Chapter Two
It was a grey day when the girls arrived back at the Victorian house with their buckets, mops and dusters. The air was quite still, not even a wisp of breeze. However, it was raining a soft even drizzle that one can hardly feel, but which manages to penetrate through your clothes to make you feel cold all over. They hurried inside with all their cleaning equipment, taking it to the kitchen, after closing the door behind them.
Holly and Ivy quickly went upstairs to change into work clothes, carefully laying their good clothes on the bed in the former Master's sleeping quarters. They loved this house and were very keen to get it spic and span, so they could move in and make it their home.
As they descended downstairs, something appeared to be strangely different from when they were here last, but they couldn't work out what it was. It was more of a feeling than something they could put their finger on.
Needless to say, they went straight to the kitchen and began cleaning, when suddenly Ivy felt a shudder run down her spine. "Did you feel that?", she asked Holly. "Feel what?" replied Holly. Ivy looked at her perplexed, and said, "I'm not sure, but I had the strangest feeling I was being watched". Holly knowing that Ivy could let her imagination run wild, shrugged her shoulders and laughed, then continued with what she was doing.
The two girls swept the kitchen clean, then continued wiping down benches and scrubbing floors, when suddenly they were startled by the sound of a clock striking eleven. They couldn't understand why the clock would be striking, as it had not been working at all when they arrived. Holly began to wonder to herself, "Maybe Ivy is right to worry, it's very strange that the clock should suddenly strike like that."
Ivy ran down the corridor to investigate and found the rather splendid grandfather clock that stood in the hall, was ticking loudly. "This clock is working" she called to Holly, "strange we didn't hear it ticking when we came in". Holly appeared not far behind her, "Yes, very strange indeed", she replied, "because it wasn't working at all when we arrived this morning."
Little did they know, but the creature who had been keeping a close eye on them since they returned, had also fixed the clock in the hall just after they arrived. He was a very clever little creature for his size, and was better known in fairy circles as an Imp. Now Imps are mischievous rather than evil, so the girls really had nothing to worry about. However, you never really know with Imps, they may surprise you with a trick or two, when you least expect it.
The creature was called Pocket and his father Mr. Watch had left him in charge of the house, before departing on his long awaited journey to Clockwork World. Every year about this time, a big Invitation Only Event is held there and this year Mr. Watch had received his very first invitation to attend. Pocket was very proud of his father, as this was the most prestigious event on the Imps calendar and only the best in their field were ever asked to be a guest.
Mr. Watch and Pocket are not just Imps, they are very special Tinker Imps. You probably don't know this, but Tinker Imps have an incredible ability to fix things with their hands. They can tackle anything that has gears, cogs, chains or rivets, and they are both exceptional at fixing clocks. Pocket's head has large pointy ears, a smile that is wide and somewhat cheeky, yet he's not at all unsightly. His body is slender like his limbs, his fingers are long and his feet are quite tiny in comparison, thus enabling him to walk about the house without making sound.
While the girls were busy in the kitchen, he slipped unheard to the upstairs bedroom. After rummaging through the clothes on the bed, he managed to find the tiny gold keys which Holly had removed from the library desk drawer the day before. Pocket was so happy and relieved to have them in his possession once again. He chuckled to himself, "No more sleeping in drawers, tonight I will sleep in my own little bed." Pocket felt safe again and the girls were, for the moment, still unaware of who had actually been watching them.
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