When the apple picking was done I took them to Elizabeth.
“Any servant news?" I asked as I sat down on a stool.
"Well Else chickened out and canceled the date." She said as she washed the apples.
"Great" I said "That's one less thing to worry about."
Elizabeth picked up a knife as she said "Can you pass me the trash bin?"
"What is Eli like as a person anyway? The only times I see him is when he is with Father." I said as I grabbed an apple.
“Did I hear my name?" Father said as he came into the room.
“If your here to steal some apple, your out of luck. We need all these." I said teasingly.
“Shucks" Father replied as he ruffled my hair.
“Father! I need my hair to stay straight." I said as I smoothed it back down.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because..." I stopped. Father would explode if he knew I was going on a date with Gin that night. "Because I want to look nice for tonight’s dinner. You must have seen that John is back by now." I said with what I hoped was a satisfied look on my face while picking up a knife. It must have because Father then turned around with mocked shock on his face.
"My son is back? My son is back from sea? Eli, did you knew that my son was back?" My father asked. I turned around to find Eli Johnson standing behind me.
I clutched my knife as hard as I could while Eli responded back "No sir. I didn't.”
Elizabeth then reached across the table while saying “Stop!" I look down to find out that what I thought was the handle was the blade. I opened my hand to find out I had a deep cut across my palm and fingers.
"I may need bandage." I said as I turned towards the water pump. Father sighed as he sent Eli to go get one.
"Princess, why do you keep getting hurt?" I felt my Father's pain in his voice.
“I just do normal things like go for a walk or picking apples. Injuries just follow me." I said as thought came into my mind. During a summer carvianal, Gin and I went into this tent where this woman ‘cursed’ me. But maybe she was really cursing me. I made a mental note as I grabbed the bandage from Eli. As Father turned around Eli whispered to me
“Watch your back. Don't know what Gin would do if something else bad would happen to you." I scowled as he walked away.
“Elizabeth" I said as I closed the door. “I don't care what we do. I don't care how we do it. But Eli just confessed to me that he is somehow involved in what happened. And from what he said he's willing to do it again. So it’s time for drastic measures." I said as I pulled out the hidden chalkboard.
