Chapter Three: Exploring

"I don't believe it!" Marley cried.

"I do not tell lies, Miss McLaren, it is quite true." Master Gracey replied and she shook her head.

"You mean he… oh god, that's sick!" She exclaimed, making the man almost next to her smile.

"I suppose it is a bit disturbing." He said quietly and her mouth dropped open.

"A bit? A BIT?!" She told him, sounding hysterical. Edward's smile turned to soft laughter as she ranted about how twisted the subject of his story was.

"Well, that was… interesting, new topic then?" Jim asked and Marley immediately nodded.

"Yes, I agree, let's do it!" She said quickly, thinking for a second about something less nasty. "Why do you want to sell the house?" Marley asked and Master Gracey sat back in his chair.

"This house is my inheritance, my birthright, but lately… it's become too much to bear." He said solemnly and Marley gave him a sympathetic look.

"I know just what you mean; it was the same way with my third husband." She said sadly and his eyes shot to her.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked and she collapsed into a fit of robust giggles.

"I'm just teasing!" Marley said through peals of laughter and Master Gracey sighed, shaking his head as he looked to Jim.

"Tell me, Mr. Evers, do you believe in ghosts?" He asked uncomfortably and Jim looked a little nervous.

"Ghosts? Yeah, sure, I believe in them. I don't think it's a good idea to put that information on the listing though." He warned the Master. "You should talk about how many bathrooms are in the house, the female buyers love bathrooms!" He exclaimed and Marley rolled her eyes.

"Okay, great, all you need is a rich family of lesbian's and you're set for a sale, Mr. Gracey!" She said sarcastically and Michael snorted in supressed laughter while Megan smirked.

Awkward silence reigned supreme until Ramsley looked outside the window.

"The storm was swollen the river!" He announced and Marley's eyes widened.

"WHAT!?" Marley asked and he turned slowly to look at her.

"The storm had flooded the road. I'm afraid there will be no leaving the mansion tonight." He stated and she threw up her hands in defeat.

"You know" She began, looking to Mr. Gracey. "This would not have happened if you didn't have a bayou for a front lawn!" She said and Jim gave her a warning glare.

"Of course, you are all more than welcome to spend the night here." Master Gracey said and Sarah was quick to disagree again.

"Oh, no, I really don't think we should, we've got plans." As she said this, Mr. Gracey's body went rigid and he gripped the arms of his chair so tightly that his knuckles began to turn white. Only Marley saw this and she wondered why he was so pissed.

"I'm afraid there is no other way. Ramsley will show you to your rooms." He said almost angrily, standing and leaving them to follow the older man.

Ramsley led them upstairs and showed Mr. and Mrs. Ever and their children to their respective rooms and he took Marley to the last on the hall. She opened the door with a creak and stepped inside the lovely, spacious room.

A bed with a red comforter sat on one end and a tidy desk was pushed against the wall. A large dresser took up some space to the left and a window dominated the far wall. She took a few steps in and admired it, a smiling taking over her face.

"I trust you'll be comfortable here?" Ramsley asked and she turned to him, beaming.

"I love it, thank you." She said and he inclined his head, turning to leave.

When he had gone, Marley shut the door and ran towards the bed, jumping up and flopping down on it, messing it up so that it was like home. She noticed a window was open and she shivered but she made no movement to close it. Rain, as silly as it sounded to her, scared her very much, water is water.

Instead, she turned to the dresser and opened one of the drawers. Her smile returned when she saw that it was full of the waistcoats Mr. Gracey had worn at dinner. She carefully chose a red one and put it on. She turned her head to the side to look at the desk and as she did, she realized that the jacket smelled exactly like the Master.

To be perfectly honest, she loved the way he smelled, musky and masculine. It comforted her in a strange sort of way, as all of Mr. Gracey's talk of ghosts and the like had saddened her greatly with thoughts of her dad.

Marley paced around the room, getting more and more bored with every second.

"Oh god, this is agony!" she cried. "How long have I been here?" she asked out loud and turned to the clock. She crossed her arms and flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. "Five minutes? Really?" she exclaimed, sighing and sitting down on the bed.

She huffed and lay down, intent on going to sleep, but all she got was an irritable attitude. She stood up again and looked to the window, rain was still splattering it and she refused to get any closer than three meters.

"I'm sure Ramsley wouldn't mind if I did some exploring." she stated to herself, walking towards the door, and grasping the handle. She took a deep breath and opened the creaking piece of wood, stepping out into the hallway.

The Manor was exceedingly old, or at least Mr. Gracey told her so, so it made sense that the house would have thin walls. Even from the end of the hall, she was able to hear the Evers adults having a screaming match.

Marley shook her head and walked briskly down the hall, trying to find the foyer and then hopefully the kitchen. She hopped down the main staircase, glad that she didn't get lost, and was happy to see Emma and Ezra dusting down below.

"Hello!" Marley called down to them and their gaze shot up to her, worried expressions on their faces.

"What is she doing out of her room?" Ezra asked his friend and she told him she didn't know.

"I was just a little bored and thought I'd explore." Marley said to them and Emma looked scared. She nervously twitched, looking back and forth around the room as though something evil lurked in the shadows.

"This house is old and in many ways, frightening, you should just go back to your room." the maid told her and Marley shook her head.

"Can't I hang out with you guys?" Marley asked and Emma thought for a moment, obviously she was trying to keep her away from somewhere, but where?

"Well, I was going to make some cookies for the children, I suppose grandma would spare me if I allowed you to help." she said and Marley smiled.

"Great, Ezra, will you help too?" Marley asked and he shook his head.

"Absolutely not! I am a man, and men don't bake cookies!" he said firmly and Marley frowned.

"Well whatever, but you won't get to have any because you won't help." Marley said matter-of-factly and Ezra looked thoughtful.

"Never mind, I have armor to polish." He said and walked away. Emma took Marley's arm and the girl sighed.

"We'll bake the loathsome underhanded monster his own batch." She said, turning to Emma who smiled. Marley stopped about halfway down the hall to realize that she was walking very fast and dragging the poor maid with her. "Uh, Emma, maybe you should lead, I'm going to get lost." She said and the twitchy woman laughed, moving to the front and leading her down an ungodly amount of hallways and staircases.

Marley thought she was going to die of exhaustion when they finally reached a set of large, wooden French doors. Emma pushed her black-dress and white-apron clad shoulder against them and after a little fuss, they creaked open so loudly that Marley was sure she'd go deaf.

"Well, here we are!" Chirped an excited Emma, who took the first steps into the dusty, ancient kitchen.

"Well, it needs dusting, but other than that, it's got a certain homey charm." Marley replied and Emma gave her another smile.

"It's been here since the house was built." The maid said and Marley nodded.

"I can see that." She replied as Emma bustled over to a cabinet, one of many in fact, and opened the doors. She raised her hands above her head and grabbed something from a high shelf. She set the object in front of her and as Marley got closer, she saw that it was a recipe tin.

Emma opened the lid and ran her fingers over the pieces of paper, humming quietly to herself until she found the right one. "Aha! Grandma's brown sugar cookies!" She said happily and Marley clapped a bit at her success.

"Alright then, what do we need?" Marley asked and Emma glanced at the recipe.

"You get a saucepan, two bowls, a spoon and a whisk; I'll deal with the ingredients." Emma ordered and Marley set off, running about the large kitchen, opening and closing drawers and cabinets, accumulating tools as she went along.

Marley set them own on the counter top which was also occupying Emma's ingredients, and she peered over the maid's shoulder to look at the recipe.

"Do you mind?" The woman asked and Marley backed away a step, and then went to the other side of the table.

"Sorry, so what can I do?" Marley asked and Emma put down the recipe card and handed her a bowl.

"Cream together the butter and sugar, when you're done, tell me." She ordered and Marley did so as Emma took the other bowl and cracked the eggs into it with one hand. The maid added flour to this, as well as baking powder and salt. When Marley was done, she handed the other woman the bowl, who poured it into the rest of the mixture.

"What now?" Marley asked and she got no answer, only a bowl and a whisk shoved in her face.

"Whisk that while I get a baking sheet." Emma responded and Marley did so. After a while, her arm began to hurt, but the thick dough wasn't anywhere near done. While Emma was busy prepping the oven, Marley snuck a quick taste of the raw batter, her eyes widening at how amazing it was, despite being uncooked. She began to whisk again when Emma looked back to her with a suspicious gleam in her eye, and she snatched the bowl away Marley dared to take another taste when she thought the maid wasn't looking.

"Don't do that!" The woman exclaimed and Marley groaned as the batter was dropped onto the baking sheet and thrust into the oven. "They'll be about fifteen minutes, that's all it takes." Emma said in response to Marley's upset pout at having her bowl taken away.

"Oh well, when they're done, maybe I can bring some back to my mommy, she absolutely loves cookies." Marley said, brightening and Emma smiled.

"That sounds nice, I don't mean to brag, but Grandma won many blue ribbons for her brown sugar cookies." Emma said with an air of self-confidence and Marley giggled, she rather liked this bubbly, frog-like woman.

She's just so strange, it's quite refreshing. Marley thought with a smile as the maid in question flew about the room, trying to find her platter.

"I swear, it was just on the counter a few minutes ago!" The brown-haired woman said in frustration. Marley hopped off of her seat and began to look around, sighing in relief when they found that the stray platter had fallen off the wood counter top and hidden underneath the counter.

"It's like it knows." Marley said in a creepy voice and Emma gave her a strange look before her eyes widened. She turned around and ran towards the oven as fast as her dress would allow her and threw open the doors, removing the cookies and setting them down on the table.

"We don't want them to burn… and don't touch them! You'll hurt yourself!" Emma exclaimed when Marley reached her hand out to grab one, causing her to immediately jerk back and almost hit herself in the eye. Emma gasped and tried to hide a smile behind her hand as Marley glared at her.

"Never do that again, okay?" Marley asked rhetorically, checking to see that her wrist wasn't broken. "I'm going to go check out the rest of the house." Marley said, standing up and skipping out of the room. Sure, she was hungry, but this place was just too awesome.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to?" She heard a voice that belonged distinctively to Master Gracey when she got back to the main hall and she turned to see Sarah shaking her head and walking briskly out of the room.

"No Mr. Gracey, I really should go find my husband." The woman said and the man looked upset. He walked back into his office, sighing and never seeing Marley. She wondered what was wrong and decided to find out.

"Hey, Mr. Gracey?" She asked, loitering in the door and he looked up from the stack of books he was moving. He didn't return her smile, which put her off a bit but she took a step closer. "Is everything okay?" Marley inquired and he sighed again, nodding.

"Yes, yes, everything is fine… what on earth are you wearing?" He asked and she looked down at the red jacket and open red blouse.

"Oh, I was cold and I found this jacket in my room, isn't it cool?" She asked striking a pose and he nodded.

"I should hope so, it's mine." He said and her eyes widened. She instantly moved to take it off but he stopped her. "No, I must say, it looks better on you." He says and she stared at him for a second before turning away, blushing like mad.

Well done, Edward, you've gone and embarrassed her. What on earth is wrong with you?! He thought to himself, mentally kicking himself in the shins. In all honesty, he hadn't meant to say that, it just slipped out.

"Thanks, I guess." Marley said, glad that her brief flush had faded. "Hey, can I use your phone?" She asked, spying the old-fashioned device on his table and he nodded.

"As you wish."