Maria got up but then looked down to see...a crow. "Uh oh." The crow looked back at her and her gauze and flew up to start pecking angrily at maria's head. "OW OW OW STOP THAT! OW!" She yelled impatiently while flailing her arms about in an attempt to get her off, eventually the bird stopped and flew into the hallway across, maria was dumbfounded but then limped out of her hallway and into the center of the main floor, the whole place seemed deserted, man I bet when the old hag puts her foot down it must start an earthquake, I can see why they'd hide… . The crow walked back in without a word and went straight toward maria who just had a chill go down her spine, she folded her arms and gave a disappointed glare. "You were downstairs with 'the odd man' weren't you?" Maria gulped, she was hunched over to hold her leg but then let go, stood up straight and looked her in the eye to try and seem fearless as she was completely honest with her (partially). "What's it to 'ya?!" "On my flight back here after I had finished patrolling, I'd heard the distinct screech of many many hollows all at once. I was very close to the house so it was easily heard, once inside which was only a few seconds after the terrible noise, there were running footsteps all in a herd trying to get to their rooms as quick as possible." Another surge of pain came over her as she toppled over but caught herself and went back to holding her leg, miss crowiller was not amused. "And how might you have acquired THAT wound, miss maria?" She asked, remembering her anger toward her last name. Maria was hesitant on honesty or...a puzzle, "I fought back." She told her calmly and took one step back and fell over, still holding her limp leg, which at this point was paralyzed but the pain was still there as it began to ache. "Ugh...why does all this crap happen to me?" "Because you brought it on yourself." She replied to her rhetorical question, bent down on one leg and gave her a pitying look to top off her pride crushing sentence, maria looked back at her with hatred. "You could go back down there and let your fate befall you quicker...or...you may stay up here and heal. Underground, under this house is an undetectable gas and when it enters the pores of your skin, like...an open wound...it'll get infected and ache and hurt even worse than when they first got it. The longer you stay down there...the worse your condition is going to be so...I'm putting you under surveillance." "Huh?" She asked, barely able to comprehend her previous sentences due to the lingering pain. "You shall be with someone at all times and they will watch over you. Like it or not, anyone in this house is a new ward, a new child, as an ymbryne I have to take care of my children, I'm not saying that you have to like me but I advise you listen to my instructions without argue." "...or...what?" She had her head laying the other way, miss crowiller got up with a serious gaze. "I don't intend on punishments, I let you come up with that on your own until then…" I'm closing off the entrance to that awful place." Maria glared impatiently, about ready to kill the bird. Just then she looked at one of the dumbwaiters, "ARCHY!" She hopped right out and ran to the 'old hag'. "I'd like you to watch over miss mary, don't let her out of your sight, don't let her get further injury, and give her all the help she needs, but no matter what...do not let her near that hallway. Understand?" "Yes, headmistress." Maria tried to get up, while doing so, she scowled angrily at the both of them, archy walked over with a smile, surprising mary. "C'mon, mary let's get you back to your room, I'll get Iris to make you some food. Okay?"Archy helped her up, she wobbled and grabbed her leg again to ease the pain and continued to scowl menacingly at the bird, who simply turned away and headed back the way she came. "Ugh...how're we gonna get up there?" "The Pulley." Maria didn't bother to argue, she was in a grumpy enough mood as it is, archy put her arm under her shoulder for balance and the other arm to hold her up. She set maria down, though she did resist, and tugged on the line when she got along side her. Rafael and alice were at the other end and began pulling. They made it up rather quickly, it seemed everyone in the house was in on it and that pissed off maria greatly. She was grumpy and glared at everyone she passed, none of them mined , just as long as their friend would be ok. Archy set Maria down on the bed carefully, "so...how come you're all of a sudden so...nice?" "Because the headmistress wants me to take care of you and I'm always happy to care for newcomers." "Do you realize that you sound like some robot?" Archy sat on the bed and Maria turned over, though slowly and painfully while she bit her lip. "You shouldn't try to move so much. Just stay in bed." "Screw...you." She grabbed her leg and began to lift as she pulled herself up to sit up straight and tried to walk but just fell to her knees. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Archy nervously asked, "I'm going down to the kitchen to make my own food." "Iris is on her way up now! Lay back down!" She ran over to pick her up, Maria was too tired to resist, then there was a knock and without wait, Rafael, Iris, and Alice came in. Iris had a tray of food. "Grilled cheese, tomato soup, some crackers, chai tea, and the sugar is to the side. How sweet do you want it?" "Bitter." Alice gasped, Maria was known for loving sweets. "Do you have a fever?" She was set down on the bed, Rafael put the blanket over her and Alice helped bring her up straight as Iris put the tray on her lap. No one had noticed her arm restraints were off until she reached for the spoon, everyone ducked for cover, Maria looked at her arms, remembering the gauze, hid her arms under the blanket. They all peeked their heads up, seeing that her arms were hidden again, got up and sighed but then they all grew angry. "How did you get the buckles off and where are they?!" Archy asked worriedly. "None of your beeswax!" Maria replied grumpily, everyone else just deeply exhaled and sat on the bed as if to say "whatever". She lifted her arm back up from the blanket to get the spoon again, they all were watching her eat but it wasn't as awkward as you'd guess, Maria looked up, shrugged when her stomach growled and continued eating. She dipped the grilled cheese in the soup multiple times before finishing it, drank the rest of her soup without touching the crackers then chugged the tea, her mood starting to perk up. Not long after finishing, she told the others to leave the room except for archy as she fell asleep. She was reliving her time she had spent that day in the basement, she crawled under the blanket in her sleep, remembering the horrible sound of the screeches that constantly ringed in her ears that had caused her to lash out and kill tons of them. The man was proud. It was scary to remember such a thing and yet for some reason, there was still the feeling that he could indeed help her in some way, control her powers. He had called it a gift but she called it a curse. Maybe he sees something I don't. If I were to go back down there then possibly….