Rob them?
“Is that why you made friends with Lady Lockly?” Bethanne cried out with tears running down her face. “How could you take advantage of such a kind-hearted girl?”She cried loudly, and I felt an urge to comfort her through her pain.
What was going on here? I never took advantage of anyone, did I? Confusion pulsed through me when suddenly, the girls’ insults were silence by a new face parting through the crowd.
“Well, well, well…” Mr. Dwarfer, who looked equally upset, stepped in front of the girls to stand before me. “The thief has decided to return.” He crossed his arms, glaring at me accusingly.
“Thief?” I looked around the room as if in a daze. Where would they get that idea from? “I have never stolen anything in my life.” I pressed my hand to my chest as I declared innocence.
“Is that so?” Mr. Dwarfer laughed condescendingly, at my statement then dug through his pockets. Something jingled loudly within, and my mouth fell open as he pulled out a handful of jewelry. “I found these in your locker after your sudden disappearance.” He held up the glittering jewels for everyone to see. The girls shunned away from the ornaments, shielding themselves from their feared truth.
“N-no you don’t understand!” My words stuttered from shock. No wonder they were all angry with me. “Those are mine! That’s what I came to tell everyone, I’m not actually Annie at—.
“Of course, you’re not Annie!” He boomed as he approached far quicker than I would have expected, then jabbed an accusing finger into my shoulder. The force nearly knocked my frail body onto the ground. “You’re the bandit, Ivory Meta, known for disguising yourself as common servants to avoid suspicion as you steal from the rich!” He spat in my face as he hurled his words.
Astonished, I stepped back at his absurd claim. I had never heard of such a bandit, nor was I her.
“Mr. Dwarfer, you’re mistaken, I’m not a bandit at all.” I held up my hands defensively as he continued to get up in my face. “My real name is Princess Arabella Ivory Zakaria. I’m the missing princess, and I have been hiding here in fear of my life for the last week and a half.” I rattled as quickly as I could while simultaneously backing away from the enraged man.
He was determined to knock me down. Desperately, I looked around at the other girls for help, but they remained frozen. However, they looked far more shocked than angry now. Most of their mouths hung open in bewilderment, and Hazel had both of her hands clasped over her mouth.
“Lies!” Mr. Dwarfer screamed as his outrage grew exponentially at my words, turning his face a bright shade of red. “You have been stealing from me this whole time, and you expect to get away with it! You ungrateful brat! You’ll regret ever stepping foot into my business.” He pushed me to the ground, and I fell with a yelp. I saw Hazel and Daniela rush forward to my defense right as my vision was blinded by washing solution. I gazed up through the blur and saw that in his rage, he had poured an entire bottle of apple-scented soap over my head.
The sticky fluid seeped through my clothes and irritated my skin as it spread all over me. I wiped the fluid from my eyes on a clean section of my apron and looked up just in time to see Hazel, Delilah, and Susan hold Mr. Dwarfer back with all their strength. Moments later, Bethanne and Sylvia joined in the fray, and the five girls had him pinned to the floor. Glenda and Daniela rushed over to where I lay sprawled on the floor and helped me to my feet.
“What in all the realms is wrong with you?!” Glenda yelled viscously at the thrashing man as she held my weight with her arms. My head spun from the strong fumes of the cleaner. “Can’t ya listen to the girl!? She said she didn’t do it, and I, for one, think she deserves to be heard!” She stood her ground firmly as she glared down at the petrified man. I felt honored to have such a strong woman defend me. I would have hugged her if I hadn’t been covered in apple-scented slime.
“Surely, it’s a misunderstanding, sir,” Daniela murmured, but still had a fierceness in her tone. “This young lady has been nothing but good to us since we met, and I don’t believe that accusing her senselessly is going to get us anywhere.” She gave my arm a comforting squeeze as my weight fell a little more toward her. I was feeling queasy from the intensity of everything and felt as if I might fall without their support.
“Thank you, everyone,” I said breathlessly, as my lungs were labored. The two women that held me shared a concerned look and quickly guided me to a chair. “The jewels…” The apple scent was beginning to grow unbearable. “There should be a tiara within them. That can validate my story.” I weakly pointed toward the jewelry dangling from the distraught man’s pockets.
Hazel dug her hand into his vest, ignoring the man’s protests, and soon produced the dainty platinum tiara. She held it up in the air where all the girls gawked at it in disbelief.
“She’s telling the truth!” Hazel shouted excitedly. “I knew you couldn’t be a thief, Annie— I mean, Princess Arabella! Oh, I mean, your honorableness!” She stuttered through the titles, not sure of how to proceed. The other girls laughed at her stumbling, and I weakly smiled in sympathy.
“I had a feeling that old man was full of nonsense.” Glenda crossed her arms at the shrinking man, who had gone silent after Hazel had displayed the crown.
“Why would you accuse me of such a thing?” I questioned from my seat. My voice was quiet and shaken, but the words carried over the chattering girls. “What have I ever done to you?” I was genuinely wondering what would drive him to such an extreme reaction.
“I was just doing what I was told!” he shouted bitterly, managing to shove Susan and Sylvia off his arms so he could crawl to his feet. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. My job here is done, and I’m through looking out for the rest of you ingrates!” He pointed toward all the girls. We all shared equally puzzled expressions, but he wasn’t done.
“No one is going to listen to lowly maids like you anyway, so I should have no problem collecting the rest of my payment and selling this filthy building for good.” He laughed maliciously and another wave of nausea hit me. Why was this scent making me feel so sick? I felt my temperature rise internally as I shook with ailment. My head pounded in my skull, and I suddenly wished for Peter’s healing magic. I placed my hand against the whistle protruding through the fabric of my dress and considering calling for him. My blood froze as I touched the cool metal, recalling an important detail from our last meeting.
“The soldiers…” I spoke quietly, but Mr. Dwarfer’s eyes grew large at the soft words. “They have been getting sick, just like Sylvia, Daniela, and I... It’s been getting worse by the day for them, yet everyone here is just fine, everyone except for me.” I stood unsteadily to my feet, causing Daniela and Glenda to scramble in an attempt to help me, but I stepped forward with new purpose.
“All of our illness started around the same time, but Sylvia and Daniela already look as good as new after taking their elixirs. So why have I gotten so much worse than even the soldiers, who haven’t even had a proper remedy?” Slowly, I walked past the crowd of women approaching where Mr. Dwarfer stood petrified. “How long ago was it that we switched soaps again… a week maybe?” I picked up a jug of the apple-scented solution off the ground and raised it level to Mr. Dwarfer’s face. “What do you think of the scent, sir? I’m not certain you ever got a chance to sample it with your busy schedule.” I held the jug under his nose and his frozen form reacted quickly, knocking the solution out of my hand. The contents spilled silently across the floor.
“It’s poisoned, okay! Is that what you wanted to hear!?” The pathetic man stepped back in cowardice, but Delilah was too quick and raced to block the main door. Bethanne remained at the back door, blocking off his only routes to escape. “I don’t know why they wanted me to switch to poison! They paid me to do as I was told and to not ask questions! You twits are lucky that I was kind enough to request cures for you in case the poison impacted you first!” The man was delirious. He ran across the room to the massive shelving units and started knocking items off the shelves in a rage. “All you had to do was sit back and follow instructions!” he yelled furiously as he continued to trash everything in sight. I began to fear that he would take out his rage on one of the girls, when suddenly, Hazel halted his rampage.
The tiny girl grabbed a full tin of fireplace ashes and raced up behind the man. With both hands, she slammed the metal into the back of his head, showering cinders everywhere and effectively knocking the man unconscious. We all stood stunned for a moment as the girl calmly turned to us with a face covered in ash.
“Somebody had to do it.” She shrugged simply.
I made a mental note not to get on her bad side. With the eminent danger momentarily thwarted, I stumbled to the ground as my heart raced rapidly in an attempt to fight of the poisoned solution that was seeping through my skin. Pattering footsteps echoed in the open space as seven women huddled around me, desperately trying to wipe the polluted soap from my arms and face. I smiled up at the kind faces, ignoring their frightened eyes. Hazel squeezed my hand with tears running down her face as she mouthed words that I could no longer hear.
chapter sixteen
Despite my body’s desire to sleep, I fought to keep my eyes open at all costs. The poison was rapidly moving though my body, and my skin was searing hot with fever. Aurelia had come inside after hearing the scuffle with Mr. Dwarfer. She was desperately searching through the dirty laundry piles for appropriate clothing that hadn’t been washed in the tainted soap. Daniela and Glenda had already stripped me down to my corset and petticoat to wipe the toxins from my arms. The cold water provided an incredible sense of relief on my burning skin, but it wasn’t helping to slow the poison that had already entered my bloodstream. After the two older women had done the best they could cleansing my skin, Aurelia rushed over with a massive dress in her arms.