A/N: My homework is all done and my professors can't be kissed up to anymore. So I'm bored, which means good news for you the reader because I turn out chapters sooner. Lucky you.

And I know that only about five of you went back to re-read chapter 12. I'm telling you, a lot was added. It's like a whole different chapter. But of course I can't force you to read it. Just suggesting.

Chapter Fourteen

I felt Helen's small hand encircle my wrist. I looked back at her, still slightly shocked by her false confession.

"I put the flower in the Baron's room," she said again. Her voice was filled with so much certainty that it was astonishing. I knew why she said it. Ester couldn't turn Helen out like she could me, but I still didn't really understand why she would sacrifice herself for me. I felt Helen's other hand reach back around me and hook on my waist. I was still acting as a human shield for her; and that's when I understood. Just as I was protecting Helen from Ester's physical wrath, she was protecting me from Ester's verbal wrath. We were a team, she and I.

Ester's face turned a shade of purple and her hands shook. "Why would you do such a thing, you stupid child? Everyone knows that you never, EVER, put flowers in the Baron's room! You might as well be laying flowers on the grave of the hotel because he'll make sure that no one visits it again." Flecks of spit felt from Ester's mouth as ranted. She made a move towards us but I shifted my position to hide Helen further behind me.

I might still have been weak, but one look into my eyes told Ester all she needed to know. If she tried to her my Helen, she would lose. There is little scarier in the world than a person willing to lose everything for that sake of another.

Ester wisely re-thought her decision and left. But we both knew it was far from over. Ester had the power to still make both of our lives miserable, and it was clear she would.

When we could hear her footsteps turn a corner and fade out. I turned and gathered up Helen. Her arms were around my neck before my knees had even hit the floor. My breath was sharp and I held back a crush of emotions. I kissed her forehead again and again.

When we finally pulled away from each other Helen's eyes flashed with concern. She touched my face and I winced. There were small cuts in several places on my face from Ester hitting me with the roses before I had lifted my arms to cover my head.

They stung a little, but they didn't actually hurt. I rose and went to the bathroom to look in the cracked mirror. They looked much worse than they were. The left hand side of my face had a perfectly red hand shape. I doubted they would bruise, but I couldn't be sure.

Ester kept me out of sight of the guests for the rest of the day. I helped the housekeeper change sheets and scrub floors. Anything that she didn't want to do was left up to me. I did them without a thought of complaint. My mind was too busy planning my escape. I had enough money to last a little while but I wasn't certain if it was enough to last long enough to find a job and place to stay.

I was willing to risk it, but I would not leave without Helen. Ester was sure to have the police called if I did that. It would limit the amount of time we would have and where we could go. Because I still only had a rough idea of where exactly we were and what was close by, I was at a disadvantage.

I had contemplated everything from stealing a horse to making Janette and John accomplices and hiding out with them until the police finished searching anything close. I couldn't steal the horse because, although we could travel faster, we would be easier to track and if we should be caught I would be jailed. It wouldn't matter for how long; neither my body nor my mind could handle it. I couldn't hide with Janette because the police would be sure to search there and there was no way that she would pull them in with them. My futility was weighing heavily on me and instead of paying attention to where I was going I was just trying not to cry. I rounded a corner and collided with a hard mass. The bucket of soapy water I was carrying made me unbalanced and pulling me down. Both the bucket and I tumbled to the floor. Water spilled everywhere, soaking my worn clothes. My concentration on not crying shattered and I began to sob.

It was the first real cry I had since before almost drowning months before. The time I spent with the Commune seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had changed since then. I had been baptized by the icy waters and resurrected to a new beginning. I had thought that I could never love again, yet a little girl with brown curls and stormy eyes had stolen the pieces of my heart. I had thought I could never trust again, but my secrets were safe with Helen. When I thought there was no safe places left in the world, I discovered that there were still some places were fear could not claim hold. Even physically I had changed. My heart was fragile and weakened, my strength was pitiful but they were slowly becoming stronger. My hair was past my shoulders again, long enough to pull mostly back, even after Janette had offered to trim it for me to even it out some from my hack job. My eyes were normally not as sunken and dark as before, now that I was crying they had the opposite effect and were puffy and red. I knew that I aged in appearance. I did not look like a woman, not yet reached twenty, but rather like a woman who had seen the second decade mark come and go to be filed away with the rest. Yet, the old Christine had not been completely lost. She had hidden very well during captivity in hell, but she had not perished. She was slowly crawling back from her hiding place. I could feel it. Now it seemed to all be threatened again.

The man that I had accidently ran into bent down close to me. He righted the spilled bucked with a leather clad hand. His expensive clothing was drenched. I couldn't stop the heaving enough to even apologize.

"Please don't cry. It wasn't your fault. I wasn't watching where was going either." The stranger's apologies seemed forced, unnatural. He didn't seem to have much experience in soothing emotionally unstable women.

I could not have said anything even if I had wanted to betray my secret and begin speaking. I didn't know what to say to start with, but I also could not form any words through my tears.

Blessedly, Helen had heard my fall and come running. "Please forgive her, sir," she said in her perfectly angelic, soft voice as she stooped down to grasp my hand. "She's not well today." Her explanation was impossible to argue with and the stranger stood, clearly thankful to not have to deal with me.

He must have nodded his head because I heard no verbal reply before he turned to go. Helen uncharacteristically prolonged him, knowing that information she could pass on to Ester would likely offset her temper enough so her punishment for anything less than perfection would be less harsh. "Will the Baron be coming down for supper?" she called after him, her voice not rising much above a whisper yet still heard by the man.

"No. I do not expect he will return in time." Helen was helping me to my unsteady feet when he added, "And please tell Madam Ester that I anticipate that we shall leave tomorrow morning. She should expect to find payment waiting for her at the desk."

Helen made a small bow of acknowledgment and the man turned and left. I thanked Helen quietly as she helped me take some dirty linens from a nearby room and sop up the mess of water.

"Christine," she said softly, glancing around to make sure no one was near enough to overhear. It was the first time she had ever used my name. "we could make it if we left tonight. Ester will be too pre-occupied with the Baron. She won't realize we're gone until it's too late." I stared in disbelief. I had never heard Helen speak so many words the entire time I had known her. But more than that, I had not known how much our escape had been playing in Helen's mind as well. I thought about what she suggested and knew she was right. It was our best chance.

We both had dwelt on what would be needed and within the few minutes it took to finished with the water mess, we had a plan forged. Helen would come to my room that night when all our chores had been finished and we would fly away from the hotel forever.