Planet Chimera Read Online Free

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and autographed, isn’t that amazing?” he boasted, the smile on his
face starting to infuriate me, his eyes a bit teary.
    “Why, yes, sir, I can only imagine the
excitement you have for such a rare find,” I lied, growing weary of
this small talk.
    “If it pleases you, Baron Smith, I will be
taking my leave now,” the mayor interrupted, shaking the owner’s
hand, before turning around to shake my hand. “I leave this young
man in your capable hands, and hopefully, we can all meet tomorrow
to chat over a cup of almond tea.”
    “Tomorrow, then, old friend,” Baron Smith
said, nodding with respect, as he watched the mayor dawdle away,
his cane tucked underneath his right armpit.
    Turning my head around, sniffing something
pleasant, I noticed that the butler had disappeared without notice,
leaving me alone with the egotistical Baron. Soft winds howled
outside, the window on the left wall covered halfway with snow, as
the silence around me was maddening. For such a big house, it was
awfully too quiet; everything in this manor was sort of
inexplicable for me.
    “You must be tired from your long journey,
child,” he continued, placing the book on the large, wooden table,
next to a contraption with moving gears. “You can go and leave your
belongings in your quarters and I will send my butler to your room
with some tasty pastries, if you like.”
    “Thank you, Baron,” I smiled, taking another
bow in respect, before turning around to walk away. “I am very
tired from my long journey, and I haven’t slept for a while. I bid
thee good night, and I will see you at the crack of dawn.”
    “Tomorrow, then,” he added, proceeding to
sit down, as he took a smoking pipe and placed on his lips.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    2
     
    I left the library, sighing in a lazy
manner, walking back to the living room, towards the stairs leading
up to the second floor. An eerie echo lingered in the corners of
the mansion, the feeling as if I was being watched increasing, as
the butler emerged from thin air next to me. If I had a faint
heart, or any signs of cowardice within me, I would have shrieked
like a little girl, but I didn’t. Was he a ghost or some other sort
of apparition?
    “This way, sir,” he muttered in a cold
voice, walking in front of me like a wind up soldier. “I shall show
you to your quarters.”
    “Tell me something, butler, am I the only
guest residing in this manor, aside from the owner, the child, and
yourself?” I asked, noticing the hidden knife in his left pocket
bulging out.
    “No, sir, you are not,” he replied, walking
up the stairs, a few inches from me, his movements a bit stiff.
“The other guests have already eaten their dinner, and are now
tucked in their rooms, probably, sleeping.”
    “Good to know,” I finished, unsatisfied with
his plain responses, my mind riled up with anger.
    Too much time had been wasted talking to
these buffoons; if I had just gone along with my first plan, I
could have stolen one of their ships, and have been safely on my
way towards my rendezvous point. But I still had a few days to be
there, so I was okay for the moment.
    “There is no leaving, once you are inside
the town, there is no leaving,” a small voice chanted through a
small door opening, on the right side of the second story floor.
“Once you are here, they will come for you.”
    “Enough with your nonsense, away with you,”
the butler shouted, closing the door from the outside. “Can’t you
see that we have guest, you foolish child?”
    “What did he mean by that?” I asked,
impatiently, growing tired of being yo-yoed around by these town
folks.
    “Oh, don’t mind him, sir, it’s just child
nonsense, nothing more than that,” he replied, not looking me in
the eye, as he started walking forward, towards my assigned
room.
    My irascibility with his inexcusable actions
was thankfully masked by an unexpected scream from another room, on
the right, a