Under the Water (Book 1)

Fifteen

I wake up the next morning, well more like afternoon, and immediately go to the door. The guards stand there in the exact same position they did 6 hours ago.

"I need to go." I said attempting to slip past both of them. I get rudely shoved back into my tower room.

"You are not permitted to leave until your guardian says so or until your Seer comes and takes you." The guard said monotonously.

"Really? Well tell whoever that is they can fu-" The guards slam the door in my face, cutting off my angry reply. I seriously need to go. I rummage around the room instead and find all types of paints. Watercolor, gouache, acrylic, pastel, everything. There were some watercolor pencils, and smudging pencils, but nothing for drawing really.

A memory flashed through my mind.

I was running through the hallways my excitement barely contained, until I finally came to the door i was searching for. I banged on it with my tiny little fist. "Scar! Open the door!" I said. I hear a giggling and a little red head pokes out of the door. "What's the password." She giggles. I lean in close, she smells like the roses she picks in the garden. "Truth." I whisper. She giggles back and opens the door to let me in. We both run laughing, and jump onto her bed, it's a lot bigger than mine. And a lot bouncier.

Scarlette tugs on my arm as we bounce up and land on the pillowy part. "Show me the pictures!!! Quinn. You said you had them ready!!!" We stop bouncing and settle down on her plush carpet at the foot of her bed. I open the portfolio that I brought with me.

I pull out the three pictures. The first one is a rose, dripping red over white, as if the paint that I painted on is dripping of the angelic petals. The green from the stem and leaves mimics the red in the same fashion. Scar chose to draw it after the really really really old story of Alice in Wonderland.

Scarlettes eyes light up in admiration at my paints over her drawing. So I pull out the next two.

Her young horse in the stables, black as night, in stark contrast to the green artificial meadow around him.

And then herself. It took a lot of begging to get Scar to do a self portrait or herself, but finally she did. A side view of her. Her red hair trailing of the page like a copper waterfall.

Suddenly the door slams open.

"Quinnson! What are you doing in here!" I turn to see my father, the lines on his face etched deep, "What's this!?" He yanks the paintings out of our hands, and Scarlette's to scared to say anything.

"Dad!" I shout, as his eyes widen, "Mom taught me, please don't incinerate them, their for Scarlette."

My father looks down at me, eyes darkening. "Don't ever paint again Quinnson," He says in his scary voice that makes me feel cold.

I remember the last thing he does though is give the paintings back to Scar because she asked for them, and Father had to obey her. I wanted to ask why I couldn't ever paint again, but I never got the chance. Because that was the day Mother was executed.

I slam back to the present, and hear a knocking on the door. I go and open it, finding a muscled young man standing outside it. He looks about 9 years older than me, 26. His chin juts up and his head tilts to the side.

"So you're Quinn? The idiot who opposed the Royals twice and got away with it." The man turned around and started walking down the hallway. When he noticed I wasn't following, he turned back around and said, "Well?"

"Well." I replied. "I've seriously got to take a bathroom break."

***

We arrive back down in the kitchens a few minutes later. "Here's the main place you'll be working. You'll most likely be a serving boy, because, first of all you probably know nothing about the kitchen workings, and second of all we took a vote, and most of us want to see how the Royals will like their court case serving under their noses." The man, Kia, said.

I almost laugh, despite it's humor at my expense. It is funny.

Inside the kitchen, people mill around, the servers all dressed in light blue with saffron sashes. The maids wear saffron scarves as head scarves, and dresses, the boys wear yellow sashes over their light blue dress shirts, black pants. When I enter the room they all turn to stare at me. Then slowly start to go back to their business. I turn to say something to Kia, and he shoves a uniform at me. "Go get changed."

***

I come out of the closet, my blue dress shirt over black pants, completed with a yellow sash.

As soon as I come out Kia starts to brief me. "Make sure you set their plate without any contact or disruption with anything else. You'll just be serving plates for now, you're not experienced enough for glasses yet. That's all there is to it, try not to mess it up, and if you do, aim for the Kings lap." he shoves a plate of food at me and directs me toward the servants door.

My mouth starts to water as I follow suit of the boys in front of me. The plate I carry is heaped with miniature bread slices, cut cheese and meat to match size. So much food... I barely restrain myself from eating something.

Then I see Scarlette. She sits right next to her fiance... Ansell, it think was his name, she looks up and smiles at him, like he's everything. I feel my face go hot. Calm down. I think to myself. Calm down, she's not supposed to mean anything to you anyway let it be. But I can't.

"May I have your pitcher?" I ask one of the serving maids, she's small and has a slight, but strong figure, rather pretty in a way, her large midnight blue eyes match her hair ash blonde with hints of copper. She looks up at me surprised. "Please." I whisper trying not to draw attention, "I'll give it back, I need it." She nods timidly and hands over her pitcher of Ice water in exchange for my platter, now empty.

I take the pitcher and head for Scarlettes place at the table, whose glass is conveniently half full. Another servant gets there before I and fills it before my. I mutter some colorful language and lie in wait for my turn, it takes a few minutes but finally I get the chance to walk up there and refill her glass.

She doesn't even look at me.

I literally almost spill the entire bucket of water into her lap and she just ignores me, her gaze scanning over me, just like it scans over every other servant.

She just waves me away, and I retreat to the corner, in confusion. How could she not notice me? Even in the alleyway, the first time we officially met, she recognized me, saw me as a human. But now when she looked at me, her eyes were glassy as if she were somewhere else.

"What are you doing!?" Someone hissed besides me, I turned in surprise and see Kai. Obviously my stunt hadn't gone unnoticed. "Give it to me and go get changed, you obviously can't handle kitchen work."

***

I spend the rest of the day working outside in the gardens. Making sure the electric current is running correctly underneath the fake blooms, and yet they all look so real, even a stray bug that's made it through the sensors is drawn to them. After I'm done with the garden I'm sentenced to the stables where I find I rather like working. The horses, although enginericaly bred, are still living beings, with a mind and independence as ours. I especially take a liking to the large black stallion.

Eclipse was his name if I remembered right....

What are you going to name him? I had asked, Eclipse, because he makes a shadow over all the rest of them. She answered. It made perfect sense.

I'm finally told to return to my chambers near the end of the day. I'm halfway up the flight of stairs to my tower room when I realize my idiocy.

I'm without an escort.

I can do whatever I want.