“V-very well, if you insist good sir. My name is Rhapsody, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Luke stood up, gently grabbed the maid’s hand, and knelt down.

“Rhapsody, what a beautiful name. For a beautiful woman.” With those words he kissed the maid’s hand, which made her face turn a bright red. She tried to hide her embarrassment, but Luke could see right through her as he stood up and smiled.

“Ahem!” exclaimed Jake pretending to clear his throat.

The moment between Rhapsody and Luke broke, and the two tried to hide their embarrassment. The maid quickly went to the kitchen to bring out the desert, while Luke sat down in his seat next to Jake. Jake winked at Luke which only made him more embarrassed. The rest of the time was filled with awkward silence.

After the meal, Marcus showed Jake and Luke to their room. The room had two beds, a bathroom, a window overlooking the forest, and tears of glass able to admit a gorgeous light that illuminates all darkness.

“My, this room is wonderful.”

“Yes, it is. Thank you, Marcus.”

“You are quite welcome, Jake. Have a good night.”

“Goodnight.”

Just as the two men were about to call it a night, there was a knock at the door. Curious, Luke went to see who it was. To his surprise it was none other than the maid, Rhapsody.

“Oh, why, hello.”

“Hello.”

The two were silent for a moment.

“Um, I wanted to thank you for earlier. During dinner.”

“Hm? Oh, oh, r-right, it was not a problem. A woman of your beauty should be complimented for her tremendous cooking.”

“Did you refer to me as beautiful?” Realizing what he had said Luke blushed a bit, and he tried to come up to cover his embarrassment.

“I, it was a pleasure to meet you. Have a good night, sir!” Rhapsody ran as fast as she could to her room her face bright red. Luke walked back into his room and collapsed face down on the bed.

“Nice one, Casanova.”

“Please, I am ashamed enough; you do not need to rub it in, my friend.” Jake chuckled at his friend’s remark, then the two closed their eyes and went to sleep.

It seemed like a peaceful night, until Luke awoke to footsteps clattering in the night. He quickly woke Jake who was half asleep.

“What’s wrong?” Jake said trying to stay awoke.

“I heard footsteps from outside the door.” Luke replied.

“What? Maybe it was Marcus, Diana, or one of the kids.”

“Really?”

“You’re right. Diana needs her beauty sleep, and she taught Emily that. Plus Marcus and Billy are heavy sleepers. Oh, maybe it was Rhapsody?”

“No, it wasn’t her, it couldn’t be. Because the footsteps I heard were clattering.”

“Clattering?”

“Yes, like something metal hiding against the ground.”

Just then Luke heard a strange and ominous voice. “Greed, greed. Greed will be your downfall.”

“Jake, my friend, please tell me I was the only one who heard that.”

“As much I hate to prove you wrong, my friend, you were not.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Okay, we’d better go check on everyone, make sure they’re okay.”

“Alright.”

“You get Marcus and Diana. I’ll get the kids.”

“What about Rhapsody?”

“Don’t worry I’ll get her, now go!” Luke nodded and ran off to Diana and Marcus’ room to check on them.

When he reached his destination he knocked on the door. Half asleep Marcus opened the door,

“Luke, do you know what time it is? Why are you up?”

“Jake and I heard footsteps and a strange voice in the hallway.

We were worried, so we split up to check on everyone.” Diana stood behind Marcus with an annoyed look.

“What could be roaming these halls so late at night?”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”