Moonlight Magic

Chapter 12

By the time it was seven p.m., my parents still had yet to make an appearance, but I had moved on from that junk room to the master bedroom. If the secrets Mum and Dad were keeping couldn't be found in their office, it made sense that it was in this room. After all, the safest place is the most dangerous location.
Standing in the doorway of my parents' bedroom, everything looked the same as any other day. It being the master bedroom was no doubt grand. If my room was said to be a living room, this was an entire house.
Facing the door was the king-sized bed. Pillows and cushions leaned against the elaborately designed headboard. Above the bed was my parents marriage photo with Mum in a beautiful white, Victorian styled gown and Dad immaculate in his black suit. At the foot of the bed sat a red velvet chaise lounge. Unlike my room which looked quite modern -omit the canopy over my bed- Mum and Dad's room was kind of out of the 19th century.
Other than being connected to an en suite bathroom, the left wall was home to glass doors that led out onto a balcony. Stepping out onto the balcony, I was reminded why this was my third favourite spot after my room and the library. The railing was intertwined with dancing vines and the balcony itself was flanked by two tall elm trees, it's canopy creating a makeshift roof. If I craned my neck to the right, I had a partial view of the back garden that crept to the side as technically, the balcony was facing the west.
Going back inside, I set my eyes on the wardrobe and the like. Inside the wardrobe, I shifted through boxes, clothes and clutter in the night stands and came up with nothing. I was starting to think I was wrong and whatever Talia and Purple Eyed guy said was nonsense when my eyes landed on the bookcase. The bookcase was an antique and it was Dad's prized possession. I remembered him telling me once that if there was a fire, he would try to save the bookcase. He had sounded bloody absurd at the time to which I thought maybe he meant save the 'shelves' as in the books.
Walking over to the shelves, I peeped at the exposed spines and read the various displayed titles. And of course there were nothing but books on history, some in Latin and Greek. Dad had always been a bit obsessed on Greek and Latin and I remembered the times when he taught me the languages. He had said that it was valuable knowledge to have. Surprisingly, I had found it easy learning them and somehow felt as if the languages were a part of me.
I read the few titles that jumped out to me and came across 'Sideribus Atris'-Dark Stars.
Intrigued, I tried pulling it off the shelve to have a flip through. Just as it was lifted, there was a click followed by several other clicks and whirs of gears. The bookcase then started sliding to the side, revealing a hidden doorway.
I couldn't believe my eyes. The whole time I spent exploring the mansion, there was this. This confirmed everything about my parents hiding something.
Stepping towards the open archway, I spotted stairs descending to who knew where. The passage was shrouded in pitch black darkness and other than the five steps down I couldn't see further. But to get to the bottom of whatever this was -no pun intended- I took a deep breath and entered the secret passage.

*****

My footsteps sounded a thump-thump rhythm as my shoes met each and every step down. The steps were built of stone and at some places slippery but otherwise, sturdier than they looked.
Back then at the top as soon as both my feet had crossed the threshold, the bookcase suddenly slammed back into place, trapping me in absolute darkness. I started to panic and quickly turned around to try and push the bookcase back open. It was no use. I was forced to move on down.
I thought I had to find my way down in the dark until my foot hit the first step down. I didn't know how but it triggered the lights to come on. The light source were from torches, bolted along every so often down the wall. As I walked down, the torches in front would be lit and the ones at the back would go out.
At first I was kind of unsettled with how the torches' light shadowed me. It appeared that only a section to which the path someone was standing in, the torches lit up. How the torches turned on and off like that I didn't know but somewhere in my brain I knew this was not because of modern science or technology.
I had already continued to carefully walk down for about five minutes from the starting point. I wondered how long it was still going to take for me to reach the bottom.
After about another two minutes, according to my phone, I came face to face with two humongous doors reaching at least eight feet in height. They looked like they were built to keep a tank out.
Unlike the manor's front doors, these doors were made of some sort of oak instead of mahogany. The wood was reinforced with metal fixtures and it was evident that this place was built in along with the mansion. Sizing it up, I doubted I could simply push them open. Even if they weren't locked, a sixteen year old girl couldn't force open something this heavy. But for the heck of it I gave it a go.
I planted my hands firmly of the rough surface of just one door. I braced myself and shoved with all my might. The moment when the door actually shifted and opened with ease was when my jaw dropped. Strangely, it did not take much effort.
I kept pushing till I was able to slip through the doors. The torches came on in the room as I entered. And what met my eyes was something I wish I could erase from my mind. My legs were weak and I felt faint. Everything became crystal clear and I foolishly wanted this to merely be a nightmare that I could wake up from.