"For your first shift, weed out the east and west garden and after lunch, dust, and mop the basement," Luanda says, closing her clipboard. "That's all for today dearie. If you have any issues, you know where to find me."

I nod at her retreating back, let's get this day over with.

After several minutes of walking around, I finally find the entrance of the east garden and move inside.

I quickly begin my work by spraying a herbicide on the weeds section by section. After the herbicide has taken its effect and the weeds are dead to their roots, I grab the rake and start pulling it out.

A few hours later, I was rewarded with a weed-free garden and a broken back.

Bending low for hours has taken a beautiful toll on my back.

One down, one more to go.

Grabbing the supplies with me, I drag my body to the west garden.

Holy shit, I'm screwed, I think, seeing the garden.

The west garden was enormous! Thrice the size of the east. That's it, today is the day I am dying.

"This is all her fault! We should have turned her hair green as well, " I hear a tiny voice complaining.

"I can't believe Ricky actually kept his word and punished us," says another voice huffing, and puffing.

I slowly make my way to where the sound was coming from. My lips tug into a smile at the sight In front of me. The triplets were on their knees pulling out weeds with a tiny weeder.

Ha! Those devils got what they deserve.

Quickly hiding my supplies behind a garden gnome, I make my way to them.

"Well, well, well," I drawl sarcastically "What a pleasant sight to the eyes" I smirk, eyes glinting evilly.

"You!" Gresie drops her weeder on the ground and stands up. Putting her arms on her hips, "This is all your fault!" she says, eyes narrowing.

"Really? from what I remember you were the ones who went around changing creature's skin color"

"She is right Gresie, it is sort of our fault," Greg says, throwing his tools away and laying on the ground, huffing.

"Arghh" she screams, joining her brother. Seeing his siblings, Giles mimics their action and lays down on top of the other two.

They sigh together.

"You know, maybe I could help you" three pair of eyes look at me, hopefully.

"I mean, it's my break, and I was hoping to rest in the garden. But,..." I drawl. It's not my break and I am actually here to work. But they don't need to know that.

"What's the catch?" Greg asks, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Tell me how you did it and I will help you weed this place out."

Hearing me all three immediately get onto their feet and get working.

"Oh, come on! Just tell me your trick, I won't tell anyone" Ignoring me, they continue their work.

"Ok fine, don't tell me how to do it. But where did you learn it?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.

Again, all three continue working, not heeding my words. "All right then, I'm going. Good luck! See you after four hours or something" I say laughing at their misery. Turning my back to them, I head inside, dramatically waving at them.

"Fine, wait!"

I pause, smirking.

"I can't do this anymore! I'll tell you where we learned it from" Greg says, as I turn around, exaggeratingly waving his tiny arms.

Such a cutie. I want to bite his cheeks.

Grabbing his weeder, I bend low and get working.

Defeated, Gresie begins "Last summer, we traveled west to visit our grandma. One day, we went out to the market...umm..while grandma was sleeping on our own" her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink at confessing their secret adventure. "At the market, we saw a handsome warlock having lady troubles." She says, sighing, probably thinking about the handsome man.

"Lady troubles?" I question, raising my eyebrows.

"You know, troubles men have when trying to capture a lady's heart?" Giles chimes in.

Since when did five-year-old's become professional cupids?

"So, we were extremely bored and decided to help the poor lad out"

"And how exactly did you help him?" I ask, pulling a large weed off its roots.

"You know the usual, stealing her purse and him running behind us, capturing us and giving the lady the bag back" I almost choke on my spit hearing Greg. The usual?

Gresilda continues "Anyways, the plan worked and ben was really happy. He decided to pay us back by teaching us a few tricks. He made us promise to not share it with anyone"

"So, have you decided to stop doing it? Since you got in trouble this time?" I ask them.

"Of course not! The winter ball is coming up and we have so much planned for the day." Greg replies excitedly.

"There is a winter ball?" I question confused.

"Oh yea, I'm pretty sure it's only kept so Ricky could impress Anastasia," Giles answer nonchalantly.

"Who's Anastacia?"

Three pairs of eyes stare at me, startled.

"Oops, we slipped too much" Giles answers, mimicking the action of closing a zip on his lips.

Oh come on! Someone, please tell me who the fuck this Anastasia is!

We spend the next hour weeding the garden section by section. The triplets would occasionally share stories on their very exaggerated adventures. At which I would roll my eyes, and they would get defensive about it and start reasoning with me until I gave and say I believed them. They were surprisingly fun to be around and before I knew it, the sun was setting and I was pulling the last weed from the ground.

There goes my lunch break.

Dusting my palms on my dress, I start packing away the tools neatly. Facing the triplets, "See you later, shorties, I have more work left to do. You three watch yourselves and don't get caught" I say, wagging my finger at them.

"Yes, ma'am!" they say saluting. I grin at their cuteness.

"Wait! You never told us your name, " Giles says, as I turn to leave.

"I...I don't remember my name"

"Then make a new name for yourself," Gresie says

"I'm not sure if I can," I say, fidgeting. "I honestly can't think of a single name that will suit me"

"Then, can we please find a name for you?" Greg asks, pouting his tiny lips.

"Ok sure, you do that," I say laughing.

***

After taking a very late lunch break at the common room, I make my way to the basement. The sun had already set and the candles floating in the ceiling were lighting up by themselves one by one. This part of the castle was very quiet, and I found myself alone in a very large hallway. I move along the hallway, checking for a door labeled basement as Luanda instructed.

An odd feeling takes over my mind. As if sensing danger, my body freezes and goes on full alert mode. The familiar feeling of heat from my first night here resurfaces but dulled down. The room feels hotter and there is this itch in the back of my head that I can't place my finger on.

Finding the door to the basement, I turn the knob, opening the door. A chill runs over my body, the itch in the back of my head intensifies, as if trying to point something out to me.

I slowly make my way down the stairs. The basement was dark; the candles were floating on the ceiling still, unlit.

That's weird, I think.

Reaching the bottom, I place the cleaning supplies on the floor and look around, trying to figure out the odd energy buzzing in the room.

I look ahead and see several doors at the far end of the basement. I stop dead in my tracks. There was a dim light coming from the crack below one door.

"Whose there?" I question.

No reply.

I slowly move closer towards the door.

Suddenly, I hear something move inside, no, someone move inside. Someone was coughing and groaning.

"Help" I barely hear the person say.

Not thinking twice, I run towards the door and pull it open.

My jaw drops at the sight that lay before my eyes.

The king was on the floor, coughing up blood.

Ansel stood beside him, eyes wild, sword raised, ready to chop his master's head off.

***

DUN, DUN, DUN. What do you think she will do?

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