Chapter 80: 80 Finding out about the wolf outside

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80: Finding out about the wolf outside 80: Finding out about the wolf outside Myrtle turned around and walked straight to the door.

“Be careful.

Hasty actions lead to regret.

Don’t tell them what you know,” Ivan warned.

Myrtle turned around briefly and walked on until she reached the door.

She placed her hand on the handle and turned around to say goodbye, but Ivan, the magician was not there anymore.

She only saw the cat jump up onto the table, climb up a shelf and then make its exit through the window.

The sudden loneliness was a bit of a shock, at this hour of the day.

It was evening already and the cat usually visited during the day.

“What a difference between daytime and evening.

The emptiness of the nursery is much worse at this time,” Myrtle murmured as she closed the door and walked along the short passage which led up to the staircase.

In the kitchen, everything seemed to be in order.

Everyone was busy with their usual tasks.

“Good evening, ma’am, we thought you’d gone out because dinner’s already on the table, but you weren’t there,” Grace remarked as she looked at Myrtle in surprise.

“I had some flowers to work on in the nursery,” Myrtle responded without thinking twice.

“Oh, is there a special event tomorrow?” Grace asked without pausing during her stirring of a dessert sauce.

“Yes, I’m taking flowers to an institution,” Myrtle responded as her eyes swept over the other attendants in the kitchen.

“Where’s Milla?

And I heard a commotion here earlier, but there was no time to pop in.

Was there some kind of an emergency?” she continued.

“Oh?

A commotion?” Grace asked with a frown.

Myrtle sensed that Grace was pretending not to know what she was talking about.

“Yes, a definite commotion.

Something exciting or disturbing must have happened here,” Myrtle commented as she looked at the other two assistants.

“Well, Milla had a bad headache, so she went to her room,” one of the young assistants responded.

“Oh?

But that couldn’t be the cause of the commotion.

It sounded as if someone had seen a rat or something,” Myrtle remarked without taking her eyes off the girl.

“Well, someone thought that they’d seen a cat and then someone else was talking about seeing a wolf outside,” the girl responded.

“A cat and a wolf?” Myrtle asked with a frown on her brow.

“Do they know about Ivan in the basement?

Are they just testing me?” she asked herself.

“Well, there could be a stray cat around, but what is it about a wolf?” she asked sharply, looking from one to the other.

“The wolf was outside and we were worried about Mishka and Gillian who went for a walk in the woods.

We were afraid that the wolf could attack them if they came back late,” Grace responded as she kept her eyes on her pot.

“But, was there really a wolf outside or did someone imagine it?” Myrtle asked speculatively.

“Well, one of the young boys outside apparently saw it,” Grace replied.

She was referring to the son of one of the staff members.

“We were afraid that it would come inside,” the younger maid remarked, twisting her hands nervously.

“I wonder if it’s true.

Then it could likely also be a werewolf which is watching us.

Like the one which was watching me,” Myrtle thought to herself in concern.

“But, why is Mishka going out there so late?” she asked gazing from one assistant to the next.

“I think she went to sing,” Grace responded with a shrug.

“Very unwise.

She could very well run into a wild wolf and Gillian won’t be much help,” Myrtle responded, shaking her head.

She then turned around and walked out of the kitchen, heading for the dining room.

All the activities had caused a hungry gnawing in her stomach.

Milla watched the woods from the garden gazebo.

She tried to read through the script for the movie while she waited for Mishka and Gillian to return, but her attention was not completely on her task.

“When are they coming back?

Any wild wolf can attack them in the dark and when are they going to check on the script.

I still need the actors.

When are they bringing the actors so that this script can come to life?” she asked out loud into the empty gazebo.

“Granny shouldn’t find out that I’m out here waiting on the group of explorers to come back from the woods.

She’ll be so upset to find out that I’m pretending to have a headache.

But, I’m doing it for Mishka’s sake, not my own,” Milla muttered to herself as she returned her gaze to the woods again.

“I can’t really see deep into the woods from here,” she muttered and then stopped.

There was a white wolf not far from the end of the garden now and it seemed to be looking at the house.

“Oh, no!

Is it the same one that they saw here earlier?

Can it attack Mishka and Gillian when they come back?” Milla asked herself in a panic.

The wolf was far from her.

She could still go into the house without it noticing it.

But Mishka and her companions would have to pass it before they entered the gate.

“I have to call someone to chase it back into the woods.

But where will it go?

It can still find Mishka and her companions somewhere in the woods,” Milla whispered to herself.

Her breathing was fast and shallow from panic.

“It seems to be interested in the house, for some strange reason because it’s not as if we have chickens here.

What’s wrong with it?” Milla asked herself out loud.

“Okay, now I’m going to ask one of the men to chase it away.

Hopefully it won’t meet up with Mishka and her group,” Milla muttered before leaving the gazebo.

She walked back towards the kitchen door and after a short while, she looked back to see if the wolf had moved away.

“Why does it seem as if it’s watching me now?

It seems more interested in the house than the woods.

Or is it perhaps waiting for someone to come out of the house?” Milla thought in a sudden panic.

“What if it begins to follow me?

Can it jump over the fence and chase me?” she asked herself as her heart began to beat fast in her chest.