This is just a bit of a filler chapter. Mostly just Anna-belle exploring more of the house and finding another of the 'staff'. The good stuff will be in next chapter and I'll get it up in a few days for y'all!

I walk around my huge room wearing a pair of jeans, ugg boots, and a plain purple tee. I wouldn't normally wear shoes indoors – mum hates that – but I feel like this would be the one place that I should. I brush out my long brown hair as I wander. The living space is a bit ridiculous. Although I absolutely love the window seat that looks out over the forest and mountains in the distance. Another couch sits behind a coffee table just in front of the window too. On the opposite side of the space is a study area. A huge wooden desk and swivel chair sat away from the bookshelf that covers the wall. The bookshelf is empty apart form a single dictionary. There is a lamp and nothing else, wait. Is that a laptop?

It is. A slick black laptop sits in the corner of the desk just under the lamp. Placing my brush on the desk I pick up the ridiculously light laptop. Why is this here? This must be Vlad's, otherwise one of the maids' or butlers. But they wouldn't leave it in here, so it must be Vlad's. Doesn't he have his own study space?

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. Placing the laptop carefully down, I answer my door. The man himself is standing in the doorway, looking exactly the same as yesterday, suit and all.

"Good morning, Anna-belle. Did you sleep well?" he asks politely.

I nod and hold up a finger, telling him to wait there. I can feel his gaze on my back as I walk back to the desk and pick up the laptop. I hold out the device to him to take. He raises an eyebrow at me, amused if his slight smirk says anything. I furrow my brows confused. Why isn't he taking his laptop?

"Anna-belle, why are you giving me this?" he finally says.

I just blink at him. Not knowing if he knows how to sign, I simply point to the laptop then to him.

"No dear. It's yours." At my wide eyed look he chuckled. "You'll be needing it for your studies."

I blink again and walk it back to the desk. Why would he just give me a laptop? At home we only had one computer between the four of us, and my parents had their own work laptops. Picking up the discarded hair brush I walk back to Vlad.

"I'm about to get some brunch if you would like to join," he says turning back into the hallway.

I skip to the bedside table where I had left my glasses and toss my brush onto my made bed. Using a hair tie on my wrist, I pull two bits of my hair back and tie it there as I fast walk to catch up with my uncle's form down the hall. I catch up quickly and stay a step behind him. We walk in silence to the same dining room from last night. I don't mind the quiet, and just occupy my mind with memorising all the different features of Vlad's house. The green and gold in the front hall stopped there. The rest of the place has dark blues in the rooms and maroon halls.

A plate of pancakes was waiting for me, while Vlad had a sandwich with multiple greens on the side.

"Would you like me to give you a tour?" Vlad asks me in the middle of the meal.

Occupied with the pancakes, I just shrug, not at all bothered if he shows me around. Whenever my brother and I went to a new place, we got to run around and explore to find our way.

"Well you should probably explore a bit at some point today then. Wouldn't want you to get lost in here. I have some paperwork to go through so I will be in my study until lunch. Do you think you can entertain yourself until then?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and just nodded. Seriously, I'm thirteen, not nine. I can do stuff for myself.

"Well, I'll be off then," he says once he finished his meal. He walks out of the room and leaves me to finish my meal alone. I quickly do so and pause for a minute. What do I do with the plates? We left them here last night too. I guess the butler or maid got them. But it doesn't feel right having other people clean up after me. I've always helped out around the house.

With that in mind, I stacked Vlad's and my plates together and walked through the small door with them balanced carefully in my arms. Pushing through the door with my back, I walk into a large kitchen. It's about the same size as my new room but only a single height. White tiles covered the floors and the exposed walls between all the stainless steel bench tops and appliances. If this reminded me of anything, it would be a restaurant kitchen.

A rather large man stood on the other side of the kitchen with his back to me, whistling away. He appeared to be cleaning dishes in the sink. Walking over to him quietly I place the dishes next to his pile and only then did he realise that I was there. He gave a startled yelp and dropped the glass that he was cleaning on the ground causing it to smash. I jumped back immediately from the danger. The chef's eyes seemed to glow red for a second, but changed to blue when he touched something on his side. He is pale just like the rest of the staff here and has cropped grey hair.

"Young Miss! I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you were here," he says in a typical grandfatherly voice.

Quickly signing sorry – bringing both fits up, one above the other, then switching them – crouching down, I start to pick up the bigger pieces being careful as not to cut my hands. The man walks off and brings back a dustpan and brush, picking up the smaller pieces. I dump the rest on the dustpan when he offers it up, and he walks over to the bin.

"All better," he says with a soft smile. "Now, did you want something more to eat?" I shake my head. "You know I could have gotten the plates."

I shrugged. "Well, this is what I'm hired to do, cook and clean for Mr Masters and now you." I slumped a little at that and he noticed. "But, you can always hang around if you wish. And just today you can help me dry off everything," he finishes by tossing me a hand towel that I easily caught and gave him a smile.

For the next ten minutes we washed and dried all the dishes. The cook hummed to himself the entire time. I was feeling a little guilty that I couldn't talk to him, and therefore didn't even know his name.

Getting his attention, I held out my left hand and pretended to write on it with my right hand. He turned to a draw next to him and pulled out a note pad and pencil. Taking them off him, I leaned on the bench and wrote out my message, 'What's your name?'

"Matthew, young miss. And you're Anna-belle, correct?"

I nod happily at finally knowing his name. It definitely suits him. And he is infinitely more approachable than my uncle. "Is there anything in particular that you would like me to make for lunch?"

'I think I'll be full for a while yet,' I write to him.

"Any snacks in that case then?"

'Cupcakes?' I write after a second to think.

He grins then says, "Would you like to help?"

I walked up to my room with a chocolate chip cupcake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles on a plate. I think these are the best cupcakes I have ever made! Matthew is the best cook too! He knows exactly what to do without even looking at a recipe.

I made it to my room before I took a huge bite of the still warm food. It melted in my mouth and in less than a minute it was gone. Leaving the plate on the desk, I switched it for the black laptop that my uncle gave to me. Sitting on the window seat in my room, I opened it up. It had absolutely nothing done to it, so I filled in all my preferences and waited it to completely set up, the wi-fi already linked to it I found. Once it did I went to IM and checked the time difference between here and Australia. Its 11am here, so it's about 2am there. Damn. I'll have to wait until this afternoon for Claire to get up. Sending her a quick message telling here that I'll be on again in a few hours, I shut off the computer and decide to go for a walk around the house/castle/mansion – whatever you want to call it.

I find that the castle I split up into two 'wings'. One side is the living space that seems to be frequently used, while the other is guest bedrooms and entertainment spaces. I found a theatre room, gym, indoor pool, twenty different guest rooms, music room (completely filled with different instruments), billiard room, ballroom, and multiple different storage cupboards. That's only touching the first two/three floors (there is an odd split level thing going on here). From what I can see there is another two levels higher up. I make it back to the grand entrance where the two sides split up. Making my way up the wooden stairs with an intricate hand rail, I decide to explore further down my hallway.

Directly across from my bedroom door is a huge library. My mouth gapes open at the two levels completely filled with books.

"No! There is no reason for him to..." I hear Vlad talking on his phone to someone. I easily slip out of the room without him noticing.

Further down the hall, there is another huge bedroom just like mine, only not made up. That was it for this side of the house. Although there seems to be a room on the other side of the hall, connected to the library. But there is no door. Is it just empty space?

Uh, idiot Anna-belle! The door is probably on the other side!

Walking around the other side, I see that it is almost identical to the other. A door leads to the library, I found Vlad's room (who even puts a fancy 'VM' on their door?), and a locked door. However the locked door didn't lead to the mysterious room. It is on the wrong wall to lead there. Hmm, I'll have to map this place out to work it out.

Making my way back to my room, I pass a grandfather clock that tells me it's time for lunch. Assuming that my uncle will be busy for a while, I make my own way to the kitchen. There I grab an apple, cupcake and a glass of water. Sitting up on a stool, I watch as Matthew makes Vlad's lunch, occasionally making conversation with me (well as best as we can that is).

Thank you to KarinMaaka07 and 629kat for favouriting! And to DannyFenton123, Onio, 629kat, and D love for following.

DannyFenton123: Haha I planned for that to happen so don't feel too bad!

MeMeLaLa: Thank you!

So yeah! Let me know what you think and I will see you next time!