As soon as I thought it was enough time for Alois to get out of his sweaty attire and into the water, I silently, with amazing ninja-like skills, starting going upstairs to the room where Claude and Alois were.

"If I may, can I ask what you are doing?"

I twirled around, seeing Hannah slowly following me. She was limping, and with every step she needed support from the wall.

"Hannah, here let me help you." I skipped to her, and held my hand out for her to take.

"No, I'm fine. Demons can heal fast." She said, rejecting my offer.

Yeah, that's totally why your eye still needs to be covered with a bandage.

"Alright, whatever you say." I said, stepping back a bit. "I was just going to see if I could eavesdrop on Alois and your boyfriend Claude...I'm not a pervert or anything!" I said the last part fast, fearing that I sounded like one.

Hannah chuckled and shook her head. "Don't worry, I know you aren't. I wanted to come with you. Claude may have a plan up his sleeve, and I need to make sure Young Master is safe."

"You mean you knew my plan?" I asked, a bit dumbfounded. There went my turn at being Link.

"Yes. We demons have our ways. Now please, let's go before it's too late." Hannah began to walk more steadily, as if Luka was behind her, pushing her to continue moving through the pain.

I followed her, going at her slow pace. Hannah, Luka and I seemed like the only people around here who actually cared about Alois. Sebastian and Claude acted like the poor boy was nothing more than a lamb being raised for meat. Alois has feelings too. Most of them included hatred, loneliness, and sadness, but he still deserved to be treated like, oh I don't know, A HUMAN BEING!

Hannah stopped at a room after we walked down the hall for a while. A sign that read "Do Not Disturb" was on it. Alois had made his own little touch to the sign so that under it said "Or you die." in his hand writing. Pleasant.

Hannah got on her knees and pressed her ear against the door, listening. I did the same, sitting behind her.

"These two are always plotting here." She whispered to me, "I often eavesdrop to hear their next plan."

I nodded and pressed my head on the wooden door and strained my ears, trying to listen to the two talking.

"Claude, do you need me to dunk my head under again? I think I have enough soap in my head to last me a year." Alois said, with a bored sounding voice.

"One moment, Master. Also, I think you shouldn't go out to town with that maid. She will learn our secrets if you don't kill her soon. Plus, you have paper work to sign." Claude replied, his voice sounding as bored as his master's.

Alois must've moved, for the water made a SHSHSHSH sound. "I don't give a [CENSORED] about the papers. And I don't want her to be killed yet. She's…..different."

I'm different….I have no idea how I should take that.

"Even still," Claude continued, "You are spending too much time with her. What about your plans for the murder of Sebastian Michaelis? Have you even thought of your revenge lately? Also, you can dunk your head under now."

I heard a splash as Alois put his head under the water. Claude was obviously unhappy with me; for I was a distraction from his evil plan. The more happiness and love Alois had in his heart, the more unappetizing he became for demons. Not like Claude wanted to eat Alois anyway.

With another splash, Alois came up from the water coughing. After a few seconds, he started talking again. "Claude, this girl is not distracting me from my mission. But…" he paused, which made my heart skip a beat as I waited, "I do feel weird when she looks at me. Why? Why Claude? Am I sick?"

"No, Master, you don't seem sick. I fear you are beginning to feel emotions again. And I believe that this emotion you feel is…"

Claude whispered the last part. Even as I strained my ears, I couldn't hear what he said. Whatever he said, however, upset Alois.

"WHAT?!" I heard Alois slap Claude hard as he yelled. It nearly gave me a mini heart attack. "Why would you think THAT!? I have NO room for THAT emotion! My black heart shall never feel that again!"

Me and Hannah turned to each other and silently moved away from the door. We didn't need to hear anymore. Once we were far away from the room, I turned to her.

"Hannah, what did Alois mean?! I mean, it sounded, as weird as it is, that Claude thinks that, and you'll think I'm crazy, but-"

"He thinks that Alois is starting to like you?" the demon-girl interrupted, her face sullen. "He believes that Alois is beginning to feel loved again."

I stared at her, with my eyes wide. "Wow, that's exactly what I was thinking. We are scary together."

"Nichole, this is serious. You need to keep your guard up near Claude. He hates you." Hannah continued her voice stern. "Be careful."

I took my pocket knife out of my pocket and stared at it. "I am trying Hannah….do you really think that Alois is developing feelings for me though?"

"It's hard to tell, seeing how he acted towards Claude, but yes. I think so." She paused and smiled, "Luka is happy. He says he likes you and thinks Alois should too."

I smiled back "Tell him thank you for me." I put my knife away and turned to Hannah again, "I better get ready for the outing."

"Keep Alois safe and make sure Claude doesn't go behind you. He is known for stabbing people in the back." Hannah said as I started to leave to my room.

"I will." I said back, shuttering. What next in this crazy, slightly tiring adventure?

….

I rested my head on my hands, looking out the carriage window. London looked beautiful, with leaves red, brown, and other pretty colors. In the distance, I saw the town we were heading to.

"Hey, Nichole," Alois interrupted my thoughts. He was sitting across from me, looking out the window like me. "How old are you again?"

"13, Master Alois."

He nodded, as if he knew all along. "Where are your parents, anyway? Are they dead?"

I hadn't expected him to ask that. "My mother and father? Well, um…"

"They don't know you're here, do they?"

I looked abruptly at him, shocked that he'd say that. Today he had a brown vest on, (along with his usual attire) and a black top hat with red roses on it. His hair was still slightly damp from his bath, and his cowlick was constantly going straight down onto his nose.

"…So you've figured it out, Master Alois?" It was half true though. By now, my parents will have noticed that Cate was just impersonating me, and that I was gone.

Alois smirked, fixing his hair so it didn't keep going in his face. "Yes. But if I may ask, how did a young girl like you get from America to London? Your parents must be worried."

"I merely snuck out one night to a storage boat and sailed to London as a stowaway. I had heard about the Trancys, or should I say, the 'queen's spiders', in America, so I decided that place was by best bet to go to. And I was right; for now I have a job as a maid to a nice boy." I didn't mention the part about my parents being worried. It didn't matter.

Chuckling and apparently happy I had said he was nice, Alois leaned towards me. "I knew you were different. I like different. You must've been very brave to do that. And just saying, it surprises me that you came to me first. Why not a soup kitchen? And why did you leave in the first place? Tired of the American boys?"

Thankfully before I could think of something to say, our carriage stopped, and Claude opened the door to reveal a busy town. I stopped and stared at how many people were there.

Alois poked me as he exited, making me turn back to maid mode and followed him out.

"Alright, "he said, "The store we are going to is called 'Mary's Dresses' and other crap I could care less about. Because I'm your master, Nichole, I shall pick your dress out."

I nodded as Claude, Alois, and I started off on our shopping adventure. Keeping behind Alois and Claude, I looked at the women around me. They all looked so perfect, with their small waists and happy completions. All in form fitting dresses accompanied by a man. I held in my urge to scowl at them and instead crossed my arms and looked at Alois's back.

"Your highness, today you can spend only-"

"Claude, I will spend as much money as I want. I'm the master, remember? Don't make me punish you…" They way Alois said that creeped me out, yet made me almost laugh.

"Master, please, don't spend your pounds on a dress you won't even wear. As I said before," Claude turned his head to me, staring into my soul, "I don't like you two spending too much time together."

Alois, who wasn't very happy with Claude saying that, clenched his fist as we continued to walk. "Claude, as I said before, I have no emotions anymore. Stop thinking and just do whatever I say! Alright?"

If I could, I would've shrunken down until I was the size of a penny. It was obvious that Alois thought of me as more than his maid. Whether I was his friend or more, I didn't know. But what I did know was that Alois cared about me, and was trying to let me into his small little world.

After a long silence between the three of us, we finally found the shop Alois had been looking for.

"Now Claude, we will get Nichole a woman to help her try the dresses on while you and I pick them out." Alois smiled at me, and led me into the store.

"Okay, Master Alois. You're the boss. Whatever you think is the best."