This chapter went really well, I wrote a little over my daily goal every day. I didn't get it 100% finished because I ended up drinking with some friends the last night for writing and got a bit sick.
The first thing Ethan noticed was the hammering headache he had. He couldn't tell if it was a hangover or from the fight last night. Whatever it was, it was painful. He tried to sit up from his laying position on the couch, but something stopped him. Peaking open an eyelid, he was arms wrapped around him leading towards Bela Dimistrecu. He stared for a moment, shocked. Bela must've felt him wake because she stirred as well and opened her eyes.
She looked at her arms in confusion. Seeing that they were wrapped around someone, she quickly released them and scrambled away-
-and fell onto the floor. Bela landed squarely on her back and knocked the air from her lungs. Ethan tried to stand up as well but his foot caught on the carpet and landed on top of Bela. Her knee went right into his groin and an elbow of his plunged right into Bela's stomach, just below her ribs.
Ethan let out a strangled yelp of pain and rolled off Bela, holding himself and balling up into a fetal position. Bela held her gut and made a strange gasping/groaning sound. Ethan continued to whimper while Bela slowly stood up. "What… the hell was that?" Bela asked angrerily.
Ethan tried his best to respond, ignoring the pain. "No idea."
"We never speak of it." Bela demanded.
Ethan looked at Bela with a serious expression and was going to reply but noticed that the room around them… it had been cleaned. "Uh… hate to burst your bubble, but I think the cat is already out of the bag." Ethan gestured to the room. Bela looked around in confusion, however.
"What about it? I'm not following."
"You were fairly drunk last night and I did hit you pretty hard, maybe you forgot. We trashed the room pretty good. That means that someone has come in here and cleaned it. That means, they most likely saw… that." Ethan said as he regained his composer and climbed onto the couch.
The look that crossed Bela's face told Ethan she remembered. With a blank look leveled at him, she spoke. "I will find whoever saw and kill them. Easy."
Bela went to leave the room, but Ethan grabbed onto her gown. "No, you won't. Stop it. There's no reason for that." Ethan said, already tired of this.
"She will tell someone." Bela argued.
"So? That doesn't mean you should kill them. That's just cold. The best thing you can do is just forget about this and ignore it. They won't even remember it in a week if you don't draw attention to it." Ethan said. "And besides, you're already short-staffed as is. This would just make it worse."
"Good point. I'll kill her when I no longer need the staff." Bela replied almost as if the only thing she heard was the last part.
"Of course, that's what you got out of that. No, you're not killing them. End of story. Now let's go." Ethan stood up and looked down at his ruined 'outfit'. "I need to bathe and get some clothes."
Bela realized at this point that Ethan was shirtless. She looked at him for a moment with a raised eyebrow. "Where is your shirt…?"
Ethan laughed a bit. "It got pretty fucked up in the fight, what with being thrown, kicked, punched, stabbed once."
"So it seems. Well, the maid not only saw that, but you were also shirtless. Rumors are going to run rampant like the damn sickness in these halls." Bela grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "I can't believe I have to deal with this shit now."
"Only person you can blame is yourself. You're the one who got too drunk and picked a fight with me."
Bela put on a childish mocking tone, "'Only person to blame is you', oh stuff it, Ethan. You're the one who also fell asleep on the couch." Bela pointed out.
Ethan went to deliver a counter-argument but stopped. "...yeah, you got a point. In my defense, I was fighting you for a while and I was already tired."
"Whatever you say. I'm going back to my room to get cleaned up." Bela said before morphing and buzzing off, literally. Ethan scoffed.
"See you later, too. Such a baby…" Ethan laughed as he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. As he walked, he noticed a few of the odd maids here and there turn their heads to stare at him as he walked by, some giggling a bit and some blushing. It kind of made him uncomfortable. His pace hurried as he tried to make it to his room before a brave maid made a pass at him.
Quickly running inside his room, Ethan sighed a breath of relief. He felt like a piece of meat being taken through the lion's den a few times when a maid would cross his path and utter something in Romanian that was obviously a flirt. As he sorted through his clean clothes and prepped an outfit, Ethan barely registered the sounds of flies before he was thrown against a wall painfully, held up off the ground by his throat, with angry eyes boring into his soul.
Cass looked like she was about to rip his head off.
"What is that I hear about you fucking my sister!?" Cass only let a second pass before she pulled Ethan back and slammed him into the wall again. "Answer, damn you!"
"Nothing happened!" Ethan squeaked out.
Cass shook him again, "LIAR! I heard that you and Bela were half naked, wrapped around each other! Apparently, you two got into the wine again and had a fun time!" Cass yelled in his face, her voice filled with unbridled rage.
"I promise! She wanted to fight me. She said that we hadn't fought in a bit and wanted to see if the mold would react to it." Ethan explained as he squirmed against the wall. "Seriously! Ask Bela, she wouldn't lie."
"Then how did you send up without a shirt!?" Cass asked, still not believing him.
"It got trashed. Look at my paints, they are barely holding together as is!" True enough, Cass looked at his pants and they were torn in many places.
For a moment, Cass looked at Ethan while deep in thought, but her grip was still iron. "Then how did you two end up on the couch, holding each other."
"She passed out on the couch and so did I. How we ended up that close is beyond me. I swear, Cass. I swear on Rose." Ethan said, doing his best to put as much earnestness behind the words as possible.
Hesitantly, Cass softened her grip on Ethan's neck before letting him go completely. "Fine." She hissed. "I believe you… for you now. But if I ask Bela, her story better perfectly fucking match yours, or else I will cut your dick off! Mother be damned!" Cass threatened before zipping off.
Ethan sat on his bed, rubbing his sore throat. The only thing that could make this situation worse was-
"I hear you stuck it in Bela."
Ethan froze. His eyes slowly drifted over to the newcomer in his room. Standing at 6ft plus, with rusty red hair, and a choker with a green gem in it, was Daniela Dimitrescu. Her face was neutral, and her body language left him also clueless about her emotional state. There were so many different ways this could end for Ethan. Some are worse than others.
"How could you, Ethan?" Dani asked, face growing sad. "I thought we had something special? I thought you wanted me?" She said as she slowly pulled up the skirt of her gown, exposing her legs. "Don't you want me?" Ethan began to fumble his words and quickly looked away, completely taken aback by the display. Dani however acted quickly by tackling him down on the bed and straddling his waist. "Don't you love me?" Dani said in the most pitiful and hurt voice Ethan heard. She grabbed onto Ethan's hand and smoothly slid it up her gown, along the outside of her thigh just past her hip-
'Oh fuck she's not wearing anything under this! I need to get the fuck out of this situation!' Ethan began to squirm, trying his damned best to flee. Ethan felt Dani squeeze her legs around his hips, locking them both in place. Dani leaned forward a bit and began to oh-so-slowly pop the buttons on the chest of her gown, slowly exposing more cleavage. Ethan tried to look away but a firm hand grabbed his chin and forced him to face her. Ethan kept trying to run away from the increasingly freaky situation but without his mold, he was far too weak.
As Dani reached for the last button containing her breast… she broke out into a hysterical laughing fit and fell off his bed. Ethan lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, doing his best to make sense of what the hell just happened. Shooting up in his bed and looking over, he was Dani, now with tears in her eyes, literally rolling on the floor, laughing.
"You should've seen your face!" Dani said between laughs. Sucking in a deep breath, she just continued to laugh harder and harder.
"Oh, you're so fucking funny!" Ethan said, face red as Dani's hair. He picked up the wooden training sword leaning against his bed and threw it at her. She quickly morphed into her flies and let the object fly through her. She reformed standing but still laughing.
"Did you honestly believe that crap I said!?" Dani said with a barely managed chuckle. "Oh Ethan, I love you so much! Take me, please!" Dani said in the most over-the-top love-sick voice she could manage.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm surprised you didn't come in here and try to kill me like Cass just did." Ethan said, getting off his bed to recollect his clothes for his bath.
"I was gonna come in here and interrogate you about it, but I heard you and Cass. She may not completely believe you, but I do." Dani said taking a deep breath in, the laughing fit finally out of her system. "Honestly though, even if you did, I wasn't going to kill you. Rough you up a bit, for sure. But what you and my sister do are none of my business. Just don't break her heart." Dani said with a smirk and a wink.
"Nothing happened! Nothing is going to happen!" Ethan replied annoyed. Dani started cackling like a madwoman and left the room.
"Jesus! Who else is next!"
Magda then walked in.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE! NOTHING HAPPENED!" Ethan shouted at a now very confused Magda.
"I'm… sorry? I think I'm missing something." She said absolutely perplexed. "Why was Dani here? What was making her laugh so much?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it. If you hear anything about me and Bela, don't believe it. It didn't happen!"
Magda looked at Ethan like he was crazy- because he was surely acting like it. "O…k. I wouldn't have believed it any. Theres a rumor that me and you have been sleeping together and we both know that's not true."
"Exact- wait what? Theres a rumor about what now?" Ethan said, whipping around.
"Yeah, I'm shocked you haven't heard. I figured a few girls would've asked you. You are quite the topic around the bathhouse at times." Magda chuckled, fiddling with some of the items laying around Ethan's little room. "Some of the things the women say about you and what they want to do could make the devil blush."
"Alrighty, that's enough. Get the hell out, I'm taking a bath and scrubbing this filth off me." Ethan said with mild disgust while playfully shoving Magda out of his room.
Magda let out a chuckle, "Oh my god you're such a prude! Oh my god is this why she was laughing so hard!?" Magda asked, and Ethan only growled in response, confirming her suspicion. Magda couldn't respond as she just laughed even harder. Ethan quickly shut his door- and locked it.
Trudging over to his bathroom, he quickly drew a hot bath and just jumped in right away, before the water even warmed up. The ice-cold water nearly put him in shock but it was enough to thaw his blush. "Damn women!" Ethan yelled. "Why they always gotta fuck with me so much!" Ethan laid back and let the water level and temperature rise around his body. He grabbed a rag and began to furiously scrub his body, trying to remove the proverbial filth that it seems all the others around here were used to.
Ethan was finally starting to relax and feel his mood improve, until he heard his bedroom door get kicked in, blowing apart the door in the process. The stomping and raw power heading his way told him who it was. That, and the fact there was only one other person that had yet to confront him. Deciding to at least save one door, Ethan yelled "The bathroom door is unloc-" It seems Lady Alcina didn't care, as that door too was smashed off its hinges. Ethan quickly covered himself up under the water as best as possible on such short notice.
"Explain yourself!" Alcina demanded. She was slightly shaking from her rage, fists balled by her side as well.
"Nothing happened. I promise on my daughter. Bela got too drunk and wanted to fight, I won, we both passed out from exhaustion, and I guess she likes to hold onto things in her sleep." Ethan explained as quickly and calmly as possible, yet he was about to lose his cool when Alcinca's posture didn't change. "I promise, I wouldn't touch your daughters at all in that way. I have no desire to-" Alcinca's eyebrow raised, and Ethan caught onto his wording. "-no matter how beautiful they are. My heart still belongs to my late wife and theres no one I want to be with. Honest."
For another moment, it looked like Ethan was going to have to scramble out of the tub and make a mad dash for the hills, but Alcina released a sigh, closed her eyes, and relaxed her body. "I figured it was a rumor, but being her mother and all…" Alcina said, trailing off.
Ethan nodded. "I understand. I don't wish to be rude but… if I could have some privacy…?" Ethan asked, starting to be uncomfortable with the giant woman's presence.
She looked down at him for a moment and then to the bath, and simply nodded. "Apologies. I will have someone fix the doors in a few hours. Good day, Ethan." Alcina said while leaving the room.
"Good day to you as well, Alcina." Ethan replied… before sinking further into the water to try and drown himself to stop the embarrassment.
"Why can't I just have a normal, boring day in this damn castle…" Ethan grumbled to himself as he washed his hair and body. "I might as well just stay in my damn room for the rest of my life if this shit keeps happening. I was safer in the dungeon."
Deciding to hurry and clean up before a mystery guest popped their head in because of his broken doors, Ethan climbed out and dried off. He sighed… he forgot his clothes on his bed. Wrapping a towel around his waist, Ethan quickly stepped to grab the clothes. As he did, he noticed a moment out of the corner of his eye.
He slowly turned and looked, catching the stare of a furiously blushed maid. She was just staring at him…
"What the hell do you want!" He yelled, and the maid let out a yelp and sped off. "Damn women. They need to get laid, and NOT BY ME!" Ethan yelled out into the hall at no one in particular.
Putting on a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt, Ethan sighed and looked at his door. He didn't exactly feel comfortable with it being open like that. Not that he thought anyone was going to come and attack him, no. He just didn't like having his door broken off its hinges, letting anyone who passed by a glimpse in. It was too open for his tastes. Deciding not to spend his time there, Ethan walked out. He began down a hall towards… well, he wasn't sure. He hadn't really been able to explore the castle and usually Cass was dragging him to practice by now, so he assumed that she wasn't really in the mood right this moment. As Ethan walked, he took turns down hallways he's never been in, walked upstairs, took turns, and just wandered around. And he totally wasn't lost. Nope. Not at all…
"...I'm fucking lost as shit." Ethan whispered to himself. He knew he was a couple of flights of stairs up, but outside of that, he had no clue where to go. He began to idly open doors, revealing nothing empty bedrooms, dusty storage, or random sitting rooms that have not been used in years. "Looks like this castle could house the entire village. Wonder why it's so big…"
Ethan wandered around more, figuring that if he was lost he couldn't get more lost. As he looked around more, he saw a large door with grand symbols and gold inlay. He decided to walk in, curious as to what was behind the door. Inside was a huge bedroom. Even bigger than Alcina's. Speaking of which…
"Ethan?" Came a rather bewildered call from none other than Alcina herself. She was standing off to the side, by one of the large windows, watching a rare sunrise spread across the valley. "What on earth are you doing here? This area of the castle is off limits to anyone else not part of the family, and my daughters never venture up here. Why are you up here?" She asked, a bit suspicious of her question.
"I was wandering around and got lost… very lost, apparently. What're you doing up here?" Ethan asked.
"Last time I checked, this was my castle?" Alcina said with an underlying growl in her voice.
Ethan held his hands up. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just this room doesn't look used and you had a fairly upset look on your face. I was just curious is all."
Alcina sighed and looked back out the window. "...this was my parents' room before we fled the country. I like to come up here and think now and then." She sighed and looked down at her feet and whispered, "Especially around this time of year…"
"What happened this time of year?" Ethan decided to ask, genuinely curious. He stepped closer to her and looked out the window as well.
She looked over at him for a moment, but answered anyway, softly. "They died around this time, early in September. I don't remember the day, not anymore."
Ethan's heart went out to the woman. "They both died on the same day? How?"
"The mob." She answered back instantly.
Ethan blinked. "The… mob? Like the mafia?"
"Yes. They were killed in a hit. Turns out my father was trying to get in on the bootlegging scene. Didn't go well… They were both killed in their cars by two gangsters."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Alcina held her hand up to stop the sympathy. "Don't. It happened many years ago and I've come to terms with it. They weren't the best, but they were still my parents, and I miss them at times. Well, I miss the good memories. Honestly, if they were both brought before me this moment, I might beat them both senseless." Alcina said with a light chuckle. "Sometimes I like to look out at the lands during sunrise here. This room was specifically designed to have the best view, and that it does."
"It is a very nice view." Ethan agreed. The light of the sun danced over the lands and through the forests. The snow had begun to melt and recede the past few weeks, however, it had yet to reveal the land below it.
"I'm no fool, Ethan Winters." Alcina said, interrupting the moment. Ethan scowled for a moment in confusion.
"What?" He asked. "I… didn't call you one?"
"Correct, you didn't, but don't think I am clueless about what goes on around my castle." She said with a smirk, not taking her eyes off the landscape through the window.
"Could you perhaps explain? I am honestly a bit confused."
"I know what Daniela asked of you over a month ago."
Ethan froze for a bit. He and Dani hadn't even really discussed it since then. They had made short conversation about it, about how she was trying and was being nicer. "...I take it your upset, then?"
"Me? Ha!" Alcina let out a humours scoff. "Don't be absurd. I could not care less. Her life is hers to live."
"I thought you wouldn't like the idea of Dani trying to change herself in that way."
"I'm not demented, Ethan. I may be cold and cruel to my staff, but that doesn't come from the mold or anything. That's just because I am nobility, borderline royalty around here. The only one above me is Mother Miranda and she's considered the servant of a god." Alcina narrowed her eyes while looking out the window. Her entire demeanor changed in a flash and she became agitated. This made Ethan rather uncomfortable…
"Ethan." Alcina said in a very serious manner. "I need a favor. One that could get everyone in this entire castle killed. If you can do it for me, I will repay you any way I can."
"Woah, shit. This sounds serious!" Ethan said, a bit flabbergasted. "What the heck is it that you need me for? You're the one with a large amount of resources."
"Perhaps, but when you hear the favor you will understand…" Alcina replied, shifting her weight onto her other leg, still not looking at Ethan.
Ethan shook his head. He sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and mentally kicked himself for answering. "Alright, fine. Let me hear it…"
"I need you to find out something. I have a theory that Mother Miranda is exerting some sort of influence on my girls. I know she does to me, but it doesn't work as well as she thinks it does. I need you to not only confirm my suspicion…" Alcina quickly turned towards Ethan and closed her fist as she finished, "but also find a way to break it."
"Shit. Shit, Alcina! That's insane! First off, aren't you loyal to her!?" Ethan asked, desperate to keep himself alive.
"Loyal is a rather strong word. As I said, her influence has little effect on me. I respect her power, but that is as far as it goes. I serve her because I owe her a debt, but my debt does not extend to my daughters who were rejected by her in the first place!" Alcina said, growing increasingly furious. "I refuse to allow my daughters to be twisted by her."
"I understand. Honestly… me and Duke think the same. I asked him a while back about why their personalities changed so much from I first arrived at the castle to now. He believes it has something to do with Miranda."
Alcina thought of this for a moment and snapped her fingers. "Of course! I always thought it was a result of the mold, a blood lust of sorts, but now it makes sense. Whenever an outsider would be around during the spring and summer and Mother Miranda ordered them to be captured, my daughters were always rather enthusiastic to go hunting and would just so happen to kill them. You don't think…"
"That she has been using them as pawns to remove people she doesn't want to hang around? Sounds likely to me." Ethan replied. "Hell, I'd almost bet on it."
"That bitch!" Alcina yelled, slamming a fist into the wall and cracking it. She quickly schooled herself, however. "First things first; we need to even prove something is influencing them."
"How the heck are we even going to figure that out?"
"We aren't. You are. I'm too close to this, Ethan. You will have to be the one to figure this riddle out. What I can do is allow you access to every single bit of information that Mother Miranda left here before I arrived. She used the dungeons as her initial research area. Don't worry, I will have the Moroaicǎ locked up while you search down there."
"Great, sounds fun." Ethan said while rolling his eyes. "I can't promise anything, but I will try, Alcina. Perhaps I can ask Duke to help as well."
Alcina agreed, "Good idea. He should be able to at least find something."
"When should I start on this?"
"Right away. Sooner the better. I'm not expecting answers right away, but I'd like something soon, no matter how small." Alcina explained.
Ethan nodded. "I'll talk to Duke right away. What about your daughters?"
Alcina looked at Ethan with a questioning look, "What about them?"
"Should we tell them? Maybe they could help?"
Alcina thought about the idea for a moment but shook her head. "No. I've got no idea how far her control really goes or if she has access to their memory. For all we know the influence will flare when you tell them what you are doing. No, we have to keep this as secret as possible."
"Yeah, good point." Ethan said, agreeing with Alcina. "Anything else?"
"Yes. Do not tell any of the maids. They may hate us, but the majority of the women here are loyal to Mother Miranda to some degree. Some might even take it upon themselves to turn you into Miranda directly. That would be bad for all of us." Ethan gulped. He remembered how some of the maids were radicals. Luckily he had yet to run into one. If one of them found out, it could spell disastrous for everyone.
"While I have you here, Ethan, I need to tell you that here in a few weeks, I will be traveling. I will be gone for a few days at the least." Alcina informed. She began walking out of the room, "Don't let my girls bully you too bad while I'm gone."
"I'll try not to let them under my skin." Ethan said, laughing. "Thanks for the heads up." Ethan looked out of the window for a moment longer before realizing something…
"Wait! Alcina wait, I don't know how to get back to the main floors from here!"
Ethan pushed the doors open that lead into Duke's little room. The round man looked up and smiled a bit. "Ah, Ethan! W
To what do I owe the pleasure? Business, perhaps?" He said with a greedy little smile.
"In a way…" Ethan started hesitantly. He closed the door and walked over to Duke. "I've got something serious to work on and I need your help."
"Oh? Well, continue, my boy."
"This can't leave the room at all, Duke. Alcina called in a favor."
"Oh. This is serious indeed, if Lady Dimitrescu asked for a favor from you." Duke scowled. "What is it?"
"Remember that thing we talked about last month? About the girl's personalities?"
Duke didn't like where this was going. "Yes… I do. Mostly speculation on both our parts. I fail to see how this involves Alcina, though…"
"She thinks that Miranda is controlling them to a certain extent… and she wants me to break that control."
Duke made a face that he never saw before. The man looked shocked. He reeled back a bit and looked at Ethan with wide eyes. "That's one hell of a favor… Just how do you plan on accomplishing that?"
"Alcina said that Miranda used to use the dungeons here for research before she had come back. She thinks there might be some documents or something down there. I also think that you could help us a lot."
"Me? How?" Duke asked, a bit intrigued.
"You're a resourceful man. Very resourceful. Is there any way you could dig up some information?" Ethan asked, hopeful.
"Perhaps." Duke said in a tone that made Ethan doubt the man. "I can't promise much. Miranda is very careful with her studies. Anything you could find here in the castle would be next to useless, or else she wouldn't have left it. I could extend some feelers out, but Miranda doesn't allow anyone else to help her with research. Later tonight, ask the Lady of the castle herself. Maybe she can shed some more light on this situation."
Ethan nodded. It wasn't great, but it was a start. "I'll do that. I will gather information here on the 'home front', you see what you can dig up elsewhere. I'm sure Alcina will cover any costs you have."
Duke chuckled a bit darkly. "Oh, no payment up-front. If this does go the way we think it may, then just sticking it to that damn Miranda will be payment enough for me." Rubbing his hands together, Duke's eyes zoned out and he smirked. "More than enough, even."
"Ok… whatever. I will catch up with you later tonight after I talk to Alcina or early tomorrow morning." Ethan said, giving a way goodbye to the fat man, who kindly returned the gesture. "Strange man, but whatever. He wants to help." Ethan looked around, still wondering what to do. It should be nearing lunch time yet he wasn't hungry. Shrugging, he went towards the armory. He had been working off and on in there, organizing the weapons and performing maintenance. At first, it was a lot of work, but now he hardly had to do it all. Almost none of the weapons were used, so there was nothing for Ethan to do except apply a coating of oil to the equipment every so often. He didn't even need to do that as often as he did, he just did it to get paid. Cass didn't complain. It was less things for her to do. Ethan had been making great progress in his training as well. He knew Cass would never admit it, but even she thought he was making great strides.
Pushing the door open, Ethan saw Cass sitting at a workbench, tinkering with something. "...hey. How's it going?" He asked hesitantly, giving a little wave as well.
Cass turned and looked at Ethan and scowled a bit. "I asked Bela what happened. Her story is the same as yours, more or less. Stay out of my sister's pants."
"Your sister doesn't wear pants." Ethan joked on instinct and nearly caught a screwdriver to the head.
"Shut up. You know what I mean." Cass hissed through her teeth. "Don't touch her."
"Tell your other sister don't touch me. She damn near raped me earlier." Ethan replied with a bit of mirth in his voice.
"What did she do?" Cass asked as she returned to her task, not necessarily interested in what he was talking about.
"She straddled me, pushed my hand up her leg, and almost showed me her boobs."
"That's pretty much par for me. Don't pay her too much attention."
"Oh so I fell asleep near Bela and you freak, yet Dani does that and you don't care?"
Cass slowly turned around in her seat, somehow with a knife in her hand. She gave him an annoyed look with a raised eyebrow. "You gonna take her up on her offer?"
"Fuck no, I'm not crazy." Ethan replied instantly.
Cass went back to work. "Exactly."
Ethan slowly walked over and peered behind Cass's shoulder but couldn't make heads or tails of what she was doing. "What're you doing?"
"Making a bomb. Well, improving a bomb. I hate using fuses. You can't trust them. Sometimes they burn fast, sometimes they burn slow. I asked the Duke to provide me some simple electronic parts but…" Cass trailed off, slowly whispering the rest to herself.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I… don't really know this stuff. I understand power source, switch, and what-not, but I don't know how to hook any of this up." Cass admitted with tired annoyance, leaning over the table with a hard expression.
"I know a little. Let me take a look." Ethan said, walking up beside her. He picked up some of the parts, looked at them, and looked at what Cass had already done. "Hm. I don't know, everything looks right." Ethan held up a typical nine-volt battery Cass had been using. "Are you sure this battery is good?"
"I have no idea. I don't even know how to check."
"I do." Ethan said before quickly sticking the battery to his tongue. "Nope. No good."
"What the hell?" Cass was both intrigued and disgusted. "How can you tell just by doing that!?"
"These batteries will make your tongue feel weird if they have any juice." Ethan said as he tossed the battery back down on the table. "You need a fresh one. Got any?"
"Yeah. Right here." Cass reached across the table and grabbed another nine-volt. "I didn't even think of the battery being dead." Cass then hooked it up to the circuit.
"Are you using a toggle or a push button?"
"A… what?" Cass asked, a bit confused.
"Alright! How about this? We restart. I will help you." Ethan offered.
"Sure. I barely got anywhere as is."
"Are you using a timer?" Ethan asked, sorting through the items.
Cass looked at Ethan, not understanding the question. "A timer? For what?"
"So when you push the button, it doesn't explode instantly."
Cass blanched and then avoided eye contact with Ethan. "I… didn't think of that."
Ethan laughed a bit. "Yep. When you would've pushed that button, the bomb would've blown up in your face instantly without a timer."
"Well, how do we get one of those?" Cass asked.
"Well. If we want to be professionals about this, we need to order one from Duke. But since I have a funny feeling that you don't care. We will just go old school with it. Got one of those analog alarm clocks that have a tiny hammer on it?" Ethan asked, fiddling with the other electronics.
"Yeah, I can go get one real quick. I don't see how that will work, though?"
"Trust me. Go get it."
Cassandra turned into her buzzing self and left the room. Ethan looked at the sprawled-out wires and other bomb guts. He knew a bit about this stuff, being a troubled teen and all. He could see where Cass was trying to get to, but she didn't have any experience in this stuff so she didn't get the real stuff.
"I got the clock." Cass said behind Ethan. Turning around, he grabbed it and began to take it apart.
"See, if we run a wire along the hour or minute hand, put in a nail or screw at a specific spot on the face of the clock and add a wire to that when the clock hits that time, it'll complete the circuit. Hopefully, the battery can supply enough power through the clock to trigger the bomb."
"What do you mean?" Cass inquired as she looked and studied what Ethan was doing.
"The issue is these nine volts aren't very strong. Add that with the sub-par timer set-up, it may not go off. Speaking of which, how do you plan on setting these things off?" Cass didn't reply but glanced at him with an embarrassed look. "You do have a detonator, right?"
"A… detonator?"
"A smaller bomb inside the bigger bomb typically uses electricity to trigger it. Jesus, you just went into this project willy-nilly, huh… Do me a favor, grab me a light bulb."
"Ok…?" Cass wasn't understanding where this was going but did so. After a trip to the nearest closest, she grabbed one, headed back, and handed it to Ethan. "What are you doing to do with that?"
"This." Ethan said, wrapping a cloth around the bulb and smashing it. "I need the filament from inside."
"The filament?"
"The little piece of wire inside the bulb that glows. I assume you are just using gunpowder for the bomb?" Cass nodded. "Then simple! We attach the wires to each end of the filament. When the power goes through it, it'll heat up and glow. It'll glow hot enough to then ignite the powder. It's nowhere near perfect, but should be a good experiment until you get the right stuff."
"Excellent!" Cass said with excitement. "We should test it!"
"We could do a small test, yeah. Here, pour a tiny bit of powder here." Cass did as instructed. Ethan then quickly assembled the parts and stuck the wired-up filament inside the tiny pile. "Now all we do is set the clock back a bit. In our case, we will just do around 30 seconds before the minute hand hits the nail." Ethan wound the clock back a hair, and let it start ticking.
"I hope this works. This has been bugging me all week." Cass said as she began to fidget a bit. "I couldn't get the idea out of my head for a bit, then I tried to figure out how on earth I would even do it. I asked the Duke but he wasn't much help, honestly."
"You sound like me. When something pops into my head, I have to do it or else it'll gnaw at the back of my mind. I used to do stuff like this all the time when I was younger."
"What, mess with electronics?"
At that moment, the clock struck the nail and a moment later, the pile of powder went up in a poof of smoke and fire.
"Nope, make bombs. I used to make my own blackpowder, too. Easier than you think."
"Jack of many trades, I see." Cass commented.
"I wouldn't say that. I just know a thing or two about a lot of things. You most likely have more experience than me in bombs. I've never gone past paper firecrackers, I just knew electronics as well."
"I will ask the Duke for proper electrical timers and better batteries." Cass said as she began to assemble her bomb with her new timer. "I will test this later in the dungeon."
Ethan nodded. "Come and get me when you do, I'd like to watch it."
"I will try to remember." Then Cass turned to Ethan with a strange expression. "What're you even doing here? None of the weapons need cleaning, we have not used any of them since the other day." Cass said.
"I don't know, I was just wandering around. I ran into your mother earlier. We had a nice talk." Ethan laughed at his own inside joke.
"What did you two talk about?" She asked, a bit skeptical.
Ethan shrugged. "Not much, really. I was actually lost upstairs, on the floors no one goes on, and I ran into her just mulling around. Reflecting on things, I suppose."
"Mother is rather stressed this time of year. So much business to attend to, and things to get ready, it's very hectic. I have no desire to take over the family business." Ethan laughed a bit. "What! You see the hellish stress my mother is under."
"I do indeed see what she has to deal with." Ethan replied, hiding a smirk.
"Exactly!" Cass exclaimed. "How she does it is beyond me."
Ethan shrugged, "Drinking wine?" He offered.
Cass laughed. "If that was how she coped, then I do not think we would have any wine to sell." As Cass continued to work on her little explosive device, she felt Ethan's presence behind her. "...what're you still doing here? I said there was nothing for you to do. Shoo."
Ethan held his hands up and backed out of the room in a rather dramatic fashion. "Fine, fine. I can take a hint. See you around." Cass just grunted in reply. "One big ray of fucking sunshine." Ethan muttered to himself as he walked out of the door.
"I heard that!" Came a yelled reply.
Ethan ran away from the door, "Shit!" Looking behind him, he saw Cass open a door and throw the same screwdriver at him again, this time hitting him in the back. It didn't hurt, so Ethan just laughed a bit and continued to run away. Luckily for him, Cass didn't pursue. Returning to a walking state, Ethan meandered down the halls again. This time he stuck to the halls he knew best.
Eventually, he wandered by Adina's infirmary. Stepping in, he saw the pseudo-doctor sitting in her chair, reading a piece of paper and sipping what looked like coffee or tea. "Hey, Adina." Ethan greeted as he walked in.
She looked him up and down. "Better not be hurt. I have yet to drink all my coffee."
Ethan shook his head with a smile. "Nope, not hurt. Just bored."
"Shit. You always get hurt after you get bored. You just can't keep yourself out of trouble." Adina teased, returning to her reading material.
"Oh, whatever, you like having something to do." Ethan countered.
"Hell no I don't!" Adina scoffed, setting her coffee down and turning towards Ethan. "Sitting here, doing nothing, and drinking coffee all day is what I like to do."
"What're you reading?" Ethan asked, changing the subject.
Adina held the paper up and showed Ethan. "Your blood work. I had the Duke pull a few strings and got an in-depth look at it, better than what I could do here."
Ethan sat down on another chair and tried to read it, but most of the data was in Romanian, and what little he could figure out didn't tell him much. "What does it say?"
"Aside from what we know, not much. This was more for me, really. Just because we know something doesn't mean we know something." Taking a quick sip from her coffee and setting it down, she reached over and grabbed the paper. "But, if I'm reading this right, it does reveal a few new things."
"Like what?" Ethan asked, equally worried and curious.
"I sent in a sample of the mold found in the Dimitrescu as well. Asked them to compare the spores. The results are… interesting." Adina admitted, focusing on the paper more.
Ethan didn't like that. He scratched his head and sighed. "What's so interesting about it, Adina?"
"The spores inside your body and the spores inside theres are not the same, which is no surprise as you were infected somewhere else… but, they are similar."
"What does that mean."
"If I am to believe this paper…" Adina took a deep breath, "you are infected with a strain of mold that evolved from the mold here."
Ethan connected the dots. "Wait. Are you saying that Eveline was from here?"
"I have no idea." Adina told him, "I'm not really allowed to leave the castle, let alone be given sensitive information like that. You'd need to ask someone else, someone higher up." She explained, reclining in her chair and grabbing her coffee. "Someone like Lady Dimitrescu."
"I'll ask her later. If I find her again, she will just think I'm stalking her." Ethan laughed but was a bit serious.
"You already looked for her earlier? What for? Death wish?"
"Har har, no. I ran into her when I was wandering the halls. Hey, you said you're an outsider, right? No originally from the villages?" Ethan asked as he got an idea.
"Yeah? Why?"
Looking around, Ethan leaned in a bit and spoke softly. "What's your view on Mother Miranda?"
In an instant, Adina got serious. She leaned forward and shrunk the gap between her and Ethan. He could smell the coffee on her breath. "What the hell are you doing asking such a question. Don't you have any idea who could be listening!?" She said in hushed anger. "You could get me killed!"
"Calm down! Keep your voice down and no one will hear you." Ethan bit back. "Answer the question, it could be important."
Adina narrowed her eyes at Ethan and scoured his eyes for a moment. "I think she's a scourge on these lands. End of talk, move on to something else."
Ethan smiled. "Good. I may need your help soon-"
"Whatever it is, leave me out of it." Adina said, spinning around and returning to work. "I don't need Lady Dimitrescu slicing me to ribbons-"
"Alcina is the one you'd be helping."
This caused Adina to stop and slowly back around. "What the hell have you gotten yourself mixed up in this time?" She said slowly. "And what the hell could I possibly be of help?"
"I can't really tell you any details right now, I have to ask Alcina first. If she allows it, I will tell you and it'll make your head spin." Ethan said. "Just… don't tell anyone about what we've already talked about. I may have told you a bit too much as is."
"My lips are fucking sealed." Adina said with an exaggerated sigh. "I hate to say it, but I miss the days when I just had to worry about pissing off the wrong daughter…"
Ethan smiled, genuinely. "If things go well, Adina, you'll never have to worry about that again." This piqued the woman's interest, but didn't ask anything else. "Anyway, you're right. I should go find Alcina. The sooner you're brought on, the better."
Ethan got up to leave, but Adina stopped him. "Ethan, whatever you do, take care not to mess it up. I have a funny feeling this isn't something that can just be ignored if it goes wrong. I'd hate to see you killed."
"I'd hate to see myself killed as well. I will make sure to take care, don't worry." Ethan said with a smile. "See you later."
"See you later too… crazy man." Adina replied with a smile of her own.
Ethan hurriedly checked Alcina's room for her but didn't find her. Unsure of who to ask, Ethan made his way to the kitchen to look for Dani. Opening the door, he saw the hustling and bustling of the staff, but no Dani. Stopping a woman he knew spoke some English, he asked her "Do you know where Daniela is?"
The woman had to think about the words for a moment before giving a reply in heavily accented English. "She is with Lady Dimitrescu and sisters. They are in the library, I believe."
Nodding, Ethan thanked her and went to find them. The library was just down the next hall so it didn't take long to reach it. Pushing open the larger, ornate door, Ethan saw the three sisters sitting on the couches and Alcina sat in a larger chair meant for her. "Oh here you, I was wondering where everyone went. Cass? I thought you were still at the armory."
The sister looked at him and shrugged. "Bela came by and dragged me here. Apparently, we have not spent 'quality time' together in a couple of weeks." Cass said, emphasizing 'quality time' with annoyance.
"Oh please, Cassandra, you like hanging out with us, just admit it." Dani said buzzing over to her sister before wrapping her up in a hug. "You love us so much!"
"Get off!" Cass yelled, trying to push her sister away but failed. "I'm going to stab you!"
"Dani, get off Cass." Bela lazily commanded, not taking her eyes off a book. "Cass, stop threatening our sister."
"Tell our sister to stop touching me!"
Ethan chuckled a bit at the sight and shook his head. Mold be damned, they really were siblings. Alcina peaked over a book she was reading as well, but gave her children no mind. Instead, she was looking at Ethan with a subtly raised eyebrow. He nodded his head over towards a spot away from the three girls, who were too absorbed in their affairs to notice. Ethan walked towards the shelves and pretend to browse the selection when Alcina came beside him and mimicked his behavior.
"You've already found something?" Alcina asked in disbelief. "I wasn't expecting results so soon, honestly."
Ethan shook his head and whispered, "No not yet. Honestly, haven't started even, but I did talk to Duke, and he's completely on board. However, I stopped by to see Adina. She told me two things, one of which is related to all this, the other is more related to just me."
"Hm. What is it that relates to you, then?" Alcina asked, a bit intrigued about what Ethan had to tell her. Whatever it was, it had to be important for him to speak with her about it.
"The mold in my body isn't directly from this area but is evolved from it. As in, Eveline is somehow tied to this place." Ethan revealed. This made Alcina scowl.
"There could be any number of reasons for that, but that does in fact worry me. I do know Mother Miranda was looking to outsource some work, trying to speed it up. Perhaps there is a link, but let's focus on the task at hand for now; what did you need to tell me?"
"I want to bring Adina on. She has medical knowledge and could help us in testing things out if need be. I already talked to her, she's not exactly a fan of Miranda."
"Adina is a good child." Alcina admitted. "She has never given us reason to worry, and I already knew of her disposition towards Mother Miranda and even the other lords- even to us." Alcina stated. "If she could help, that would be great, but I fail to see how she could help."
"She could run medical tests and experiments with the mold. At the end of the day, this mold is just that, mold. It can be studied and understood. She could help with that."
Alcina thought over the words before nodding. "You have a point. You have my permission to bring her up to speed with all this. Tell her everything she needs to know, and make sure she knows not to tell anyone. The more people involved, the more likely things are to blow up in our faces."
Ethan laughed a bit, "Don't worry, she almost beat me when I asked her what she thought about Miranda, she was worried someone would hear."
"Mother, what are you and Ethan doing over there?" Dani called. "Perhaps it isn't Bela we should be worried about being around Ethan?" She teased. Cass started to gag and Bela dropped her book.
"Dani! You don't speak to your mother like that! Look what you did to Cassandra, you made her sick!" Bela admonished. "Apologize to mother, Dani."
Alcina looked at Ethan who was in turn looking at Dani with a scowl. She had to school with a tiny smirk. "What's with that face, Mister Winters? Am I repulsive or something?" She said. Ethan began to panic and looked at Alcina.
"What!? I didn't say anything I just- Dani is being ridiculous and all!" Ethan stammered, growing increasingly flustered. However, it was too much for Alcina a small smile crept across her face. "...oh you all are the worst!" Ethan stomped away. "Can't I go a day without being picked on! Please!"
"Nope!"
"Not a chance."
"Sorry, but no."
Came the sister's response. Alcina just continued to smirk and went back to her book. "Sorry, Ethan, you are just too easy of a mark."
"Exactly!" Dani said from her spot. "Especially early when I was on top of you-" Dani quickly shut her mouth and Alcina focused all her attention on Ethan.
"Earlier when you were what, Daniela?" Alcina said, eerily calm while locking eyes with Ethan. Ethan began to shake his head 'no'. He tried to get a word out, but no sound left his mouth.
"Uh oh!" Cass said with an evil smirk. "Sounds like someone got a little frisky." She continued, knowing full well what happened and what was about to happen. Bela was curious but didn't say anything, interested to see where this went.
"Ethan? Care to explain?" Alcina growled.
"Nothing happened! She was teasing me, I promise! Tell her, Dani!" Ethan said, looking over to Daniela who was smiling evilly as well. "No…"
"He ran his hand up my thigh and tried to touch me, mother." Dani said in a higher-pitched voice, trying to act innocent.
Alcina's hands gripped her book tightly. "Dani! Stop that! You know you forced me to-"
"So you admit it!?" Alcina said, shooting out of her chair.
"No! Damn it, Dani!" Ethan yelled desperately, looking at Daniela. She was struggling to contain her laughter. "Look! She's about to bust out laughing, she's playing!"
"He's right, mother." Bela finally spoke up. "Dani is just messing with you. We all know how she is, she most likely forced, Ethan." She said, finally speaking up.
Ethan quickly nodded, "Exactly! Dani is Dani!"
Alcina narrowed her eyes before looking at Bela, then to Dani. She gauged her daughter's expression and sighed. "Daniela, stop trying to get Ethan in trouble." Dani then proceeded to pout from having her fun ruined.
"Fine! He didn't do anything, I was just toying with him earlier." Dani explained. "I thought it would be funny to rattle him with what happened with him and Bela earlier." Dani explained, going back to her own forgotten book.
Aclina was rubbing her face, "I swear you all will make me go grey, and I stopped aging years ago!" Everyone in the room chuckled a bit. "Anyway, now that's done with." Alcina sat back down, "What're planning to do with the rest of the day, Ethan?"
Ethan thought to himself a bit. He was thinking about going into the dungeon to start looking for information, but he'd much rather give Alcina time to lock up the monsters down there. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I have something I need to get to, but it requires some prep and I don't know if it's ready." The three sisters looked at Ethan a bit perplexed, but Alcina picked up on the hint.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure you can just start it tomorrow. Bela and I could use your help later if you're not busy." Alcina said, resuming her reading and adjusting her posture. "Nothing serious, mind you, just some preparations for spring."
"How could I be of any help with that?" Ethan asked, a bit confused.
"The Duke told me about your idea with a clinic near the outskirts of the villages, and it's a rather good idea. We could use it to funnel more resources into the castle. I figured that if you had that idea, you might have others. So I want you to look over our plans for the grounds and other things, and tell us what you think."
"Sure, I guess I can do that. When are you two going off to do that?" Ethan asked, wondering if he should sit down and relax.
"Give me a few more minutes to finish this chapter and we can be on our way." Alcina said. Ethan nodded and sat down in a nice, cushy chair and waited. He watched Alcina read and judging by how quickly she turned pages, she was a very fast reader. Ethan took advantage of the moment and relaxed further into the chair, shutting his eyes. He didn't fully fall asleep, but he drifted off for a moment.
He felt something hit his foot and he opened his eyes. Alcina was standing up and putting her book away while Bela was standing over him with a neutral expression. "We are going to get started now, let's go." She said. Ethan stretched a little and stood.
"Okay. Lead the way then." Ethan said. "See you later Dani, Cass." He waved to the two daughters still on the couch, poking or slapping each other.
"Bye, Ethan!" Dani called while she tried to poke Cass's side again.
Cass pushed Dani's hand away and replied without looking at him, "Have fun, Ethan." She said with sarcasm.
Ethan walked out and waited for Bela and Alcina to say their farewells as well. The two exited after a moment and Ethan quickly fell into step with them. "What exactly is there to plan?"
"Seasonal festivities in the castle, possible arrangements for the grounds, recruiting more workers, mundane things really." Bela answered.
"Oh, sounds like it'll be easy then." Ethan said with a smile. Both Alcina and Bela looked at each other with knowing grins, but Ethan didn't notice…
The next few chapters may be a bit slower in terms of action and development, but here soon things are going to start picking back up. I'm excited to get into the thick of it with this story!
Thanks!