Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2 (2 page)

On the first level was the dining rooms, the library, the study rooms and other rooms full of antiques
and paintings. Grayson who lived in the manor and worked closely with Cam had a bedroom along
there somewhere as well. Cam's bedroom and personal study were at the end but I usually stayed
clear of them.
The second level had an art room and a large room full of fabrics and sewing machines. A few
unfinished dresses were still on the mannequins, it was like a tailors dream the amount of gorgeous
fabrics and materials that sat on the tables and shelves. The second level also had many bedrooms
that were unused, my bedroom was behind one of the many doors on that level.
The third level was where many of the guys that worked for Cam lived. They weren't exactly
classed as servants they didn't cook or clean but they did work for Cam. I didn't know what they did
but they would be gone for hours on end and sometimes even days, just like Cam.
Their level had bedrooms, a kitchen and games rooms. The largest games room had a really high
ceiling with random paintings on the walls. It was painted green with a wooden oak floor that was
covered with large antique rugs. Long black drapes hung from the tall windows running the length
of the room.
In the middle there were four large pool tables with low hanging lights above them. Arcade
machines and other games tables were at the back along with two poker tables. A bar with stools
and a couch area was near the entrance. In the middle of the room was an open fireplace that was
very old and rarely used anymore as it was mainly for decorative purposes. There were couches
spaced out along the edge next to the windows.
It was a teenagers dream. Games and as much alcohol as you could consume and a fully equipped
gym. It was an all male level no girls lived up there and no girls went up there except me and a few
of the servant girls to clean. I got the distinct feeling Cam didn't want me up there though.
There were two sets of stairs leading to the higher levels, the stairs the servants used that were
hidden inside an end turret and the main stairs that I normally used. The main staircase was located
at the front of the manor house near the front doors, they spiralled round from each level with a
wide red carpet running up them. The banisters had fairy lights wrapped around them which were
always lit up at night. Just walking from level to level was a workout on its own. I wouldn't even be
able to count the number of rooms there were too many, I would lose count trying.
The stairs only led up to the third level though.
The fourth level was only reachable via the elevator. The elevator was kept guarded at all times and
I was not allowed to use it. Only certain ones were allowed to use the elevator. Even the servants
weren't allowed in it. One of the guards from the front gates was always stood next to it.
I was told the fourth level was a training level where the guys worked out and trained. Which made
sense, I had seen a few of them going up there dressed in training clothes with their hands wrapped
ready for fighting and they usually came back down looking worse for wear. Emmett's bedroom
was also up there somewhere.
I walked along the corridor passing doors, servants and tables with vases on them that were
overflowing with flowers from the gardens, mainly roses.
When I reached the staircase I held my dress off the floor. I had learnt my lesson, long dresses and
stairs don't go well together. I skipped down to the ground level and walked to the kitchens.
The kitchens ran along the side of the manor house, they were long and divided by archways. The
floor was grey cobblestone and the cabinets were also grey. The servants mainly used the kitchen
furthest away which had a small back door leading outside. I assumed the other kitchens were used
when there were special events or functions going on and they needed to cook for many guests.
I walked in and sat myself down on a stool at the middle counter, there was only one other person in
the kitchen a servant girl.
I think her name was Katie, she had a long blonde plait that hung down her back. She was one of
the younger servants maybe around sixteen. She stood at the sink peeling carrots. She looked over
at me but quickly diverted her eyes back to her carrot peeling.
The servants didn't speak to me and most of them tried to avoid eye contact with me. My handmaid
Narmi spoke to me but she usually said as little as possible. The kitchen chef Shelley though would
always talk to me so I would often come down here in between meals for company even though
Cam had once told me only the servants should be in the kitchen. There was a plate of scones on the
counter in front of me.
“Hey, am I allowed one of these?” I asked.
The servant girl stopped peeling and put down the peeler. She walked to the fridge and took out a
butter dish, then she opened a drawer and picked out a knife. She took a plate off the side and
placed it in front of me, placing the knife on it and the butter dish next to it.
“Cheese scones, freshly baked this morning Miss Ruby.” she said before hurrying back to the sink.
I think that was the most conversation I was going to get out of her. I would have happily got the
butter dish myself if she'd told me where to find it.
I picked up the scone, it was still warm. I cut it in half and spread some butter on each side.
I ate my scone savouring the taste, Shelley made the best scones. As I picked up the last piece of
scone my tattoo caught the light and twinkled. I rubbed my finger over it, examining it.
The Mark of Under.....
I heard someone whisper. I snapped my head up and caught Katie looking at me. She quickly turned
around. She had been watching me.
“Did you say something?” I asked.
But she didn't reply. I didn't think she'd said it out loud.
The back door opened. I couldn't see who it was as the door was around the corner.
“Katie, a little help please.” Shelley called.
Katie rushed around the corner and walked back in carrying a crate of fresh veg hand picked from
the vegetable allotments.
Shelley walked in holding two dead chickens upside down by their legs.
“Oh sorry Ruby, I didn't know you were in here.” she said hurrying through to the other kitchen.
“It's okay. I guess we're having chicken for dinner then?”
Shelley reappeared without the dead chickens.
“Chicken casserole. I know you don't really like to eat any other meat so I'm trying some new ideas
with the chicken.”
Shelley was bony thin, not too tall with short black straight cut hair. Tiny blue eyes and a pointy
little nose with rosy cheeks. She looked to be in her mid thirties and I'd never seen her without her
pinafore on.
“Sounds good, as long as it is chicken. Not baby deer, squirrel or pigeon meat. I'll never forget the
time shortly after I woke up when Emmett offered me his sandwich.” I said cringing, doing a gag
reflex at the same time.
It made me wonder which part of the country I was in that thought eating baby squirrel was a
delicacy.
“Yes the people down here like different kinds of meat.” she said washing her hands off in the sink.
Recently I'd noticed more and more people were using the words
'down here'
. I wasn't quite sure
what they meant by
'down here'
? Even Emmett had said it once or twice but afterwards he always
looked like he'd said something he shouldn't have.
Onion, potatoes...
Shelley was thinking about vegetables, probably for the casserole dinner.
During my time here I have learnt I have a very unique talent. I can hear what people are thinking
but only the servants, gardeners and the guards. It doesn't work on Cam, Emmett or any of the guys
that work for Cam. I didn't know why I could do this? And I hadn't told anyone about it.
I never really heard anything exciting from the servants though, seeing as they did their best to stay
away from me.
“You having lunch today sweetie?” Shelley asked.
I shrugged. I didn't eat lunch everyday it usually depended on how hungry I felt.
“Well if you're hungry just let Wilson know what you'd like,” she said spinning around looking for
something.
Wilson was the butler and head of staff at the manor.
“Egg mayo sandwich, melted cheese, jam sandwich. I can do you pancakes, pasta salad you just
think about what you'd like and I can make it.” she said sticking her head inside a cupboard.
“Okay thanks Shelley.” I said hopping off the stool and picking up my dirty cutlery. But before I
could make it to the sink Katie had whisked it away from me without a word.
“Err thanks,” I said looking at the back of Katie already at the sink scrubbing the plate. “I'll see you
at dinner Shelley.”
I walked out the back door closing the bottom half of the stable door to keep the dogs out.
Otherwise the dogs would let themselves in and raid the kitchen cupboards. Cam's dogs, he had five
Doberman Pinschers. They all had their own personalities, were playful and ate food like there was
no tomorrow. They were also the guard dogs and spent most of the day outside. Cyan, Cinder, Jetta,
Thunder and Storm. It had taken me nearly all of four months to remember their names. I still
couldn't tell them apart though. They all looked the same.
I walked along the small path at the side of the manor looking up at the walls and the way the ivy
had spread over time and how the rose bushes had grown up and entangled themselves with the ivy.
The manor house exterior looked similar to a medieval manor house with a timber frame and brick
cladding on the ground level wall. There were a few turrets with what I described as a tooth shape
wall at the top that showed it was really a castle.
The manor was surrounded by all sorts of different gardens and meadows, vegetable allotments and
a forest area over the fields with a small stream running through it. There were many animals, pigs,
sheep and cows that lived on the fields. Horses in the meadows and chickens running loose
everywhere. There were even a few goats but it didn't smell like a farm. The beautiful scented roses
masked the scent of any animal odours.
The gardens were filled with trees including fruit trees, we mainly ate from produce grown here on
the grounds. There were many benches spread out to sit down on, but I loved the gazebo which had
a bed of large oversized cushions underneath it. There were twenty four cottages situated at the back
of the manor where the servants lived and some of Cam's other workers.
This place seemed too good to be true sometimes and I wasn't talking about the beautiful scenery.
The animals in the gardens were somewhat different. It had taken me a few weeks to get my head
around the fact that this was apparently normal. I still questioned whether I was seeing things.
A mouse scurried across the path in front of me and ran into a bush. It was still clearly visible
though amongst the greenery, its pastel pink fur gave it away. Another mouse ran across the path a
pastel blue one this time.
I kept walking and a singing bird in a tree caught my attention, it looked like a black bird but I was
told it was a pink bird on account of its bright pink feathers. I still wanted to call it a black bird. I
was positive I'd seen a red owl the other night, it was dark though so I wasn't entirely sure.
The flowers were another huge thing for me to take in. They were everywhere I looked and the
amount of rose bushes was crazy. But the roses weren't what I would consider standard colours.
Here there were multi coloured roses and neon coloured rose petals even black roses and don't even
get me started on the black and white oranges that hung from the orange trees but no one called
them oranges here. They were simply called the black and white fruit.
I thought Emmett was joking when he first tried to get me to eat one, even the segments inside are
black and white. Some things are the same from what I think I remember and what I would class as
normal but other things I would look at and wonder if Shelley had been adding magic mushrooms
to my food. It all looked so surreal sometimes.
I carried on along the path heading nowhere in particular when something hit me on the head and
bounced off, landing on the floor. I looked down and saw a piece of bread crust next to my foot.
I looked around wondering where it had come from, until I spotted smoke coming from behind a
nearby tree. I veered off and walked across the grass towards the tree.
“Not funny, I thought a bird had crapped on my head!” I said playfully kicking him.
Kenzie snickered, flicking his cigarette into a bush.
“You know Cam hates you smoking in the garden.”
“What Cam doesn't know wont hurt him.” Kenzie said taking a bite out of his sandwich. “Where
else does he expect me to smoke? In one of the pigsties? Anyway I'm not the only one. That could
have been Em's for all he knows.”
By Em he meant Emmett, who also smoked like a chimney they were as bad as each other.
I sat down next to him and crossed my legs leaning back against the tree.
Kenzie was one of the few people I had grown close to over the last four months. He looked a few
years older than me like most of the people here that worked closely with Cam. Except for the
servants they ranged from young to old but I don't think I'd seen anyone that looked over the age of
forty.
Kenzie had shoulder length very dark brown hair which was borderline black and constantly
covered with a cap on backwards and he always smelled of bubblegum. He had lightly coloured
skin and black ink tattoos up both his arms. He always wore loads of cord and bright beaded
bracelets that I was always borrowing from him. Today he was wearing a bright turquoise vest,
skinny black jeans with black and white hi-tops. I often looked at his clothes and felt envious they
definitely looked more comfortable than the dresses I had to wear.
Kenzie always knew how to make me smile and we had spent a lot of time together so I was used to
his quirky behaviour. The only thing I found a little off about him was his eyes. They were as black
as night the same as Cam's. There was something strange and disturbing about his eyes but his
smiley attitude towards everything soon made me forget about his freakish eyes that I found a little
unsettling.
“You want some?” he asked holding the sandwich out to me.