Contains Spoilers!
This is Jack's point of view during the Scene in the chapter called Lacie.
I had made it at last. I was inside the Baskerville mansion. I had been close to being dragged out, but my interest in Lacie stopped them. All I knew is that I had made it further than many had thought I would. I wasn't in the same state as our last meeting. I wasn't a bag of bones in the alley way anymore. I had made it here finally. But my grin faded as the hooded figure began to speak.
"That's probably because he was only recently allowed to be seen in high society? Most don't know it, but he's the son of a mistress and spent his life with her in a backwater country town," the man said.
I froze. How could anyone know? I tried to cover up my tracks. I didn't want to be known by the me back then. I wanted to be known as the person I was now: rich, high class, happy, optimistic. That's who I had fabricated myself to be ever since I had lost her. "How do you know all that?" I asked on suffocating words.
"I did some research."
I swallowed. Through all the hard work I done to blow the wind over my foot prints in the snow, he had seen them. Who was he to foil it? Who was he to even consider digging something up that had long ago been buried in the earth?
"This is…" Glen began as he pulled down the mask of my antagonist. "This is my servant, Oswald, the brother of your beloved Lacie."
With the hood removed, I could see the handsome youth with coal black hair and violet eyes. I didn't know what surprised me most – that he was Lacie's brother or that he was the man I had been told about. I could recall the explanation of his features and who I was to look out for.
"Did we meet…at a ball or something?" I stuttered, hoping to cover up my surprise. I hid my tightened fist as I stared at him, my eyes wide from shock.
"No. My job is to keep watch on everyone of importance. This is the first time we've actually met."
I swallowed as I listened to Oswald and Glen talk. I really had no interest in there conversation and jokes. Glen was more curious about why his servant took interest in me while I was more worried that he could ruin everything. My thoughts ceased when I heard him pondering, "It's just since I first saw him I couldn't help wondering… Why does this man make my skin crawl?"
He couldn't know. How could he? My body was tense. I began to feel my stomach twist and turn, ending up in uncomfortable knots. I hated this man in front of me who was exposing the truth. I didn't look upset, merely shocked, and my body relaxed when Glen burst into laughter. It was my cover he was toying with and he didn't even show any sign of concern about it either. At first, I didn't understand his explanation of me being water, as he put it. Then… he went on and I saw he understood.
"Yes. Like a stretch of water so silent and still, even fish avoid it. When you look into it, the only thing you see is your own reflection. You can't see his true nature. Even though he's right in front of me… I can't shake the uncomfortable feeling that no one's actually there…"
In an instant, I snatched up my glass of water and tossed its contents in his face. I knew it was a mistake but all I could think was "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" as his head was drenched in water. I was here but my mind wasn't. I was still focused on the task at hand. Lacie had never been my only reason to get into this mansion. She was my motivation; she was my hope. She was far from a saint with her tainted black soul but somehow, just somehow her very existence allowed me to continue to put effort into my life. Then… I took the effort and put it into something else, but he couldn't know. I didn't want him to. No one could know!
I was surprised when I felt the small arm of a girl pull me away. I lost my balance as I was helplessly dragged out of the room. Was it the tension in the atmosphere? Was it that I felt safe with her? For some reason or another, I just burst into laughter. I would make sure that I would get the laugh last from now one. I won't be caught off guard again.