I opened my eyes to two unknown faces standing over me. I couldn't tell who they were, but by their attire it was clear they were maids. They kept lightly shaking me, as if they were afraid of waking a sleeping beast.

"Ugh," I groaned.

I shot up and the two maids immediately jumped back.

I turned my head to get a clear look at them. The one on the left was fairly short with brown pigtails and ivory eyes. She had a few too many rings on her fingers but didn't stand out too much aside from that.

The girl on the right was the exact opposite. She was at least six feet tall with her black stilettos only adding insult to injury. Her thin eyebrows, pink strawberry lipstick, flawless pale skin, and what was at least a pound of makeup made her look like one of those mannequins you see at every mall. Like her colleague, she also had brown hair but hers looked a lot thinner and flowed down her back. She had a frilly white hair band resting atop her head, which in my opinion completed her look.

"Umm..Master Arthur," the shorter one timidly spoke, "we apologize for waking you, but Master Tucker ordered us to."

"Please get up Master Arthur," the tall one spoke softly.

She immediately bowed and the taller maid one followed suit, as if they were afraid I was going to punish them, which I thought was weird. Why would they be punished for following orders? I wanted to ask but I was honestly too tired to care.

I wanted to just ignore them, lie down, and go back to bed but their anxiety towards failing to complete Tucker's order would fill me with guilt. I couldn't live with knowing they failed an order due to me.

I shoved the covers off of me and lazily slid off the bed to the point where I almost fell to the floor.

"Yawn. Alright, alright, I'm up," I said.

I sluggishly walked to my dresser to get my clothes and headed for the bathroom but was stopped by the maids.

"Thank you for your consideration Master Arthur," the shorter one gleamed.

I forced a smile. "Ah it's no problem," I said, turning back to them.

I opened the bathroom door, closed it and locked it. I didn't think they would open it or anything, but this is currently the only room where I can get any form of privacy.

I started walking to the back room when I heard the maids talking quietly. I stopped moving and listened.

"The rumors seem to be true. The young master seems to be something of a pushover," one maid said.

"Indeed. Perhaps our lives will be easier if we serve him," the one with the softer tone said.

"And luckily we're both easy on the eyes. If worse comes to worse, we can always sway him with our bodies. A kid like him won't be able to resist our charms."

"Shh, someone may hear you Veronica."

"It's fine, Valerie. Everyone is downstairs looking after the rest of the trainees."

I can hear you, you know, I thought. Not that it matters though. They wouldn't be the first to try and take advantage of me and they probably won't be the last.

The process of grabbing a towel, taking a shower, and putting on my clothes probably took less than five minutes. I put on my clothes, which was just a black and white striped polo, brown cargo shorts, and white knee socks. I threw the dirty clothes in the hamper and left the bathroom far more awake than when I entered to see the two maids still standing, forced smiles plastered on their faces.

"Umm, Do you two need something?" I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. I didn't want to sound mean.

"Ah yes," the tall maid said. We were wondering if we could escort you to Master Tucker and hopefully ask a few questions along the way."

"If it's too much to ask, we understand," the shorter maid said.

I shrugged. "It's fine with me. Just let me grab my stuff."

Their smiles seemed to grow more genuine after receiving the answer they desired.

"Take your time," they both said unison. They looked at each other and laughed, as if sharing an inside joke.

I grabbed my wallet and my iPhone and stuffed them in both pockets. I grabbed Essentia, attached the sheath to my belt loop and hid it under my shirt. I thought about grabbing my gun under my pillow, but figured I really didn't need it since I already had a knife. I threw on my old skool vans and made my way to the door hole.

As I exited my room the maids walked behind me before eventually walking on both sides of me.

"So what are your names?" I asked, as if I didn't already know.

"Oh how rude of us. We forgot to introduce ourselves," the short one on my left said. "My name is Veronica White."

"And I'm Valerie Patterson, the one on my right said in a soft spoken manner."

"Nice to meet both of you."

"Oh, how professional," Veronica said, smiling.

We kept walking towards the stairs at the end of the hall, although we weren't exactly close. My room is at the far end of the hall so we were a pretty good distance away.

"By the way Master Arthur, I find it weird you hadn't asked us where Master Tucker is, considering you are to meet up with him."

"I mean, he's waiting outside the front door, isn't he?"

Both maids looked stunned at my answer.

Veronica shook off her shock and put back on a polite smile. "T-that must be your normal meeting spot, right?"

"No, it's just a feeling."

"You two must have quite the bond. It's quite admirable."

Huh, I guess we are pretty close. I never really thought about it.

"You're exaggerating," I said, but my flushed face gave away how I really felt.

"Aww, he's blushing Valerie. Look what you did."

Valerie crossed her arms. "I did nothing wrong."

I looked down until my cheeks returned to their normal color.

Veronica patted my shoulder. "Sorry, sorry, it just seems so fun to tease you."

I sighed. "Yeah, I get that a lot," I admitted.

I took a deep breath. "So, what did you want to ask about?"

"Well," Veronica started, "as newly hired maids we just wanted to know some general information about the mansion. The do's and don'ts if you will."

I had to think about it for a second.

"Hmm. My father, the person who hired you, doesn't leave his quarters too often so you probably shouldn't worry about dealing with him that much."

Both of them let out a sigh of relief.

"Let's see. Ms. Cecilia, the head maid can probably answer most questions regarding your duties and if she isn't present you can always ask Mary."

Veronica's eyes lit up and she stopped walking and clasped my hands with hers, which inadvertently made me stop as well.

"D-d-do you mean Mary, the crimson haired maid? That is who you're referring to, correct? Are you telling me the rumors are true? She actually works here? Please tell me I'm not mistaken."

But before she could continue interrogating me, she was pulled away by Valerie. By her disappointed face you could tell this was quite normal.

"Please calm down Victoria or you'll scare him."

Veronica, who quickly came to her senses, realized how disgraceful she had acted and bowed so forcefully I thought she was going to hit her head on the rug.

"Please forgive my shameful behavior, Master Arthur!"

Valerie bowed with her. "Please forgive her."

Ah, this is getting kind of annoying, I thought.

I put my hands up, unable to defeat the two maid's apologetic bows. "It's fine. She was simply excited about learning about Mary is all."

They both rose up, with Valerie towering over me reminding me of how short I really was.

I started walking towards the stairs, which was now in eye view, and they followed.

"So what about Mary is so special to you?" I asked. "Is it just because she hasn't failed a task?"

"So you do know! Yes, Mary is like an urban legend in maid school," Victoria informed me. It's normal for most maids to mess up or fail a few task in their years of service as a maid. But Mary is rumored to have never failed a task. She's just so inspiring. She's like my hero."

Valerie showed no surprise. She had probably dealt with her fangirling more times than she could count.

We finally reached the stairs and we started walking down the many steps.

"So tell me Master Arthur, what is Mary like? Is she warm and happy? Is she cold and cynical? Or in between? Is she girly or more boyish? Does she have any weird hobbies? I want to know absolutely everything about her."

I looked in her eyes to see she had abandoned all logic and was driven purely by her desire to learn more. She's almost as bad as Ms. Myala.

Ah, this girl is scary, I thought. I hope she doesn't stalk Mary.

"Well," I started as I reached the final step, "Mary is a very smart and logical person. She's not super nice but I wouldn't really say she's mean either. Well, unless you're Tucker but it's usually deserved. I don't really know anything about her hobbies."

She looked at me, analyzing my nervous face.

She dropped her skeptical expression. "Sadly, it would seem you're not lying."

Why would I be lying...

"Well I think that's enough for one day, don't you think Veronica?" Valerie spoke firmly but her soft tone made it hard to discern if she was actually annoyed or not.

Valerie put her hands behind her head. "Ahah, my bad, my bad. I tend to get carried away."

"Well Master Arthur, it would appear we have arrived."

On my right was the front door. Through the glass in the middle of the large brown door, I could see Tucker looking down on his phone, waiting for me.

Valerie bowed one last time. "Thank you for allowing us to have some of your time."

Veronica pouted. "I wanted more information," she mumbled.

Without looking up, Valerie pushed Victoria's head down to a bow.

I laughed nervously. "No problem. See you guys later."

"Indeed. I hope we get to chat again later."

———————————

I opened the large brown door and stepped outside. Tucker must've already seen me through the glass, as he wasn't surprised at all.

Tucker was wearing his standard long sleeve shirt and basketball shorts combo. It made no sense to me to wear shorts with a long sleeve shirt but I wouldn't dare call him out on it.

"Yo," he said, finally looking up from his phone. Did you like your morning present?"

"Morning present? Ah, the maids?"

He smirked. "Pretty cute aren't they? Especially the short one."

Pretty annoying if anything, I thought.

"Uhh yeah," I lied.

"When I found them they looked lost, so I helped them out. They seemed shocked that I was a son of the ol' man and demanded they repay me somehow." He shrugged. "I tried to dissuade them but they were rather apprehensive about it so I thought about just having them do something simple."

"Like waking me up?"

Tucker scratched his head. "Well it would be a pain if they felt like they always owed me. I don't want them being indebted to me over somethin' stupid like that. That'll just weigh them down."

I smiled. "You're a really good person, you know."

Tucker grinned. "But of course. I am the Tucker Price after all."

And once again my compliment goes down the drain.

"So," I said, changing the subject, "how are we getting to the city? Should we head to the garage?"

Tucker stretched his arms. "I was thinkin' we could walk actually. Nice change of pace."

"Well we aren't too far from the toll so distance isn't much of a problem."

"Exactly. Well no point standing here talkin'."

Tucker and I headed away from the house. Looking around, the maids were back to tending to the yard and trimming the bushes while the butlers were moving the lawn and raking leaves. It seemed like a lot of work but the yard did look beautiful as a result.

I looked up at the mansion. It's so easy to forget how big it actually is until you leave. The mansion, while maybe not as luxurious as some of the others in the area, was certainly extravagant, although it looked far more elegant at night when the lights bled out from inside the house, which gave the white stone wall a certain glow.

We walked further from the mansion until we came across the road, which led to the exit as well as every other mansion in the vicinity. After a little more walking, we arrived at the toll booth. Inside it was a security guard. He was a short man with small brown ponytail and was mildly obese. He wore the regular security guard attire, which consisted of a navy blue hat, a light blue shirt, and black pants, although you couldn't see the pants due to the toll box.

Tucker waved. "Yo chuck."

"Ayy Tucker, where you been man?"

"Fighting off Ms. Cecilia you know. She's a real handful."

Chuck shivered at the sound of her name. "If I'm being honest, she's the only woman aside from my mom who can put the fear of god in me. There's just something about her that ain't human, you know."

"Yeah I know what you mean. She's pretty terrifying," he laughed.

Chuck turned to me. Oh and look at this. I haven't seen you in weeks Arthur. How ya been?"

"Ah, I'm fine."

"Good, good. So what are you two planning to do today?"

"Just chillin honestly," Tucker said.

"Sounds fun. Lay off the girls though Tucker. I don't want to have to arrest you for sexual harassment," he joked.

"Psh, I'm not that bad."

Chuck laughed a loud wheezing laugh. "Well, have fun boys."

Tucker and I waved as Chuck pressed the button and the traffic gate rose. We walked by and noise seemed to get consistently louder the more we walked. Eventually we hit the source. We were engulfed by large buildings and thousands of people walking in every which way. Cars of every brand filled the roads.

"So where do we go first?" I asked.

"Why not hit a burger joint? I'm starvin'."

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Honestly, I was pretty hungry myself.

Tucker and I walked through the crowd of people for the nearest burger place. But the more we walked, the hungrier it felt like I was getting. At a certain point, it felt like I was starving. I began to feel dizzy and my balance felt off. I swayed left and right so often it was lucky I didn't bump into anyone. My head was throbbing. I felt like I was going to pass out. I looked over to tell Tucker I needed to take a break but my vision was so blurry that I couldn't find him in the crowd of people.

In the distance I heard a bunch of people complaining.

"Hey watch where you're going," a woman's voice said.

"Get back here you scumbag!" a masculine voice roared. "Give my wife back her purse!"

A few seconds later a man bumped into me as he ran past me. Except when he ran past me, it felt as if time slowed down. My mind went blank and my body froze. I quickly reached for Essentia and pulled it out. With my arm I swiftly cut him on his side and watched as purple miasma seeped into the large cut on his stomach before the cut mysteriously disappeared. Then I put the blade back in its sheath. My body kept walking forward until the man collapsed on the ground a second later and was surrounded by a crowd of people, which is when I was granted control over my body again.

I felt my forehead and touched my stomach. The dizziness and my headache were gone. The hunger vanished as mysteriously as it appeared. I felt fine?

I felt my arm get pulled and I panicked until I realized it was just Tucker.

"Arthur, are you okay? He didn't hurt you or anything did he?"

You mean you didn't see me slice the guy's stomach? I thought.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine Tucker."

"You sure?"

"Positive," I said, looking down at the blade resting in its sheath.

"Well if you say so."

"Where'd you go anyway? You just disappeared Tucker."

Tucker smiled nervously. "Ahah, don't worry about it."

I looked at him suspiciously but knew he would never crack.

"Sigh. Let's just go eat. How far is the nearest In-N-Out?"

Tucker pointed forward. "Not that far. Should be a couple of minutes away tops."

We started walking until I felt my arm yanked back again. Except this time, it wasn't Tucker.