She grinned and pointed to herself, "Leave that all to me!" She said confidently as she walked a bit faster and took him to a path that led to the side of the castle. She pulled him down into the bushes and placed her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Soon after that two guards walked by and then Piper was off again and carting along Balthazar with her. She snuck around the side of the castle until she came to a large lilac bush which she dragged her new follower into. Soon she came to the wall of the castle where some of the stones were missing. She pulled him through the hole in the wall and through a serious of tunnels until she came to a dead end, "Stay here." She whispered as she pressed in the wall which opened on invisible hinges.<br/><br/>She came out from underneath her bed and looked around to make sure she was alone. She sighed in relief and was about to tell Balthazar to come out but she heard the door knob turn and quickly jumped onto her bed and picked up a book. Her father walked into the room looking more the most angry she had ever seen, "What am I going to do with you..." Piper sat up in bed, "Father I.."<br/><br/>"Silence!" He said harshly making a small sound escape Piper in fear, "You are constantly off in the woods and shirking your responsibilities. Look at you. You are covered in filth and your cloths are ripped!" He gripped her wrist roughly and dragged her off of the bed, "Ow! Father you are hurting me!"<br/><br/>"Good. Maybe if I knocked some sense into you. You would actually learn a lesson." He tossed her roughly against the wall making her hit her head but she stayed silent this time. Her hat fell off and her long brown hair fell around her shoulders and her bans hid her eyes from her father. She was in direct line of the opening in the wall behind her bed though. Her father wouldn't be able to see the silent tears going down her cheeks but Balthazar would, "You are a great disappointment to me and your mother. I can hardly even look at you, you disgust me." Her tears fell a bit harder and hands clenched into fists at her sides, "I'll have the bath filled with water so I want you to clean up. You are not to leave your room and there will be no supper for you tonight."<br/><br/>She didn't look up but the door slammed shut and a few moments later two servant girls filled the tub silently with hot water and left. She heard the door lock and wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up quickly. The movement made her a bit dizzy and her head was throbbing. She touched the back of her head and when she looked at her hand she saw there was some blood there, "You can come out now." She said quietly as she walked over to her closet to grab some cloths that might fit him. The silence in the room could choke a person but Piper could not help it. She was ashamed that someone knew that her father would beat her but she didn't want Timothy getting hurt so she took the punishments.