TWIB (Chapter 3) I cringe at the sound. It is a screeching noise and she knows that I hate it. Still, she waves her feline tail mockingly and scratches long streaks down the metal door. Esperanza is a haughty cat with an attitude. She was adopted a year after I became the maid here. Unfortunately, she believes that there is only room for one of us, and she is determined to destroy me. But that's okay. Because I hate her too. During our first year together, she walked her dusty paws right into the kitchen I had just cleaned. This became one of her habits ever since then, for some reason. I constantly am faced with the struggle to not throw her scrawny tabby self in the estate's lake. Mr. Feran doesn't like visitors and only has two clients. The woman he met with yesterday was not a usual client. I didn't think of this until now, as I attempt to pull up the floorboards in the corner of the attic, Esperanza doing her best to make me miserable. I could not keep my mind off of the glittering object all night, and I am frustrated as each of my attempts to remove it are unsuccessful. Esperanza strides in, and I swear, if cats could smirk, she would have the most smug expression I've ever seen. She looks at me like she knows something that I don't but she's too good to tell me. Sometimes I just want to..... What the....?! I look down. The floorboard is gone, and I don't even look for the glittering object. "Esperanza," I say, turning to her with a suspicious grin. "Did you just help me?" She looks up at me with those wide, gazing, unforgettable eyes as if she actually likes me. HA. I wish. I turn back to the floor. A strange looking amulet sits in front of me. It is circular, with intertwining metal vines forming a familiar crest. In the center is a shimmering crystal, shaped like a star. It changes color when I tilt it at different angles. Even stranger than that is its luster. It shoots light in all different directions, and the points of light seem to form words; I can't make them out so maybe they're in another language. "Hm." I don't waste any time or risk being caught; I rush over to a particular bookshelf and push it forward, revealing an almost circular crack in the wall. A slight smile spreads on my face as Esperanza chases the blue, red, green, yellow, purple, and white dots of light.