*Chapter 8: A Plan By Kurt/Blaine's Intentions*

Mercedes sighed as she finished folding an article of clothing in the laundry room. Rachel, beside her, too sighed. The Gala was at the end of the week and once again the two were not asked to go. For in this world it is alright for a man to attend a party such as this but not a woman. It is not that women are beneath men in anyway, it was just an old tradition that the people of Ohio followed. So instead the women were to stay at the manor, again, and watch over the servants, again, and the barns, again. Together the women sighed again. "Excuse me?" A familiar voice called out. The women turned around in their chairs and saw Kurt, dressed again in his peasant clothing but with a bookmarked book in his hands, walk into the servants' section of the whole house. They did not live in the house, the servants, instead there was a separate house on the other side of the estate, a bit smaller than the manor itself but with obviously more rooms where all the guards and servants lived if they did not have a home of their own or chose to live in. Mercedes and Rachel were two of Blaine's servants that chose to live on the estate. "Excuse me? Anyone here? I was just wanting a glass of water…" Kurt asked quietly.

"Kurt!" Rachel called out before Mercedes. She stood, abandoning the clothing around her. "I'll get you that water for you." Rachel walked towards Kurt and walked him into the kitchen. She quickly filled a glass with water and handed it to him. "Reading a book Kurt?" She asked pointing to the book.

Kurt raised his brows as he drank. Once his thirst was quenched he nodded. "Yes. I finally graduated to adult novels and textbooks."

"I can see that." Rachel smiled warmly at him. She tilted her head to catch a glimpse of the title. "'Music Theory'? Kurt I applaud you for getting well informed about your role but isn't this a bit much? Master Blaine already taught you mostly all of the songs he knows on the piano."

Kurt shook his head. "This isn't for that. It's for me. I am actually interested in music if you haven't forgotten."

"I haven't. I just didn't think you would actually stick with it seeing as you're a Mystic and you know…"

"I won't be able to get a job as a musician." Kurt finished. "I know. Even sirens don't get jobs as singers and their voices are immaculate."

"Yes but they also force men under their spell."

"And women too. That's one of the common misconceptions about sirens. It all depends on their sexuality."

"I'll keep that in mind." Rachel grinned and him before she sighed heavily. "Well, back to folding laundry for the master and Mr. Montgomery." Rachel started to walk back towards the laundry room and Kurt followed glass half filled with water and book in each of his hands.

"Thank God Rachel." Mercedes, her back to them, said when she heard the footsteps. "I was wondering if you would ever come back and help me with this mound of clothing that needs to be folded."

"I came back didn't I? Oh and Kurt's here too." Rachel sat in her chair and started to fold as Mercedes stopped and stood to give Kurt a hug, being careful of the objects in his hands.

"Hello Kurt honey."

"Hello Mercedes." Mercedes sat back down on her chair and Kurt sat down on the floor, setting his drink and book aside, before attempting to fold clothing. He tried desperately to fold the clothing and make it as perfect as the human women before him but he just could not do what they could. He silently wondered if they did it through magic.

Mercedes chuckled at Kurt's questioning gaze and finished folding a shirt before moving onto the floor with Kurt. "Like this honey." She slowly folded another shirt and stretched over to set it on the folded shirts pile.

"Ah…" Kurt mused softly as he grabbed another shirt and clumsily folded the shirt. Mercedes took it from him and smoothed the shirt out and fixed it before setting ii on the pile.

"Keep on trying and eventually you'll get it." Mercedes smiled at him. "And if you get a pant just fold it half, three times for a regular pant and only once for a dress pant but all the shirts are folded the same and as for the jackets and vests just lay them out." Mercedes stood and sat back on her chair. "Would you like a chair too?" Kurt shook his head, not finding a voice to speak as he concentrated on the clothing before him.

The three folded clothing again before the fact of Kurt's presence there, which had caused some happiness and light in the room, slowly dissipated to a more sad and dark feel. Rachel sighed first followed shortly by Mercedes. Kurt raised his eyes from the dress pant in his hands. The sighs sounded ultimately and truly sad and he did not like his friends to be sad. He folded the pant once and set it on the pile before switching his concentration from the clothing to the women. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Kurt baby." Mercedes said, not looking up from her folding.

"It's just boring work is all." Rachel added, too not looking up.

Kurt sighed then, not at all pleased with those answers. "Something is wrong." He said definitely. "Tell me."

The women sighed, looked at each other and then at Kurt and in perfect unison said "We're not going to the Gala, again."

"You've never been?"

"Never." Mercedes simply replied.

Kurt blinked. "Impossible. Not two beautiful women such as yourselves." Not even his compliment made them smile, they only shrugged. Kurt looked at Rachel. "Rachel, what about Mr. Hudson? Didn't he not say that he loved you?"

"Yes," Rachel started, "but he couldn't take me because he was already said to take Miss Fabray."

Kurt shook his head. That man did not know how to defy people did he? Kurt glanced at Mercedes. "And no one has asked you?"

"Never." Mercedes repeated.

Kurt huffed out, completely impressed by the human males' lack in judgment in a beautiful and wonderful women before him. Why here is Mr. Hudson, in love with Rachel and he goes with Miss Fabray. And Wes, he at the very least likes Mercedes more than just a friend and he has never asked her to attend a dance with him? Kurt rolled his eyes. Why if Kurt was a man like Mr. Hudson or Wes he would surely take either of these women, both if he could, with him to the Gala as his companion. Kurt then had an epiphany. His eyes widened and he shot up to his feet, ignoring the book and glass on the floor beside him."I'll be right back." He turned and quickly walked out of the door without waiting for a reply from the women. He appeared again moments later in the doorway, remembering his manners. "Please excuse me ladies." He tossed them a small smile in their direction and turned and disappeared leaving two equally shocked women.

Kurt found himself wandering upstairs where he had last saw Wes go to. He stopped for a moment and looked around at the floor. It was just as his expected. The first floor was glamorous and luxurious but upstairs was purely meant to live in. It was not as heavily decorated and not at all as glamorous but it still retained its luxuriousness. The walls were beige and the decorative columns going down each of the halls were made out of jade stone which added pops of colors. The furniture, like chairs and tables, were oak with decorative vases placed on every table and every so often there would be a good sized mirror hanged upon the walls reflecting the beauty of the top floor in its glass. Kurt shook his head and continued down the halls, trying desperately to run into Wes. He kept finding servants and kept repeatedly asking if they have seen him, all say the same thing, 'He is up and about, I haven't seen him.' Kurt was about to lose his mind when he finally found Wes walking away from him in another hall. He ran down the hall and immediately latched his arm with Wes' and steered him away from his destination. "You're coming with me Wesley Montgomery." Kurt nearly growled as he half dragged him away.

"No Kurt!" Wes complained. "I have to go see Master Blaine! He requested to see me!"

"Too bad." Kurt answered sharply. "He can wait."

"Kurt! Wait! Stop!" Wes continued to argue as he was remarkably being nearly dragged down the hall and down the stairs. "This isn't very gentlemen like Kurt! Kurt!"

Kurt pulled Wes into the laundry room where the women were once again at their duties, nearly done with the clothing when he entered in. "Good, you are still here." Kurt said as he panted, tired from pulling the fighting Wesley. Kurt pulled Wes until they both stood before the neat piles of folded clothing and the women, Kurt standing directly before Mercedes and Wes before Rachel. "We have something to ask of you both."

"We do?" Wes asked, overly confused now.

"Yes of course we do Mr. Montgomery." Kurt answered grinning at him. Leaning in to whisper in his ear he said "Ask Mercedes to the Gala."

Wes slowly turned a light shade of pink. "I-I-I… Kurt!"

"Now!" Kurt hissed as he turned his head and chuckled softly at the women, grinning largely.

The women looked at each other in confusion and then back at the males. "Uh… Um…" Wes cleared his throat, red now as the blood rushed to his face. Wes glanced at Mercedes. "I was wondering… Um… Miss Jones…"

"Call her Mercedes!" Kurt half whispered half hissed at Wes through his teeth as he grinned widely at the women.

"Um… Mercedes… I uh, was wondering if maybe… If maybe…"

"Yes Wesley Montgomery?" Mercedes asked, too blushing softly as she caught on to what Kurt was planning.

"Um… Could—would you like to accompany me at the Gala?" Wes finally managed out.

"As what?" Mercedes asked, softly batting her eyelashes at him, Kurt and Rachel both mentally cheered at Mercedes.

Wes nearly choked on air as a result and quickly cleared his throat before he fell too deeply into a coughing fit. "As uh… You know…" Mercedes raised a brow at him. "As um… As my date."

Mercedes smiled broadly, both of them beat red now. "O-Of course Wes. I would love to be your date for the Gala."

Wes smiled back at her. "G-Good—that's great!"

Kurt clapped his hands together and squealed in excitement. "Yay! Finally." He chuckled softly to himself as he looked at Rachel. "Now Rachel, would you like to accompany me to the Gala?"

"I would love to Kurt but…" Rachel gave him a one shoulder shrug. "Aren't you—"

"Gay?" Kurt asked for her. "Of course I am. You're not coming as my date or my cover; I am asking you in hopes that if you come with me and I distract Miss Fabray by pretending to be a fan of her singing, you and Mr. Hudson could sneak off into the garden to have a romantic night with him."

Rachel stood abruptly, wrinkling a shirt in her hands as she stood. "Really Kurt? Do you really think this could work?"

Kurt nodded once. "Of course. But that would mean that you and Mercedes would have to find something to wear."

"Oh my God!" The women yelled together, Rachel dropping the shirt on the ground and Mercedes standing. Turning to each other they yelled "The Gala's this week and I don't have nothing to wear!"

Wes chuckled and walked around the clothes to offer his arms to the women. "I'll take you out to town now and hopefully we can reach the dress shop before it closes." The women automatically latched their arms to his.

"But Wes," Kurt started, "what about Master Blaine? Didn't he call—"

"You can attend to him Kurt." Wes said as he started to walk away. "I'm sure it's nothing important." With that the three disappeared without another word. Kurt stood in silence and was internally screaming with both worry and anger. How dare Wes, and Mercedes, and Rachel just leave them after what he did for them and how dare Wes leave him to Blaine? Blaine! Kurt ran a hand through his hair. Sighing he bent down and grabbed his book and his water he had left behind. Quickly he finished drinking the water, dropping it off in the kitchen's sink, before climbing back up the stairs again and praying to his God of Light that whatever Blaine had requested Wesley for was not important.

*Chronicle of the Mystics*

Meanwhile in the upstairs sitting room and gallery Blaine paced angrily. It was a magnificent room with burgundy walls, blue stone accents and ivory colored furniture and there was even another piano in the room. It usually calmed Blaine down and made him feel at peace and rest but now, he was just astounded and angered by Wes' tardiness. "Where is Wesley?" He asked towards no one in particular. "I have an important matter to discuss with him and he still isn't here!" Blaine stopped pacing for a moment and looked down at the yellow canary in its cage. "Pavarotti, is it too much to ask for a servant—nay, a friend—to come to me when I ask him to?" The canary tweeted softly, hopping from one of its two branches to the lower one to drink some water. "Of course it isn't." Blaine said as he glared at the open doorway. "Now watch. He will probably just walk in right now with some petty excuse and—"Kurt walked in then and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Blaine's glare towards him, or at least, it looked like it was to him. Blaine's glare disappeared almost immediately and his anger made a complete one eighty and turned into surprise, but a quiet, nice surprise. "Kurt… What are you doing here?"

"I uh…" Kurt stuttered. He sighed and tried again. "I came here in place of—Oh is that a canary?" Kurt squealed and rushed over to the cage, bending at the waist to get a better look into it. He gasped softly. "It is! It's a canary! I love canaries!"

Blaine could not help but chuckle at Kurt's childlike personality. "His name is Pavarotti."

Kurt looked up at him for a split second, a wide smile on his face, before looking back at the bird. "Pavarotti…" Kurt sang out, sounding much like a little girl when he did so. Blaine grinned at him. "Can he come out?"

Blaine's smile fell and he shook his head. "I don't want him flying away."

"He won't." Kurt said shaking his head. "He promised me." Blaine blinked at him, momentarily forgetting he was an animal shape-shifter before nodding his head. Kurt giggled and opened the cage. Pavarotti immediately flied out and flew once around the room before landing on a finger Kurt had stretched out towards the bird. Kurt then whistled, much like a canary, in fact Blaine was convinced he was speaking canary just like the time he spoke with the unicorn on that day months ago. Pavarotti whistled back which finally convinced Blaine that the two were talking with each other. The whistling continued for a moment before Kurt finally looked back up at Blaine. "Pavarotti is a very sweet bird."

"Oh? And what makes you say that?" Blaine asked.

"He's been complementing me this whole time."

"Oh he has?" Blaine asked, staring down at the bird still on Kurt's finger. "What has he said?"

"Hm-hmm." Kurt sounded nodding. Pavarotti flew up and Kurt moved his hands together to form a bowl and Pavarotti landed in his hands. "He said that I have pretty eyes, speak canary pretty well, I look handsome and that I should change into a canary so we can fly together around the house."

"Hm…" Blaine sounded, removing his eyes from the canary to look at Kurt in the eyes. He did have very pretty eyes, and he was very handsome and as for speaking canary, only Pavarotti can be the judge of that but Blaine thought it sounded quite realistic. "So why don't you?" Kurt looked at him in confusion. "Turn into a canary and fly I mean." Blaine quickly added.

"Oh…" Kurt sounded before answering. "I'd rather not. I'm tired as it is from reading that book all day and I'd rather not use up the remainder of my energy." Blaine nodded and Kurt looked back down at Pavarotti and whistled again. Kurt smiled, nodding once towards the bird before glancing up at Blaine. "Hold your hands out like I am Master Blaine." Blaine silently did as he was told and Pavarotti flew up from Kurt's hands and transferred to Blaine's. Kurt put his hands down and Blaine chuckled.

"I've never really held Pav before." Blaine mused.

Kurt tilted his head. "Two things: one, your never held him and two, 'Pav'?"

"No not really. I never let him out because I was afraid he would fly up somewhere and get stuck or I wouldn't be able to get him and 'Pav' is just a little nickname."

"Oh…" Kurt repeated. "Well you should trust him more. Pav loves you Blaine and he's not going to just fly away."

Blaine looked up at Kurt. The two stared at each other and Blaine's eyes moved to Kurt's right wrist where he could faintly see the new bracelet that was made to restrain his powers. Mr. Martin had come over to the estate personally once more to hand Blaine the new bracelet. It was made with a teal-grey color, the purpose of which was to match Kurt's eyes, again failing in capturing the true color and life in his eyes, and had the typical magic repellent going down the center but had diamonds and sapphires and rubies on the fabric to add flair to it. It was very flashy but Mr. Martin had made the bracelet long enough to tie up farther up the arm to hide it away when the time comes for the Gala. But despite how flashy it is, Blaine could barely see it through the cotton, long sleeved shirt that Kurt wore; still he was not going to take any chances, not even to leave Kurt free to use his magic. Blaine's eyes went back up to Kurt's.

Kurt looked away all too soon for Blaine and turned ninety degrees to 'look' at a painting. "A-Anyways… I came here in place of Wes. I forced him to ask Mercedes to the Gala and I asked Rachel."

Blaine's heart fell then. "Oh… I see…"

"Yes." Kurt answered statically. "It is a shame that I will trade such a friend for Miss Fabray though."

"Oh?" Blaine repeated, but this time with more inquiry.

Kurt nodded, still not looking at him in the eyes. "I am only bringing Miss Berry so that she and Mr. Hudson can spend a romantic night together. I am to distract Miss Fabray long enough until the dinner."

"Oh." Blaine repeated once more, this time smiling softly, glad that Kurt was not actually going with neither Miss Berry nor Miss Fabray.

Kurt smiled and turned finally to look at him. "They left, meaning Wes, Mercedes and Rachel, to go dress shopping since they didn't have anything to wear. Wes sent me instead in hopes that whatever you wanted to discuss with him you could discuss to me about."

"I see…" Blaine sighed out. He looked down at Pavarotti and with one finger started to stroke the bird in the chest. "It actually concerns you Kurt."

"Me? What about me?" Kurt asked.

Blaine slowly put Pavarotti back in his cage, closing the door behind it and looked up at Kurt. "I was going to talk to Wes about what will happen afterwards." He paused as he thought about how to say what he was thinking. "I have no doubt in my mind that we will win the bet… I was going to suggest that you move into the manor."

"What? Me?" Kurt asked flabbergasted.

Blaine nodded. "You'll be too human by that time to continue living in the Mystic barn. It would be better if I just gave you a room in here."

Kurt shook his head. "No."

"No?" Blaine asked, shocked that the shifter would say no. "Why not?"

"I'm a shape-shifter, a Mystic… I deserve to stay in a barn, no matter how human I may seem to be." Kurt answered eyes on the table before him where Pavarotti's cage sat on.

"But Kurt… You are—"

"I'm not human Blaine!" Kurt interrupted as his eyes shot up to look into Blaine's hazel ones. "No matter what you do, what lessons you give me… No number of restraints," Kurt raised his right wrist for emphasis, "will ever make me a true human. I was born a Mystic in this horrible breeding facility in California. I am still and always will be a Mystic, an animal shape-shifter trapped in a human's world, a world that should equally belong to everyone but it does not. I am not moving into the manor. There is no possible reason for me to do so. And I have already betrayed the others by doing this. Do you think they understand that this is all for a bet? No! They are too pig-headed to realize it. They believe that I am abandoning them and I will not! I am a Mystic Blaine, and I will stay with my fellow brothers and sisters in the barn, thank you very much." Kurt turned his back to Blaine but did not walk away. He merely stood and crossed his arms tightly before his chest, holding his head up high.

Blaine swallowed and stared at the back of Kurt's head while the shifter breathed heavily as a result from his speech. "Kurt…" Blaine called out softly. He walked up to the Mystic, standing so close to the shifter than they both could feel each others' body heat and yet they did not touch at all. "Kurt, I know that you are a Mystic. You don't think I don't know? I know, okay? I know that you are a shape-shifter. I just…" Blaine sighed softly and Kurt's head fell slightly to a more normal position. The room stayed quiet except for the near silent chirps from Pavarotti. "If you do not wish to move into the manor," Blaine finally spoke after a minute or so, "then you do not have to." Blaine turned around and walked a few steps to reach the book. He inspected the book and walked back to Kurt. Wordlessly he stretched his arm out from behind Kurt. The Mystic silently took his book from Blaine and crossed his arms again, this time just hard enough to hold the book to his chest. "But if you ever change your mind Kurt…" Blaine began softly, his arm falling limply by his side as he stared pleadingly into the back of Kurt's head. "The offer will always stand." Kurt nodded stiffly and walked out of the second floor sitting room and gallery, leaving Blaine and a chirping Pavarotti behind.

At SilverWhiteDragon Okay so I lied. This isn't the Gala chapter… Sorry about that…

But I promise that the very next chapter (THE VERY NEXT CHAPTER) is part one (PART ONE) of the Gala. Then (once again at SilverWhiteDragon but towards anyone else who is also interested) after the Gala chapters (approximately two or three depending on if I add more scenes to it than planned) will be some smut, I'm not going to say which two, but I'm pretty sure you can guess (PSST! Starts with Kl ends with aine!)

PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEWS EQUALS FASTER UPDATING! FASTER UPDATING EQUALS MORE STORY! MORE STORY EQUALS MORE DRAMA AND ROMANCE! PLEASE REVIEW!