18

'You both took forever,' grumbled Kuro as the two walked back through the doors of the castle. 'Where did you disappear, anyway?'

'We should ask YOU that!' retorted Lucien. 'I've told you a zillion times to tell me before running off, but no, you just straight up vanish on us before appearing again later like it's nothing!'

'Whatever,' said the cat in a huff. 'I'm hungry! And I want my dinner now!'

'We've brought all sorts of things,' said Grace, taking the basket from Lucien and taking it to the kitchen.

'I think I'd like a steak,' said Kuro thoughtfully.

'Kuro, where are your manners?' said Lucien reproachfully. 'Does it hurt you to say "please" and ask politely? Especially when you're talking to her!'

'Look who's taking sides now!' said the cat slyly, before turning towards Grace with a ridiculous grin. 'Pleeeeeeeaseeeee!'

'Okay, okay!' laughed Grace. 'But be patient, it'll take a while; and then I do want to organise everything first so that I can put the new groceries in their proper places!'

'Oh, come on,' said Kuro. 'It's fine the way it is!'

'No, it's NOT!' said Grace firmly, opening the vegetable cabinet and wrinkling her nose at the single soggy tomato left inside. 'For one thing, why do you guys keep vegetables in the cabinet? This has to change!'

'Well, they stay cool inside, you know,' said Lucien defensively. 'And then if they're too many, the door keeps them in and it's less hassle...'

'And where do the eggs go when they're not rolling about in the cutlery drawers?' said Grace, opening three drawers in a row.

'They, uh... there was a tray thing somewhere...' said Lucien nervously.

'And the meat has really got to be stored separately,' continued Grace. 'Or the place will reek of its smell!'

'But I personally find it quite inviting,' Kuro chipped in, but Lucien shushed him in a hurry.

'You idiot, she's right! I can still smell last week's mutton in that drawer even when it's gone!'

'So, first, it's obvious that we need to clean this place down, and then make new, better places for everything,' announced Grace, making the demon and the cat look at each other and retreat slowly.

Grace turned and looked at them. 'And you're helping!'

'Shouldn't we eat first?' said Lucien. 'We hardly ate anything this morning, after all!'

'And I'm STARVING!' said Kuro, jumping on the counter and looking at her intently.

'Don't be so dramatic,' said Grace, putting him down. 'Fine, let's have bread and cheese first.'

'I want my steak!' whined Kuro, rolling about pathetically.

'Tell you what, I'll make the steak and you, Grace, can arrange the things all the while,' offered Lucien. 'Or you could just toss them in and make new places some other time...'

'No, I want to do it now,' said Grace. 'Thanks, Lucien!'

'No worries!' said the demon happily. 'Be of some use, Kuro, and help her out!'

'Hmph!' said the cat, jumping back up on the counter and curling up.

'As far as I know him, that's a yes,' said Lucien.

Grace laughed. 'Good! Let's see now, I think I'll start with the vegetable cabinet... you're right, it is quite cool – how come? – so it's better for storing meat. I'll just clean it down now... Kuro, fetch me the cloth and water and soap, please!'

Kuro grumpily obliged, and Grace set to work.

'The reason why it's cool is because sunlight never touched it,' said Lucien, turning up the heat and setting a large pan over it. 'And you know how freezing it is at night!'

'So it retains that temperature even in the daytime,' said Grace, nodding in understanding. 'That's nice!'

'No, it's "cool",' said Lucien. 'Hahahahaha!'

'No one found that funny,' said Kuro flatly after the three seconds of silence that followed.

'Whatever! It was a good joke!'

Twenty minutes later, the vegetable cabinet had become a clean meat cabinet, and Kuro took a keen interest in its appearance.

'I like it,' he said approvingly. 'I prefer meat to vegetables, anyway.'

'Don't be daft, Kuro,' called out Lucien from behind a flaming pan. 'Of course we're still eating vegetables, we're just putting them somewhere else – but where, though?'

'Lucien, please don't burn yourself,' said Grace anxiously. 'That fire's getting out of control!'

'Oh, no, I like it this way!' said the demon casually as the flame blazed higher. 'It keeps that wild flavour, you know!'

'What's this tin rack for?' asked Grace.

Lucien turned around, pan in hand. 'That? Oh, I built that once for keeping freshly-washed dishes while they were still wet, but I quickly figured it was easier to just dry them immediately and put them in the drawers instead. So it's just... kind of useless now. And it's steel, by the way, not tin! – it only looks dull now because it's so dusty!'

'In that case, how about turning this into a vegetable rack?' said Grace.

'OH, YES!' exclaimed Lucien, and the steak jumped a few inches out of the flaming pan before landing back in and sending sparks flying everywhere. 'GENIUS!'

'Lucien, please do be careful!' said Grace in alarm. 'Just concentrate on the pan for now before you hurt yourself!'

Kuro nodded slowly, recovering from the mini heart attack he had had upon seeing his nearly-cooked steak fall or burn into oblivion. 'Concentrate, please!' he managed at last in an unusually squeaky voice.

'Hunger's really getting to him now,' said Lucien, dousing the flames happily. 'But the good news is that it's ready now! Grace, what do you say to steak and cheese sandwiches?'

'Oh!' said Grace, realising she was actually almost as hungry as Kuro was. 'I'd say a big, YES!'

*  *  *

'I can't believe you already sorted half the things in such a short time,' said Lucien approvingly, as they sat on the kitchen counter in a line, hungrily eating their dinner. 'The meat's in the cabinet, and the vegetables are in that rack – which looks cleaner than it did when I made it, by the way!'

'I put the bread in the top drawer, as it looked clean already,' said Grace, biting into her second sandwich of charred meat and cheese that tasted oddly nice.

'Oh, that was where I used to keep it, too!' said Lucien. 'Because that's the second-coolest place, you know!'

'Before you started putting plates there instead, of course,' said Kuro.

'Well, that's because the eggs were in the plate drawer, okay!'

'Oh, please do find the egg tray when you can,' said Grace.

'I think I remember now,' said Lucien. 'It's with the spices!'

'What in the world is it doing there?' said Kuro, puzzled.

'I'm not sure, I must have left it there the last time I made an omelette.'

'Good thing Grace is with us now,' remarked Kuro. 'Or you'd get us lost away in a cabinet too, eventually!

'Don't be silly,' giggled Grace, finishing her sandwich. 'By the way, this was delicious!'

'Just the way I like it!' said Kuro in satisfaction.

'Hehe, thanks!' grinned Lucien.

'Does the sun reach that rack?' asked Grace, walking up to it and looking at the nearby window.

'Why, yes, it does!' said Lucien. 'Do you think we should move it over there? It'll be closer to the meat cabinet and be out of the way of the sun, too.'

'Good idea!'

'That looks way better,' nodded Kuro, looking at the new arrangement. 'But why is the wall so strange where the rack was?'

'I took off the wallpaper when I built the rack and put it there, remember?' said Lucien. 'So it wouldn't get wet – and it had already faded away completely.'

'Couldn't we get some more?' said Grace, inspecting the wall. 'Wallpaper, I mean. It really looks out of place somehow.'

'Now that you mention it, you're right,' said Lucien. 'Especially that lower part. Don't the bricks look somewhat darker?'

'Definitely,' agreed Kuro.

'Maybe they were painted a different colour,' said Grace, running a hand over the patch in question and tapping it. 'They feel smooth enough!'

Suddenly, she felt a vibration in the wall and took an anxious step back.

'What on earth?' she exclaimed suddenly, as the bricks slowly began to slide to and fro.

'What the hell?' said Kuro and Lucien at the same time, who looked equally surprised.

In front of them, in the place of the dark brick patch, was a gaping hole that definitely led somewhere...

But where?