Winchester Abbey

Chapter Thirteen

"Mcat, how's your ankle?" Charlotte asked. She was busy massaging her own ankles which had been rubbed raw by the tight strips of cloth that had been used to bind them together for the races.

  "Reigning champions of the annual egg race," announced Hannah, which earned her a high five from her teammate. 

 "It hurts like crazy," replied Mary Catherine, wincing. 

  The rules had been ditched in favor of an ice pack to keep the swelling down although Ms. Binley would not allow anything more, saying it would ruin the experience.

  "I think it might have been already," Hannah had muttered darkly shooting the woman a glare. Charlotte and Jack had pulled her away before she did anything she might regret later.

  "Well, this way you can work on that killer embroidery that you love so much," said Madi, grinning wickedly. She had tossed the idea of sitting in a ladylike position and had turned around and hitched up her skirts halfway up her legs in order to link her legs around the back of the chair and lean against the back with her chin and arms.

  "Psh, at least, she got to be gallantly carried up by this place's resident hottie, Mr. Danhurst," laughed Charlotte, who coincidentally poked herself in the finger with the needle. She drew a sharp intake of breath before continuing. 

  "For real though," Madison said, wiggling her eyebrows before returning her gaze to the fire. She looked distracted somehow, earning Charlotte's pity. She felt disconnected from the world and for the first few days, it had been a blessed relief. Now, she was almost ready to go back home and receive the attention of someone who might not have been paid to assault her feelings and then sneak around later. Who was he to tell her to wait for him when he clearly was lying about where he was going? She could not shake the feeling that something was not right. Something felt false. That haunted house though...Something was off about that too. Were they supposed to go back and the people would supply them with more creepy clues or more of the mystery? She didn't want to go back.

  "Char-char, Char-lote, Char-latte, Charlie, Charrrrr," interrupted a voice.

  She snapped out of her own thoughts and jerked to attention to the dimly lit by the fire room. All three girls stared at her expectantly. 

  "What?" she asked. 

 She had not heard a word of what was spoken to her before that. 

  Madison snorted. 

  "I was asking what was on your mind, dear," said Mary Catherine. Her eyebrow raised expectantly, and the others stared too. 

  "Umm," began Charlotte. She considered lying about it. They wouldn't get how disturbed she had been about the first night. But then again, maybe they could shed some light on the whole Matthew sneaking around dilemma.  

She explained what she had seen to the girls and waited for their reaction.

  "Well, that's a dirty little scumbag if you ask me," began Hannah. 

  Mary Catherine vigorously nodded.

  "I'm with Han on this one," she said, screwing up her eyes. 

  "Maybe he's a spy," Madison said logically, staring at the remains of her hot chocolate staining the bottom of her mug.

  Charlotte stared at her for a full minute before realizing that she was joking. 

  "Haha, of course," she mumbled, losing her train of thought. Almost instinctively, she glanced out the window, her eyes falling to the tree line where they had slunk around the day before. It was creepy that she had not seen him at all that day. The joy for the upcoming ball had taken it out of her mind that morning, and the festivities of the contests had removed all thoughts from her mind that evening. Thankfully, a sleepover was all the girls could ever think about. They always had fun games to play well into the night after the lights had been shut off. All candles and such were supposed to be extinguished by at least midnight but they often stayed up later than that talking. 

  With Mary Catherine's hurt ankle and the wearying games and horse back riding, the girls fell quiet quicker than usual, having finally exhausted themselves to the point of no talking.

  "Tell you what," said Charlotte, falling into an exhausted heap of curls and fluffy nightgown. "This whole minimalist makeup thing has its perks. I don't even have to scrub my face before bed."

 That earned a chuckle from the group, but they were much too tired to do anything more. 

The next morning the girls awoke to the sound of laughter coming from outside gardens.