Free Hidden (Hidden Series Book One) by M. Lathan Page A

to his back and panted. It was so
cute that I had no choice but to smile.
     
     
     

Chapter Five
    For some reason, Sophia thought I wouldn’t
notice the strong smell of lemons wafting out of the bathroom at
7:30 in the morning. Or maybe that was her plan to keep me from
sleeping the day away. After fetch, I’d read an article about
depression. I had to stay out of bed during the day and find
something interesting to do instead. Maybe I’d take up art again. I
only stopped because I convinced myself that I was too evil to
enjoy something.
    I dodged a broom in the bathroom doorway
tossing back and forth on its own as she stacked fresh towels in
the cabinet.
    “Morning, dear,” she said. “I hope I’m not
too loud in here.”
    “It’s fine.”
    “I’m sorry it’s so early, but I wanted to
make sure I finished your room and made you breakfast before I went
to work.” A dustpan moved to the broom and it swept the little dirt
it had gathered inside.
    “I thought this was your job. Helping us,” I
said.
    “That is more of a calling. I have a real
job. One that pays human money that allows me to live in this human
world,” she said, chuckling.
    “What do you do?”
    She pointed to the broom and the sponge in
the shower I hadn’t seen moving. “This. I’m a maid. I’ll be gone
most of the day, but I can come back for lunch if you want me to be
here to get your food for you.”
    I shook my head. “I can do that. And I can
clean my own room too, Sophia. You don’t have to be my maid.”
    “Nonsense. I want to be, but if you say you
can handle lunch on your own, I’ll trust you to eat enough.” I
nodded, hearing and understanding the concern in her voice. I also
needed to eat more if I wanted to stop being nuts. “And remember
the four hours of schoolwork. The rest of the day is up to you, in
the house of course.”
    My heart throbbed, thinking of Lydia Shaw
out there searching for me. I had the sudden urge to ask if we
could nail the doors and windows shut.
    She picked up the sweaty clothes I’d left on
the floor last night after playing with Nathan and threw them in
the hamper.
    “Didn’t you say something about chores?” I
asked.
    “You have schoolwork. They have chores.” She
sprayed the flowery air freshener in a rainbow above us and
gathered her cleaning supplies. “Have a good day. Call me if you
need anything.”
    She vanished before I could ask if they knew
I had maid service. I didn’t want to be an outcast here, so I
didn’t want them to know that I’d technically paid the hunter to
free them. I probably wouldn’t make friends, but I didn’t want any
enemies.
    She’d made me sweet oatmeal and left it on
the table in the sitting room. I took it downstairs so the bed
wouldn’t tempt me. I tapped my foot on the stool as I ate in the
quiet kitchen, reminding myself to move, to be alive like I was
last night. After, I went out into the yard to see it in the
light.
    The kitchen opened to an outdoor patio that
I didn’t notice as I played fetch. Everything was so green here. I
guessed the plants had no choice but to be healthy with all this
water in the air.
    “It’s really beautiful,” I said, trying out
positivity like the article said, hoping it would foster positive
feelings.
    The words felt wrong and weird on my tongue,
but I needed to try something. Obviously what I had been doing,
which was absolutely nothing as I wilted, wasn’t the right way to
go.
    The house was antique, but timeless.
Classic. The back yard was more than a back yard. It needed a
better title, like resort. “Wow,” I said, when I saw the pool. It
was more narrow than it was wide and had fountains on the ends. The
bottom was tiled. The tiny pieces came together to form a beautiful
white flower.
    I wondered what kind it was. After a moment,
I knew, even though I didn’t know a thing about flowers, that it
was a magnolia. For the first time, I didn’t want to apologize to
God for a slip. I didn’t plan to