Chapter 1

I'd been dropped at the convent by an ugly old woman who hadn't bothered to speak with me the whole trip, but then turned on me as we wheeled in the gate, and fixed me with her evil stare. "Miss, I hope you realise how lucky you are to be here. Most girls in your circumstances finish up on the street. You are guaranteed a warm bed, and meals every day. Make the most of it."

"Oh, I know. I'm very fortunate..."

"Don't bother sucking up to me. I can't do anything else for you."

"I wasn't sucking up. I was..."

"Yes, yes. Enough."

"Yes Ma'am."

"One thing. Tell me how you got your name."

"My name?"

"Yes. Is it short for Hayley?"

"No, Ma'am, actually, it's short for 'inhale'".

"But in your records, it's spelt..."

"Like frozen rain, I know."

"Interrupt me again, and we turn and leave, understand?"

"Sorry Ma'am."

"Why would your mother call you Inhale?"

"My father, Ma'am."

"You have a father?"

"Oh, I did. He was a plague victim."

"Take the left fork, driver. I told you already. Oh. You have an explanation, I expect? Girl?"

"Me? Oh, yes Ma'am. He was present at my birth..."

"They let him in?"

"Oh, at home. My mother insisted."

"Carry on."

"He said that he kept needing to remind my mother to inhale, and afterwards he thought it would be a nice name for a pretty girl."

"Suspiciously sentimental girl. I suppose you think you are pretty?"

"I'm told I was as a baby Ma'am."

"Well, you are pretty enough to make a living on the street, anyway."

"Thank you Ma'am."

"Do you have any idea where you are girl?"

"A convent of some sort. That's about..."

"Yes, yes. The Sisterhood have some special responsibilities. I hope you are able to be of assistance to them. Most of these girls have lost their mothers. Few as dramatically as you, but I'm sure you will be able to cry on one another's shoulders. Pull up to the door there driver. It's time girl. You ready?"

"I think so Ma'am."

"I have to leave you out here. They won't open the door until we leave Get out and stand clear of the coach. The driver will throw your rags down, and we will go."

"But what if they..."

"They will."

"But..."

"We can still turn around you know. I've got just the street corner for you."

"Sorry Ma'am."

"Yes, driver, just here. Throw her things down there, and we can go. Get out girl."

I climbed down from the coach without another word, unable to thank her again, despite knowing that she was correct about living on the street, and about how fortunate I was. I looked up at the driver from the loudly crunching gravel, and he smiled, threw my bundle of clothing down and blew me a kiss most unexpectantly. It was the nicest thing that had happened to me in quite some time, and as I stood there in a fuzzy daze, he pulled the reins, and the horses turned and pulled the coach back to the gate. I could just hear the ugly woman telling him off again when they disappeared from sight around the bend in the driveway.

It was only then that I turned to look at the surroundings, and realised just how cold it was. After a moment, I gathered my courage, and my meagre belongings, and, becoming despondent finally, tramped through the gravel to the large door.

Placing my gear down in front of me, I politely knocked on the door, and waited for someone to come. Nothing happened, and eventually I knocked again, perhaps a little more loudly. Nothing. I couldn't find any sort of doorknob to turn, and I couldn't see any other way through so the door, so I did the only thing I could think of. I started bashing the door with my closed fists, and screaming in panic.

Just when my energy was completely exhausted, and I started to collapse on the hard ground in front of the door, I heard it start to move, a gritty scrape of the wood against concrete, and the start of a squeak of old, stressed hinges. That was it. I crumpled toward the slowly widening gap, and the last thing I recall seeing was a pale female face as it leaned down toward mine, a look of concern apparent on a face not much older than my own.

I woke in the quiet of pre-dawn, the comfort and warmth of a deliciously nice bed and the lick of a kitten's tongue on my forehead. The little darling was perched precariously on my face, and I carefully lifted my hands from the covers and lifted her up, placing her on the covers where we could look at each other. The two of us stayed still there for a while, working out how much we trusted each other, and then the kitten took a single step forward, and licked my chin. I took it as a sign of friendship, and stroked the back of her neck, as she stumbled delightfully over the edge of my shoulder, and fell to the sheet below. As she snuggled into the natural hollow, I turned my face toward her barely open eyes, and somehow we both fell back to sleep.

Some time later, I suddenly woke again, and sat up, realising where I was, or rather, that I wasn't at all sure where I was. The wonderful bed, and the lovely kitten had seduced me into forgetting what had happened, and now I needed some answers.

I looked around me at what could only be described as a normal bedroom. That's certainly nothing I'd ever been in before, but I'd seen pictures. A washing bowl was on a stand to my left, well out of my reach in the large room, and a dresser with a large number of drawers was on the other side. Some sort of large closet sat opposite me, along with a door, and a large window. I could see snow falling outside, and thought how fortunate I was not to still be outside.

As my senses slowly took in my surroundings, I realised that it was much warmer in the room than the snow would allow naturally, and looking around again I noticed a small open fireplace next to the dresser, glowing comfortingly and accompanied by a pile of wood, and what I assumed were some sort of implements to deal with the hot fire.