For a few moments I felt as if I were swimming through a heavy, sluggish liquid. Eventually my head broke the surface and I opened my eyes to blearily look about me. Some way or another, it appeared I had gotten myself tangled up in my sheets and fallen out of bed. Mrs. Heliotrope was looking down at me disapprovingly, I could nearly taste the lecture she was about to give me on 'unladylike behaviour' and 'making a fool of oneself.'
But she surprised me by leaning down and helping me to my feet.
'Are you quite alright my dear?' She enquired anxiously.
I looked at her in confusion.
"I'm fine Mrs. Heliotrope, I assure you that I have fallen out of bed before." I broke off with a yawn and stretched my arms high above my head.
She pursed her lips and raised an accusatory eyebrow.
"Yes, Maria I am well aware of your, well, aptitude for leaving your bed in various fashions over the course of the night." She was obviously remembering the time back in London that I had, quite unintentionally, managed to knock a priceless vase off of my bedside table, waking the entire household and putting a large dent in the floor.
"But I was in fact, enquiring to why you were screaming blue murder and writhing about like a mad thing, most unlady like!"Aha! There it was. "What on earth were you dreaming about dear?" She surveyed me over the end of her hooked nose, a worried line appearing between her brows.
I bit my lip and cast my mind back trying to remember what I had been dreaming about. There was something about a wood and a lion, but other than that my memory was quite blank. The harder I tried to bring the images back into my head, the deeper they slid. Oh well, never mind. It must not have been that important. I let the last images slip from my brain.
"I can't recall what the dream was about I'm afraid, but I am perfectly alright now, see?" To prove my point I gave her a twirl and a grin.
She still looked unconvinced so I smiled at her and took her hand between mine.
"Really Mrs. Heliotrope, there is nothing wrong. It must have been a silly nightmare."
Finally she smiled back at me and visibly relaxed. She bustled over to the tiny door set low in the wall and preceded to squeeze her way through. Suddenly she paused and looked back.
"Do hurry up and change Maria, we have lessons this morning. I feel your French has been slipping again."
I felt my face twist into a look of great distaste. In my opinion there is nothing in the world more tedious and loathsome than French literature.
"Don't scowl like that, it's ever so unladylike." She scolded before closing my door and trotting off down the stairs.
I'll give you unladylike. I thought grumpily.
I had wanted to go for a ride this morning out on the moor, it had been such a long time since I had seen periwinkle properly and I felt horrible to neglect the loving little pony.
Oh well, I should probably get ready or my tutor would most likely ban me from going riding this afternoon too. If I didn't have such a large amount of affection for Mrs. Heliotrope I would probably be annoyed by the amount of control she had over my life.
Slowly and sluggishly I stumbled over to my chest in search of a suitable dress. For some reason that escaped me entirely, my tutor insisted that I wear the very latest fashions for my lessons. It was one of the many points on which we had varying opinions. I would prefer to wear something comfortable and a little roomy as I find it much more bearable than being crushed into a corset and being unable to sit properly because of my hoops. It was intolerable. But as I said before, if I didn't do as she told me then she went to uncle and took away my freedom privileges.
Although I was probably being too hard on her, she was a lovely woman really and she obviously cared for me greatly. But anyone who wakes me up in the morning runs the risk of evoking my wrath.
I remember one day when Loveday had come through her little secret passage to wake me up earlier than usual. I growled at her so savagely she thought that Wrolf was hidden under my bed and had turned rabid. She fled the room in a panic and woke the entire household with her screams.
After rummaging for a little longer I pulled out a short sleeved dress in a deep forest green. It took me about ten minutes to pull it over my head as I was still half asleep and my body was refusing to obey about half of my commands.
After layering myself up with petticoats and hoops I walked over to the mirror to see the effect. A plain and rather elfin face looked tiredly back at me, delicate little features that seemed mismatched to me. I sighed, it was best not to ponder my appearance too much. It was not exactly my best asset.
My hair was rather unpredictable at the moment. It had grown out alot in the last two years and now it hung in curls halfway down my back, though it did insist on bulging out at random points that made me look vaguely like I had been dragged through a bush backwards. I attacked it with my brush and eventually made it calm down enough to plait it down my shoulder.
Yawning still and hoping that no one would notice the bags under my eyes, I wondered out of my tiny door and down the stairs to the great hall. Wrolf looked up at me from the hearth and rumbled his welcome, his liquid eyes smiling at me lazily. I walked quickly over to him and pulled him to my chest, pressing my face into his tawny mane. In return he nuzzled my stomach and made me laugh.
After a few moments more of rubbing Wrolfs belly I walked slowly into the dining room. Loveday was seated at the head of the table and as I entered she stood up and gave me her dazzling smile. It was incredible that I had lived around this woman for nearly two years and yet she still surprised me by how much life she had inside her. Being around Loveday was like watching the sun rise over and over, yet we never got bored by it. I had never once seen her lose her temper or become agitated by anything since her and Uncle had been reunited. She was truly an amazing woman.
She rushed over to me and enveloped me in a hug. I was overrun with the smell of geraniums and freshly cut grass.
"Maria! Isn't it such a lovely morning?" She beamed down at me
"Yes, it's lovely," I replied, weakly grinning back and looking out of the full length window onto the moor that stretched away out of sight. It was indeed a particularly nice morning, the early summer sun hung already high in the sky and the soft grass swayed slightly in a soft breeze. What a wonderful morning to ride on, I thought glumly.
"Shame that you will be spending it grinding away at the mill stone that is education, eh?" Uncle Benjamin called from behind his newspaper, reading my expression correctly. He folded back the page for a moment and sent me a wink.
I cringed.
"Ugh, don't remind me. Please." I groaned.
They both laughed, being perfectly used to my 'morning moods'.
I grinned back at him, since Loveday had re-entered his life he was a completely changed man. He could even be caught singing in the hallways from time to time, startling Digweed so much that the poor man nearly faints.
Walking around the table so I could be seated next to Loveday, I admired the faded painting that hung on the far wall. It depicted two animals running side by side in a joyous manner, A small white horse and a great tawny Lion.
The faded inscription below read "The brave soul and the pure spirit shall with a merry and a loving heart inherit the kingdom together." *
I did not altogether understand the words carved so elegantly into the wood, but they made me feel safe whenever I read them. Looking closer at the animals frolicking happily through the forest I had the strangest feeling. A flicker of Déjà Vu.
I didn't stop to ponder over the painting for much longer though as the scent on Marmaduke's food was wafting gently towards me and my mouth started watering. Mrs. Heliotrope had made the comment to Loveday a few times how strange it was that no matter how much of the small chefs excellent cooking disappeared into my mouth, my waistline stayed slim and willowy.
Unfortunately, It was not only my waist that refused to change. I had barely grown since I had come to Moonacre, a most irritating fact that was pointed out to me on time and time again by my closest, and annoyingly tall, friend Robin De Noir. My tiny stature was a matter of absolute delight to him, and he never missed an opportunity to point out just how small I was compared to various objects. However this habit had become less commonplace since the last time he teased me for not being able to reach the top shelf and I threw Marmaduke's best saucepan at his head. Luckily for him it missed but unluckily for me it continued on to fly through the far window with an almighty smash.
I thought about the expression on his face when he saw the pan hurtling towards him and smiled into my porridge. I had personally made sure to inform all his friends who, just as I had expected they would, teased him mercilessly until he threatened to remove their tongues with his dagger.
Loveday was talking to Uncle about a dinner party that she was planning for later on in the week. Apparently it was the Coeur De Noir's birthday and since Marmaduke's food was of a far better quality than that available at the De Noir castle, she had invited the entire household over for supper.
This caught my attention. Did that mean that Robin was back from his trip with his friends into the nearest town? He had been gone for nearly a week and I found myself growing restless and bored in his absence. Obviously, I would never admit it to him but I think I missed his arrogant, snarky comments and his ability to make everything into a joke and fun. I even missed his ridiculous bowler hat that was permanently jammed onto his head.
I glanced at the clock and excused myself from the table; I wasn't going to be late for my lessons again.
I made my way through the house to the parlour that looked over the blooming rose garden, Mrs. Heliotrope was sitting at the desk drinking delicately from a china cup while she conversed quietly with Digweed. I stopped at the door and smiled, they really were a lovely couple. Suddenly he leant down and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek, she blushed and giggled like a school girl. I felt as if I were intruding on this private scene so I slowly moved away from the door but the rustling of my dress caught my tutor's ears. She turned towards me and blushed deeply, her entire face turning red, Digweed did the same. I grinned at both of them and went over to wish him a good morning.
Lessons were not as bad as I had anticipated, they passed uneventfully and I read aloud more fluently than I had in a while. Mrs. Heliotrope was pleased and ,sensing my restless mood, she let me have the afternoon off, but told me to change first so I wouldn't to ruin my new dress. I grinned and treated her to a quick embrace. She looked shocked but happy as I turned tail and ran from the room.
I ran up the steps to my tower room and gleefully threw on my dusty old riding habit, removing the corset and hoops as quickly as I could. Thankful that I could once again breathe and move without restrictions.
On the way back down I stopped by the cloakroom to fetch my crop, then rushed outside to the stable block only to see Periwinkles head barely reaching over her box door. She whickered excitedly as I walked towards her. I scratched her soft nose and bent down to open the bolts.
Swinging back the door I walked inside and flung my arms around her velvet neck. She nickered happily to me, then once I had released her started nosing my pockets rabidly for sugar. I laughed as she located it hidden up my sleeve and started nibbling her way up the material, determined to get her treat.
When I pulled out the treat however, she stomped backwards with her ears flat against her skull and her eyes rolling angrily. The other horses in the stable yard were bellowing their disapproval of something. I was confused, what could have upset them like that? Slowly I crept out of Periwinkles stable, swinging the door shut behind me and bolting it. The other horses were in uproar, Atlas was throwing his head around and pounding on his half door, Dobbs was Gnawing at the bolt in his door trying to escape and the other two were charging around their boxes like horses possessed.
I turned around slowly to try and see what was upsetting the animals so badly, expecting a wolf or a dog. But other than me, there was nothing in sight. I tried as hard as I could to listen for any tell tale noises but I couldn't hear anything over the beat that Atlas was pounding on his half door.
I took a tentative step towards the path back up the manor, just in case I needed to fetch help. But then I caught myself. I was a Merryweather for goodness sake, we did not ask for help. Turning back, I strode to the centre of the yard and climbed onto the mounting block.
"Show yourself, coward!" I cried.
There was a crunch as someone, or something, landed on gravel behind me.. I spun round to face my enemy and paused, first gobsmacked, then confused and finally furious.
"Hello there, Princess," A familiar voice drawled. "Miss me?"