Deidre

The knock on the door, unfortunately, was not their food.

It was in fact Eli.

"I swear about 88% of my life is now men in suits." Deidre said as she stared Eli in his eyes.

"They're hardly men at all," Simon said casually and put his hands in his pockets.

Rosemary looked at Eli curiously though but Eli hardly glanced at her.

"Why are you being so quiet? What's wrong?" Simon turned towards the Epsilon.

"Right uh yeah." Eli stuttered. "We've actually got to relocate you."

"Relocate?" Deidre echoed venomously. "Are we some sort of nuclear weapons you have to keep from everyone else?"

"To be honest, you're acting like it." Eli commented sheepishly.

"Where to?" Simon asked and came to stand next to Deidre.

"You don't even want to know why?" Deidre asked Simon, clearly baffled.

"We'll be here for a while. We'll figure it out on the way along." Simon shrugged.

"Right." Eli nodded and kept them on track. "You can bring the...girl and follow me. Be quick."

"What's the rush?" Rosemary had joined them in the doorway.

"The Tresais, sweetie, he's turned to the rebels." Eli softly said to Rosemary.

_________________

It was wet outside. The ground was mushy and soggy and made squishy sounds when they stepped on it.

Deidre was cringing on the inside the whole time.

Bently and Percy had joined them at different intervals on their 'journey'. Percy when they walked to the stairs and Bently at the exit.

"Why do we have to be relocated?" Rosemary had warmed up to Eli quickly and was hanging on to his arm. Deidre was slightly jealous that Eli was able to gain the girl's trust so easily.

But then again, he wasn't like his cousins. He seemed nervous and didn't like this whole thing at all - that was obvious. So what was keeping him around?

"Why must you ask so many questions?" Percy scowled.

"I'm just curious," Rosemary replied defensively.

"Leave her alone. Your maturity level might be the same - or slightly lower - but there's no reason to pick on her." Deidre rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She shivered and Simon, upon noticing, slung an arm across her shoulders in an attempt to keep her warm.

She really hoped she imagined that look of discourage on Bently's face.

"We'll be heading just inside the labyrinth where there's a cellar you can stay." Eli said after having a coughing fit which sounded an alarmingly amount like choked laughter.

"But you'll be with us, too?" Rosemary asked hopefully in that innocent way children ask.

"He can't." Percy's voice sounded a bit more sour than earlier. "We have politic stuff we have to do. You wouldn't understand."

Rosemary glanced back at him with her eyes furrowed like she was mad at him.

"Uh no." Simon shook his head. "If we're stuck in a cellar then you're stuck with us. There's what, 12 of you? I'm sure they'll be fine with just 9."

"You can't order us around!" Percy started but Bently put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let it go, Percy." Bently said. "We can stay with them for a little bit. Just to keep them safe, of course."

Percy sputtered. "You both are actually started to like them, aren't you!" It wasn't much of a question. "I don't care if you fancy that - that [female dog] or if Eli wants to play babysitter! We are not staying with these saukerls!"

"German for hog." Rosemary piped up cheerfully.

Bently was blushing quite fiercely. "That's outrageous I would never - that's a ridiculous idea! How could I fancy a-a peasant?"

Deidre was blushing as well but Simon was laughing.

She couldn't see Eli and Rosemary's expressions but she saw Eli bend down to tell the little girl something and heard her musical-like giggling.