The Ringmaster's Keeper

Chapter 27: Gossip

My eyes fluttered open as I felt a prick of pain where the needle was. I looked down at where the spider bite was and it was red and irritated. I winced at the state of my hand.

"Are you all right?" Lili said, looking at the pained look on my face. "Oh gosh, did I hurt you? Oh I'm so sorry!" She said as she pulled me into a fierce hug.

"I'm fine," I gasped for air from her very tight hug. "Really, Im fine." She held me for a bit longer before letting go.

"Well, if you say so." She said as she eventually let go of me and I finally got the luxury of breathing. She got up.

"I'll go get you some lunch." She said as she went to leave the room.

"It's ok, I'll come out and get it." She stopped and gave me a suspicious look.

"Well, ok, but only if you feel up to it." She said as she walked out the door. I got up and chased after her. The hallway was dimly lit, probably because people were sleeping and I caught up with Lili as we walked into the living area. No one was there apart from Rachel, Autumn and Oscar. Rachel and Autumn were lounging on the couch and Oscar was sitting at the dining table. Lili dragged me into kitchen and closed the door.

"So, what do you want?" She asked as she looked around the pristine kitchen.

"Uhh, could I have a sandwich?"

"Sure." she said with a friendly smile. She got out some frozen bread and chucked it into the toaster. While she was waiting for the toast she got salad from the fridge.

"Where do you get all the food?" I inquired. She frowned.

"That's actually a very good question," she said,"We don't actually know. It just kind of, appears I suppose you could say. We can request food though. We just write it down here," She said as she pointed to a small pen and paper pad on the fridge,"And whatever food we write down on it, it always appears the next day wherever it needs to be stored." She said that last bit with a shrug.

"Umm..." I said as I pointed to the smoke spewing out of the toaster.

"Huh? Oh! Awh come on!" Lili quickly unplugged the toaster and tipped it upside down so the two slices of carbon fell onto the bench and crumbled on impact. She cussed under her breath as she brought the bin over to the bench and swept the burnt toast into the bin. She put the bin back and put in more bread, making sure they wouldn't burn by putting them on setting two rather than five.

"Sorry about that." She said as she continued the preparation for a sandwich. I sat on the stool in silence as she cut up tomato.

"So," She said eventually breaking the silence, "I know it's not really my business, but I was wondering what you and Oscar were talking about last night. It sounded pretty rowdy."

"Really? Were we loud?"

"Not really loud... more... intense."

"Umm, we were talking about my boyfriend. She stiffened at the word boyfriend, probably remembering the time that me and Oscar kissed, and the way she saw it happen. She played it cool.

"What about your boyfriend?" I stopped and thought about what we were talking about.

"His identity I suppose." I said, leaving out the part that his identity happened to be very similar to Oscar's.

"What do you mean by that?" She said curiously. It seemed she really wanted to know. She didn't really come across as someone who was interested in gossip. Obviously I was wrong. I was about to protest about telling her the details when Oscar walked in. He looked at us weirdly and spoke.

"What are you two doing?" he asked sourly.

"Oh, I was just fixing Beth some food." Lili answered as she slid a sandwich in front of me. She was good at deception, I'll give her that.

"Ok..." Oscar said awkwardly at Lili's overly confident state. He slid his plate into the sink and walked back out. Lili waited before she sprung the question back onto me, but I took a big bite of my sandwich to stall. I looked at her and pointed to the door with a full mouth. I walked towards it opened the door with one hand. Oscar was gone, so I went over to the table and sat down with my sandwich. Lili followed me and sat down on the opposite side of the table staring me down. She looked over to Autumn and Rachel on the couch and beckoned them to come over. They did and sat either side of me.

"Tell us." Lili said as her eyes burrowed into mine.