"So, how was your trip to the Upper House yesterday? Anything interesting happen?" Friday asked casually.
Her young ward glanced up from her observation of the chess board and Friday swore she saw a faint pink flush creep up her cheeks.
"No." Clara said, a little too casually. Friday frowned.
"I hope you're not still in shock from walking in on me and Dusk." she said, smiling as Clara's elbow slipped off the table and she scrambled to right herself.
"Uh, no, no I wasn't shocked, just a bit surprised." she said in a voice that was definitely an octave higher than usual. "I'm really sorry I interrupted you."
"It is forgotten. Like I said we were finished."
Clara nodded and considered her next move. After a lengthy silence she glanced up at Friday cautiously.
"Does – um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but is Noon cool with you seeing his brother at the same time as you're seeing him?"
"Seeing?" Friday chuckled. "Oh aren't you sweet. I'm not seeing either of them, ours is a purely recreational relationship."
A curious expression crossed the human's face and her body language told Friday everything she needed to know. She sighed heavily as she captured one of Clara's pawns.
"Ah, I sense an air of disapproval."
"No." said Clara quickly. "It's just, a bit, strange. But it's none of my business really. Ha!"
"Oh you little tinker!" Friday cried in mock outrage as Clara took the knight she had just used to capture the pawn.
It had been a trick. Clara smiled smugly but then it faced from her lips as she closed her hand around another of her pawns.
"The House is basically one giant chess board isn't?" she asked musingly, gazing at the small white marble piece.
"How so?" Friday asked curiously.
"We're all just pieces in someone else's game aren't we? I'm, like, a pawn or something, the really crappy piece that's always getting sacrificed. And Saturday's the Queen, very powerful, very dangerous, but if she's smart doesn't start making moves until the game is well under way."
"How interesting. What about the king?"
"Sunday of course! Technically the most important piece on the board but basically useless and doesn't make any moves until the very end, and only then to save his own skin."
Friday chuckled at that and tapped her left hand knight.
"Who's this then?"
"Thursday, always in the thick of the action but in the end, expendable. Like the pawns."
"Dear me, very brooding today aren't we? Was Saturday's Dusk rude to you yesterday or something?"
To Friday's surprise, Clara bit her lip and ducked her head as though she was trying not to smile.
"No he was…fine." she said evasively.
Before Friday could demand an explanation her Noon came into the parlour with the morning post. Well, it was supposed to be the morning post, but seeing as the Post Office in the Lower House was a shambles it was now well past three in the afternoon.
"Message from Grim Tuesday milady." he said, handing her a buff envelope with a red and gold seal on the front.
Friday murmured a thank you and was unsurprised to see Clara glare at Noon in loathing. He returned the expression of hate as he turned to leave. The letter was a reminder for Friday to go and pick up the latest shipment of goods she'd ordered from Earth. Tuesday had knack for acquiring certain ah…items, from the Realms, items that would be frowned upon by those Upper House prudes. As such, this meant Friday usually went to get them in person from the Grim. Friday glanced over the top of the letter at Clara who was still giving the closed door a kind of death wish look.
"Clara darling, have you been to the Far Reaches yet?" she asked and the human's attention was brought back to her.
"Not yet, for some reason the lifts won't take me down there. I can't get past the Lower House."
"Then this should be an education for you, we'll take the Fifth Key. The normal elevators don' run down there, too much Nothing, and I do loath the train. Come come."
She clicked her fingers at Clara as she stood. She could not fail to catch the disgusted look Clara gave her for doing this but she ignored it. The human took her outstretched hand and Friday savoured the warm skin. She was aware that human skin was hypersensitive compared to denizen's and she briefly wondered if her own hand felt strange and alien to Clara, cold rather than warm. Dismissing these meaningless musings, she lifted the fifth Key and visualised the reflective surface of the Grim's scarlet steam train. An image of Up Station appeared in the mirror and a flash of light later they had been transported there. Clara stumbled upon landing and dropped Friday's hand.
"Woah that was weird." she gasped, rubbing her temple.
She tried to take a breath, but immediately choked on the foul Nothing laced air of the Far Reaches. Her hands flew to her throat as her poor lung struggle and wheezed. Before she could go into a full blown panic, Friday caught hold of her and put her hand over her mouth and nose.
"There you go, calm yourself, hush." she cooed. "Just take a normal breath."
Clara sucked in air and after a few moments stopped twitching in Friday's grip. Friday removed her hand and watched as Clara took cautious shallow breaths, then deep gulping ones.
"What the hell was that!?" the girl demanded, waving away the smoke from around her face.
"The air here is inimical to mortals. Don't worry I ensorcelled your lungs to extract what little oxygen is here. We should make haste though, I doubt it will last long." Friday explained.
She set off at a brisk walk across the platform towards the archway that led out of the station. Clara trotted along in her wake, blinking rapidly in the smog.
"Won't that add to the magic in my blood?" she asked anxiously. Friday shrugged.
"Only a little, it will hardly register compared to the contamination already in your body. Ah there's the dear Grim now."
Friday nodded towards a group of people who had just emerged from a brick built factory across the cobbled high street. Unlike touch, a superior denizen's sense of sight far outstripped a human's. Friday remembered that even before the breaking of the Will the Far Reaches had been a gloomy domain. The ceiling had never worked properly and now that it was clogged with sooth and Nothing it gave off no light what so ever. Now the whole of the Far Reaches was lit by grimy street lamps that did little to penetrate the fog. But Tuesday happened to be standing directly beneath one of them and Friday could just about make out his wiry form.
He was talking to a couple of his Grotesques in a low voice despite the near deafening clanging of metal coming from the open factory door. His eyes narrowed as Friday approached and a smile curled his thin lips.
"Lady Friday, I see you got my message."
"I did indeed and you know how I like to be prompt." she said.
Tuesday nodded but then he caught sight of Clara peering around Friday like a curious puppy. The smile slid from his face at once.
"Oh. I see you brought your pet." he said coldly. Friday sensed Clara bristle indignantly beside her and she smiled faintly.
"I don't like to leave her alone. Now, shall we be off?"
"I'm keeping your order in the Pyramid." he said, still glaring at Clara. "That can stay here, I don't want a human soiling the place up."
Clara couldn't bit back a hiss of outrage at this and looked appealingly at Friday. Friday couldn't care less about this insult but she never lost an opportunity to annoy any of her fellow Trustees.
"Clara's breathing spell won't last very long in the open. She'll have to come with us."
Tuesday grimaced in distaste.
"Fine!" he snapped furiously. "Bring it if you must! Just keep it away from me."
Tuesday turned his back on the pair of them and marched off down the street. He didn't see Clara stick her tongue out at him, but Friday did. She stifled a laugh and beckoned for Clara to follow them. The Pyramid came into view after five minutes of walking and Friday fell into step with Clara so she could lean down and whisper,
"Quite impressive isn't it?"
"It would be." Clara said, not bothering to keep her voice down. "If it wasn't a total rip off of the Louvre."
Tuesday spared a furious backward glance and Clara smirked. A point to the human I think, Friday thought in amusement. Once they were inside the Treasure Tower Friday waved Clara away.
"Run along sweetheart, go and play or something. I'll come and get you when it's time to leave."
"Touch anything and you're dead mortal." Tuesday snarled.
Clara made a disgusted noise and turned her back firmly on the pair of them, stalking off into another room. Tuesday wrinkled his nose and turned back to Friday.
"Cheeky little mare." he snorted.
"Oh pish, she's just high spirited." said Friday dismissively. "Anyway never mind about her. Shall we?"
Tuesday showed her to a room on one of the higher levels of the Tower. It was clearly one of his own private apartments because it was filled with some of the more expensive and comfortable Queen Anne furniture he owned. A plain wooden chest sat waiting on the mahogany side table beside the sofa.
"Here are your, ah, toys." Tuesday said with a smirk, patting the box. "Don't worry, I was digression itself."
"Much obliged." said Friday sweetly, pointing the fifth Key at the chest.
It vanished to her bedroom back in the Scriptorium. Now she considered Tuesday thoughtfully and stepped up to him.
"You know, I have some spare time on my hands." she said lightly. Tuesday gazed at her, his expression stoic.
"What about your mongrel?" he asked. Friday assumed he was referring to Clara and she shook her head.
"She can wait." she murmured, putting her hand on Tuesday's tones arm. The Grim narrowed his eyes.
"How would it be if I refused?" he asked carefully. Friday chuckled quietly.
"You wouldn't dare." she purred.
"I might." Tuesday persisted. "You know I don't share and from what I hear, I have to share you with legions of men."
"They're not all men." Friday corrected him in a sing song voice. Tuesday smiled in spite of himself. She moved closer still and breathed in his ear,
"Go one then, refuse me."
"Maybe next time." Tuesday conceded, his resolve failing him. Friday smirked.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
Some twenty minutes later the two Trustees descended to the lower level, adjusting their clothes as they went. Friday had barely stepped off the stair case when Clara came storming in. She looked livid.
"You thief!" she hissed at Tuesday who was too taken aback to respond. "You sneaking – thieving – stealing —"
She seemed to struggle to think of an insult worthy of Tuesday crime. Apparently words failed to convey her anger so she merely snarled at Tuesday, her glare deadly enough to burn a hole in his head. She pointed furiously behind her towards the room she'd been exploring.
"Where did you get that Egyptian vase in there? The Eighteenth Dynasty one?" she demanded.
Tuesday pulled himself up to his full, and considerable, height.
"I acquired it." he said snootily. It was almost amusing how Clara's eyes popped in rage.
"You stole it!" she cried. "I know you did! I recognise it, it went missing from the Cairo museum during the riots last year. And you had it the whole time you ba —"
"Clara, be very careful how you speak to a Trustee." said Friday sternly. Clara glanced at her in desperation.
"But Friday!" she whined. "He stole it! I bet he stole everything in here!"
"I don't care, apologise to the Grim at once young lady."
Friday watched as Clara struggled with herself. She was beside herself with fury but she didn't want to annoy her host. Finally, injecting as much venom as she could into the word, she said,
"Sorry."
"Good." said Friday briskly. "Now, come along, we should get going."
She walked off towards the exit but once she was through the door she paused, realising Clara was not following her. Peering around the door she saw Clara glaring at Tuesday still.
"Listen mate, you better watch yourself from now. I'm not going to let you get away with this!"
"Oh really, well now I'm terrified." said Tuesday, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He smirked at the human whose whole face was beetroot red.
"Seriously don't push me!" she snarled. "I'm an archaeologist! Well, close enough."
With one last look of contempt, she stalked off towards Friday.
"Yeah yeah I'm coming." she snapped before Friday could say anything.
The Mistress of the Middle House considered whether or not she should be angry. In the end she settled on amused instead. She would enjoy experiencing Clara's fury from this memory when the time came.