Chapter 46 - Jealous Julia

In the midnight, Julia crept in into Michael's chamber. This was the only way she could find evidence to support her claim. She didn't know what to look for but she was sure bad people would always leave trails and Martha would, if she was one.

She checked on Michael. He was fast asleep in the inner chamber. She moved towards Martha's bed. She wanted to dip her head between the curtains.

She quickly leapt back as she saw her sitting down with a box in front of her.

Martha seemed to be having a conversation with someone in whispers.

Julia walked around the curtain to where she could eavesdrop what she was saying.

"Why did it take you so long to come out. Have you become deaf?" Martha was scolding whoever who she was talking to.

Julia peeped in, she looked around everywhere. She couldn't see anyone. She was about thinking Martha had gone crazy when she noticed something around the box.

Something had its head popped out of the box in her front. It seemed to be a snake. She wondered if Martha was a witch like her.

"Wookah can never go deaf" the creature was actually speaking like a human.

Julia has never seen a witch did that. She remembered only a sorcerer could do that and the creature wouldn't be just an ordinary creature.

"Let's not waste time. Have you found something?" Martha asked again.

"How won't I find something yet. I am not as sluggish as this woman" the creature laughed, it kept laughing until Martha couldn't take it anymore.

"Wookah!!" she slammed the box.

"Careful, you won't want to wake the sleeping prince" Wookah teased her.

"Just tell me what you find and what you will give me" Martha hushed the creature. She looked behind to probably check if Michael was not awake.

"I found out the King has an allergy. That is all I will tell you. And I will give you this. I prepared it specially for him" Wookah brought down its head. It seemed some substance was coming out.

Martha took the substance in her hand. She put in some vial.

"Should I put this in his food?" she asked, there were obvious signs of anger in her voice.

"If you like, put it in his food from now till coming year. He won't die" Wookah made jest of Martha.

"Then, how am I going to use this?" she asked calmly.

"You are going to give that to the young prince. He will rub it on his body. That's all" Wookah stopped abruptly.

"I told you I want to kill the king. Why are you preparing this for the prince?' Martha asked hastily.

" Will you calm down, please?" Wookah urged her to calm.

"You said you want the king dead with the prince blamed for it. That is what I bring for you" Wookah explained.

Julia breathed heavily. The fact that Martha was nothing near what she expected was terrifying enough. She was a sorcerer, worse than what she could explain.

"So how is rubbing it on his son's body going to give me the desired result?" Martha fumed.

"Just trust me" Wookah laughed again.

"I am your master, you work for me. You do not tell me what to do" Martha couldn't contain her anger anymore and she exploded with angry words.

"You are not my master. You can only be my mistress right now. You should pat me on the back and rub my head" Wookah taunted Martha.

Julia was just getting more confused listening in on them. She held on to what she heard earlier. They would rub something on Michael to kill the King.

She would tell Michael but he was obviously not going to believe her until she would provide evidence. That was what she needed most.

"Are you doing this because of the body you are seeing me in?" Martha asked calmly but with a threatening voice.

"You are very beautiful, alluring" Wookah moaned. "You should stay like this forever. I like what I am seeing" Wookah couldn't stop itself from laughing.

"I will make sure you get punished for this. You are not supposed to disrespect your master,whichever form he takes" Martha asserted.

Julia heaved a sigh of relief. They were very far behind. Martha was obviously not Martha. She was someone else.

She wondered who that could be.

Martha shut the box with a bang, angrily. She obviously wanted Wookah to get hurt. Laughters came from inside the box. That was definitely Wookah making jest of Martha.

"My beautiful mistress" it finally cried.

**************************

Michael was in Martha's bed. He was waiting for her. He didn't know when she went out. He lied down to relax himself.

He smiled when he thought of how Julia would feel if she saw him in Martha's bed.

"Jealous Julia" he grinned.

He heard something from underneath the bed. It seemed it was echoing his voice or there was something there mimicking him.

"Jealous Julia" he whispered.

He heard the voice again. It was definitely not an echo. Someone was mimicking him and that someone was underneath this bed he was lying on.

"Martha?" he thought it could be Martha playing pranks on him. He heard the voice called Martha the same way he had pronounced it.

"Is that you?" he asked in amazement.

"Is that you?" the voice mimicked him again louder and very obvious.

He jumped off the bed and looked under the bed immediately. There was no one, not even anything except for a box.

He pulled it out and put it on the bed. He thought the voice must have been coming from inside the box as there was nothing else around.

He wanted to open the box but he hesitated. He couldn't believe he was getting worked up over something that was not possible.

"Is there someone in this box?" he asked, he was laughing at himself as he did so.

"Is there someone in this box?" the voice was also laughing as it repeated.

Michael staggered back in fear. He summed up courage and moved back to it. He opened it hastily.

It was an empty box. He wondered if he had been dreaming all this while. The voices he heard were too loud to be from inside his head.

"What are you doing with my box?" Martha asked suddenly. She must have materialized in the room because Michael didn't hear her coming.

"Martha, you are back" Michael sighed. He couldn't say what had happened. It would not be reasonable and might annoy Martha that he was still suspecting her.

"Yes. I am back" Martha replied curtly in an unfriendly way. She moved to his side and carried the box away from him.

"I'm sorry for that" he apologized simply.

"You still don't believe me, isn't it?" Martha asked sadly. "That is why you have been going through my things behind my back" she accused him.

"I looked under your bed and find a box. I wouldn't have checked it out if I knew you will be angry" he pleaded without admitting to be wrong.

"I don't know checking out your things can be so painful to you" he paid her back with her coins.

"Yes, there is nothing bad in checking my box, what I'm only concerned about is why you are checking it" she maintained showing him she wasn't remorse for accusing him.

"I don't really mean to come here and poke nose in your things but something funny happened and I couldn't believe my ears" he explained.

"You are hearing something?" she asked softly.

"Yes. It was like someone was mimicking me and it was coming from underneath the bed. I checked and found this box but there was nothing inside. But the curiosity that came over me was very convincing that I just wanted to look in the box. I'm sorry" he told her in details.

"And when you opened the box. You didn't find anything in it because everything in it had been stolen. It used to be my box of jewelry" she narrated slowly.

"But that is a very big box for keeping jewelry" Michael said in amazement.

"Because I have a lot of it" she said quickly and was quiet.

"Once again. I am sorry for that. The voice was actually coming from inside my head. I need to beat it out,I think" he scratched a side of his head vigorously. He laughed as he walked out.

He wouldn't want Martha to be sad by pressuring her. He was very sure the voice came from inside the box.

He hoped to find an explanation except that Martha was evil. He had excluded that out of his thoughts.

"Michael, are you there?" he murmured to see if he would get a mimic again. Then he would confirm the voice was inside his head.

"Michael, are you there?" he repeated as he didn't get any response.

The voice was really from inside that box but he didn't want to believe it.