Grace

Chapter 19

"Master Clarke? Did they say the heating was fixed?" I asked. It was nearly ten-'o'-clock. I'd nearly fallen asleep in the bath and I was falling asleep on my feet. "It's freezing in my room."

Master Clarke sighed. "You have checked that the radiator is on, haven't you?"

"Yes. I've waited about ten minutes to see if it comes on as well. The whole side of the house is cold."

"Right, ok," he said and passed me the universal key. "Sleep in Ben's room again. Hopefully they can fix it tomorrow."

"Thanks, Sir," I said, turned and crashed into Ben. "You're in Simeon's again tonight."

"Right. Sir, Mark's stuck on Man for a couple of days. They've got really bad storms."

"Right," Sir sighed. "I'll let the headmaster know in the morning. Anything else?"

I shook my head.

"Have a good night, Sir," Ben said.

"Good night," Sir said and went back into his house.

I have Ben the universal key and he gave me his.

"Do you have an alarm clock in your room? My phone died."

"Sure," he said. "But it's complicated and temperamental. I'll set it for you."

"Not a minute before nine," I warned.

The alarm went off at five to nine. I glared at the damn thing for a few moments before smacking the off button. Then I wondered at revenge. Ben had taken clothes for today with him last night so he wasn't going to come in this morning. I looked around and quickly found the thing that annoyed me the most – how tidy and ordered everything was.

On a whim I turned all the books upside down, moved the pen holder to the other side of the desk and put the pens in upside down and then swapped just two of the photos around. Then I saw that all of his shoes were neatly ordered. I put them in odd pairs and the left and rights the wrong way around. Then I dressed, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning," Ben said.

"Morning," I replied.

There wasn't anything set out for us so we were allowed loose in the kitchen. Ben was doing bacon and eggs, I made porridge which I drizzled with golden syrup.

"Is there any wood at Master MacLachlan's?" I asked as we ate.

"No. We've got to pick it up from the other side of the main building. We need to figure out how much we need first."

I nodded. "Ok. We should also look at what's left of the greenhouse and what's in it."

"Yeah. I think the axe needs sharpening too."

"Not gonna lie, I've never even touched an axe before."

"Me either."

"Anyway, what's Mark doing on the Isle of Man? It's a ways to go for a weekend."

"His dad has a private jet. They live there."

"That must be nice. Legroom, no annoying passengers..."

"Speaking from experience?"

"You got a private plane?" I asked quickly. "If you do I'm imagining actual bedrooms and showers."

"Yeah," he said without thinking but I knew that my evasion of his question had been catalogued for later examination.

"Bet that's interesting with turbulence."