Arcane ~ ONGOING

~Chapter Two~

not edited

I meekly followed Lydia and Jesper as they walked confidently through the doors. The guards looked down in respect as soon as both of them came closer. Then their eyes would land upon me and shock took over the entirety of their face, I kept my head down, my hood was still down and Sky had fallen back to sleep. I let out a sight of relief as we finally reached the humongous doors that led to the inside of the mansion. The guard who had followed us here till now nodded at Lyd and Jesper and he called someone. Moments later the doors opened.

I could feel my heart pounding against my chest as Lydia and Jesper walked into the darkness. None of the lights were on inside and I could see no one. Everything in me was willing to just walk inside but a part of me was engulfed in fear.

"Come on in Ria, it's going to be alright," Lydia said, with a soft smile on her face, encouraging me. I took a deep breath while walking inside. I trudged forward, standing beside Lyd as Jesper walked ahead and disappeared in the darkness. Again, I couldn't see much, just outlines of furniture from the soft light of the moon coming from outside. Fidgeting on my feet, I clutched my hand on the end of my hoodie when I felt something wet and a bit rough touch my leg.

I let out a shriek which in turn caused Lyd to shriek after me. Jesper came running hearing us shout. Sky had woken up by all the chaos and started barking.

"What happened?" Jesper asked, his voice a bit loud.

"I don't know, ther-there was smoothing here that touched my leg, maybe licked it," I whispered half scared. By now Lyd had turned the flashlight of her phone on and was looking around. The sound of footsteps reached our ears as my eyes widened.

"Fuck you guys, I'm not ready to meet them right now. Why did you have to make so much noise?" I whisper-shouted at both of them, my eyes shooting daggers.

"Such lies, you were the one who shrieked first," Lyd whispered back, shining the flashlight in my face.

"Get that out of my face," I whispered, coving my face with my hand as I tried to protect my eyes from the direct harsh light. Suddenly, that didn't matter as the LEDs above us lit up and I scrunched my eyes close. "Fuck," I cursed.

I look around at the now lit doorway, the structure of the doorway was still the same but now it looked freshly painted with modern decor. Memories of me running down the hall with Octavian behind me on numerous occasions came back to me. The staircase was still as grand as ever, leading to the rooms for the whole family and guests.

As far as my memory serves, the foyer straight led to the living room. The right side hallway will lead to garden and backyard and the left side hallway is the fastest way to the pool. I'm not sure if they renovated and changed the things but this place brings back a homely feeling, a feeling I've felt after so long.

"What's that noise?" A groggy, grumpy sounding voice asked.

"Your sister, Zion, your sister," Jesper muttered, his eyebrows raised, his eyes mocking me. I sent him a glare and my facial expression clearly spoke, 'you're dead.' He just shruged as I turned myself to look at the twins who had come down because of the noise.

"H-hi, I'm Astria, but you already know that." I let out a nervous chuckle as I looked at anywhere but them.

"We're standing here, Astria," One of them muttered, amusement clear in his voice.

"Y-yeah of c-course," I muttered finally looking up at them. They both were almost the same height with similar facial features, blue eyes similar to mine twinkling in amusement. Both of them were in similar pyjama pants without shirts. Their brown hair was a mess considering they both just walked out of bed.