Serafina and the Twisted Staff (The Serafina Series) by Robert Beatty Page A

the young master are gettin’ on, you need to behave proper.’
    ‘I know how to behave just fine, Pa.’
    ‘You’re ’bout as civilised as a weasel, girl. I shoulda been schoolin’ ya more about the folk upstairs and how they go ’bout things, ’cause it hain’t
like us.’
    ‘Braeden is my friend, Pa. He likes me just fine the way I am, if that’s what you’re pokin’ at,’ she said. Although, as she heard herself defending Braeden’s
opinion of her, it felt suspiciously like she was lying not just to her pa but to herself. Truth was, she didn’t know if she was or wasn’t Braeden’s friend any more, and she was
becoming increasingly less certain of it every day.
    ‘It’s not directly the young master I’m concerned about,’ her pa continued as he got a clean, wet cloth and started looking after her wounds. ‘It’s the master
and the mistress, and especially their guests come city way. You can’t sit at their table if you don’t know the difference between the napkin and the tablecloth.’
    ‘Why would I need to know the difference between –’
    ‘The butler told me that Mr Vanderbilt was going to be looking for you upstairs later today. And everyone in the kitchen is fixin’ for a big supper tonight.’
    ‘A supper? What kind of supper? Is the stranger going to be there? Is that what this is all about? And what about Braeden – is he going to be there?’
    ‘That’s a bushel more questions than I got answers for,’ her pa said. ‘I don’t know anything about it, truth be told. But, other than the young master, I
can’t figure any other reason why the Vanderbilts would be a-looking for you. I just know there’s a big shindig tonight, and the master sent word, and it didn’t sound so much like
an invitation as an instruction, if ya get my meaning.’
    ‘Did they say it was a supper or a shindig, Pa?’ Serafina said, getting confused, and realising as she said it that the Vanderbilts didn’t have events by either of those
names.
    ‘It’s all the same up there, hain’t it?’ her pa said.
    Serafina knew that she had to go to the event her pa was telling her about. For one thing, it’d be the best way to see all the new people who had arrived at the house. But the obstacles
immediately sprang into her mind. ‘How can I go up there, Pa?’ she said in alarm, looking at the bite marks and scratches all over her arms and legs. They didn’t hurt too badly,
but they looked something awful.
    ‘We’ll clean the mud off ya, get the sticks and blood outten your hair, and you’ll be fine. Your dress will cover them there scratches.’
    ‘My dress has more holes in it than me,’ she protested as she examined the bloodstained, tattered pieces of the dress Mrs V. had given her. She couldn’t show up in that.
    ‘Them toothy mongrels sure did a number on you,’ he said as he examined the tear in her lower ear. ‘Don’t that hurt?’
    ‘Naw, not no more,’ she said, her mind on other things. ‘Where’s that old work shirt of yours that I used to wear?’
    ‘I threw that thing out as soon as I saw that Mrs Vanderbilt gave you something nice to wear.’
    ‘Aw, Pa, now I ain’t got nothin’ at all!’
    ‘Don’t fuss. I’ll make ya somethin’ outta what we got up in here.’
    Serafina shook her head in dismay. ‘What we got around here is mostly sackcloth and sandpaper!’
    ‘Look,’ her pa said, taking her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes. ‘You’re alive, ain’t ya? So toughen up. Bless the Lord and get on with things. In your
entire life, has the master of the house ever demanded your presence upstairs? No, he has not. So, yes, ma’am, if the master wants you there, you’re gonna be there. With bells
on.’
    ‘Bells?’ she asked in horror. ‘Why do I have to wear bells?’
    How could she sneak and hide if she was wearing noisy bells round her neck? Or did they go on her feet?
    ‘It’s just an expression, girl,’ her pa said, shaking his