Emily was woken by a familiar scream. Her mother, no less. Emily jumped & Murdoc's eyes shot open.

Emily jumped out of bed, almost falling over from getting up so fast. She fell to her knees in front of the door after she slammed it on her shock-stricken mom. Emily stood up, straightening her hair & night gown, rubbing her knees & walking back over to the bed. She stood in front of it, looking around slowly for the right words.

"Your mother?" Murdoc asked, sitting Indian-style in the middle of the bed.

Emily nodded. She took a deep breath & closed her eyes, trying to solid herself a little. After all, this is a woman who used to practically go on mental trips everytime Emily would bring home a few insects or an abandoned baby mongoose. She turned around & headed for the door, opening it & blocking the entrance with her body.

"Mother, this is Murdoc." Emily said, as if she was introducing one of her kid sisters to one her very temporary play mates.

"Wh... what's the matter with his face?" She whispered it so low that Murdoc couldn't hear anything.

Emily looked over her shoulder to him, holding up 1 finger, as if to say 'I'll be back in a moment'. She slipped out of the door, closing it gently behind her. Murdoc didn't hear much of the conversation, except the smallest whisps of their voices. He tilted his head, his long black hair spilling all over the place, waiting for Emily & her mother to return. They walked back in about 5 minutes later, Emily with a smile on her face. She ran over & threw her arms around him.

"Welcome home."

Murdoc couldn't believe it. A home. And to top it all off, a family. Emily could barely contain herself. She had always wanted a brother or a father figure or a friend for that matter. She let go of him & looked at her mother.

Her mother sighed a little. "You know that our house keeper is arriving with her things today. We may end up having to find a new maid."

Emily scoffed. "Mother, I don't need a maid - I can take care of myself."

Her mother looked off into space, as if she were just remembering something. "You know, you just reminded me of something. You're in a lot of trouble for last night."

Emily knew the drill like the back of her hand. She waved to Murdoc as her mother lead her out of the room & down stairs. Murdoc guessed that by the look on her mothers' face that Emily wasn't going to come back upstairs for a quite a while. He got off the bed after a moment & looked around her room, peeking in her desk drawers, under her bed, in her closet, running into many interesting things. He was sure to put them back where he found them, of course.

When Emily came back up, she was wearing a long, light brown, khaki-looking dress with leather boots & her hair was neatly pulled back with sections of her bangs framing her face. She stared at Murdoc who was kneeling on his knees in front of her desk. She watched him root through her things from his backside. He hadn't heard her, so she smirked a little, clearing her throat sharply. Murdoc fumbled with her diary & dropped it, turning around & pushing it under her desk swiftly with his hand.

She put her hands on her slim hips, cocked her head to the side & walked over to him. He was looking up at her from the floor, looking kind of nervous as she saw a small corner of the diary poking out from under her desk. She pressed her boot on it & pulled it out with her foot, leaning down to pick it up.

"How much did you read?" Emily asked.

Murdoc was silent for a moment, getting ready to lie & say he didn't even know what it was or that he didn't know how to read, but decided to be truthful to his new family member. "Up to the part about your mother yelling at you about sneaking into... 'Conner's' house."

Emily turned a shade. Conner was a young man that she had become almost obsessed with before they moved here. He was a little older than she was, so he understood how young girls often flirted with older people, so he decided not to get the authorities involved. Emily smirked a little at the memory & placed her diary on her desk. She helped Murdoc up to his feet & looked up at him.

"Well... mother said she would delay my punishment for a while. After some begging, she said that I could show you around town if you'd like." Emily walked over to the door of her bedroom & Murdoc stared at her. She was going to make him go whether he wanted to or not & he knew this.

So, going against every impulse in his mind, Murdoc followed his friend into the village.