The mansions door creaked open and three tall figures entered a long entrance hall. The dust on the carpet was visible and a thick film also coated a hall table holding a dead, brittle succulent.
Althea, who entered the old mansion first, drew her cloak closer. The home they entered was visibly long abandoned.
"I miss him," said a young woman who towered over a shelf. "Gideon, put the light on."
Said man flicked his wrist and a big chandelier on the ceiling flickered into a kind of half-life, making little impact on the gloom.
After walking up the grand staircase to the first floor the group proceeded into a corridor where the lighting was set by candle holders that were placed on both walls, they seemed dusty and Thea was a little worried that the dirt would catch fire, but at least you could see the portraits with golden frames that showed people that watched every step the group took.
One of the painted women even proceeded to scare Gideon when she moved her head to look at him. Finally, after walking past at least a dozen doors, the group came to halt and now stood in front of a black door. The other women, which seemed like she didn't really want to be there twisted the golden door knob and entered the room first. It was also lit up by candles that were scattered around and Altheas worry increased, but at least they could see row upon row of dust-covered books that filled shelves from floor to ceiling. Little doubt what the person that once lived there had spent their time on over the years. The books were nearly all hardbacks, some with streaks in the dust at their feet, where they had presumably been extracted in recent memory. The women pulled one such out. „A Practical Guide to brew and enchant", by Felicity Knight. It was in four parts, „The medium brews", „The hard brews", „The supreme brews", and, "The dangerous ones", the latter coming as somewhat of a surprise. It looked complicated. And expensive.
"Oh, I remember reading this when I hid from one of the meetings!" exclaimed Edna, holding up "The ways to kill", by Enid Zener, and opening it.
The group proceeded through small rooms crowded with antiques. Small tables everywhere, covered with pots full of crystals and weird looking cards. Then there were ornaments, empty vases, porcelain cups and plates. And everywhere, the look and smell of abandonment.
Althea was lost in thought, she remembered all the things that happened in this house. How she and her boyfriend met for the first time, when his parent decided to host a ball and given to the fact that Thea's family was one of the sacred 28, they were invited. The one time when the said 28 familys sat on a long table discussing their next move to win the war that was going on, she remembered his icy fingers gripping onto hers as if his life depended on it.
They entered the hallway again and walked up the stairs. The group skipped the next two floors and entered the last one, Althea's hands became wet. She felt nauseous and her lips started quivering.
Thea saw herself when she was 17 again, she and the tall lanky boy with black curls walked to his bedroom after another meeting. Both teenagers were pale and the black walls in the hallway weren't complimenting their light features. The shadows under their eyes became more noticeable.
Thea's fingers trembled now.
Another flashback hit her when she opened the heavy wooden door that lead to the tower where once his bedroom was.
Her 17-years-old self sat on the floor in the corner far right of the room. It was night-time and the rooms only light was the moon that shined through the window front. In her arms laid the boy. Trembling and crying. His breath was unsteady and Thea remembers the moment like it just happened an hour ago. She remembers how her heart broke because of him kneeling next to her on the floor, his head on her lap and nearly screaming because he was crying so much. Thea remembers how frantic his movements were. She remembers the light sounds of "Nocturne No.2" dancing around them and lulling them in. And she remembers how she couldn't do anything about it because she felt exactly the same. She felt his pain and she felt his desperation. But the only thing they could do was watch the world go down, because two teenagers couldn't do anything to stop a war that was lead by their own family's. There were two kinds of wizards in the world at this point in time. The ones that tried to get the power of not only the magic but also the human world. With or without brutality. And those who tried to stop them. The sacred 28 were the former. Thea remembers that the boy laid ones more in her arms. But this time she was the one crying. Regulus Arcturus Orion, son of Walburga and Arcturus, one of the four friends that fought on the right side even though their familys didn't, the love of her life and her whole soul, laid dead in her arms. Mouth open and eyes wide. He was killed by his own father and the last thing Thea remembers is how his hand stopped clinging onto hers.
Edna and Gideon stood in the door as they watched their best friend stare out of the big window that showed the mansions park. Those three 18 years olds, who stood in an empty mansion, listening to Nocturne Nr.2 watching the moonlight shine trough the windows of their dead best friends room, were the only ones of the 28 family's that survived the war. And all of them wished they hadn't.
