The next morning I rolled out of bed, confused and a little dazed. Wondering where I was. It came back to me abruptly, as startling and sudden as a slap in the face. I sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes, fingering the cotton t-shirt I was wearing, trying to harden my resolve to even leave the room. What if I bumped into someone walking down the hall?

Finally I stood and grabbed my jeans from the floor, struggling into them. I paused with one hand on the doorknob for a moment, trying to work up the nerve to open it and walk out into the hall. I’ll be fast, I tell myself, no one will be in the hallway.

Maybe Trent would be in the hallway. Would that be so bad?

When I glance back over my shoulder at the mirror on the wall I rethink the question. Yes, him seeing me this early in the morning would definitely be a bad thing. The door squeaked slightly and I peered out into the hallway. Empty. Thank god.

I darted down the hallway in the direction that Trent had indicated the bathroom lay, sliding onto the green linoleum on my socks and slamming the door shut behind me. The bathroom was long and narrow, with an old-fashioned claw foot tub on the far side. A circular brass bar was suspended from the roof, which held a dark green shower curtain. The shower head was the rainfall type, bolted to the ceiling above the bath. I locked the door and glanced around, spotting the towel cupboard on the other side of the bathroom. The door creaked slightly when I opened it, revealing a number of fluffy blue towels in neatly folded piles. I grabbed one off the top shelf and placed it on the counter beside the sink, climbing carefully into the tub and turning the hot and cold water, waiting until it reached the perfect temperature to duck under the wide stream. There were two bottles on the little silver rack on the wall, with green and white liquid soap stuff inside.

Thank god for shampoo and conditioner. I was pretty sure I was dirty and sweaty from yesterday,  not only that but I was definitely sporting a horrific hairdo at the moment. One side of my hair was completely flat.

I tipped my head back and let the hot water soak my hair, rubbing the shampoo in and enjoying the scent of green tea and chamomile that suddenly filled the bathroom. Finally, when the bathroom was filled with steam and my skin was rosy with the heat, I stepped out and grabbed the towel, wrapping it around myself. Glancing around the bathroom I realized with a start, that I hadn’t brought a change of clothing. I didn’t really want to get back into my dirty jeans, so I gathered my clothing under one arm and opened the bathroom door a crack, peering out into the hallway. Still empty.

I pulled the towel more tightly around me and made a break for it, feet damp on the hall carpet. Relief flooded me when my hand touched the doorknob of my bedroom. Home free without a hitch!

When I glanced once back down the hallway my arm froze in the midst of pushing the door open. Trent was standing at the top of the stairs, his long blonde hair was wet, hanging in rope-like strands around his face, and he had a tight black t-shirt and jeans on. He was staring at me, dark eyes wide, mouth hanging slack.

“Hey!” I squeaked, “stop staring!”

“I didn’t…I don’t…” he looked flustered, finally turning away with his hands over his eyes, “sorry! Sorry!”

I threw myself into the bedroom and slammed the door behind me, putting my back to it with a groan. My reflection in the mirror told me exactly how bright red my face had was. The blue towel around my middle was at least large and fluffy enough to cover most of me…but still…Trent just saw me soaking wet in a towel! Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Trent’s voice came through the door, sounding anxious, “Jess, I’m sorry.”

My voice was slightly higher than usual, “its fine. I…it wasn’t your fault.”

True. It wasn’t his fault. I shouldn’t have made a beeline down the hall half naked in a house full of strangers.

“Um,” he sounded more distant now, and I could imagine him backing away from the door, “I was just coming to tell you breakfast is ready. I’ll meet you downstairs okay?”

“Yes, okay that sounds great!” I shouted back, and strode over to the dresser, yanking one of the drawers open and pawing through the contents. There was a serious lack of underwear in all of them – not that I blamed the women of the house for not wanting to lone that type of thing out to guests – so it would be commando for awhile apparently.

I found a pair of loose fitting blue jeans and a black sweater that looked comfortable enough, combing my fingers through my hair quickly before I gave up. There was no time to primp, since I didn’t want to be late for breakfast.

Tugging the pants up a little I took the stairs two at a time, arriving in the kitchen of the old house to be greeted by the smell of bacon and eggs. The girl with the Cleopatra haircut was at the stove hovering over the sizzling cast iron pans. I wracked my brain for her name and came up with nothing, settling for giving her a cheery smile, “morning.”

The Cleopatra girl smiled back, “hi, Jessica, pull up a seat. Breakfast will be ready in a five.”

“thanks,” I turned to the dining room, where the rest of the people I’d met yesterday were already assembled, including Trent, who looked up when I came in and shot me a hesitant smile. When I smiled back he looked relieved, “Hey Jess, pull up a chair and dig in.”

The table was set with three extra places, and I sat myself down in the chair beside Trent. The others glanced at me, the snaggle-toothed Louis gave me a crooked smile, and Teddy grinned before going back to the mug of black coffee in front of him. The skinny guy – Dave I think  his name was – didn’t even look up, and the girl with the long hair rolled her eyes to the ceiling and snickered into her orange juice. Troy rocked back in his chair and gulped something that looked like a brown smoothie, “what’s up, princess?”

“Yeah, hi,” I grunted back, hoping my face wasn’t flushing under their scrutiny. I couldn’t read their behavior and it made me twitchy. I had no idea if they were secretly making fun of me behind my back, but that girl with the long hair wasn’t making a secret out of her distaste. I wasn’t sure what exactly I’d done that was making her look so scornful.

There was the sudden click clack of high heels on the wooden floor, and abruptly everyone’s faces went carefully blank. My mother appeared around the corner. Her long hair was done in curls this morning, and she wore a dark blue dress that hugged the curves of her body.

Aren’t mothers supposed to wear… motherly things? Like, baggy maroon sweaters and stuff?

I looked down at my own baggy black sweater. My mother was dressed sexier than I was. This was really really weird.

“Good morning, all.” Kari beamed around at us, settling herself into the chair beside me and I was hit with the sudden overpowering scent of roses. She brushed my shoulder with one hand, as if to remove invisible lint from my sweater, “I trust you slept well, dear?”

“Yes, thanks,” I gave her a hesitant smile.

“Nearly ready with breakfast, Maria dear?” Kari called over her shoulder, and the next second the Cleopatra girl bustled in with a tray of plates and beamed at my mother, “I hope everyone’s hungry!”

The plate of steaming bacon and eggs made me instantly ravenous, and everyone seemed to be digging right in, so I loaded up my fork as fast as I could.

Kari, who took delicate little bites of her eggs, leaned past me and said to Trent, “did you tell our guest about your mission yet, Trent? I believe it would amuse her to hear about your time incognito.”

Trent rolled his eyes, “that god-awful mission you sent me on, no. I haven’t told her about it yet.”

“Tell her about the time your contact got all dry and that frost jotun girl thought you were winking at her,” snickered Maria, “that’s the funniest part.”

Trent stabbed at a piece of bacon and shook his head, chuckling, “the entire thing was ridiculous. I am not cut out for that secret agent stuff.”

“But you got a good amount of valuable information about how they operate,” Kari pointed out, “and ways we can get into the chinks of their armor. Ways we can defeat them.”

“Slowly,” Trent said firmly, “one chink at a time.”

“That’s the plan,” Kari drummed her fingernails – painted bright red – on the table top, making a sharp “tick, tick” noise on the surface, “one by one. Divided they’ll fall.”

“I still say we should get enough of us and charge the palace,”  Troy banged one fist on the table, making the plates jump with a clang, “grab that frost-bitch and take her prisoner. We can get anything we want that way. That Loki would do anything to get her back, so I bet we could…”

“You know it’s out of the question,” Kari hissed, “not only do they have soldiers upon soldiers, both fire and frost guards, they have that witch with them all the time, right there with them. She is far too powerful to go up against with brute strength alone.”

There was dark rumbling all around the table, and my curiosity got the best of me, so I blurted out, “what witch?”

Kari narrowed her eyes, staring down at her plate. Her red fingernails drummed harder against the wood, “the dark witch, Charlotte. She’s more powerful than you can possibly imagine. She and her apprentice could take out an army, just the two of them. There’s absolutely no way I’m sending my people in there. No, we take down the wall brick by brick. A rebellion is built from the ground up, slowly.” She set her fork down on her empty plate carefully, “now, you all relax and digest your breakfast, and then Trent, perhaps you can bring my daughter to the tea room where I will give her the first lesson,” Kari flashed another quick smile at me and got to her feet, pushing her chair in neatly before she exited the living room, heels clacking as she left.