I was in a world of my own all the way to Tyler’s house, so much so, I nearly missed the turn. When I pulled up outside I got butterflies in my stomach. I shook my head and took a deep breath; anyone would have thought I was a fourteen-year-old going to see the boy they had a crush on in school. I dragged myself out of the car and looked at the house. It was as beautiful as Lucian’s but smaller. It had only two floors, but it was a little wider than Lucian’s. They had obviously had it done up recently. The walls were stone, sandy-colored. The windows were big with white frames. Somebody there really liked gardening too – there were rose bushes and conifers neatly kept all around the house, with what looked like pansies and some other brightly colored flowers complementing them. I walked up the path, listening to the white pebbles crunch beneath my feet, before walking under an archway to the front door. Just as I was about to knock Tyler opened it.
“Good morning,” he smiled.
“Hey.”
“Come on in.”
I walked in the hallway…wow! The floor was dark grey and blue marble. The walls were brilliant white, with family photographs positioned perfectly along them in thick silver frames. They had a beautiful grandfather clock between two of the doors, leading off to other rooms. A statue of a woman stood against the wall towards the end of the hall, beautifully carved in white stone. Then there was the winding staircase, the handrails the same color as the floors.
“Listen,” he whispered. “I told my mom we had plans this afternoon, so she can’t keep you too long. Am I good to you or what?”
“Very,” I said, giggling quietly.
“Come on, she’s in the back garden. I’ll take you through. You might as well enjoy the weather while it lasts. Oh by the way, her name is Sofia.”
I followed him to the end of the hall, then outside and into the garden.
“Wow, it’s huge!” I said, looking around. “And beautiful.”
“My mum spends a lot of time out here; she loves her gardens. She’s near her pond…Come on.”
Everywhere you looked there were plants or sculptures and statues. Yet it didn’t look over the top – it was mind-blowing. He led me though a gap in the hedges and into another little garden. There were three tables with benches, a large pond and a little conservatory with a retractable roof. His mother was sitting in there waiting for me.
“Well, here she is,” he told her before kissing her cheek.
“Thanks, darling,” she said, smiling.
“Can I get you ladies something to drink?”
“Do you drink coffee or would you prefer something cold?” she asked me.
“Coffee would be lovely, thank you.”
“Coming right up,” he said before heading back into the house.
“Sit down, Keira. You’re more than welcome here, so please always make yourself comfortable,” she told me, motioning to the white recliner facing her.
“Thanks.” I smiled, sitting down.
“Don’t worry; I’m not going to question you about everything. I’ve spoken to Evelyn – she told me about your conversation so I don’t need to ask you the same things. There’s nothing worse than having to repeat yourself to people time and time again.”
“I know, but I don’t mind. Your gardens are beautiful by the way.”
“Oh thank you. They’re my pride and joy,” she said, looking out at them. “Anyway, how are you settling in?”
“OK thanks, there are a lot of rooms in the house that I don’t have a use for. But the ones I have ready are really nice… Well, I think they are.”
“Tyler’s told me it’s beautiful. How are your gardens?”
“A mess!” I laughed. “The grass is overgrown; there are weeds everywhere, and a big burn mark from where I set all the rubbish on fire.”
“You should let me do them for you,” she said eagerly.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that. Besides you must have all your time taken up maintaining these.”
“Rubbish, I offered – you didn’t ask. And to be honest, at this time of year they maintain themselves. I’m getting a bit fidgety now – there’s not much for me to do. I wouldn’t get in your way if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“God, no! Not at all, you’re all welcome at my place anytime, day or night. I just don’t want to put you to any trouble.”
“Get yourself sorted once and for all. Let me know if you want anything in particular and leave the rest to me,” she said, leaning forward and patting my leg. “You will be curing my boredom.”
“Here’s your coffee, ladies,” Tyler said, setting a tray on a little table next to his mom. “Keira, give me a shout when you’re ready, or come and get me if I don’t hear you.”
“OK, see you later.”
His mom poured the coffee for us and waited until Tyler was out of sight before talking again.
“He thinks a lot of you,” she told me.
“I think a lot of him.”
“He came home in a terrible mood about a week ago. Every time he went in a room the door would slam behind him.”
“He never mentioned anything. What was wrong with him?”
“I believe he found out you were getting close to young Lucian. It upset him a great deal. Took him a long time to calm down it did.”
“I had no idea,” I frowned.
“Well, you wouldn’t have. Tyler is good at hiding his feelings to a certain extent, and he wouldn’t have wanted to upset you in any way. But get him alone and ask him properly, he won’t lie to you.”
I didn’t know what to say to her, so I smiled and sipped my coffee.
“Now, Tyler told me you have plans this afternoon, so I don’t want to keep you too long. And I don’t want to bore you.”
“You wouldn’t!” I assured her.
“You’re a nice girl. All the boys have told me that. They all like you and feel close to you now.”
“They’re like my family.”
“Yes, I heard you don’t really have one now,” she said carefully.
“I’m afraid not. My dad was killed when I was young. My granddad died the same time as the guys’ granddads did. I’m an only child and me and my mom don’t talk much,” I told her. “Lily was the only family I had until I met everyone here.”
“She’s the young girl who’s dating Jake, isn’t she?”
“Yes, you will have to come and meet her – she would love to cook for everyone. Her favorite place in the world is the kitchen.”
“Well, then we will definitely call,” she agreed. “Why is that you don’t talk to your mom? I don’t mean to pry, but I couldn’t imagine not speaking to my son.”
“I think what I am frightens her.”
“But she knew what your father was, didn’t she?”
“Not until after they were married and she was pregnant with me. She had it dropped on her. I don’t blame her and I don’t hold it against her.”
“It’s good of you to think like that.”
“Well, I really don’t mean to sound big-headed or anything, and I’m not boasting. But since my dad died I’ve been very independent. I never asked anyone for anything. Money was never a problem, especially once I’d turned eighteen and got my inheritance from my dad.”
“Did you move out?”
“Yeah, two days after my eighteenth birthday and I’ve never looked back. Lily lived with me, more or less, so I was rarely on my own.”
“You two are more like sisters then?” She asked.
“Yes, as far as I’m concerned she is my sister. She had a lot of problems with her parents…”
“Yes, Tyler told me they treat her badly and have a drinking problem.”
“The only problem they had was that they had two hands to hold drinks in but only one mouth.”
That tickled her and set her off laughing.
“I like you – you’re funny. You’ve got a very dry sense of humor. Tyler is like that. He gets it from his dad. I can see why he likes you so much,” she
said, still giggling a little.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course you can.”
“What did you think when your husband told you what was in him.”
“At first I thought he was kidding me or trying to push me away. It wasn’t until he got sick of me telling him to stop messing around that he showed me.”
“What did he do?”
“David sent orbs of light flying into the air and made the room tremble. I admit I was a little unnerved at first, but I loved him. I knew he was a kind and gentle person and that he would never hurt me. So I told him I didn’t care. I still wanted to be with him and that I would take his secret, and my future son’s secret, to the grave with me. When I found out about the other three and I met their wives, it was a lot easier. We could talk freely amongst ourselves and never have to worry about it getting out. They all accepted me and now we’re one big family.”
“Were you the last couple to get married?” I asked.
“Yes, and the last to have a child – Tyler is the baby of the group.”
“You know I don’t even know how old any of them are.”
“Lucian is the eldest – he’s twenty-five this year. Danny was twenty-four six weeks ago. Jake is twenty-four in two months and Tyler was twenty-three two months ago. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-two; I’m twenty-three in November.”
“Oh, well, now you’re the baby of the group. How old is Lily?”
‘She’s twenty-three in September – so yeah, I’m the baby.”
“The baby, but the most powerful of all,” she said, smiling again.
“I guess so…did Tyler tell you about the powers in me? I hope he has – I really don’t want to have to explain all that again.”
“Yes, don’t worry – he did. You have two, one from a female relative and one from a male relative. And maybe or maybe not the power the boys have.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you’re still one of us, even if you don’t have it. We’ve all said that, and you always will be.”
“Thank you, you have no idea how nice it is to hear you say that,” I told her.
“Now, I’ll let you go to Tyler. Then he can’t blame me if you’re late,” she said, standing up. “Don’t forget to let me know about your garden, will you?”
“I won’t, thank you, and let me know if you want to come around anytime. I’ll need to give Lily a bit of notice.”
“I certainly will. Now just go back the way you came, go upstairs and turn right; his room is the one at the end.”
She gave me a hug and then I went to find Tyler.
When I got to his room his door was open.
“Knock, knock,” I said.
“Well, I suppose since it’s you I’ll let you come in,” he said, grinning. “Lily rang before – they’ve got all the furniture at your house already.”
“Great.”
“The other thing is, when Jake went in the room she’s having for her office to do the flooring, he found something.”
“What?”
“A trapdoor.”
“A what?” I said, shocked.
“That’s what she said. She didn’t want to call you in case she interrupted you. I told her we’d go over once you were finished.”
“That was the one room I didn’t pay much attention to.”
“Why would you if you had no use for it?” He said.
“What are we waiting for then?”
Chapter 19
Trapdoor
As soon as Lily heard us pull up the driveway she came running out to us. I locked the car and we ran in after her. The guys were in there waiting for us. When we walked in Lucian shot a look of death at me and Tyler, but I was so intrigued at what they had found that I ignored him.
“Have you opened it?” I asked.
“We opened it, but we haven’t been down there,” Jake said.
“Really?”
“It’s not our house or history, it’s yours – it’s only right we wait for you. So we closed it again,” Danny said.
I threw my bag across the floor and opened it. It had steps and what looked like a tunnel, but I couldn’t see anything else, it was so dark.
“Ok, here goes.” Danny held on to my hand as I made my way down the steps. Just in case he had to pull me back up quickly. I held my hand out and produced an orb to shed a little light. “Right, Danny, you can let go – I’m ok!” I shouted up. “There’s a tunnel, though it doesn’t look too long and it’s very thin. I don’t think we’ll all fit down here.”
“How many do you want with you?” Jake shouted down to me.
“Only two for now. If it gets bigger we’ll all come down.”
“Who do you want?”
“Lily, I’m not being funny but we don’t know what’s ahead, so I want you to stay up there till I’ve checked it out,” I called up.
“Ok!” She shouted.
“Jake, you come down; you found it, and bring whoever with you.”
“I’m coming,” I heard Lucian say quickly.
I made the orb glow brighter and held it near the steps so they could see where they were going.
“Wow, it is small,” Jake said. “I hope no one’s claustrophobic,” he shouted up. “Back in a minute.”
We walked slowly down the tunnel. Considering no one had been down there in centuries it was surprising clean. Just a few cobwebs here and there. Even the air was cleaner than I thought and we could breathe easily. We walked about forty yards and then came to a door. I turned to look at the guys.
“I don’t know if I’m excited or scared to open this,” I said.
“Do you want me to do it?” Lucian asked.
“No, it’s ok.”
“Well, then stop pissing around and open it!” He snapped.
“No,” I said warily. Something wasn’t right – I could feel it in my stomach. “Not until you’ve gone – I don’t want you here. Get out!”
“Open the door!”
“Lucian, what’s wrong with you?” Jake asked, confused.
He pushed Jake into the wall, his eyes turning black as he did so. He started to come at me, but I sent a shockwave at him and he went flying back to the tunnel entrance.
“What the hell!” Danny shouted as he saw Lucian hit the step
I ran up the tunnel, eyes white and livid. He jumped up and ran up the steps, shoving Danny out of his way. I didn’t bother running up them, I rose up and landed on the floor in the soon-to-be office. When the others saw me like that they backed off. Tyler grabbed Lily and stood in front of her protecting her. Lucian was standing a few feet away from me near the door. He had a look on his face I’d not seen before. A look I never thought he would be capable of giving. It was of pure evil.
“What the hell is going on?” Danny demanded.
Lucian never replied. Instead he threw an energy ball at me. I put my hand out fast and sent it smashing through the wall instead, before quickly throwing one back at him. He moved quickly and it caused another hole in the wall. He turned and ran out of the door. I ran down the hall after him. As I started around the bend in the hall, near the staircase, he threw another one at me. It just missed me and smashed some of the ornaments. I carried on after him, through the front door and out to the driveway.
He continued to attack me as he ran towards a blue car. I retaliated and finally hit him just as he was about to open the car door. He hit the side of the car hard before hitting the ground. I walked towards him, throwing the energy balls at him every couple of seconds to keep him on the ground. What I didn’t expect was for him to send out a shockwave when I was only a few yards away from him. It sent me crashing through the little fence around my porch and straight into Tyler, who had just run out. We both hit the wooden floor and I smacked my head on one of the small flowerpots I had there. I heard the engine of the car start and it wheel spin before speeding off.
Danny grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet whil
e Jake helped Tyler.
“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to Tyler. “I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
“Keira, your head!” He replied.
I touched the side of my forehead and felt the blood trickling down, warm and wet.
“Bastard, I’ll kill him” I said, attempting to head for my car.
“No!” Jake cried, grabbing me. “We need to take care of your head.”
They dragged me into the house and into the kitchen. Lily grabbed a towel and wet it. Jake still had hold of me. I shrugged him off and walked over to the mirror. It was a big gash, about the size of a coke bottle lid.
“Hey guys. Sorry I’m late – I had to take my mom shopping…”
I saw Lucian’s reflection appear in the mirror. He was standing in the doorway from the hall to the kitchen. I instantly turned around and shot an energy ball at him. He went crashing into the staircase.
“What the hell!” He shouted.
“Keira, wait!” Jake intervened. “Look at his clothes!”
Before, Lucian had been wearing faded-blue jeans and a white shirt, and his hair was down. Now he had black jeans on with a black guns n’ roses t-shirt, plus his hair was tied back.
“What did you do tha…?” He started to say as he walked in. “Who the hell has done that to you?” He said as he walked over to me, inspecting my head.
“You did!” Jake said.
“But I’ve only just got here…” Lucian replied, looking both confused and annoyed.
“What car are you driving?” I asked.
“My Austin… what else would I drive?”
“I thought you said yours was in the garage, that’s why you had the blue one,” Lily said.
“Whoa, ok, hang on a minute! I have no idea what’s going on here. More importantly, I want to know who has done this to her,” he barked. “Get me a first-aid kit.”
“I’m fine,” I said, pulling away from him and turning back to the mirror. I put my hand to my head and it began to glow like it did when I healed Jake. When I turned around all I had was blood on my head – the gash had gone. “If I can heal Jake I can heal myself,” I told them. I took a wet towel from Lily and wiped the blood away. “See, I’m fine.”