Lyra's car grumbled at her, protesting the very act of crawling forward across the gravel road. This wasn't the road's fault of course, it usually got along perfectly well with any car that attempted to drive across it, Lyra's car in particular however was very inept with most roads it came across. The old Chevy had been under her name since her 20th birthday 6 years ago, and at the time it had been at least passable for a decent car, but nowadays it sputtered at the mere suggestion of going above 70 mph.
Nonetheless, Lyra's car powered along the road towards her destination, which was very far out of the way for both Lyra and the car's preference. The backroads winded through the midwestern countryside and far away from any convenient gas station, not that Lyra was too concerned of that, her car never used enough power to need much gas.
This whole trip wasn't Lyra's choice obviously, she would've much rather spent the day wrapped in her weighted blanket watching Love island and Survivor, but apparently being a new hire at the maid agency meant she was assigned the inconvenient jobs. She had been nervous about taking the job, as anyone would be for a new employer, but most of her fears had been very quickly quelled. All their clients were diligently vetted, and gone were most of the humiliating stereotypes that went along with maid work. The embarrasingly skimpy frill outfits were long a thing of the past (Though Lyra found her current uniform was a little too tight for her comfort) and the clientelle would be very quickly blacklisted and heavily fined if any sexual acts were reported. It seemed to her that maid work had become much more dignified work, which settled many of her fears.
As the early morning sun finally decided it was the appropriate time for noon, Lyra finally saw her destination. She had pulled off the gravel road and found herself in a forested area on an odd road, one made of cobbled stone, which Lyra found odd to be settled in the middle of America. At the end of the road, Lyra found a remarkable house. (Again, only remarkable in terms of middle America in the 21st century, such a house as this would be nowhere out of place in say, Transylvania or middle ages England)
The house resembled a very tall cottage, with 3 floors and two side structures attached to the main building, it reminded Lyra of a schoolhouse or church. The whole thing was built from stone and capped with a wood-tiled roof. Lyra found herself smiling as she looked over the grounds, it was a lovely scene nestled in the midst of the forest, giving the whole place a sense of age.
There was the main house of course which, with its 3 floors and off-rooms, would take Lyra quite some time to clean, then there was a gardening shed not far off, from which a chimney billowed strange colored smoke, which greatly peaked Lyra's curiousity. Finally there was a cellar that seemed to be separate from the house itself, and behind the whole thing was a cobblestone path that led into the forest.
Lyra stepped out of her car which, at her height of 5'9, she always found she was a little too tall for and had recently discovered a problem of needing to keep her long brown hair clumped in her hand, lest it be caught in the seatbelt. (Though she had found wearing a hat helped this problem, and she had comfortably begun to wear a snug purple beanie which she thought cutely complimented her deep brown eyes.)
She looked around the grounds, it would be a long day of work, and she was gratfeul she was only responsible for the interiors of the various structures, but before she could do anything, she had to meet with the homeowner, where ever he might be...