Jack rolled his eyes and smiled at me, “C’mon.”
I was led through the kitchen, where faces seemed to blur past me. No one really took any notice that I was there, which was fine by me. I was quite happy to blend into the walls.
I was very glad that this house was made of stone, and only a limited amount of furnishings were wood. This would make my life a lot easier. I followed Jack through the manor, not remembering where he was taking me at all. Left, second right, second left, right.
“Jack, who is Charles?” I asked as we approached the end of a hallway.
“Charles pretty much runs the place. He’s in charge of keeping staff busy, though Master Forsythe decides if we hire someone.”
“And that woman I just met? Her name was Camryn … she runs the stables?” I recalled.
“Yeah. She’s a hard shell to crack, that one. Make sure you stay on her good-side too – bit of a temper. She also talks an awful lot.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
I fell silent as Jack knocked on a little wooden door. From the other side a man announced that we could enter.
“Charles.” Jack popped his head through the door, “Was wondering if I could have a word with you?”
“Come in Jack.”
Jack opened the door fully, exposing me to the man known as Charles.
He was a middle aged man, probably forty I guessed, with little colour remaining in his once auburn hair. He was sitting behind a large mahogany desk, piles of paperwork sprawled in front of him. Charles looked over his spectacles at me; “Hello” He raised an eyebrow.
“This is Ava.” Jack informed Charles.
“Hello sir.” I piped up. It was now that I needed to make a good impression, “I’m here because I was informed by Lester Elwood that you have a position available. Mister Elwood thought that I might be perfect, so he sent me over.”
“Ah, yes, we are indeed in need of some new staff. We haven’t even had a chance to go looking for ourselves. It’s a good thing Lester is sending people out way though, definitely saves my time.”
I smiled, glad that they did have a position available. It would have been awfully depressing if they had just told me to go away.
“You have your papers with you?” Charles pushed his spectacles higher up his nose as she surveyed me. I was sure that two days travelling had not done my appearance justice.
“Yes sir.” I hurried forwards immediately and placed the documents on his desk.
I bit my bottom lip nervously as Charles looked over my documents.
“Hm.” He pursed his lips, “Do you have any work experience, Miss Redding?”
I winced, “No sir. I only just left home a day ago. I’m on my own now sir, for the first time.”
“Would you please demonstrate your Power for me?” Charles pressed on. He didn’t seem to care that I didn’t have any previous work experience.
I gulped; not exactly sure what he wanted me to do. I was slightly worried that my nerves would make my Power disobey me, as it so often liked to do.
Chewing down on my lip, I held my right hand before me. Charles watched carefully as I curled my fist into a ball and concentrated hard. A few seconds later my entire hand was engulfed in a merry orange flame.
Charles nodded, and then suddenly inspired he held out a glass filled with water.
“Would you boil this water for me please?”
I nodded. That was easy enough. I took a step towards Charles, and he gave me the glass of water to hold. I held the glass with both hands securely, focussing on heating my palms. After a few seconds bubbles began to rise to its surface. It wasn’t long before the water in the cup was boiling under my touch. I placed the glass back on his desk, where he touched the water to inspect it.
“Ouch. Good, good.” He nodded. “Well Miss Redding. I’m glad to say that the Master, and his wife will thoroughly enjoy being able to have steaming hot baths once again, that’s for sure. We have a lot of staff under this roof, all who have their own responsibilities. Once Master Forsythe has given you permission to work in the household, I will show you to your living quarters, and Jack will give you a rundown of your duties. You will start first thing tomorrow morning. I will take you to the Master myself now.”
I gave a bow, “Thank you sir.”
Charles got up from his seat. To my surprise he was a head shorter than me. I felt rather silly walking next to the squat man. I turned, forgetting that Jack had been right behind me.
“That was rather interesting.” Jack smiled at me, “You’ll have to show me some other things you can do some time.”