The Count of Castle Rock

Chapter VI- Syrup Over News

Leesa stands on the stairs, looking out onto Baker Street. The fruit peddler pulls his cart down the street and off to his normal corner to hawk his wares. The sweepers continue to struggle against the night's festivities in an attempt to clear the streets before the morning traffic. Merchants clean their storefronts in preparation of the morning rush. The city guard do their own sweeping, looking for any vagrants they can drag off to Castle Levian's dungeons. There they will wait to be either claimed by relatives willing to pay their fines or be shipped off to the western mines to earn their freedom with labor. After a parade, the morning cleanup is to the city's finances what the celebration is to the city's morale.

The smell of Father's famous pancakes fill her nostrils and Leesa swells with gladness. She is happy to be home after so long being away, and eager to stuff her face with one of Father's scrumptious breakfasts. She turns and the world shakes. Grabbing the railing, she widens her stance in hopes of maintaining her footing. The stairs ripple like a wave off the coast of Quinlain, threatening to spill her.

"Leesa." The voice is strange yet familiar in the way you half remember a hymn sung at mass.

At the bottom of the steps is a figure, masculine in aspect and radiating power. He is the source, his power rocks the building in rhythmic pulses. He reaches for her and his outstretched hand makes her heart skip a beat.

"Leesa." He calls her name again, beseeching her. The one word is calmness in the wobbling sea.

She's suddenly in the hallway outside of Maribelle's room. He's there, nude, covered in sweat. His nakedness calls to things deep inside, private things. But he shouldn't be there. Leesa feels something slither up her leg and close around her petite waist. It feels like cloth, but its movements are serpentine. Constricting, it squeezes her tightly. A violent yet strangely titillating caress. The sensation is new and confusing. Leesa panics and tries to call for Father, but something traps the words in her throat.

"Leesa!"

The hall ripples and she's back on the steps, gripping the railing for dear life. Heart racing, she struggles to breathe as if she's been dancing hard and fast. Leesa's vision clears and she finds Jessica looking up at her from the bottom of the steps.

"Lee, are you okay?" Jesse moves up a few steps, clearly concerned.

"I... I think so." Surprised that she can speak, Leesa takes a cautious step. The stairwell doesn't move in any untowards ways. She meets her older sister at the bottom of the steps. "I just had a dizzy spell."

Jesse uses the back of her hand to check Leesa's temperature. She's always been the motherly type when it came to Lee. She gives Leesa's slender arm a squeeze.

"What have I constantly told you?" Jesse asks as she guides Leesa towards the kitchen.

"I don't eat enough," Leesa says, imitating Jesse's sterner tone.

"Exactly- hey, cut that out!"

Leesa examines her sister's arm, intrigued by the bandage and pinprick bloodstains that weren't there the night before.

"Jesse, when did this happen?"

Jessica pulls her arm out of Leesa's grasp and shakes off a bit of discomfort.

"I'm not quite sure." Her voice trails off and, for a moment, her eyes grow glassy.

"Good morning, Caterpillar!" Father shouts as they enter the kitchen.

His exuberance takes her mind off of woes in an instant. Father hasn't been this happy in quite some time. Always a loving and doting parent, he is never just happy. Happy for his daughters' successes, and overjoyed at their accomplishments, but rarely just happy to be happy. Leesa can't help but smile.