"Catherine, this is Professor Harold MacDougal. He will be teaching you about the Natives, among many other subjects." Uncle Edgar said to me. I gave the orange haired, stringy like man a skeptical look. Half of his shirt was untucked from his pants and was hanging loosely in front of him, while his tan breeches were stained with some sort of dark brown liquid. "Uncle, forgive me, but are you sure he knows what you are asking him to teach me?" I asked in a whisper, thinking this man to be a bit on the odd side, especially for a supposed scholar.

"Catherine Annabelle!" Uncle Edgar admonished, his tone harsh and angry. "That was highly rude! Just because he looks different, it does not mean he's incapable of teaching you what I require." He turned to the MacDougal man. "I apologize for my niece's lack of respect professor." Uncle Edgar said.

Howard smiled in my direction. "It's quite all right. I understand that my appearance does look odd for a scholar. Since the move, I haven't quite been able to sort myself out. I must look quite a mess." He bent down a few inches to my level. "Tell me, what is it that strikes you as the most odd about me? Is it my stringy limbs that resemble a shoe string? Or is it my hair that reminds you of a carrot?" He asked, giving me a smile. I giggled. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. He seemed pretty amusing. "I can see that you also have an abnormal hair color, such as myself." He said, grabbing a piece of my hair. He twirled a piece of it around his finger for a second, seemingly studying it. Or he just was losing focus altogether. It was honestly hard to tell.

"I love the brightness of it! Is this natural?" MacDougal said suddenly, startling me.

I nodded, unsure of what else to do. Professor MacDougal grinned. "Lovely!" He exclaimed. All of a sudden, he straightened up and sort of waltzed to his desk in the corner. "Shall we begin our lessons then?" He asked. "I believe I'm quite ready to begin. It's been a while since I've taught, but I do believe I still have the talent for it." I nodded, somewhat hesitantly. It seemed to please him nonetheless. "Excellent!" He grinned and turned to Uncle Edgar. "You may take your leave Mr. Ross. Catherine will be just fine." He said, his grin widening with each word.

"Very well." Uncle Edgar said to the Professor. He then turned to me. "Be good, Catherine. I expect you home after your lessons conclude." He told me. I nodded in understanding. I watched Uncle Edgar walk out of the room, leaving the Professor and me completely alone. I half expected him to come barreling through the door, yelling that he'd changed his mind about my lessons. Minutes passed, but he never did such a thing.

"Catherine?" The Professor said, getting my attention.

"Yes, sir?" I asked.

"Come, sit down." He said, a smile on his face. He gently patted a red velvet covered seat next to his desk. "Tell me, what do you know of the savages?" He asked of me. I shrugged in response, which seemed to please him. "Ah, good. I'm starting with a clean slate then. Oftentimes people are quite misguided about them. Did you know that they share an altogether different blood type than we, the whites, do?" He said, leaning closer to my face. "Although, I haven't been able to secure a sample myself, I know it's true."

I rose a brow at his statement. "If you haven't a sample, how do you know?" I asked.

Professor MacDougal's eyes widened in surprise. "Why, I wrote a book about it, Catherine!" He exclaimed. "However, enough about my outstanding accomplishments. Let us begin our lessons. We're going to start with how this country was founded." Before I could protest, the Professor started in on his lesson of how America had come to be. I found myself absorbing his every word, taking in new information I hadn't known with pleasure. These lessons were going to be the exact thing I needed to take my mind off of Jack's absence.

It was nearly sundown when I was finally released from my lessons with the Professor. His lessons were going to be the highlights of my days, I could already tell. While some of his information contradicted with what I'd already learned, he was able to keep my attention on something other than my loneliness. He was definitely an odd man, but I found myself already enjoying him. It was going to be good, I could already tell.

"Don't you know it's dangerous for a pretty young lady to be walking alone at this time of day?" A somewhat familiar voice asked.

I looked to the right and saw Uncle Edgar's partner, Archer Fordham. He winked at me when he noticed he'd gotten my attention. "How you been, sweetheart? I haven't seen you since before your birthday. That was a few weeks ago, wasn't it?"

I nodded, quite surprised he'd known. Uncle must've told him. "Yes, sir. On the twenty-first." I replied.

"How old are you again, sweetheart?"

"I'm fifteen, sir."

A smile appeared on his face. "Would you like me to escort you home?" He offered.

Not wanting to offend him, because there was no doubt he'd tell Uncle, I nodded and gave him a smile. Archer's smile turned into a smirk, and he closed the distance between us. He started to slip an arm around my waist before stopping and hovering. "May I?" He asked. I nodded again, afraid of what might happen if I denied him. He placed his arm lowly on my hips, and he put a tight grip on my waist with his hand. It felt awkward and new to have someone touch me like that, but it wasn't altogether terrible.

We walked in silence for a few moments before Archer spoke again. "Edgar has mentioned to me that he's been getting offers of potential suitors for you." He said.

I stopped walking altogether and looked up at Archer. "Excuse me?" I squeaked out. There had been men who wanted to marry me?

Archer laughed. "Why do you sound so surprised, sweetheart? It's not abnormal for a woman your age to be married."

"But I don't anyone, how could I have potential suitors?" I pointed to my hair. "And don't most people hate my hair? I'm the Devil, right?" I didn't mean to get sarcastic towards someone of superior stature, but it was flowing out of my mouth before I could stop it.

He smiled and picked up a lock of my hair, like MacDougal had done, and twirled it around his finger. "If you're the Devil, the Devil's gotten much prettier than I previously thought."

Heat filled my cheeks. I hadn't been told I was pretty before, except by my parents. "I-I-I…" I didn't know how to reply. I was embarrassed, but a small part of me filled up with pride. An important man in the government thought I was pretty.

Archer laughed again, and replaced his arm on my waist again. "Let us get you home before your Uncle worries about you." With that, he began leading me back to my home. While we were walking, I couldn't help but notice people staring. I shrunk into Archer a little, not liking the way people were staring at me. "Don't worry about them, Catherine." He told me sternly. I sighed and nodded.

Our walk together lasted only ten minutes at best, but it left me more flustered than I've ever felt in my whole life. When we reached my porch step, I shifted awkwardly. "I suppose this is when we part…" I said quietly. I didn't really know Archer very well besides what Uncle has told me. "Thank you for walking me home, Mr. Fordham."

"Call me Archer." He insisted.

As I opened my mouth to say something in return, the front door opened. Uncle Edgar stood there, glowering at me. His expression quickly changed when he noticed Archer Fordham standing next to me. His frown had turned into a stupid smile that I never saw. "Archer!" He said happily. Uncle still liked Archer, much more than he ever liked Gale.

"Hello there, Edgar!" Archer greeted him back, extending his hand.

The two men shook hands vigorously before continuing to speak. "What are you doing here?" Uncle asked.

"I saw Catherine walking alone and noticed it was almost dark. I thought I'd see to it she made it home safely.

My uncle nodded. "It's much appreciated."

"I suppose I should get going now." Archer said. He smiled at my Uncle, and then turned to me. "Thank you for allowing me to have your company, Miss Catherine." He said, giving me a grand smile. He picked my left hand up and kissed it before he left. My entire face grew hot as I watched him walk away. "He's asked to court you, you know."

"W-What?" I asked, eyes widening.

Uncle Edgar chuckled a little, something he never did in my presence. "He thinks you're something special, and believes you to be pretty, even with your abnormalities. He's got an odd taste. Why, with his stance in the community, he could have anyone he wanted." Uncle stared at me. "Yet, he wants you for some reason."

"What did you tell him?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"I told him what I've been telling all of the others. It's up to you."

I almost collapsed out of pure shock. He was giving me control? Like an idiot, I asked, "Why?"

"Catherine, what you do with your love life is not something I care about. If you want to marry for money, for love, or for power, do what you will. I simply don't care." He said. "My job is to raise you, to educate you and prepare you. If you chose to use my knowledge, or ignore it completely, I simply don't care." He paused and sighed. "Now get in the house, you've chores to do."

As I was ushered into the house, I found myself smiling. Things were actually getting better. Uncle Edgar was giving me some control, and I had a way out of the house now. And then there was Archer…I still didn't know what to make of him. Oh, if only Jack were here! He'd know what I should do. I sighed and pushed some hair behind my ears as I started to miss my best friend even more at the thought of him. I silently prayed that everything was going better for the Marston family.

Who sucks? Me. But seriously, I've gotten messages and reviews asking me to bring this back. And now I am. Hell yeah, I am. I've grown as a writer, and I know what I want to do with Cat. Thank you all for your continued support and I'll do my best to get some more material for you guys to read!