Iᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴜᴍ (Bᴏᴏᴋ 1) (editing)

Chapter 5- Blood Is Thicker Than Water

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"Jewel!" Rayna snapped at her, pulling her out of her thoughts, "You must! We have no other choice." Rayna demanded. Rayna hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but she needed Jewel to protect herself or at least try. She held her breath and dropped the blanket in place as she heard the blanket drop outside the door, the handle being jiggled to open.

Rayna and Jewel whispered at the same time. "Evaneset."

There was a brief moment of silence, then the creak of the door echoed in the small room.

Chapter 5- Blood Is Thicker Than Water

The door slowly creaked open as both Rayna and Jewel held their breaths.

"We shouldn't be down here, Maureen." A male's voice softly whispered, his voice shook with nerves. "You heard what Captain Tutor said if any of us was found down here. And they have been nothing but kind to us, taking care of us after all that has happened since King Gabriel past."

A girl scoffed at his words, "Don't be such a child, Roderick. Captain Tutor, Lady Catherina, and young master Cyrus are not here, and they will never find out that we were here."

Rayna tried to look under the bed next to her with the little amount of light that was coming through the covers. But she still wasn't able to see if the spell had worked for Jewel. Rayna felt like crying as she realized what might happen. She might have to attack the servants. But with no sort of combat training, she had no idea how she was going to stop them. They had not gotten that far with their witch lessons. A thought flickered through her mind of a book she had read that she knew her aunt would not approve of her reading. She remembered a spell that could help them, but she would have to get close to the servants.

"What is all this?" the one named Maureen asked, no longer whispering to themselves.

Rayna was trying to figure out what time of day it was, trying to figure out when her aunt would be home. She prayed to the Gods that she would be back soon. She wondered if she screamed out her thoughts if Cyrus would be able to hear her cries. The village wasn't that far away. Her father once said to her that when people shouted their thoughts, it would come into his mind like a whisper. That is how he would be able to find her when she was hurt in the castle. She would scream her thoughts for him. But they never were too far from one another, so she didn't know how far away she could be.

Rayna decided to try, rather than do nothing. She shouted in her mind over and over again to Cyrus for help.

"These are books about the history of the world. Why would they keep these books down here?" Maureen spoke again. "And there are two beds in here. I wonder if they are planning to have guests come and stay here."

The man named Roderick finally spoke again, "Maureen, I think people are already here. The covers on the beds are all rumpled, and the fireplace looks like the wood is freshly burnt, and the candle wicks are still warm."

Rayna cursed herself for being so reckless with the candles. She had just blown them out rather than use water to cool them. She should have known better. But with the fireplace and beds, there was nothing she really could have done.

"You don't think there are people in this room right now, do you, Roderick?!" Maureen sounded panicked as she came to this realization that there could be people in this very room, and there was no doubt that the Lord and Lady of the house would find out of their crime.

All of a sudden, furniture was being moved around, the doors to the cabinets where Jewel was initially supposed to be hiding were opened. No doubt, they were searching to make sure that no one was here, listening as they disobey their masters.