Lily walked over to the bottom of the stairs. “Danny, will you count how many rooms there are on each floor, please,” she shouted up to him.
“Right, where do you want us to start?” Tyler asked.
“Maybe we should split into groups of two,” Lily suggested.
“Good idea,” Lucian said as he put his arm around me and looked down at me. “I’m with you.”
“Good,” I smiled up at him.
Obviously Jake and Lily worked together, so Tyler went to help Danny with the structure of the house.
“We’ll take the large front room on this side. I want it to be my main living room,” I told Jake and Lily.
“OK, well, we’ll just start cleaning through the others,” Jake said.
He took Lily’s hand and headed towards the back of the house. Lucian and I grabbed a brush and a black bag each and started on the front room. It was so dark in there, even though it was eleven in the morning and the sun was shining brightly.
“Let there be light,” Lucian said. He put his hand up to the window. The boards blocking them flew off and on to the grass in front of the porch. “That’s better.”
“I was just about to do that,” I told him.
“Beat you, ner,” he chuckled. But when he saw how dusty and dirty the room was, the smile soon left his face. “Wow, this might take a while.”
“We can cheat to an extent.” I winked as my eyes bronzed over for a moment.
Three of the brushes off the porch came into the room. Two of them started sweeping the cobwebs from the ceiling, and the other one started on the floor on the opposite side of the room from us. Lucian just smiled at me. I turned to look at the brushes on the ceiling and started wiggling my fingers at them.
“Now, once you’ve finished that you can join your friend over there and start on the floor and window ledges,” I said with a serious look but in a stereotypical witch’s voice. Lucian burst out laughing and I joined him.
After about twenty minutes we could see the floorboards clearly. The two brushes had finished the ceiling and were now helping us with the floor.
“OK,” Danny said as he and Tyler walked in the room “The structure of this place is now solid as a rock. You have… You cheaters,” he said as he noticed the brushes working.
“Shut up! You’ve had the easy job,” I told him.
“I’ll have you know sitting down and working your magic is very tiresome, and, besides, I’ve been on my hands and knees in some places.”
“Hang on,” Tyler interrupted him, “Who was on their knees?”
“Well, OK, you were, but still…”
I was laughing at both of them.
“Anyway,” Danny continued, “There are nine rooms on the first floor. One of them is twice the size of this one. On the second floor there are nine and three store cupboards, and there are eight fairly big rooms on the third floor.”
“Jesus, what am I going to do with all that space? I don’t even know how many are on this floor,” I said wide-eyed.
“There are seven down here,” Tyler said. “I counted just in case you hadn’t.”
“OK, so living room, dining room, kitchen, another living room, umm…maybe a study and a chill-out room with a massive TV and stereo, surround sound and really big comfortable sofas and chairs…” I said, pacing. “…Then the big room on the second floor I want as a games room. I’ve always wanted my own pool table. Now I can have one… Oh, and I want a bar in there too.”
“I think I might end up moving in here with you,” Tyler said.
“You can’t. I don’t have enough space,” I told him.
They all laughed. Sometimes I could have a very dry sense of humor. I would say something plainly or serious and it would make people laugh out loud. I was really quick with my comebacks, which annoyed a few people and I have been known to be very sarcastic if the occasion called for it.
“What do you want us to do now then?” Danny asked me.
“Same as the rest of us, grab a brush and let’s get this place clean.”
Both of them walked out.
“What the hell am I going to do with all these rooms?” I said, turning to Lucian.
“Why not just concentrate on the ground and first floor to begin with, and get your bedrooms sorted out?”
“I want my room on the top floor and I think Lily will too.”
“So do down here, then your bedrooms, and then do the games room. By which time you will probably have some more ideas in that head of yours.”
“You’re right,” I nodded.
After another fifteen minutes or so the room was spotless. We went to find Lily and Jake. They were nearly finished on their room now.
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “At this rate it’s going to take days just to get this place clean, and that’s if all the rooms are in a similar state. If they’re worse it’s going to take forever.”
“What can we do?”
We walked into the room that Tyler and Danny were in.
“OK, change of plan,” I said. “There is no way on earth I’m spending all this time cleaning. So, I would like everyone, if they don’t mind, to have a good look around the place and check for any papers. If you find anything of interest or useful to us it needs to go in a black bag out on the porch. Then leave the cleaning up to me.”
They all threw their brushes down, looks of relief appearing on their faces. Lily and Jake took the ground floor, Tyler and Danny took the first, and Lucian and I took the second. Whoever finished first would start on the third. I would go through anything they found when I got back to the motel after Jake and Lily left.
“Are we finished?” I eventually asked them all.
“Yes.” they all answered.
“Wow that was like having surround sound. Right, well let’s stick these bags in my car instead of on the porch.”
We all had black bags full of papers. We put as much as we could in my trunk and two bags on the seats before heading back into the house. We stood in the hallway just past the front door.
“You might want to either hold on to something or superglue your feet to the floor. Jake, you better hold on to Lily. Oh and protect your eyes,” I said as my eyes turned white “The weather is about to get rough.”
“Weather, but we’re inside, how…” Lily began, but didn’t finish.
Every window in the house flew open along with the front and back doors. Then a fierce cold wind came from nowhere and blasted through the house. Lily held on to Jake for dear life. It was like standing in the path of a hurricane. Dust, dirt and bits of paper started flying through the windows and doors out into the overgrown gardens. When I turned around, I saw all the guys’ eyes were now black and the wind wasn’t moving them at all. Jake had his arms wrapped around Lily, shielding her from the flying debris. I watched as the dust left the old fireplace in the room just to the right of the staircase. It was beautifully carved and made out of what, from where I stood, looked like marble. I would be keeping that. The whole place was starting to look brighter and brighter by the second.
It only took about five minutes for the air to start blowing clean and clear again. All the dust was now gone and I stopped the wind.
“Thank God for that,” Lily said, letting go of Jake. “My arms are killing me.”
“Your arms nearly killed me. You were holding on so tight I could hardly breathe,” Jake told her.
“Sorry,” she said before kissing him on the cheek.
“All we need to do now is wash the place down, but we can do that room by room as we go along,” I said happy with myself. “Anyone hungry?”
All of them said they had been hungry for a while. Tyler and Danny went into town to pick some food up, while the rest of us started scrubbing the soon to be master living room. Luckily Jake had thought to bring several big bottles of water with him; he knew there wouldn’t be any taps or anything in there.
“Are there any nice furniture stores around here?” I asked
.
“There is one in the new part of town, just on the outskirts. It has some pretty trendy things in there,” Jake answered.
“Lovely… Oh, I’m going to need an electrician and a plumber too. This place needs heating and lighting, and I want a few bathrooms put in.”
“My dad can do the electricity,” Lucian said. “He is a qualified electrician. In fact, when I was on my way out this morning he offered.”
“Brilliant, so now I just need a plumber.”
“I’ll ask my dad’s brother for you. He has his own firm,” Jake said.
“Is there anything your families can’t do?” I asked.
“Not really… Well, not when it comes to things like that. It’s always best to make sure someone who knows the family’s secrets can help you when you need it.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Lily chipped in.
They both said they would ask their relatives to come by tomorrow and start, and that, because I was who I was, it wouldn’t cost me a penny. It’s not like any of the families needed the money. Lucian said they only did it so they looked normal and had something to do in their spare time.
Soon after, Tyler and Danny returned with sandwiches and chips for everyone. We sat out on the porch to eat them.
“Keira, it’s OK getting the dirt and rubbish out of the house, but now it’s all out here. What are you going to do now?” Tyler asked.
“Oh ye of little faith,” I sighed.
I looked over at the garden and everything moved itself into a pile. Then my eyes went white again and I threw a flame from my hand at it.
“Show-off,” Danny sniggered.
“I wish I was pyrokinetic,” Tyler said, glaring at the flames.
“Pyro-what?” I asked, clueless.
“You have the power of pyrokinesis,” Lucian explained. “It basically means you can create, control and manipulate fire at will.”
“Oh, can’t you?”
“We can manipulate it, but we can’t start it or throw it from our hands like you can. I’ve spent hours trying, believe me,” Tyler added, still watching the flames.
“I love fire,” I told him. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“So do I.”
“Oh great, now we have two pyromaniacs,” Jake said.
“See, this is where I get confused,” I began. “We’re all from the same group of families yet I can do more. I can create and I can destroy. I can control and manipulate things and create the elements whenever I wish.”
“I liked the whole wind thing before too,” Tyler said. “What else can you do?”
“Fire, ice, rain…I can create thunderstorms as you have already witnessed. I can make them as weak or strong as I like. I can keep lightning down on the earth as long as I please”
“Yeah, I remember it dancing around us,” Lucian smirked.
“What else?” Tyler asked me.
“You will have to wait and see,” I said, smiling and winking at him.
“You can have so many things going on at the same time too. Like the earth shaking, lightning, thunder, throwing people against trees…” Danny said.
“Oh shut up, you can do more than one thing at once, surely?”
“Yeah, but not to that extent, and we can’t control or create storms like you can.”
“I wish I was like you guys,” Lily said sadly. “I feel like the odd one out sometimes.”
“Are you kidding?” Jake said, wrapping his arms around her. “You’re the normal one.”
“Yeah, you don’t have to keep secrets from everyone, or be careful everywhere you go that someone doesn’t catch on to what you are,” Danny told her. “You should be glad you don’t have to be like that.”
“I guess, but to be able to do the things you guys can do…wow!” she said, looking at the fire. “It would be amazing to be able to lift myself from the ground like you do.”
“Stand up,” I told her plainly.
“Why?”
“Trust me, will you?”
She put her chips down and stood up. I told her to stand on the grass just in front of the porch. She gave me a funny look but did what I asked.
“Enjoy,” I told her.
My eyes went white for the third time so far that day and she rose from the ground.
“Oh my God,” she shouted like a giddy child. “Oh my God, oh my God.”
All the guys were smiling at her. I moved her closer to the fire and made her circle it several times, before bringing her back to us and putting her back on the ground.
“That was amazing!” she said, making her way back to her food.
“Don’t ever say I don’t do anything for you,” I smiled.
***
We stayed at the house until 8 p.m. We would have stayed longer but we were all tired and dirty so we went our separate ways. Jake brought Lily back to the motel then headed home too. Now it was a fight for the shower and sadly Lily won. I brought all the bags out of my car while I was waiting for my turn and dumped them at the back of the living-room area. As soon as she came out I dived into the shower. I felt so dirty and horrible, I scrubbed until my skin was red raw. When I finally came out I flopped on the bed and within minutes I was sound asleep.
Chapter 13
To Cut a Long Story Short
Over the next five days the house really began to take shape. Michael came around to measure up and draw out a plan for the wiring, and Jake’s uncle came around to start the plumbing. It was a big and dirty job, but I fed them well so they were quite happy.
I went into town in the afternoon to pick out the furniture I wanted. The guys came with me for a bit of a break. Everything Lucian picked up I loved, whereas whenever Lily picked things up for her bedroom I cringed a little. Don’t get me wrong, not everything was bad, but she wasn’t as gothic as me. So you can imagine the look on my face when she picked out a pastel-pink loveseat. I was disgusted with her and, if the shop hadn’t had other people in there, I think I would have set the ugly atrocity on fire.
When I got back to the house I started drawing a plan of where I wanted everything. I couldn’t wait for all my new stuff to be delivered. By 7 p.m. Michael had finished the wiring throughout the house. I shook my head at him and pretended to be disgusted. I knew he couldn’t have finished the whole house in one day without cheating.
The main problem we had now was the plumbing, but Michael stepped up and saved the day. He told Jake’s uncle, Richard, not to bother bringing any of the guys from his firm with him the next day. As long as Richard pointed out where things needed to be he would cheat and get it done quickly. Jake and Lily had also decided they would be going back to West Chester the following morning. We didn’t know how long they would be gone because there was quite a lot of stuff to pack up and move.
On the second day, we waved Lily and Jake off before the rest of us headed back up to the house. We found Richard and Michael already there; they had been there since the crack of dawn. They were determined to have everything finished in time for my delivery, which was now only two hours away.
All we could do now was entertain ourselves and relax a little before the shifting and lifting and everything else that followed started. We ended up sitting on the grass at the front of the house, placing bets as to whether or not Lily and Jake would return as an official couple.
“I’m telling you now,” Tyler began matter-of-factly, “There is no way on this earth Jake will have the guts to ask her out officially.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Danny said. “He knows she likes him, and, let’s face it, they’re already acting like a couple anyway. I think he will surprise you.”
“I agree with Danny. I think he will ask her,” Lucian added.
“What do you think, Keira?” Tyler asked.
“If she has her way then they will be together. She really cares for him. So I’m going to say…yes, they will be together.”
“Oooooh, three against one,” Tyler said sarcastically. “I
can’t wait to prove you all wrong.”
“OK, if I’m wrong you get my Hummer for a week, but, if you’re wrong, you have to do everything the hard way – in other words you can’t use your power for a day,” I said with an evil little grin. “Not once!”
“Right, you’re on!” he said, clapping his hands together and looking at the car as if he had already won.
Everyone was laughing and having a good time when Richard and Michael came out and told us they were finished. Not even five minutes after they left three large trucks pulled up with all my furniture. They unloaded everything on to the front path. I didn’t want anything going in until I knew exactly where they were going.
Once the trucks were out of sight I turned to the others and smirked.
“Right, gentlemen, it’s like this,” I ordered.
They all formed a line, quickly saluting me in a mocking way, heals wedged together.
“At ease, men,” I laughed. “Here’s what I propose – two of us will be doing the nice, easy job of plastering and painting and, yes, we are allowed to cheat. The other two will have the lovely job of carrying the furniture into the designated room even if that’s upstairs, without the use of their power. I don’t want things flying around, something could get broken. Some of that furniture is heavy too. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it, and that someone isn’t me!”
“So what are we going to do then? Draw straws?” Tyler asked.
“Err…no. I was thinking something a bit more…witchy, so…just to make it interesting; over the next thirty seconds I’m going to bombard you with energy balls. The rules are simple; the one left standing gets the easy job.”
“Are we allowed to fight back?” asked Danny.
“Fight as much as you want, you won’t get anywhere”
“Sounds good to me,” said Lucian.
The guys took their positions in the back garden, poised ready for action.
“OK, gentlemen, three…two…one.”
I unleashed the first volley of energy balls. Danny and Tyler kept making energy balls to try and counteract mine but failed miserably. Lucian was running around in circles now and Tyler joined him. As one ball left my hand another was right behind it, all different sizes; some as small as a pebble, others the size of beach balls. To watch this from afar would be hysterical. Tyler was down. It was between Danny and Lucian, but within seconds Danny was down having been hit with an energy ball that Lucian had just dodged.