16. Evil Plans

It took me half an hour to find him. In the process, I probably ended up walking the whole area of the Empire. Well, at least I'd been able to accomplish one goal. Now it was time for the next. Smiling slightly, I continued walking down the hallway and then found him standing there, in front of his sahib's door. I stopped a few feet from him before speaking up.

"Hello Karim." He didn't answer. "What, are you starting to act like Mr. Ambrose now?" I asked and he shook his head. "Why I might think that you are, for you are not answering me vocally. And not physically." Still nothing. I sighed.

"Well do you mind telling me how you happened to find him?" I gestured toward the closed door.

"Empire House." was all he said. And even as it was just two words, I still understood. To a certain extent.

"C'mon now, why won't you talk to me? I've been stuck here for about as long as you have and while you have.. err... Something to do, I don't! Help out a special Ifrit won't you?" I tried looking up at him through my lashes. He simply glanced at me before shaking his head.

"I cannot leave my post unless sahib says so."

"What if I told you that he did?" I asked with a little smirk. There was a twitch of his beard and I had a feeling that he was smiling.

"You try hard Ifrit. I see that it is an admirable quality about you. It is no wonder that he happens to like you. Well tolerate you at least." My smirk vanished and was replaced by surprise.

"W-was that a compliment?" I stuttered.

"What was?"

"What you just said. That the fact that I try hard in things is an admirable quality about me."

"Well if you think it was a compliment, then certainly. It is up to you, Ifrit. I could have made it an insult."

"You're right. I shouldn't have.. I... Never mind." I shook my head. What was up with those two!? Were they planning something? If so, what was it? Why did it make them so... Giddy?!"Are you hiding something?"

"Yes."

"I knew it!"

"I am hiding sahib from you."

"I knew that you we- wait. What!?"

"Sahib says that he does not wish to meet with anybody at the moment. He is busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Work." He stated in a tone that clearly said 'I thought you knew'.

"What kind of work?"

"Important work." And now we were back to the monosyllabicness we had breached out of before. Sort of.

"Is that all you can say?"

"Yes."

"Should have guessed." I rolled my eyes. And then, a sudden, irrational, utterly foolish, completely wild and entirely worthy of asking question popped into my head.

"Why are your eyes glittering Ifrit?"

"Because I am going to ask you something that you will never expect."

"I usually expect everything, but if that is what you think, then go ahead and ask it."

"Do you have any interests in a particular lady anywhere?" There was a strange snap from behind the door and Karim's eyes not only widened, he also let out a string of what I probably guessed as Punjabi curses. My face spread into a wicked grin.

"Karim," came Mr. Ambrose's voice from behind the door. "Will you get me a new fountain pen? You know where they are."

"Yes immediately sahib." Eager to get away from me as fast as he could, he left his spot in front of Mr. Ambrose's office. I let out a shrill giggle that was most certainly not how I laughed on a daily basis. Nowadays, that laughter had been reduced to a minimum so laughing now had me wondering about my mental health. But only for a second.

Karim returned, a fountain pen in hand and he knocked on the door "Your pen sahib." There were footsteps and I positioned myself to face the crack of the door when it opened. Which it did. I saw his granite face and caught of glimpse of his cold eyes as he took the pen without saying thank you. His eyes flickered over to me once and in that quick instant I flashed him a smile. He shut the door and then the footsteps started receding. I turned back to Karim who'd returned back to his position of silence and glaring.

"Do you have anything more to say Ifrit?"

"No. But you have yet to answer my question. So in the meantime, I shall remain here until I have received my answer." To strengthen my point, I turned on my heel and walked over to the wall, sitting against it in a crisscross formation. I smiled up at Karim whose eyes held just the slightest bit of contempt. "You take your time in answering and I shall wait here in silence. But if you do not answer within the next seven minutes, I will begin to annoy you." The threat was hollow, and I knew that very well. Yet I had a strong feeling that he would answer me and have me leave his sight rather than have me stick around and annoy him with pointless things.

He did not answer. I was counting the seconds as they passed soon reaching the two hundreds.

"223, 224, 225, 226..." I whispered to myself. Still he refused to answer me. I felt a heaviness bear down on us little by little. Ignoring it, I continued counting, rocking to the motion of the ship. "327, 328, 329, 330..." I knew somehow that I was past five minutes. But I continued counting. Only when I reached 417, was when he finally gave up.

"I do not have a particular lady as my interest."

"No one?"

"No."

"Oh." My face fell. "Well that's unfortunate." I got up and started to leave. I expected him to call me back, to say that he was joking that he really did have a lady interest. But he didn't. I didn't know why I was expecting him to. I shouldn't have any interest in his love life.

Night fell. But I wasn't anywhere near tired. I was pacing, planning and worrying. And a bit excited too. This trip to Africa will definitely be one of a kind. I'm going to a place I've never been! Why am I not anymore excited than I should be?! I thought, slightly disturbed with my emotions. I stopped pacing and stared out the window.

Only darkness greeted me. I couldn't make out the line where the sky met the sea. I was surprised that the sea was calm. Or that it had been for the past few days and nights anyways. I could not come up with any ideas to evade the upcoming disastrous event. I could try and poison him on the night before the day, but where would I get the poison!? I had no money! I looked in the general direction of Mr. Ambrose's office. Would he allow me to do it? I shook my head. Probably not.

Maybe I could murder him after we're married and then I could fake my death! It could work out couldn't it?

I was just going to have to find out. And hope that my aunt wouldn't have my head when I returned.

____________________________________________________________________________________

OKAY. OKAY, OKAY, I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT I'M REALLY, TERRIBLY SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY D;<

I ALREADY GOT ONE COMPLAINT ABOUT IT, IT'S JUST THE SITUTATION AND LOCATION OF WHERE LILLY IS, PLUS I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO LOOK UP STUFF ABOUT 19TH CENTURY AFRICA

I'M REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY SORRY.

IF YOU WANNA YELL AT ME IN THE COMMENTS ABOUT IT, FEEL FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

cuz it's 'merica sooooooooooooooooooooo yee xDDDDDDDDD

AT LEAST TELL ME YOU LIKED IT? OR NOT.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS AS PER USUAL

I guess I'll pull another time skip. >->

OMFRA DID YOU HEAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR SIR ROB MIGHT MAKE A RIKKARD AMBROSE POVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I CAN'T WAIT FOR TONIGHT'S UPDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

:D

plus he said we might have some LillyRose action. B) ;]]]]]]]]]

haha.

Anybells, I'll...

See you later!