Chapter 10

After what seemed like forever, the pain in Olivia's eyes started to lessen, and she was soon able to look at light without wincing. Once she could do that, she made her way from the furnished room to the main part of the building. There she found Toby repairing some of the tables and chairs that sat in some of the shop's street-side windows. "Well! Are you feeling better?" Toby asked her when he spied her. "Yes... I'm feeling much better- thank you." He smiled, "Not at all. Well, if you wouldn't mind cleaning some windows as your major task tonight, I would be forever be thankful for it. Then we can move onto cleaning off that counter there, as well as the ovens, and then sweeping the place. Are you sure you'll be fine with all of the flying dust...?"

"Yes, I should be," Olivia answered. "Well, alright then- let's get to work!" Olivia and Toby worked for the rest of the day. Once they were done they both stood back in the doorway to admire their work. The building was far from perfect, but it did look much, much better. "This place is almost inhabitable," Toby laughed. "Indeed," Olivia answered. "Well, let's be off now; it's getting late."

As they walked they watched the constables walking around lighting up the street lights. The sun hadn't completely set yet, but it was getting ever closer. The clouds that hung farther away from the setting sun were painted dark blue, much like that of the deep sea. The clouds that were closer, however, were a dark, golden orange, and the sky was like that of a tangerine- bright and radiant. And the sun itself cast a golden halo around the horizon, and shone directly ahead of where Olivia and Toby were walking. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Olivia asked Toby breathlessly. "What is?" He asked her.

"The sunset," Olivia answered. "The colors in the sky are absolutely beautiful. I don't think diVincci or Michelangelo could have painted something this beautiful. I guess this sight proves that Mother Nature is the greatest artist there is, don't you think?" She looked up at him expectantly for his reply, but he only nodded his head and looked out at the ever darkening sky. Olivia dropped her gaze at his face to his hands. "Oh my..." she said.

"What?" Toby said looking at her, slightly concerned. "Oh, I was just looking at your hands," she said, taking one in both of hers studying it. "They're quite big... And they look as if you do a lot of labor with them."

"Well, you would be right in that," Toby said, letting her look at his hand, "I've been working all of my life." Olivia turned his hand over and then slightly gasped when she saw his knuckles; just below them, there were long, large white scars that seemed to draw a line between where his fingers met his hand. "What happened? These are odd scars..."

Toby crunched his hand into a fist as he too stared at them. "I once was a barber's apprentice," he explained. "Though he was my master, I feared him- he was always beating me for one reason or another. And thanks to his temper and carelessness with a razor, I have these scars," he then moved his other hand beside the first to show yet another series of thick, white scars.

"That's horrible..." Olivia said, now holding both of his hands inspecting them. "I... I'm very sorry..."

"And why would that be?" Toby asked with a little laugh, "You weren't responsible for making them, were you?"

"Well... No..." Olivia said, feeling silly. He then gripped her hands in his own. She looked into his dark eyes, a little surprised by his grasp. "Then there's no need to apologize," he said simply. Olivia smiled and nodded, and then broke his grip by slowly pulling her hands away and continuing on the way to Mrs. Jenkins' home. "Honestly," Toby continued, sliding his hands into his pockets, "I'm surprised you didn't notice them the night we met- they basically glow in moonlight, you know."

"Well, I wasn't exactly in a frame of mind to be noticing things like scars on a teenage boy's hands..." Olivia said, trying to sound matter of factly.

"Teenage boy? How old do you think I am, Olivia?" Toby asked with a laugh.

"Well, you were around seventeen or eighteen when we met, weren't you?"

"No, not at all," Toby said with a little smile, "try again."

"Um... 16?"

"No- your getting colder."

"Nineteen?"

"Your getting warmer..."

"I give up!" She said, starting to get frustrated, "How old were you?!"

"Twenty-one, believe it or not..." Toby said smugly.

Olivia's jaw dropped in disbelief. "There's no way! No way at all!!"

"Yes there is a way, because I was. I've always been rather small, and I was given these beautiful boy-ish looks... I'm cursed," he said as he jokingly laid the back of his hand on his brow as if he were going to faint.

"Then that would make you... Twenty-six now!"

"Well, in a few months I will be twenty-six; at the moment I'm still twenty-five," he corrected her.

"I thought you were closer to my age..." Olivia said quietly, dropping her head to watch her feet as they walked. Toby looked down at her. She really had grown up to be quite the lady since that night five years ago. Now when he looked at her, there were no tear marks below her wide, frightened eyes; just clean, smooth alabaster skin- skin that most high society ladies would have considered committing murder for. And her eyes were now a clear, almost glowing gray; it was if she had silver velvet where her irises were supposed to be. And how they glittered when they were happy! They were absolutely beautiful- even if they were rimmed with red because they were still slightly irritated. "Is it a bad thing that I'm that much older than you...?" He asked gently. She looked up at him, and there they were- those silver jewels glistening with the light from the street lights. "Well, no.... Not really..." she answered carefully.

"Because if you think about it, I'm just 8 years older than you... I mean, to some people that's quite the stretch, but I think if I were say, twelve years older than you, that would be a bigger distance, don't you think?"

"Yes, your right," Olivia said as she smiled a little. Toby himself then smiled as well, feeling an odd wave of relief wash over him at the sight of her smile.

"Well, here we are," Olivia said. "Ah, so we are," Toby noted; he hadn't much paid attention to where they were going- rather he was too busy thinking of the color of Olivia's eyes.

"Ah, Toby! How are you, dear?" Mrs. Jenkins said from her rocking chair. Toby walked over to her and gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm doing quite well, ma'm. And you?"

"Oh, I've seen greener pastures, my boy," she said with a little laugh. "Mrs. Jenkins," Olivia said moving over to her friend's side looking a little worried, "are you feeling alright? You look a little tired..."

"I'm fine, child," she said, "I just started a soup was all... It did wear me out a bit, but I'm sure I'll be right as rain soon enough. It should be just about done, if you two want to help yourselves to it..."

"Are you sure we have enough, Mrs. Jenkins...? Maybe I should add some more ingredients.." Olivia said, moving toward the cupboards.

"No, I knew you two would be coming here together... Just had a hunch," she said with a wry smile. Olivia smiled warmly at Mrs. Jenkins. Even though she wasn't feeling well, she was still in good spirits- it really did make Olivia feel better to see her feeling well enough to smile again. In the five years she had spent with Mrs. Jenkins, she was convinced that no matter what ailed her, she would always keep a happy disposition. That is, until the winter she had caught pneumonia. She had only slept and coughed, slept and coughed. It was a wretched time. For a while, Olivia was afraid she would never see Mrs. Jenkins smile again; so she tried every herbal concoction she could remember or invent to help her friend. And finally, one day, she saw color in Mrs. Jenkins' cheeks- her healing had worked! And ever since that day, Mrs. Jenkins smiled as much as she had before; if not more.

"Would you like some soup then, Mrs. Jenkins?" Olivia asked, now reaching for a bowl.

"Oh no dear, I've already had some... You two eat up- I'm just going to sit here for a while..."

"Yes m'am..." Olivia said smiling. She then grabbed two bowls for Toby and herself, and served dinner.

"So Toby, how is your pie shop coming?" Mrs. Jenkins asked from her chair.

"Oh it's coming along well, thanks to Olivia's help and whatnot," he answered. "And thank you so much for all of your recipes- I think I'll be a success as soon as I open my doors; just like Mrs. Lovette would have wanted." Mrs. Jenkins smiled at him. "You know, my boy, I have no need for my recipes anymore... I've got them all memorized, and I do most of the cooking around here anyway- you can have them, if you like..."

"Oh, Mrs. Jenkins, I couldn't..." Toby said modestly.

"No, I insist," Mrs. Jenkins pressed, "Olivia is a horrible baker, anyway," she said with a cackle.

"I am not!" Olivia laughed, turning to fake a glare at Mrs. Jenkins. "Just because I messed up that blackberry pie..."

"This child, I swear!" Mrs. Jenkins continued, "I told her, 'go make a blackberry pie.' Simple enough task, I thought. The child turned the pie itself black! She scorched the whole thing all the way through!"

Toby choked on some soup. "How did you manage that?" He asked with a laugh.

"Well... I forgot Mrs. Jenkins keeps an hour glass in her room, so I never asked to borrow it. So to tell time, I just counted out the minutes by counting from 1 to sixty in my head and keeping count on my fingers. Eventually, I kept counting and counting until I put myself to sleep!"

"Your lucky you didn't burn the place down..." Toby said, stirring his soup.

"I know... Luckily I'm always protected," Olivia said with a smile.

"Protected how?" Toby asked curiously. Olivia's smile faded quickly- how could she explain that she was protected by a spirit? He would think she was mad! "Um... Never mind," Olivia said. "Oh," Toby replied, "alright then." He then just continued eating as if nothing had happened. Good job, Olivia, she thought to herself, You'll be lucky if he doesn't think your completely out of your mind after that comment...

But he didn't- at least, not to Olivia's knowledge. He just continued telling stories and talking to Mrs. Jenkins about his hopes for the pie shop. And soon he and Olivia were engaged in conversation, discussing everything from politics, to books, to their favorite baked goods and so on. Then, they both heard Mrs. Jenkins sigh from her chair, and they turned to look at her.

"I see now that this friendship between you two will definitely be a blessed one..." Mrs. Jenkins said warmly. "May the Goddess and God smile on you both..."

Toby looked at Olivia, hoping she could explain what was being said, but she herself was still looking at Mrs. Jenkins. "Mrs. Jenkins...?" Toby asked, hoping to get an answer from her.

"I'm tired now," she said, shifting in her chair, "I think I'll just rest my eyes here for a bit... You two don't stay chatting for too long- you do have work in the morning, after all... Blessed be..." And then, she dozed off in her chair.

"Olivia," Toby whispered after waiting a few seconds, "What is that she was talking about...?" But instead of answering she just fidgeted for a while, not sure of what to say. "Um... It's just something she likes to say, is all..." Olivia finally said. She looked at Toby who now had a skeptical look on his face. "It's a long story," Olivia blurted out, "One day, I will tell you about it, but not now," she said, hoping he would forget in a few days time. He looked at her and just nodded. "Alright. Well, I must be leaving now- I'll see you tomorrow morning, yes?"

"Of course- I'll be ready to work, and hopefully I won't be blinded by any more dust," Olivia said trying to be funny. Again he just nodded and made his way to the door. As he opened it to let himself out, he gave her one last glance and said, "Goodnight, Olivia." Then he closed the door and left. Olivia let out a huge sigh of relief- for a second she was afraid she would have to expose her and Mrs. Jenkins secret. Lucky that's over, she thought.

She then made her way over to Mrs. Jenkins to help her to bed. "Alright, my lady," she said, moving to the arm of her chair, "I'll help you to bed..." She tapped her teacher's hand trying to wake her up. "Common now, Mrs. Jenkins," she said as she gently shook her shoulder, and still the old woman didn't respond. "Mrs. Jenkins?" Olivia said, quickly getting to her knees to look at Mrs. Jenkins' face and to get a closer look at her chest to see her breathing. She waited thirty seconds, and still she saw no sign of movement. "Mrs. Jenkins," she said, standing quickly and shaking her a little harder. Still, nothing. "Mrs. Jenkins, wake up! Wake up!" She kept shaking her friend, afraid that the worst had happened. Her head just lolled to the side, showing that she was smiling, even after life had left her body. "Mrs. Jenkins!" Olivia shouted, feeling hot tears running down her face. She stepped back from her teacher's side, and raced out the door in search of someone who could help her.