Part 2: In Partnership

Chapter 21: Eunice Slippa

The Tenth of August

Griffs - ?

Eaglle - ?

Hawkks - ?

Dukks - ?

Sparrs - ?

Total byrds: ?

-0-

I was feeling plenty of guilt during the week that followed the dress purchase. I had flat-out lied to my best friend. Wiltera came to me in my dreams at night and would tell me how things would get better if I finally got it out of my mind that Mouse was actually my friend. "I am your only real friend," she'd say. "Ratana does not care about you like I do."

Amity and Arvin didn't stop by anytime during the week. They were busy with prince and princess stuff, I guess. Neither did Jonathan. As for Bird, he didn't stop by the bakery and I never went to the maze to see if he left a letter. It's not easy to forget someone if you are always seeing them.

Instead of any of the royals visiting us, we had another visitor. Only a short time before closing Saturday afternoon, Wiltera, the older one, walked into the shop. Slowly, she strolled around and looked at some of the things that were still on the shelves. Eventually, she picked up a loaf of bread and carried it over to the desk where I was waiting.

"I have another babysitting job for you tomorrow," she said with a small smile. I tried my best not to react and just took the bit of money she was holding out. "You will get more information later, Catharine." Before I could question her how I'd get the information, Wiltera took her loaf of bread and walked out of the shop as if nothing had happened.

I blinked. Then I just stared at the door for a little while, pretty much just wondering what in the world had just happened in such a short amount of time. But then Mouse pushed aside the curtain between the rooms and walked in.

"We should probably close up now and start cleaning up," Mouse said with a sigh as she looked around the room. No one wanted to clean up right before we took our day off, but Gwen decided that she didn't want to worry about cleaning on her day off, which I completely understand.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly quiet. I cleaned up the shop while Mouse began to clean some of the kitchen (Gwen was making dinner so Mouse could only clean so much of it at the time). I could hear Mouse and Gwen talking about something, but they weren't speaking loud enough for me to make out what they were saying. I though I heard "Cat" a few times, but I wasn't one hundred percent positive that I heard correctly.

When Peter finally got home, everyone sat down at the table in the kitchen for dinner. ("Wash your hands, Peter!" Gwen scolded her husband, whose hands probably hadn't been washed all day judging by how dark they looked.)

I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but still ate all the food on my plate while Peter talked about his day at world. Unfortunately, Peter was talking with his hands even more than usual, sending some food flying around the table. He gave a boyish grin and promised to clean his mess up and to try to avoid flinging his food around again. Gwen made a dramatic sigh, making Peter laugh as if it was the funniest thing he ever heard and Mouse just chuckle. It was a good thing Peter didn't have anything in his mouth when he started laughing like that because I am sure that he would have choked.

Needless to say, we all survived dinner and cleared off the table, leaving the bits of food scraps that had been flung around earlier to be cleaned up by Peter. Once I had finished everything that was needed of me, I went upstairs and washed off.

A little later I was squeaky clean and in my room. I grabbed a random book and sat down on my bed to read. A candle had to be lit in order to give me light to read by, but I had good eyes and that one candle was enough.

I looked up from my book when Mouse finally walked into the room. She looked distracted, chewing her bottom lip as she grabbed a brush and ran in through her hair.

Back when we were still very little, I remember how Ratana went through a phase where she absolutely would not ever stop talking. She'd go on and on about how she was feeling, questions that randomly popped into her head, observations she just couldn't keep to herself. Even though the nonstop chattering could get annoying, in some ways I also missed it. She was open and never held anything back so I would try my best to be the same way with her. If anything, it brought us closer.

But Wiltera had me questioning my current relationship with Mouse. It seemed like everything else Wiltera had said was true, from the occasional weather prediction ("It is going to ran tomorrow, stay indoors," she once said despite there being not been one cloud in the sky the day before.) to the number of customers that would come to the shop on a certain day, to how to get rid of the monsters that always seemed to be in my dreams. If she felt like giving answers, then her answer would be right every time; if she didn't feel like answering … Well, I wouldn't necessarily get any answers then.

I set my book down and reached underneath my bed and felt around for a box. Gently picking it up, I placed it in my lap and opened it up. Ignoring the rolled up ribbon to focus on the treasure laid on top of it, I gently pulled out my necklace with the rose pendant. The light caught on the stones in just the perfect way to make them sparkle. I held it close to my heart for a moment, briefly wishing myself a world away before setting it down inside the box and shifting the ribbon on top of it. Then I closed the box and placed it back underneath my bed.

I glanced over at Mouse and saw that she was laying in bed tucked underneath the covers, her eyes closed.

I leaned over and blew out the candle.

-0-

I stood in the middle of a lake. Yes, you read that correctly: I stood in the middle of a lake. The water wasn't frozen or anything, but I was standing barefoot on top of it. Everything was perfectly still, making the water look like a giant mirror reflecting the cloudless orange and pink sky. I could see the shore a long distance away. There was nothing to do in the middle of a lake, so I took a step forward.

It was like something just broke then. Instead of walking over the water, my foot slipped into it. Droplets of water splashed around everywhere and ripples quickly broke the still lake surface. My entire body was suddenly underwater.

Flailing. Splashing. Drowning. I couldn't get back to the surface to breathe again. I was slipping deeper and deeper into the water.

Then a hand grabbed mine. I was pulled up, towards the surface. My entire body was yanked out of the water and set down on a hard surface.

Spluttering and coughing in an attempt to get the water out of my lungs, I took a second to register my surroundings. I wasn't anywhere near the middle of a lake. In fact, I was sprawled out on the floor of the bakery. I was dripping water everywhere. My feet were still bare and my drenched blue dress clung to my body. Surprisingly, around my neck was my rose necklace, although it looked completely dry.

I pushed my dripping hair out of my face and looked up to see Wiltera towering above me, smirking and crossing her arms. "Have a nice swim?" she asked as we made eye contact.

Ignoring that comment, I stood up and gathered my hair together and started to squeeze the water out. Who cared if I left a gigantic puddle in the middle of the shop in my dream? The worst that could happen would be that I slipped on my own puddle.

"Oh, I see," Wiltera said. "Cats do not like getting wet! How precious!" She laughed at her own joke. I continued to squeeze out the water. "Okay, okay," she said. "Grumpy kitty does not like my joke, fine. How about I jump to the chase and run you though tomorrow's plan?"

"If you stop the cat jokes, maybe I'll listen," I grumbled. Where was a towel when I needed one?

"Deal. How does a little shoe shopping sound?" She didn't wait for my response before continuing, "You will wake up in the morning and take money out of the jar. You should be the first one to wake up again. Now follow me and I shall show you the way to the shop I want you to visit." Wiltera spun around and held open the door for me.

I stepped outside of of course it started to pour down out of nowhere. I let out a frustrated growl but followed Wiltera anyway. As much as I liked listening to the rain, being in it was a different matter.

"It is going to rain tomorrow, so do not bother trying to change it. Deal with it," Wiltera said without turning around.

I hadn't thought about the fact that I could control my dreams. But if Wiltera said I shouldn't then I wasn't going to change anything.

We walked through empty streets and the rain to the entrance of a little shop. "Here," Wiltera said, standing by the door. "Get the shoes here. Choose a gold fabric for your slippers, maybe?"

"Oh joy," I mumbled, not loving the idea of golden shoes.

"They will catch people's attention," Wiltera pointed out. "Like your mother's."

A thought popped into my mind. "And what is my excuse this time?"

"I thought that you were told there was going to be a babysitting opportunity." A small smile danced across her lips as she raised a hand up to touch her necklace.

Right. Lie again. What would this little girl look like?

-0-

I woke up early. I guessed that everyone else would probably walk up soon if I didn't hurry up and get out of there.

Treading that fine line between getting ready for the day quickly and quietly, I dressed and was ready to go in a short amount of time. Going downstairs carefully so as to not make a lot of noise, I went over to where the money jar was. I reached into it and pulled out a handful of money. Then I left, going out into the rain. It was pouring and because it was so early, there weren't very many people who were out on the streets. Sure, I got pretty wet, but it could have been worse.

Surprisingly, the shop was open, so I walked right in and ordered my shoes. They didn't have my size in a style or the color I needed, so just like the dress, I just put them on order so they would make them later.

With the rain still pouring down, I decided to wander around for a little while. I visited the bookstore and looked around at all the shelves. I wouldn't buy anything, but who said I couldn't look?

The rain eventually let up a bit, so that is when I chose to go back to the bakery. Back home. Back to face Mouse.

I pushed open the door and walked in. Pulling out the change I still had, I dropped it unto the jar and looked around for Mouse. She wasn't in the kitchen, so I thought perhaps she was upstairs But when I checked up there, I still didn't see her. At that point, I figured that she had gone out. There were things to do and places to be, I guess.

I went upstairs and grabbed the book I had been reading the previous night. Finding a comfortable chair, I settled down and lost myself in the imaginary world created by the author … Until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped, knocking over the chair as I did so and landed right on my rear on the hard floor.

"Mouse!" I exclaimed, looking over to see her covering her mouth in surprise at my reaction.

"Oops," Mouse said, her hand moving to rub the back of her neck. "Where'd you go this morning?"

"Oh, I was just babysitting another girl for a little while. Eunice Slippa," I said, having at least a bit of a plan this time around. "She wanted me to read her stories at first and then had me braid her hair. It was pretty long and the exact same shade of brown as her eyes, if maybe a little bit darker. Her eyes, that is. Her eyes might have been a little bit darker than her hair, but … I'm rambling so I'm just going to shut up now."

"Uh, okay," Mouse said. "I'll let you get back to your book." She turned around and walked out of the room. As soon as I saw that she was gone, I let out a sigh of relief.

Author's Note: Many thanks to HauntedApple, Pokemonchen, Daliah Valley, LeyahRayne, and Brimo for reviewing this chapter and to any new reviewers.

Thanks for reading! -Lauren