A Job From Hell (Ancient Legends #1) Read Free

I realized it was already after nine. I was supposed to
start my first day of work, not sleep in. Darn it. Trust me to lose a job because
of some lavender-scented pillows.
    I threw the sheets aside and rummaged
through the closet to find a pair of black jeans and a white shirt. I pulled
one out, all crumpled. Smelling the armpits, I grimaced. Why did it reek like I
just finished a double shift at McDonald’s ?
With one arm I retrieved another shirt while brushing my teeth with the other
hand, then stopped to take another sniff and scowled again. This one didn’t
smell much better, but I had no more time to waste. I put it on and dashed down
the stairs to the large kitchen.
    The sun spilled bright rays through the
double glazed windows. I peeked left and right and inhaled, relieved that no
one was about. Perfect. If no one waited, then no one would know I was late.
Whoever lived here was either still asleep, or they had left already. I snorted
to myself. As if. The mansion was situated in the middle of the
Highlands—where would they go? The forest extended for miles behind the
back of the house. There were only two options: either McAllister worked from
home, which wasn’t likely. What with those high trees and probably no Internet
connection. Or he drove to the nearest city, Inverness, which was two hours away.
I chuckled, feeling enlightened because everything suddenly made sense. The
name rang familiar, as though I somehow knew him without ever meeting him. I
figured McAllister had to be a semi-famous writer—old, afraid of company,
preferring solitude—because no one else would choose to live in this
forsaken area.
    I opened a few kitchen cabinets. The steel pots
and pants gleamed in the morning light. The cooking utensils in our family
never looked this polished. I peeked inside the drawers, marveling at the pristineness
of this place. Why did I take this job? As much as it pained me to acknowledge,
I knew nothing about housekeeping. Dallas said it’d be easy money so I could
save enough to pay my bills, the yearly travel card and purchase books in my
first year of college. The student loan covered my college fees already, but I
gathered a part-time job would be unavoidable if I also wanted to eat. The
money made from this summer job was supposed to help me survive until I found
one that wouldn’t collide with my classes.
    Prepare breakfast, cook dinner, keep the
house tidy, and wash some clothes. How hard could it be? But peering around, I realized
this didn’t look like any house I had ever entered. It was too tidy and clean,
as though someone had already finished their work for the day. Used to this
standard, McAllister probably expected me to scrub like five housekeepers. With
most of the summer temping positions gone, it was too late to change my mind
now, but I made a mental note not to believe my brother ever again.
    No boss around, no work. I shrugged and
went about making myself a cup of tea, then took a seat near the window. For a
while I just sat there, watching the woods behind the house, admiring the dark
green of the dense thickets stretching out as far as I could see. I felt the
call of the woods, urging me to take a nice, long walk to stretch my legs and
inhale the clean air I would never smell in London. I sighed with pleasure.
What a beautiful, big house. Okay, given my experience from last night it was a
bit spooky, but this was Scotland after all. You simply don’t buy a house
without one or two resident ghosts. Besides, I gathered I had been imagining
things because last night when I finally plucked up the courage to open the
door, the floor was empty. The point was, with no one around I could almost
pretend I wasn’t just an employee. I took another sip of my herbal tea when I
heard a voice behind me. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
    Startled, I jumped, spilling some of the
mug’s content onto the floor. Slowly, I turned to stare at a woman’s dowdy
face. She was short, almost as