Taken

Chapter 11 (Part 2)

Ignoring his whines and snorts for attention, I finished cleaning his stall before heading inside to clean myself up. Despite the cold weather, the manual labor had me working up a sweat while my hands and borrowed clothing were covered in dirt. I wasn't going to dwell on what else the smears of brown on the oversized green overalls could consist of.

When I stepped inside the kitchen, slipping my shoes off outside to keep from tracking mud and shit inside and adding more work to my plate, the first thing that caught my eye was the basket Penelope had brought. It sat on the table, a white cloth covering its contents and the corner of a note tucked under it.

Making my way towards it, I tugged the paper free and was surprised to be able to read the words it had scrawled on it. I hadn't been able to make out a single letter that resembled English on the spines lining the bookshelves in the other room.

Silas,

Hilda mentioned your love for elderberries the other day. I'm sad to have missed you again, but hope you enjoy these scones. I put extra in them just for you. I look forward to finally seeing you again tomorrow!

Love, Penelope.

I couldn't help but let out a snort. She must have had it bad for him to be making baked goods and leaving little notes signed love. Or maybe this was just the way Fae flirted. I couldn't blame her, not when I could see the surface-level appeal she did. He had a face that looked chiseled out of marble by a skilled artist. There must have been many before her who had fallen for it and many who would follow. If only he had an equally appealing personality to go with it.

Everything that had followed the initial help he had offered when he found me had pretty much negated any goodwill I could have fooled myself into seeing. For all I knew, his outrage this morning could have all been an act so he could appear to be on my side after what his mother had done.

But... his anger looked real. It felt real. I shuddered at the memory of the familiar fear it had rising in me.

The sound of the front door opening and closing had my head jerking up. I held my breath, waiting for a sign that would clue me in to who it was. The sound of light feet in boots had me slowly releasing it.

"What's that?" Hilda asked as she made her way into the kitchen.

My hand rushed to put the note down by the basket while my heart jumped to my throat. I cleared it, focusing on Hilda's features that only held curiosity to settle the panic that had struck at being caught with something that wasn't for me in my hands.

"A note Penelope left with the scones," I said, trying to smooth away the faint thumbprint I had accidentally stamped on the paper. "It's for Silas."

Brushing away most of the mark, when I turned my attention back to Hilda, it was to find a frown pulling at her lips as she looked down at the note. Shifting her eyes to me, she flattened them into a firm line.

"Hmm," she hummed dismissively as she made her way across the kitchen to set the loaded tote bag she carried over her shoulder down on the counter. "Does it hold anything of importance?"

I shrugged. "It says the scones are elderberry..." Another similarity. Or at least the name was. I had never eaten or seen the berries myself, but I had read about them in a book once.

Thinking back on the words I had heard Hilda say previously, it seemed some of the similarities I was seeing were poor attempts of us trying to copy their advancements. The lack of power cords and outlets was a testament to that. After all, we couldn't replicate items powered by magic if we didn't have any magic to use. Not unless we found other ways. Destructive ones. Which would explain her comments.