Eyeball Soup Anita carefully soaked Maria's head to soften the blood clots so she could free them with ease. It was a tedious task, however it was one that Anita took extreme care in. She wanted her mistress to be happy and look as beautiful as before. She found herself on more the one occasion needing to centre herself and keep her mind on the task at hand in order to keep herself from throwing up. Maria remained silent through the entire process, somewhat lost in her own thoughts. "There that is better, my lady." Anita stated, running her fingers through the girl's wet hair. She was proud of herself. She had managed to clean out ever last speck of blood and dirt out of the girl's hair and stitches while only pulling a few hairs out of Maria's head during the process. She was glad for if she would have to cut some of the clots out and in doing so would have left large bold patches that would not look very pleasing, "Now for your bangs." Anita declared as she moved around the large ebony tub. The scar stood out rather boldly now that Anita had cleaned all the blood and muck off Maria's face. She force a shutter away as she combed her mistresses hair over her eyes and began to trim her bangs. "There you are, my lady." She announced, picking up a mirror to show Maria her accomplishment, "You look as beautiful as ever." She exclaimed watching Maria slowly turn her head to gaze upon her face. "I do not know..." Maria was still not convinced that she could ever be beautiful again. Her skin was still very pale and her eyes no longer held their colour, but all in all it was better then when she first woke up that day but still. She let out a sigh of despair and set the mirror on the side of the tube. "Do not fret, my lady." Anita stated getting to her feet, "Let us try on your new gown before you give up hope." She ran out of the room to retrieve the gown off of Maria's bed. Maria splashed water upon her face before she rose from the tub. She stepped out of the tub onto the cold tile floor and gazed upon her self in the giant oval mirror over the sink as she dried off with a towel. Her hair hung limply across her forehead and back. There were more scars over her arms and chest, her mind turned to Jamie again. Would Jamie still find her beautiful? She did not know if she would ever hear the answer to that question. She turned to find Anita watching her from the door, the new gown in her hands, she blushed as she realized that she was staring at her mistress and bowed her head, "You really find me beautiful?" Maria inquired of the maid. Anita glanced up at Maria in shook that she would even ask such a question, "More lovely then any princess in the world." She replied with a sigh of affection and leaning against the doorframe as if she has been entrapped by her mistress's perfection. She shook her dazed head and presented the gown, "Now let us get this on you before you catch a cold." She demanded. "Thank you Anita." Maria said looking up at her maid and giving her a warm smile. Anita returned the smile, "It was my pleasure, my lady." Anita admitted as she helped Maria get dressed, "It is always a pleasure." She set a hand upon Maria's shoulder and leaned close to her ear, "I will always be yours." She whispered into her mistress's ear. Stunned Maria spun around to face her maid, "I... I...." She stammered trying to think of what to say. At that moment another maid entered the room, "Young Lady Greystoke, Your mother would like to see you in the dinning hall. Maria got to her feet, not letting her eyes off of Anita, "All... All right..." Quickly Anita helped Maria into the gown and wrapped the scarf gently around her neck. The entire time Maria's mind a jumble of thoughts. When she was finally dressed she moved around the maid and began to leave, "I'll talk to you later, Anita." She stated, then quickly turned and rushed out of the room. Swiftly she moved through the castle hall, her mind rushing over the past days events. She noticed several of the servants were watching her. A few even stepped to the far end of the hall or disappeared through a nearby door. She was sure they viewed her as something inhuman. Would Jamie be the same? Would she find Maria hideous? A monster? Maria could not bear the thought of such a thing happening. She stopped abruptly and turned to look down the hall she had just travelled. Her mind turned to Anita. It is true that she found the girl sweet and cute. She did feel a slight bit guilty for experimenting with the girl and now wondered if maybe things would not be too bad with Anita around, turning back down the hall she doubled her pace. "Mother?" Maria curiously entered the dinning quarter. The hall was a sweeping room with a set of double doors located at the far ends of the room, one of which Maria had just came in from. To her left a grand fireplace took up the middle of wall. A roaring fire was ablaze in the pit of the hearth giving the room a flicking yellow glow. A large portrait of her father took up a considerable portion of the wall above the mantel; his dark eyes flickered with the firelight. Two doors book ended the fireplace, one lead to the servant's areas and the other lead into the main hall. The wall to the right was a long line of towering windows made of hundreds of panes of glass that reached from floor to ceiling. Maria smiled as memories of hiding from the maids behind the long dark red curtain when she was little. She used to adore games of hide and seek. In the centre of the room stood a colossal long red oak table atop a large matching rug with gold trim. Many hand-carved high backed chairs furbished from the same grand oak surrounded the table. It could seat well over thirty people and it had, Maria remembered her sixteen and last birthday. The daughters and sons of all the lands highest nobility attended. Even the towns rivalling lord's twin daughters appeared, uninvited of course. No one knew how Lord Holland's children got their hands on an invitation, but the servants had let them in and Maria tried to be polite. She let out a sigh at her displeasure at the memory of the two psychotic girls. No one at Castle Greystoke really liked the Holland's and the twins were no exception. Maria shook the veil memory from her mind and scanned the room once again. Something about the hall was different from how she remembered it. At the far end of the table, in the spot her father usually occupied during dinner, was a large rectangular box draped with a widespread white sheet. It stood about the size of a very large man and took of the entire head of the table. Maria cocked her head as she cautiously stepped around the table and approached the object. Excitement entered the girl's heart as she recalled all the presents from her birthday. Maybe this was why her mother sent her down to the dinning hall. She had a present for her loving daughter and wanted it to be a surprise. The notion of such a large gift made the girl's eyes widen in wonderment as she drew ever so much closer to the box, her imagination marvelling over what might have been inside. She looked around to see that no one was in the room, then reached out, grabbed the sheet and gave it a good tug. The sheet came down with a little effort and landed on the girl's head, essentially burying her. She fought with the infernal thing wanting desperately to see what it was her mother could have bought for her. Could it be yet another gown? Maybe it was a whole line of designer gowns from Paris or London. A large smile played across the girl's face as she shoved the sheet to the side and looked up in astonishment to find a enormous glass aquarium towering over her and floating amongst a yellowish liquid was a brain, lungs and a heart floating in a yellowish liquid with wired and tubs poking out of them. Maria fell to the ground and backed away quickly. "MOTHER!!!" She cried out not being able to take her eyes off the ghastly sight. "Maria?" A voice came from a speaker near the bottom of the aquarium, "Is that my little Maria?" The voice said again. "F.. Father...?" Maria gave the box a puzzled look, "It that you?" She inquired still not sure if she wanted to get any closer. "Maria?" Lord Greystoke called out in distress, "Why can I not see you, dear?" Clara entered the room at that moment, "That would be because I could not recover your eyes." She said with a displeased huff, "The fish had eaten them before you we recovered from the lake. I am so sorry dear. I am trying to dig up some newer ones for you." She walked across the room and ran a hand along the arching tops of the chairs as she passed them, "You have no idea how hard good eyes are to come by these days. People have this thing about sewing the eyes shut and in doing so they pop an eyeball here or there. It is just ghastly. Makes it rather hard to find a matching pair." She explained in frustration. Maria quickly got to her feet and brushed the dust off her gown, "Mother, is that really Father in there?" She asked, nervously eyeing the brain. "It is my dear Daughter." Clara approached the aquarium and ran a finger along the cold steal rivets that held the edges together, "Most of his body was horribly disfigured after the fall off the cliffs, I only had so much to work with." She let out a sorrowful sigh then turned to her daughter, "At the very least his body did do some good. It cushioned your fall so I could keep you in your original body." She knelt down to take the girl in her arms and gave her a tight hug. "So we are really dead?" Maria questioned her mother suspiciously, not returning the hug. "Not really dead." Clara held the girl by the shoulders at arms length and looked her directly in the eyes, "Only HALF dead." She assured the girl with a smile that made Maria shutter. Suddenly a servant entered the room, "I'm sorry to disturb you, my lady." He nervously glanced at Maria, then the brain and back to Clara. "Ummm... your guests have arrived." The man announced then quickly left the room. "Oh good." Clara stated with excitement then turned to her daughter, "I have things to attend to." She said getting to her feet with a hand still on her daughters shoulder, "I have such the surprise for you. Now, no peeking in the west wing alright?" Maria nodded to her mother and the woman patted the girl's shoulder then rushed out of the room and closed the door behind her. ***** Henry Basset steered his horse drawn wagon along the winding roads to Castle Greystoke. Mrs. Olaf sat across from him, a large black cloak wrapped around the woman's shoulders and the basket of brew upon her lap. As the Castle came into the sight the old woman began to speak, "Now I'll distract Lady Greystoke while you slip by with the basket and pour my brew upon the floor of a second floor eastern room, near the window, is that understood?" She inquired as she again relayed her plan, "And be sure to leave the curtains open to allow it some moonlight." Henry swallowed hard and nodded, "I got it, ma'am." He replied. His eyes turned to the swirling clouds overhead. Something in the air did not feel good and he wished he had not agreed to help the old dam. If only he was not so afraid of the old women then he would have turned the wagon around long before venturing so far from town, but now it was too late and he was committed to finishing the job, "Here we are, Ma'am." He announced as the came around the final bend in the road and stopped amongst several other wagons parked outside of the castle. Mrs. Olaf handed the basket to the man, "Don't fail me, understood?" She commanded, then grabbed the hood of her cloak and pulled it over her head. In an instant she vanished from sight, leaving Henry to face the dreaded castle alone. ***** "Oh good you are here." Clara clapped her hands in rejoiced as a group of burly men in overalls entered the castle, "I want you to get to work as quickly as possible. Money is no object." She declared with a grin. "Evening to you, malady." A man with small round wire framed glassed said as he pulled out a large roll of paper from under his arm and tapped it, "Are you sure this is what you want, Madam?" The contractor asked concerned as he examined the main hall, "I mean this is a rather gorgeous place and your requests would have us knocking holes in more then a few of these lovely walls." He knocked on one of the walls and listened to the sound it made, "Kind of solid foundation you have too. Lime stone I'm thinking. It is not going to be easy." The rest of the men nodded and mumbled their agreements, "I would feel better if we could talk to the Lord before beginning." "Lord Greystoke died last night. Or are you not able to read?" Clara stated as she let out a sigh of displeasure, "So until my daughter finds an heir I am in charge here. Now, I am well aware of the damages and am willing to do whatever it costs to get the renovations completed. Now do we have a deal or do I have to find some new mindless apes to do my bidding for me?" She asked with a slight snarl and a glare. A few of the men took a step back when that gaze fell upon them. Later that night there would be stories told over dinner that a demon burned in the heart of Clara's eyes, "Now if I could please see those plans to double check them?" She reached out a hand greedily towards the contractor. "Okay, we will do it, malady." The Contractor agreed half-heartedly, reluctantly handing the blueprints to the woman, "Come on, fellas." He signalled the men back outside to gather their tools. As the men passed thought the door an old woman in tattered rags and hunched over a gnarled wooden cane entered the castle doors without any of them paying so much as a glance her way, "A curse upon you!" The woman muttered to Clara as she crossed the grand hall. Clara was going over the plans when she heard the voice, "Huh?" She lifted her head to find the ancient woman was drawing nearer with every moment, "Now listen here. Who brought their grandmother with them to my home?" She demanded fearfully backing up against the wall. Clara never feared death in her entire life, however, the old was something she was dreadfully terrified of and the sight of this haggard woman reaching out toward her was worse then being places in a pit of the most poisons of snakes. Clara squirmed as she tried to get out of reach of the hag. "A Curse upon you!!" The woman hissed again, "You have opened the gates to hell, that you have." The old woman's eyes glanced around from under her hood. She noticed Henry crossing the hall with the basket in hand. A smile crossed her face as the man quickly head up stairs, "You have cursed yourself and everyone living in this town." She continued in her crackle voice. "Death is coming and it is your head he has come to take." Clara regained her ground, "Now listen here you bloody godforsaken wrinkly old hag." Clara spat, she was a woman of science and could not be bothered with curses and magical nonsense, even from an old woman like this, "I will not be intimidated by your faults hocus-pocus. Curse me all you like it will not stop me. You cannot take my family away from me ever again you hear. Not get out of my house." She demanded pointing towards the door with a stomp of her foot. "Death will find you." The hag cackled, "He will come for what is rightfully his and you will have no power to stop him." Her maniacally laughter filled the halls of the castle, "You will see. You will all see." She continued to laugh. Clara quickly took a hammer from a passing workers toolbox and brought a down hard upon the woman's head in an attempt to stop the infernal laughter. The woman disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind only her tattered rags and fading laughter. Clara fixed a strain of her hair that had free itself and handed the hammer back to a rather stunned construction worker, "Back to work everyone." She commanded, and then quickly left the room. A few of the works glanced at each other then the rags on the ground, "You heard her ladyship." The contractor stated swallowing hard, "She is paying good money so let's get this done quickly and be out of here." The crew muttered their agreement and rushed off to work. Meanwhile, Henry pushed through one of the many doors along the upper balcony and closed it silently behind him. Hastily he pulled out one of the jars and fumbled with the lid. He stared at the jar as green steam rolled over the lip of the container, almost as if it wanted to be freed. Not wanting to stick around to long Henry tossed the fowl liquid across the floor and did the same with the second and third jar until the floor was glowing with the green goo. Nodding with satisfaction he turned and prepared to leave the room. Just as his hand touched the doorknob a rustling noise came from behind the man. He slowly turned around and his eyes grew wide at what stood before him. He opened his mouth to let out a scream only to have it cut short as something violently shoved itself through his open mouth and ripped off his head, leaving only the jaw still attached. **** To be continued...
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