Chapter 213: Party (2)
Abby's face and brilliant smile shined more brightly than the sun itself, her hair that was down, no longer tied in a ponytail, reflected the light coming off the fireball floating above giving it an even greater tint of magnificent blood-red.
For clothing, she wore various rare, precious golden jewelry on her neck and arms as well as an expensive, custom-made dress embroidered and emblazoned with various Pheonix and other such related symbols as the Pheonix was the Reid family signature symbol, the dress itself looking even better than the one she had borrowed from Jayden during their visit to the Griffith family just the other day as it was decorated with several golden markings and accessories to complement the all-red colour scheme of the dazzling dress.
The rest of her family to were to her side, her mother being directly to her right, followed up by her father and sister who was sat at the entire other side of the table, nothing to her left other than a mountain of presents neatly stacked on top of each other, most likely the anniversary presents of all of the guests, her family all wearing very similar styled outfits of comparable quality.
Abby's father who she knew was the exact same age as her own father looked a few years older, his skin looking smooth yet with a few clear signs of ageing, however, there was not even a single strand of gray hair on his deep, crimson head that flowed down to his defined jaw, a bright smile on his face as he looked directly at his wife.
She wore a similar dress to that of both of her daughters yet much bigger and more eye-catching as she was meant to be the star of the show, it being her own and her husband's anniversary after all. She was much younger than her husband but the small wrinkles and bags under her eyes that were covered by buckets and buckets of makeup made them look almost the same age, her body being extremely curvaceous and attractive, all the fat being in the right places which was most likely where Abby and her sister got all of their bountiful assets.
On the complete opposite end, sat beside her father was Emilia Reid, the person that brought upon most of the hardships in Abby's life, even in moments like these she wore a confident, arrogant smirk on her face as she only joined in on the conversation when she wanted to, looking towards the crowd of people ahead of her with subtle yet overbearing eyes, almost like they were all insects, which Jayden found rather annoying, yet paid it no heed for now as she focused all of her attention on the other side of the table where Abby was sat.
Usually, in moments like these when Jayden would witness Abby laughing and smiling with rosy cheeks like she had no care in the world would have made her feel warm on the inside as she would be happy for her best friend.
Yet, what she witnessed now was a firm exception, one that was truly concerning. The people that she hated the most, that she would curse and complain about every day with burning passion and every morsel of her soul, their usual main topic of discussion that she comforted and helped her with almost every day as she let her heart out, revealing to her the bottomless black hole of hatred that stem from them, she and them were now both talking to each other like they had gotten reunited, catching up on the old times, the people that she supposedly could not even bear to look at.
All of those previous emotions seemed to have been thrown out the window, buried deep in the ground showing no trace that they ever even existed.
Although her enhanced hearing was far from being able to pick up on Abby's speech, her vision still allowed her to see exactly what she was doing.
As she talked to her family, the expression she bore was one that was all too familiar yet all too obscure and concerning at the same time. The expression was unmistakable, it was the same expression that she bore when she would have a conversation with Moby, when he would reassure her and make her feel grateful for his presence, and, on the other side she also wore the same expression of when she and Jayden used to gossip and play around to pass the time when Moby was not around since she would always feel too tense around to do any of that around him, who she saw as her lord and saviour.
Abby did explain to her that she had gotten all too used to faking her emotions in order to please her parents and get by with the least amount of beatings every day. Yet, even still, she doubted that she would have been this good and natural and her parents being this accepting of her acting so cheerful and happy like she was forgiven of everything they thought she did, with 0 hints of nervousness on her face. No matter how much she tried to think it was normal, she simply couldn't... It felt too odd and unnatural in her mind, almost like the very laws and fabric of the world was shifting and breaking before her very eyes.
If there were 2 things Jayden knew for certain was that earth's gravity pulled things down and Abby despised and wanted to massacre her entire family.
However, now she was having second thoughts, reconsidering it…
Her eyes grew wide...
For a brief instance, the thought of Abby lying to her and faking their entire relationship all in order to get to her and Moby to manipulate them and gain strength played in her mind. The thought that maybe the words of her butler were in fact true and not at all a lie. That Abby was some sort of spy or traitor all along.
She once again took a deep breath before closing her mouth, her teeth clenched, grinding against each other as she immediately shook those thoughts away and inwardly cursed herself for even thinking such absurd things.
Abby was not at fault, she couldn't be, there must have been an explanation for what was happening.
She felt absolutely disgusted in herself for even thinking of such a thing, all the way down to her very core as she felt her stomach acting up and her heart lurch deep down in her chest.
If she had not been in public around so many people, she would have no doubt slapped her cheek to snap herself out of her paranoia, something that Moby did often and that she would admit was very effective and served its purpose.
Jayden needed to have faith in Abby, that all of this was completely an act and that she had just simply underestimated her acting skills.
No matter the evidence, no matter what she saw, she was not yet ready to accept that Abby was a spy or some sort of traitor, the more and more she thought back to her memories of Abby's clear hatred, willpower, and determination the more those thoughts became improbable and faded away. There had to be a good explanation to what was happening and she planned to both save her and get to the bottom of things.
All she needed to do was stick to the rest of the plan.
She trusted Abby, her best, and very first female friend with every fibre of her being and nothing in her mind was going to change that, vowing to save her as there was nothing else that ran in her mind.
As she snapped herself back into reality, she noticed that the rest of her group of servants began moving, following the path of cold fire laid out before them on the ground, the previous tense looks and worry on the servant's faces before they had entered the room were now nowhere to be seen as they looked completely calm and professional.
Taking a deep breath, Jayden decided to follow them, trying her best to open a mind-link with Abby once again as they were now in extremely close, unhindered proximity. Yet, despite her efforts, all that she was able to hear was that same, unexplainable static that she had heard so many times before, making her inwardly curse.
As a test, she decided to contact Moby using her mind-link, yet, once again, she received no answer. However, this time there was no such static, only the sound of the nothingness of an empty void which indicated that the mind-link was working but that Moby was for some reason not able to answer, most likely deep into his mental training.
This oddly reassured Jayden's heart, proving once again that Abby was taken hostage against her will and was not doing things by choice.
Then, as she and the group of servants continued their very distinct, organized path to the 5 tables ahead, a loud, deep, manly voice rang and echoed throughout the entire room, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Greetings all my humble guests! It seems like all of you have made it here safely! I am grateful that you could all make it to me and Synthia's, my beautiful wife's 20th anniversary! Yesterday our celebration party did not go as planned since my daughter had other plans, but I can assure you she has more than made up for it and used her time extremely wisely! She had more than redeemed herself! She had grown up so much in these few years that I could not be more proud of what she had become!" The man of the party, Abby's father, Lukas Reid stood up to address the crowd with open arms, ending his small monologue by putting his hands on Abby's shoulder as the crowd smiled and clapped at his words.
Jayden's eyes once again became hazy and wide as she began to slowly take in his words before once again shaking those thoughts away, deeming them all to be false and untrue as she continued to follow the rest of the servants, looking at the plate on her right hand to see that she was suppose to go serve table 3, section 43.
"I have received news that there had been an incident at my daughter's military school, but luckily, only the poor dorm kids still live there so that doesn't really affect us much!" He continued, making the entire crowd erupt into calm laughter, them alongside their children that were sat directly next to them.
"Tonight is a time of Joy! One of the happiest days of my life! We will party all night! Don't let anything take away from that! Enjoy the food and dance the night away before we move on to some events that I am certain you all will enjoy!" Lukas announced once again before taking his spot back in his seat, looking at his wife before giving her a passionate kiss as the crowd cheered and congratulated them.
Ignoring the rather sickening spectacle in front of her, Jayden continued to follow her designated path until she reached the table she was supposed to serve.
"Here you go young man, enjoy your food!"
With a bright smile, she set the plate onto the large plate of a blonde-haired young boy that was extremely short, looking about half her age, him paying her no attention as he continued clapping and cheering, almost like she was not even there which was rather fortunate in her opinion since she was not in the mood to listen to little brats complaining for no reason.
As soon as the clapping and cheering faded away, the sound of the bustling crowds appeared once again and filled the entire room as everyone began to socialize amongst themselves.
As Jayden walked away from the table she delivered the food, she surveyed the entire room looking for the same servants that were part of her group when she noticed that half of them were on standby roaming the room waiting to be called upon for help and the other half was going back through the door that they entered, most likely on their way back to the kitchen where they would pick up more food.
Jayden had no idea which role she was supposed to play as it was something that Preston had not revealed to her in their brief exchange of information but she was more than ready to take the risk and stay, since as long as she doesn't mess up and embarrass everyone, her punishment should be negligible in the end due to Preston's moderately high status.
Pretending to randomly roam around the room, she began inching ever closer to the back of the room where Abby and her family was sat, watching out for the various guards patrolling around their area.
Since mind-link was no longer an option, she needed some way to make contact so they could talk somewhere more privately.
And, luckily, for such a situation, they had devised a secret word to identify themselves. Although Jayden laughed at the idea at the time, she was now extremely grateful that Moby had suggested them to do such a thing in the past.
Now 7 meters away from Abby's table, she stopped herself as she knew it was her limits, going on stand-by before talking in Preston's deep, manly voice,?a voice that was moderately loud, a voice that she was certain that Abby would be able to pick up on using her enhanced senses.
*Yawwwnn*
"All blissful demons, celebrating as the school is in dire peril, that's something I can really appreciate,"
As she expected, her voice seemed to have garnered no reaction from the nearby guests and guards but when she looked into Abby's now wide, sweating eyes, she knew that it worked as Abby instinctively took a glance at her, making Jayden smile back with a nod, Abby returning the sentiment with a smile of her own, the look of happy disbelief on her face like she was saved, not expecting to ever see Jayden in her situation.
"Mom, Dad, if you'll excuse me, I really need to go to the restroom, it should not take long," Abby spoke, a bright smile on her face as she stood up out of her seat, her expression of playful bliss still giving Jayden a sick feeling in her stomach yet she still was able to force a natural expression on her face.
"Oh, that's alright sweetheart, dinner will be going for a long time so no worries, the bathrooms are just over there," Synthia Reid, her mother responded, pointing at a hole in the wall where bathrooms were indicated.
"But, I understand that you probably don't want to use that one, so, maybe take a servant to escort you to the private bathroom," She continued with an amused chuckle.
"Oh, that would be great! And would it be possible if I were to go to the bathroom in my room? I haven't been there in such a long time that it would bring back such good memories," She continued, a glint of excitement in her eyes.
"Oh! Now why would I say no to that? I'll just choose a-" Her mother continued before being abruptly cut off by Abby, her finger now pointed at a man in the distance, standing straight as an arrow awaiting orders.
"I want him! He seems nice and respectable!"
Jayden faked an expression of surprise as she immediately, confidently and elegantly strode towards Abby's table, the guards around them ignoring her actions as she was clearly called upon.
"My lady, I could not help but notice that you pointed in my direction, do you require any assistance? This humble servant is willing to do absolutely anything in his servitude towards you," Jayden bowed deeply, her right hand on her shoulder before looking intently at Abby's face.
At first, they had planned to decline Abby's suggestion of asking that man to be her guard and escort but after the display they just witnessed, they began to reconsider.
In the perspective of Abby's parents, the man in front of them's manor was impeccable, like he had been professionally trained for many years in the art of etiquette. They recognized the servant as Preston Hemmingwood, the son of an old, trustworthy friend that they allowed to work for them as a servant. They knew he was fairly strong but did not think much of his mannerisms from the brief instances they had seen each other.
He seemed like a changed man, the head chef's training must have truly done him wonders.
Abby's mother turned to face her daughter, nodding at her, giving her approval.
"Young man, take care of our daughter and make sure nothing bad happens to her," Synthia's voice sounded innocent yet had a hint of malice and killing intent that Jayden had gotten so used to ignoring that she only barely felt what she was attempting to do.
"Don't worry my lady, I swear on the Hemmingwood name that I will keep your daughter safe," Jayden spoke once more with an even deeper bow, hiding her wide, devilish smile of victory and satisfaction that was looking down on the ground away from anyone's view, Abby also feeling the same way yet her expression was deeply hidden under her poker face and bright smile.
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