Grenwhich Abbey

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine...

The cab driver stopped at the front gates of Grenwhich Abbey. The black iron gates were rusty and shadowed with trees that looked hazardously ancient. Moss had grown over the locks and the they lay open but something seemed to scream 'you are not welcome'. 

        "This is as far as I go, ma'me." The cab driver said turning around to look at Adie and Wren. 

        "What are you talking about?" Wren asked, frowning. "You're going to make us carry our luggage the whole way up that driveway?" 

        The cab driver shrugged. "Well I'm not driving up there," 

        "Why not?" Adie asked distractedly. She was staring down the long road of trees, thinking about the Abbey that lay beyond them and the secrets it must hold.         

        What lay in the Black Forest behind the Abbey? What was the Anhult Moonstone? Who or what were the Vasari and what did the images in the bathroom mean? Subconsciously, Adie rubbed her stomach remembering the pain that had seared it in the train station bathroom. The whispers had said she was cursed but what did that mean? So many questions and she knew all the answers were down that dark road within the Abbey. 

        "There's stories..." The driver answered her hesitantly. 

        Adie turned away from the window and looked at him interested. "Stories?" 

        "Yes, stories. And that's all I'm saying. Now are you gonna get out or not?" He asked impatiently. 

        Wren huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not walking a mile down that road with my luggage. We paid you to drive us the whole way to Grenwhich Abbey mister." 

        The driver waved a hand at him, his eyes showing just as much stubbornness as Wren's. He started the cab again, threatening to leave with them still in the car but Adie opened her door and got out and waved Wren along. 

        "C'mon Wren, we've walked farther than this. We're backpackers remember?" She held her hand out for Wren who reluctantly grabbed it and got out too. 

        The driver opened the trunk and got their luggage out for them before tipping his hat and driving away leaving them both standing at the front of the gates with luggage next to them. 

        "I feel like a Pevensie kid." Wren muttered. 

        Adie frowned, looking at him strangely then burst out laughing. "This is why I love you," she said giving him a quick hug. 

        Wren smiled lopsidedly. "Just trying to ease the tension."

        "You succeeded." She assured him as she put her backpack around her shoulders and started walking down the dark road to the Abbey. 

        Wren grabbed his bags and ran behind her, struggling to not trip over his own feet. "So, in the flurry of rushing from the train station and the silent ride where I swear you were disembodied--I never actually got an explanation as to what the plan is..." 

        Adie bit her lip and kept walking. "I'm not really sure either...and I'm not really sure why we are back...I don't know how to explain it." 

        Her friend nodded knowingly. He' d known Adie long enough to know that sometimes you had to just go with the flow and be there for her when she fell apart. "Well, I heard in the kitchens this morning with Aylee that the housecleaning lady was going to be looking for helpers. Maybe she'd take us on?" He suggested.