Silence

Chapter 2

"What is the problem now?" Ciel grumbled as he heard his servants running about and shouting at the top of their lungs outside the dining room.

"I shall see to it right away, my lord," Sebastian answered.

The butler and the head maid quickly exited the room to find the other servants running all over the place with various cleaning utensils in hand.

"What on earth are you all doing?" Sebastian asked them.

Two of the three servants halted in their tracks and stood before him.

"We're just tidying up a bit," Finnian told him. "We thought we'd try to do our best to make the young master happy today!"

"Well, as much as I commend your efforts, it appears you are making a bit more of a mess than cleaning things up."

Sebastian eyed the dirt Finnian had tracked into the manor from the gardens and the soap trail left on the carpet from Mey-Rin cleaning the clothes.

He sighed a little as he counted down with his fingers. "Three...two...one..."

Sure enough, an explosion shook the manor that could only have come from one person.

"I've got it!" Baldroy's voice yelled from the kitchen.

"Honestly, I don't understand how you three can be so adept at one thing and so utterly useless at everything else!"

"Ho, ho, ho," Tanaka laughed as he sipped his tea.

"Don't worry, Sebastian!" Mey-Rin said, hoping that he didn't notice her reddening cheeks. "We'll clean this up, and then we'll get right back to cleaning up the manor, yes we will!"

Adalina looked up at Sebastian as Finnian and Mey-Rin took off again.

Sebastian smirked a little. "They mean well, I suppose."

Ciel came out of the dining room. "I'm going up to my study for a bit of quiet before lessons. Adalina, accompany me in case I am in need of anything."

Adalina curtseyed and followed her young master up to where he would retreat to his place of solitude. Like Sebastian, Ciel often enjoyed having Adalina in the room with him because he could work in complete silence yet still feel protected while he worked. Adalina was no Sebastian, but she could certainly defend him and herself well enough for the most part.

Once they reached Ciel's study, Adalina opened the door to allow him to enter first before she followed him inside.

Just as Adalina was going to close the door behind them, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, and her vision began to go fuzzy. The last thing she saw was two hands grabbing Ciel and tossing a rag over his mouth.

Adalina could hear her heart pounding in her ears as her senses slowly began to return to her. She forced her eyes open and saw that she was in an unfamiliar room. Her hands were tied behind her, and her feet were bound as well. Recalling the last thing she had seen before she blacked out, she frantically looked around for Ciel. The quick motion made her head start pounding even more.

Her young master was tied up as well not far away from her. He had blood running down his face, and his clothes and hair were in complete disarray.

"Why did you bring her here?!" a familiar voice shouted.

"Sorry, sir!" another answered. "She came in the room with the kid, and we didn't know what else to do with her!"

"You could've just left her there!"

"We were worried she'd wake up too soon and alert the rest of the house before we could get out!"

The first man groaned loudly in annoyance. "Well, maybe this'll bring the butler here sooner. First we'll take care of him, then we'll take care of the little brat and the girl."