I Will Find You

* ~ 15 ~ *

Year 1773

Gideon's POV

The count raises his eyebrow: "Come again?"

Mr. George explains everything once again:

"This young man here", he points at me, "was walking in the hall, and I thought that maybe he's lost and went to help him. But he said that in your order, the chronograf must be cleaned."

"Yes, I do remember that, but I never mentioned it to you, didn't I?", the count turns his brown eyes to me.

"I must have heard it when you left the Lodge", I say.

"The walls bring some speech even to the top floors from the main hall", Mr. George says in front of me. I have to say that he is a very good liar. The count thinks he speaks true, even when he is capable to read everyone's mind. Either that or then Mr. George's mind is crystal clear.

"That's interesting", the count says, "but also true. The chronograf really needs to be taken care of, the dust will probably get into the system inside if not cleaned properly. Mr. George, while you're here already, why don't you clean it?"

The count doesn't wait for Mr. George's answer and marches straight out of the room. I watch him disappear into the hallway and look at Mr. George.

"Diamond!", I hear the count shouting from the hallway. I nod to Mr. George and he looks back at me with a frustrated face. I smile him apologetically and exit the room.

The count waits for me in the end of the hallway, looking out from the window. The curtain is flipped to the side and the count is playing with the rope holding it in place.

I stop and look out of the window. People are walking on the street, carrying baskets full of bread, fish and vegetables. I see a man crossing the street while reading a newspaper.

"So diamond, next we have to go to the library", the count says but doesn't look away from the window. I don't response to that. The count sighs and ties the curtain with the rope he's holding.

"Off we go", he says and leaves to the stairs. I follow him and wonder why the count is being so weird today.

*

The library is amazing. The books are reaching to the ceiling and ladders with wheels are all around the room. Outside air fills my nose, but I can smell old parchment and ink too. The count is already in front of one shelf, measuring the books with his eyes. I walk to the opposite shelf and let my hand slide on the back of the books. I stop in front of the last bookshelf. There is a book called Mysteries of time on the top corner. I look over my shoulder and see the count still on the first bookshelf. Maybe he wouldn't mind if I took something to read too.
I roll the nearest ladder to me and climb almost to the top. My fingers reach the book -

"What's up there?"

I look down and see the count standing next to the ladder. He has an old looking, gray book in his hand.

"Um, nothing", I say, "I just wanted to see the books up here."

"Well, remember that all the books here are infinitely priceless, no matter where they are in the shelf. Hurry up, come down, I have things to do for you."

I sigh. If I've learned something it's that you should never protest against the count.

*

I wake up and notice that I fell asleep on top of a book. I must have been reading far into the night. The cover says distillatio. I hear a quill dancing on parchment and remember that the count is writing notes for his experiment or some project that he has done recently.

"I think we're ready, Diamond", the count says and stretches his arms above his head. I look up from the book and see him yawning. Gladly I'm not the only tired one.

"What time is it?"

The count looks at his watch: "ten thirty."

I yawn. "Is it okay if I go to sleep?"

The count nods at me. I stand up and walk to my own room. Sleeping hasn't even been on my mind since I woke up. I close the door and stay silent. When the count comes up and goes to his own room, the clock is ten past eleven. I wonder what he did during those forty minutes. I wait fifteen minutes more to be sure he's asleep, and head back to the library.
The Mysteries of time is still on it's own spot in the bookshelf. I climb the ladders again and take it to my hand. I turn the old parchment pages and see it's almost 350 years old. I hear someone walking on the hallway, so I quickly hide the book under my jacket and leave the room.
I'm walking back towards my own room but stop when a door in front of me steals my interest. I try the handle and it lets me farther to the room.
I can't see anything except a table and some equipment on it. On the other side of the room is a window, curtains closed. I walk to the window, glad of the lack of light when I step onto something soft.
I open the curtains and see the whole room in a different light. The equipment were a distillation-system and the soft thing in the floor was a piece of rug. I take the piece on my hand and smell it. An oversweet and sour stink fills my nose and suddenly I understand the whole room stinks the same. A headache starts to sneak inside my head and I leave as fast as I can.

When I'm again in my room I take some paper from the drawer and light up a little candle that is almost burned out. I dip a quill into the ink and start to write.

Dear Miss Purpleplum...

***

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!

Are you excited about 2017? I am, because many good things are about to happen (and probably I'm going to fail at many things as usual as I did this past year :,D)

Anyways, don't forget to elapse daily,

See you next year!