In the coming weeks Marlene spent most of her time in the shop getting it ready to reopen. That meant a lot of cleaning; while her father took care of all the paperwork. Marcus gave a helping hand even though he has a crazy work schedule. Their work finally paid off, the shop opened later that month and they were crazy booked, their old customers flocking back to them.

Marcus and Landon watched Marlene work effortlessly in the shop.

“It seems like she hasn’t forgotten a thing in 7 years,“ Landon said smiling contently.

“Seems like she is back, just like old times,” Replied Marcus.

Even though Marlene has been busy with the shop, she hadn’t forgotten the words the twins said to her. I must be stupid, she thought. She got dressed in her work outfit, consisting of pants, leather boots, and a fitted white shirt. She left her home, grabbing her trusty leather bag and headed to the hospital. She quickly found the record room in search for answers. She held the lantern that she found on the way and eyed through the names on the file folders. Finally, she found her name. She shoved her file into her leather bag and turned to look through more files when she saw the name Andrew Ashmore next to where her file was. She pulled it out and flipped it open to the first page. There was a profile picture of her husband. She quickly grabbed the picture she has of her and her husband that she found from her pocket. It’s the same. She continued flipping through the file and found the information page.

Name: Andrew Ashmore

Age 23

Height: 6’11”

Occupation: Head Doctor at The London Hospital

Born: 1822

Father: Hawk Ashmore

Mother: Lisa Ashmore (deceased)

Spouse: Marlene Ashmore (married 1845)

Marlene heard a noise, she hurriedly closed the file and shoved it into her bag along with her file, and she blew out the flame of the lantern.

She could hear two men talking, “I thought she came in here,” said one deep voice.

“Let’s hurry. This place gives me the creeps,” said another voice. “The governor wants us to keep an eye on that young lady that disappeared 7 years ago.” The first man explained to his partner, “the governor thinks she-“A slim hand covered Marlene’s mouth, instinctively she started to fight back. She used her weight against the person trying to hold her still and knocked them down to the ground. She took the moment of opportunity to flee from the men who heard the altercation and the person who tried to take her. She bolted around the corner of the hall and meets another enemy. She grabbed whatever she could find near her, which happened to be a metal pipe and charged at the person in a mask fearlessly. Her enemy laid unconscious on the ground, all her adrenaline depleted, Marlene sank to the ground. The echo of a clinking sound of heels against the marble floor caught her attention. She got up quickly and ran. She came up to a dead end, hearing the same sound of heels on the marble approaching her from behind. Marlene turned to see a young lady standing there, a masquerade mask on her face and wearing a beautiful black and gray steam punk dress.

“My master would like to speak to you young miss.” She spoke calmly.

“Do you work for the Ring Master?” Marlene asked

“Yes, he is my master.” She smiled softly

“Good, I have questions for him.” Marlene replied.

“Please follow me.” The young lady said, Marlene followed close behind her. They passed through many secret passages, when they arrived at their destination Marlene froze, we’re inside the clock tower… she thought to herself. The young lady led her up the stairs to a room. She bowed In the middle of the room,

“I have brought the young lady.” She said

“Thank you Rosallie.” Replied to elusive Masked Ring Master, “You may go.”

Rosallie gave Marlene a nasty look as she closed the doors behind her.

“Please have a seat,” he said as he motioned to the empty chair.

“Id rather stand thank you.” She answered.

“What do you want? It’s not good for a young lady to just walk so freely into my domain.” He said

“I need answers on what happened 7 years ago, I want the files.” She spoke up, “I need the key to the restricted files at the County Hall.” She added.

“This thing?” he pulled a chain from around his neck and on the end of it was a key.

“What do you want for it?” she demanded.

“You can have it but you will need to do something in return for me.” He replied.

“Name it.” She said determined to get it done and finally have her answers.

“I’ll find you when I need you,” he said softly. Marlene’s face turned red with anger,

“I don’t want to wait around!” she shouted.

“But you must,” he replied calmly, “Very well I’ll give you a little game. The key to your past is closer than you think he said.”

“What does that suppose to mean…” everything went black for Marlene. Ring Master caught her and held her in his arms.

“You are going to save us all...” he said softly. The twins walked in.

“Man, she can fight.” In walked the first twin that met with Marlene at the County Hall, He held a straw in his hands.

“Yeah, lucky you didn’t get a metal rod slammed into your head, “said the second twin while joining his brother.

“Did you take care of the two men?” asked Ring Master, removing a small dart from her neck carefully.

“You can thank Rosallie for that.” Synchronized the twins

“We need to get her back before someone notices she’s not back; she’s been gone for a while.” Ring Master spoke softly, ignoring the twins’ comment and smoothing back Marlene’s hair from her face.