Chapter 2: Today Sucked

Chapter 2: Today Sucked

Bee was having a bad week. She might have considered it the worst week of her life. But when the screaming began, it definitely became the worst.

Bee huddled in the broom closet where she was hiding. Not sure what to do, she was frozen, too scared to move, and barely even able to breathe.

She hadn’t initially minded when her father suddenly declared that she’d be taking a position at the local mage’s association. Heck, she’d even been excited. Seeing the mages work in their element, creating fantastical workings of stone, light, and dust. Who wouldn’t have been thrilled?

Her excitement had drained from the second she got here.

She hadn’t known that a new apprentice was a glorified maid... A maid. Not a scribe, not an assistant, not even someone who worked in the same vicinity as the mages. Not for years. Not unless you had a lot of money to pay them, but her father hadn't made generous donations to the college. Honestly, he was so stingy that she was surprised he had even paid for her entrance.

No, there was no chance of skipping ahead. She was a maid and would stay a maid. For now, she would have to live with it. She would have settled for even being an errand girl over this. Then at least, she would have been able to glean something from the notes and materials she carried. That would have been an excuse to be in the more fascinating parts of the castle. As it was, she didn’t even get to clean up after the mages. She only was allowed to see their rooms and research labs when they were empty and devoid of activity.

Plus, the last time she had tried sneaking a peek into one of those rooms, it hadn't gone well. It was in use. A tall spindly mage had nearly thrown the book he was holding at her. Supposedly she was disrupting the energy flow of some ritual circle’s attunement ring or something like that. She was confident the only reason the mage hadn’t thrown the book was he didn’t want to get up and retrieve it again.

She didn’t intend to complain to her father or anything. No, she knew how much it would only disappoint him. There wasn’t anything he could or would do to help her, Bee thought bitterly. Besides, she hadn’t explored all her options for learning something from this. Maybe things would improve over time.

That was what Bee had been thinking about when this all started.

She had been about her usual duties, polishing door knobs, dusting, and generally finding dirty things as close to where the mages worked as they would tolerate. This wasn’t that hard - they were a messy lot, and they didn’t exactly have a lot of help on that front aside from herself and a few other new members. Today was special, though. Rumors were going around about a big summon today, and she wasn’t going to miss it. She let her work take her in that direction.

Knowing that there was something big going on, Bee had positioned herself strategically near the main summoning chamber. Early in the morning, they had started setting up the room. This probably had been the grand hall before the mages had moved in. It took them most of the morning to prepare. Many more experienced apprentices scurried around, assisting their masters in drawing the giant circles.

They were constantly fetching more bags of potent materials. Justin had walked past her carrying a load of alligator salt. That salt was something Bee actually knew about, as she had heard the other apprentices complain about harvesting it. Apparently, they had to collect the tears of alligators and evaporate the liquid to get the salt. Either collecting the salt or caring for the alligators the college kept was a favorite punishment of one of the more sadistic full members.

The thing that helped the most was the lack of furniture. It was like when my humans first adopted me. For training, they moved all the furniture out of the way for me. As I gained experience, they stopped doing it as much. Until one day, they deemed me capable enough to clean without assistance. It was polite of these humans to clear everything out for me, but ultimately it was unnecessary. I was fully competent at doing my job.

After I had gathered the last bits of the strange powders these humans had flung around, I stopped moving. Ah, a job well done. Now I just needed to find my bed and rest. Huh. No, it seemed that I didn’t really need to. I felt fine. My energy reserves were full. Beyond full. I felt I could go for weeks before needing to recharge. I should have been at least a little tired - even for an industrious cleaner like me, this was quite a large room to clean so thoroughly without a break.

Cool, more cleaning then. I wonder if that had anything to do with the voice shouting from the dark place before here. The thing about the dustpan seemed to be worthwhile. I thought about finding another room to clean. That would be satisfying. Though it would be a good idea to at least locate my bed so I could charge as needed.

I glanced at the door to my right, left open by the humans from earlier. Perhaps the bed was in an area further away.

Some part of me wished I could adventure forward and find out, but that was not my style. My style was one of purposeful meanderings, a dance of precise lines and grids. Angles need to be sharp and touch a wall. That was how I kept my position in the world. Sure, some might find it inefficient or a waste of time, but they simply didn’t understand the beauty. They didn’t see how well it allowed me to clean every square inch of this room with utter precision - just that it led me to sometimes, occasionally, bump into things that someone else may have avoided. Every once in a while. So even if I could have aimed directly for the hallway -

My wheels turned towards the open door. I stopped. Did I imagine it? I slowly began my forward crawl once more, imagining my wheels turning to the left this time. Sure enough, they turned left. What?

This was new. I meandered left and right, forward and back, testing my range of motion. I was able to direct my movement like never before. No longer was I limited to increments of 15-degree turns at obstacles. Sure, I was still capable of such precision and straightness - I was able to enter the same zen-like state that I usually fell into while cleaning without a specific direction in mind. However, this opened new possibilities.

I imagined myself effortlessly pirouetting around the legs of that troublesome dining table back home, then looked back to the door. It would be a shame not to utilize my newfound skill. Besides, I was finished with this room. I’m sure the new humans left more for me to clean up elsewhere. Maybe I would run into a bed as well.

Turning my wheels once more, I advanced towards the door. A careful observer might have even noticed a slight wiggle in my pathing.

----

Several hours had passed since Bee had crawled into the closet. During that time, she listened to the humming noises and occasional thuds. She had calmed down a little as time passed. The tears had stopped not that long ago. Now she was just cold and scared. As she regained control of her mind, she started to think. She wouldn’t get very far if she ran, if running was even an option. It was not. Looking at her ankle, she was pretty sure it was broken. It was at least badly sprained. She had touched it carefully, but during her wait, it had swollen too much, and she wasn't able to tell if it was actually broken or not. It was able to move, but that didn’t let her know much. Either way, she wouldn’t be walking anywhere fast. Maybe a mop handle could serve as a crutch, but that would not be fast or quiet. She couldn’t chance it yet.

She was about to try to stand with the help of a broom, but the noises stopped, and she froze. Bee held her breath. Had it heard her move the broom? Right when the need to breathe began to make itself known, the humming started again. First, it was fitful, then more purposeful. Soon it was as loud as it had ever been. Then it kept getting louder. And louder. It sounded like it was right in front of the door. She closed her eyes and tried to stop the tears from running again. It had found her. It was too late, and there was nothing she could do. Eyes still screwed shut, she heard a slight splash from the puddle of mop water that had leaked under the door. Her lungs screamed for relief, but the fear was more powerful. It had found her. It was right outside.

The door shuddered.