𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

───── "POISON?" Kaya sounded weak. "What are you talking about?"

Kaya refused to take a seat while Nami and Eniya took turns explaining what they had seen and heard, staying on her feet despite her queasy expression as they spoke. Honestly, she was taking it better than Eniya had expected her to. She couldn't imagine it'd be easy for someone to hear that their only support—their friend and caretaker—had been actively trying to kill them for years.

"I overheard them in the kitchen. It's been going on for years."

Kaya looked to the door and then back, as if expecting someone to come barging in at any moment now. Perhaps she was. With a creased brow, she asked, "Did Usopp put you up to this?"

"You knew?" Eniya asked Usopp. "For how long?"

"Not until tonight," Usopp whispered. He glanced at the crystal teapot on Kaya's nightstand, backing away from it, his eyes haunted with guilt. "I gave her that tea."

"Think about it, Kaya. When did you start getting sick?" Nami looked between Kaya's eyes, her own eyes pleading, "Was it around the time Kuro started working here?"

With her bottom lip trembling, Kaya raised a hand to her lips. Her skin looked clammy, and she looked overwhelmed, if not sick.

"Listen to me," Nami was practically begging now. "If we stay here, we die. We have to leave now."

"I don't..." Kaya trailed off, shaking her head. "He knows everything. Every nook and cranny in this manner. Every inch of my personality—of what I'd do—he really will kill me."

"No, he won't. We'll keep you safe," Eniya vowed. "He will not lay a hand on you."

Kaya looked between her eyes, searching for deception. When she found nothing, she swallowed hard. "Thank you."

"How are we going to escape?" Usopp asked, "There's three of them. They'll no doubt be spreading out to look for us."

"There's two," Eniya corrected. "Nami hit Sham over the head with a frying pan."

Kaya grimaced, her bottom lip straining white as she bit down hard enough to hold back whatever knee-jerk concern she held for her former maid. "We can navigate the servants' corridors," she offered. "The halls are built into the walls, and they lead to every room. Through them, we can reach the mechanism to open the doors and windows."

"Every room?" Nami asked.

Kaya's lips twitched. She smiled, thin but sly, and guided them toward a large portrait on the wall beside her vanity. With minor prying, the painting pulled away from the wall, and the door slowly opened.

Eniya whistled low as she stepped into the dim hall. Spiders spun delicate webs along the gaps between planks, and the walls were incredibly narrow, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Kaya pulled a lamp from the wall, and with assistance from Usopp and a box of matches hidden in the inner pocket of his vest, a golden light illuminated the space.