they were true or not, it pleased me to know
that the others had shared in them the same way. Hearing them again
and again like this gave me a strange taste of home.
    We neared a door that led back into
the main hallway. Emily quickly pulled a key from her apron and
motioned for me to follow behind. My room was in the next hallway,
she said, but there was no door leading straight from here to
there. Beeti’s chambers were the first we’d have to pass, so it was
imperative we got by without making a sound. At first, we crept
through the hall without a single hitch. But, once we reached the
end of the hallway Beeti’s doorknob began to noisily
twist.
    “ RUN!” Emily mouthed, taking my hand
and bolting. We could hear thudding far behind us, Beeti’s shrill
voice muttering unmentionable words and sounds. Before she could
even spot us, we found the door to my room. Emily quickly jabbed
the key into the lock, turned it and shoved me through the door. We
leaned against it breathlessly, waiting for the grumbling woman to
leave.
    Beeti paced around the hallway for a
few seconds, mumbling a few curses and speculative words. Then, she
left. Emily and I looked at each other in triumph. We’d been too
quick for her prying eyes, too crafty to be spotted. If Beeti was
going to accuse us of something, she certainly couldn’t now! We had
actually done it – it seemed – we had outsmarted the perfumed
monster that came preying from her chambers.
    After a minute or
two in silence, Emily and I exchanged glances and fell into intense
laughter. I couldn’t believe it! For the first time in so many
months, I was genuinely laughing. It’d be so long since I’d felt such
joy. I fell on my bed in hysterics, reliving the last few moments
of our adventure.
    “Did you hear her grumbling?” I
laughed, “She sounded like an angry rhinoceros!”
    “Oh I know!” Emily exclaimed, falling
against the wall herself, “Elissa, you know how to make me feel
like a young girl,” she then quieted. The moment suddenly took on a
more sober tone. “Like the young girl I could’ve never
been.”
    There was a long pause. I could see
her pain. I understood it.
    “How old are you?” I
suddenly spoke up in curiosity.
    “I’m 19, but almost 20 now.” She
softly replied.
    In that moment, she
suddenly realized what she was doing – I suppose – because she
picked herself up and carried on as if she felt she needed to shove
the last few emotional moments we had shared into a bottle. She
seemed to be disappointed now – even embarrassed. Emily hovered
over my bed, throwing a nightgown at me in an attempt to
compensate. “You should get dressed now,