Masquerade ✔

Chapter 54

Clara walked down the front steps, feeling sticks and leaves crunch under her feet as she reached the ground. Her hair drifted in the slight breeze as she walked up the path to her job.

Six months ago, Clara had almost plunged to her death off an airship. Now, she lived in what could only be described as a safe-haven, a paradise, a place where she could breathe fresh air and not worry every month about whether her family was going to be turned out onto the streets.

"Good morning, Clara." Clara's supervisor, Marianna, greeted her as she walked through the back door.

"Good morning, Marianna. Anything you need me to get started on right away this morning?"

"Can you bring Ms. Damaris her breakfast, please? She's in her office." Marianna tapped an already prepared tray of steaming food and coffee. "And then get started cleaning and preparing the sitting room for visitors. Ms. Damaris will have people over later today."

Clara nodded. "Of course." She carefully picked up the tray and left the kitchen. Fortunately, this house only had one flight of stairs that Clara had to ascend between the kitchen and Ms. Damaris's office.

Ms. Damaris was the head of the upper school in the small town, and life of the entire community revolved around that school. Local children went to the lower school until they were 18, but students came from all over to attend the upper school, studying medicine, government, or engineering.

"Good morning, Ms. Damaris," Clara said politely as she walked through the office door.

Ms. Damaris looked up only briefly. "You can put it there." She pointed to a small table right beside the door. "Thank you, Clara."

Clara did as she asked and left without another word. Ms. Damaris wasn't an unfriendly person by any means, but she also wasn't a particularly warm person. Clara found it best to just do her own work and let Ms. Damaris get on with hers.

Clara then headed back downstairs to the sitting room and make sure everything was ready for guests. Lunch followed, and the Clara spent the afternoon serving tea and dessert to Ms. Damaris and her guests.

By four in the afternoon, Clara was leaving the house and going back to her own home. A different set of staff took care of dinner and evening tasks. As much as Clara did miss working for Araminta at times, not having to work 12-hour days allowed her to spend time with her family and left her with more energy. It was something Clara had never experienced before.

Clara lived in the building with several other families, but they all had their own space. Clara lived in a quarter with four rooms and they had their own bathroom and small kitchen. Two of the rooms were for sleeping. She and Ezra shared one; the twins and Emme, the other.

They still mostly ate rations, but they did have a little bit of extra money that they used to buy their own food. Clara tried to make something different for dinner at least twice a month.

"Clara, you're back!" Amyeliana greeted her as she pushed open the door into her quarter.

The twins and Emme sat around the table, papers and pencils spread out in front of them. They went to school for five hours every day, and while they didn't have any work assigned to them in the evening, the three of them would work together to get better at their studies.

Clara knew the three of them enjoyed school, but that didn't mean it was easy. They were all behind compared to the other students their age; Emme less so because she was still young, but they all had catching up to do. And it was obvious they weren't from here.