My head snapped to see a huge black furry dog staring at me now.
"Awe it’s a dog," I grinned widely. I bent down to sit on my knees while the dog growled lightly and after few passing seconds, it tilted its head looking at me. I raised my hand forward and it stared at me wondering what I was trying to do. Everything was calm until it decided to pounce on me with all its force making me fall backward. Sniffing me it let out a small bark, it’s black fluffy tail swinging left and right.
"What’s your name?" I asked it while scratching the back of its ear. My hand froze then. Could it be...Marc? Oh my God!
"His name’s Dozer," said a voice startling me. A boy of my age stood at the entrance of a room wearing torn jeans and a plain shirt. He must be the owner of the dog, I thought.
"Which breed is he?" I asked him while the dog named Dozer licked my hand.
"A mix of all breeds. Aren’t you supposed to be cleaning? Dozer room!" he ordered but the dog seemed to have a different mind. Making the necessary room it sat on my lap, keeping its head down, "Are you kidding me?"
I looked at him with a blank face unsure of what to say. While the boy stared at the dog in disbelief my eyes fell on the familiar pair of shoes. This was the person Luke was talking to this morning. I tried nudging the dog away but it growled not approving of my gesture. When I ran my hand on the dog’s back, the boy spoke,
"Are you trying to put it to sleep? I’m going to make sure you get night work included today for distracting my pet," he said and my head snapped in his direction.
"I didn’t distract it," I defended myself, "Can’t you get the dog to move from here like a trick?" I asked him motioning my hand towards the dog that was resting peacefully on my lap now.
"Do you take me for a joker to know tricks?" he asked me with an annoyed expression.
"He’s your dog so you should know," I stated in a matter-of-fact to which he rolled his eyes.
"He isn’t my dog," he deadpanned.
"But you told he was yours a while ago," I pointed out and saw a nerve pop out of his forehead.
"What are you, Sherlock! Quit asking me questions and get the dog moving soon before someone comes. I’ll have Annie double your work," he said angrily and then looked at the dog, "And you get no food after all your master is home," he said before walking towards a door and slamming it shut with a loud sound.
After fifteen minutes Dozer moved from my lap to stand in front of me, thanking him internally I got up. Half an hour had passed since the time I had arrived here and the cleaning was half done. The place looked neat and tidy therefore I began walking down the stairs to only be followed by the dog. It whipped its tail when I turned to look at it with a frown. I already had enough work to do and the dog was only going to get me into more trouble. When I reached the end of the corridor I realized the dog wasn’t there around anymore. Why were the maids scared of the dog? It was a friendly one until it started growling. Or was it because of the boy named Jamie?
Reaching the entrance of the kitchen I found Annie and a lady with round-rimmed spectacles with four girls lined in front of them. I didn’t heed to what was going and instead went to go in search of Emma but someone grabbed my arm to stop me before I could leave the room.
"With her, it makes five of them in total," the lady with spectacles spoke to Annie."Hmm, I believe so," Annie said looking at all of us and then turning to talk to the lady, "Get them cleaned up and bring them to the court in an hour. I don’t want any of them whining over it," and she left.
"Court?" I questioned one of the girls but the lady was the one to reply me.
"There are guests whom we need to serve of high importance, therefore I would expect you girls to be in your best behavior," she then looked at me skeptically, "What ever they ask, goes. They ask you anything, you provide. Failing to do so will result in the dungeon for a week with no food."
I knew there was a slight possibility of Luke being in the court as he had mentioned about it earlier this morning due to which I was less worried. Reaching the dress rooms we were given normal clothes and I sighed in relief at least it wasn’t like those movies where they make you wear skimpy clothes. The girls who were with me were all humans and all of them looked happy regardless of the fact they had to agree to whatever the creature in the court would say.
But like every crowd there was an exception, there was one girl who looked scared to death and seemed like she would faint any moment. I wondered how humans crossed the dimensions. Kidnapped or stepped into the dimension unknowingly, was my guess. I took a pair of jeans and a T-shirt which was over-sized as I couldn’t find any shirt or top of my size. Others wore skirts or shirts making me feel that this was a privileged moment for them as rest of the days they would have to go back wearing maid clothes.
I stood outside the court with the rest of the girls waiting for instructions to get in. I felt a little jittery as seconds passed by, goosebumps forming on my skin. Then the doors were pushed open for us and being the last person I followed them keeping my head low.
"What beautiful sounds," I heard a man say from my right side, "Sounds of excitement and fear."
"I want that one," I heard Jamie’s voice. Please don’t let that be me, I prayed.
"That’s my little brother, impatient as ever," the first man who spoke said chuckling now, which meant he was the Syrian’s king, "What about you Lucian?" he asked and I dared to peek up. That idiot had his eyes glued to his phone.
"And I said I didn’t need one," he said least bothered to look at the girls standing in the front court.
"Don’t be like that; consider it as your bachelor gift. If you aren’t picking one then let me do the honors for you," the king said looking at the remaining four of us. Jamie had picked the girl who was most frightened to come here, "Hmm," he thought and my mind went to an alarm state ringing ’Pick me! Pick me!’
"That one looks quite eager to please you, may be tha-" the king said looking at the other end.
"I think the brunette would be a better choice, Issac. Don’t you agree Lucian?" I heard someone talk from the other end and I raised my head now completely to see a familiar face that had a faint smile. It was Luke’s cousin Charlie sitting on one of the arm rest.
After Charlie spoke, Luke looked up from his phone screen and was about to say something but when he saw me, his lips formed into a thin line.
"I’ll take the brunette," Luke said getting up from his seat.
"I shall go with the one you picked," Charlie informed the king to which the king nodded. The king and another man who was present in the court picked the remaining two, one for each telling the men in the room to enjoy their feast.
I was sitting on a bed now while Luke stood staring at me with no words spoken to me since we left the court room. I was fiddling with my fingers when he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Lillian, we’ll be leaving tomorrow once the sun sets down," he said with a sigh, "We have little complications."
"Complications?" I asked him as my brows furrowed as he came to sit next to me.
"Yeah, Emma is missing," he informed me, "I think someone’s suspicious and has taken Emma somewhere. Charlie was around the corner and I asked him to investigate it. Having you as my personnel maid is quite advantageous in this situation and I don’t have to worry while you are here."
"Will Emma be safe?" I asked worriedly.
"I don’t know, Lillian. We can only hope for it. Charlie should be able to find it out by morning," he answered.
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