The Fourth Zaldizko 12 Ambry Keeper

A tool kit was spread out on the low coffee table. Next to it was Wilfred tinkering with a s.h.i.+ny black kitty-bot with a screwdriver of some kind. It hung like a lifeless toy in his hands. He screwed on a back panel and leaned back.

"Ok Blackie. Up you get." He gently placed it on the floor and stroked its neck.

The cat twitched to life and slowly stood up. It blinked its eyes then rubbed its body against Wilfred's legs before running off.

He rose to his feet, dusting down his pants.

I bulked at the sight of his baby blue flannel pyjamas with lots of pretty cute bunny patterns doing innocent bunny activities. He even had his fringe pinned back with one of Lita's clips. Man, he looked girly almost like Lita.

"What the heck are you wearing?"

"My sleepwear?" Wilfred replied innocently.

Judging by his expression, he didn't seem to think a grown man wearing sleepwear with baby patterns on it was weird.

I didn't know where to begin with my sarcasm, so decided to leave it. Especially when Saku walked out of his room wearing a tight-fitting white short sleeved under s.h.i.+rt and jeans to show off his b.a.s.t.a.r.dly tight abs and b.u.t.t cheeks.

"Whadtha! Why're you wearing your underwear?" I gasped, my finger wagging up and down his white under s.h.i.+rt that wasn't under anything.

My eyes crossed at the big bold writing all over his front. "Wake me when you start shooting?"

Saku grinned, looking rather proud of the fact I had pointed it out. "Ca.s.s makes these s.h.i.+rts. He says one needs a statement close to their hearts. This is mine."

I sighed, waving off his weird s.h.i.+rt.

"Yeek!" I flinched at Lita's frumpy get-up when she entered from her room.

She was wearing similar pyjamas to Wilfred, but of a baby pink with cute fluffy looking cats. A pink towel covered her hair like a turban and lathers of green cream masked her face. It reeked off flower water and cuc.u.mbers. Like Wilfred, she gave me a nonchalant look.

"Famisto, dat's what everyone's like here." War chuckled.

He moved to Saku to poke fun at his s.h.i.+rt. Saku was returning the sarcasm with zest. They were having fun with each other.

I looked perplexed at their banter. "Huh. Since when did those guys get really clicky?"

"They kind of hit it off from the get go, wouldn't you say." Wilfred answered to my thought that I had said aloud.

"That's fast. I mean, he only met him a day ago."

Wilfred eyed me carefully. "Famine, it has been three weeks since War met Saku."

I frowned. Three weeks? That wasn't right. I closed my eyes, thinking backwards in time.

War had recovered from being the Juxtapositioner's fodder at a medical unit (lantern room) of the Second Tier of h.e.l.l's Labyrinth. We were escorted to the mansion. I saw Death in a mirror of the Library sitting area, where Leinard and I fell into the Arima Trap that was set up by the hiruda demon. Surely, this wasn't three weeks ago? Then again, I was thrown back into the past and returned to the present out of kilter.

I shook my head too clear my thoughts and confusion on the matter.

"I'm sure you're tired." Wilfred coolly brushed it off. "I'll show you to your room."

"Yeah," I mumbled.

He and Lita shooed off some of the cat-bots in my path towards the door next to Saku's.

They opened the oak door to a spa.r.s.e bedroom with two single beds made with plain blue pillows, blankets and sheets. Nothing was on the walls except two round silver framed mirrors at the head of each bed against the white marble walls.

I glanced to my left and saw a mirror sliding door. It was reflecting the white stone of the opposite wall. I went to the beds. Between the beds and round mirrors was a square window showing a scene of leafy elms and wisteria.

"You're here with Death," Lita said when she walked me through a tour of the small room.

Death frowned when he entered, his head ducking and weaving about as he wandered around the room. He stopped his observations with a perplexed scratch of his head.

"Um, where do we place our clothes?" He stated an obvious fact that the room had no closets.

Lita let out an evil chuckle that made her green face look kind of demonic. She clapped her hands twice, paused, then three times.

A scruffy, fat belly, yellow canary appeared in the mirror.

I gasped when the mirror's surface s.h.i.+mmered. The canary flew out of it and perched on the bottom edge of the frame. The gla.s.s was black behind its back.

"This is an Ambry Keeper." Lita introduced the bird.

My eyes widened at its snarly looking expression. It kept making chetting noises when she demonstrated how it was to be used.

She grabbed my bags of clothes that had been leaning against a bed rail. Probably one of the guys had placed it there when we had bathed. She held the bag before the bird with both hands and her arms extended, and bowed her head before it.

"Oh great Ambry Keeper, please stow these clothes with utmost care."

"What?!" I scoffed, finding the scene hilarious.

I gulped at the bird's gaze from its black orbs, feeling a creepy chill run down my spine.

"Famine!" Lita hissed my name with warning, her head still bowed.

"Whatever." The Ambry Keeper grumbled with a high-pitched squeak at the end.

It stretched its wings and began flapping like it was taking off for flight. A ditty melody was chirped, stirring up starlight around the mirror area. Starlight moved around the bag Lita was holding. The bag faded with the starlight and reappeared behind the bird.

The bird stopped its flapping.

"Anything else, tsk." It grumbled.

I got the feeling it didn't care if there was anything else.

"No thank you, great Ambry Keeper." Lita politely thanked the bird with another bow.

The bird sighed when she repeated the clap pattern to dismiss it and restore the mirror.

"Well that was weird." I blurted, staring at my mug in the mirror.

"For once I agree with your point of view," Death said with a stony expression.

We both yelped when the bird appeared in the mirror with furrowed brows. Two yellow feathers flew at us like daggers. We narrowly missed a stabbing to our eyeb.a.l.l.s when the feathers landed into the wall behind us with a shudder.

"h.e.l.l no! I'm not sleeping in this room with a psycho bird and its stone piercing feathers!" I freaked out.

"Famine shut up! You'll get more feather attacks!" Wilfred try to hush me up.

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We all froze on the spot when the bird appeared again. This time it looked at us with a smirk.

"Listen git, Famine. I hold your clothes. If you want them, you better play nice with me. I'm sure you'd want to wear this again." Ambry Keeper sn.i.g.g.e.red when it showed me an image of the black and white frilly maid outfit.

My face burned red.

"h.e.l.l no!" I yelled at the fat canary. "Get lost!"

Death braced himself for another feather attack. Instead, the bird laughed and faded out. I was facing myself in the mirror again.

"Is there anywhere else we can sleep?" Death asked the twins with hopeful eyes.

He was chewing a nail again.

"Why the h.e.l.l did you have to show us that freak?!" I nervously fretted.

"Calm down you two. It won't surface again if you don't provoke it." Wilfred gave his advice on the matter and left the room with Lita hurrying after him.

Death and I exchanged pensive glances. For real, we had to sleep in this room.

_"Freend. What be going on?"_ Small Cap yawned, coming out of his sleep.

His spindly body climbed out of the belt pouch and crawled up to my shoulder. I felt his energies perk up at the sight of swaying trees outside the window.

"Hee hee. What tender morsel appear?" Ambry Keeper appeared in the mirror.

"Oi! Don't you even think about it, Bucko!" I growled at the canary.

Small Cap s.h.i.+vered with fear and crawled back into my belt pouch as fast as a blink of an eye.

"Well, that's settled. We can't sleep here." I mused over a place we could sleep in my mind and came up with an idea.

I turned to Death and whispered my plan to him. He nodded his head.

We grabbed our pillows, blankets and bolted from the room, not looking back at any curious glances from the others still in the lounge room.