Rosegarden and the Scorpion King

2. A visit to Auntie's house

"It's been such a long time since we've visited your sister, honey. She was so thrilled when she heard about our move to England that she insisted us to visit your childhood summer home", Rosetta's mother exclaimed as they drove along a road to the countryside. Rosetta sat in silence, her head down and her tail wrapped around her legs.

"I can't wait to see auntie again! She always makes those delicious treats!" Roxanne said happily. "It's a good thing Barney is looking after the house so that we can pay a visit to her", their father agreed. 

Rosetta listened to their conversation in silence while looking outside. 

If you thought her family was treating her badly, then you'd be surprised how her other relatives treated her. 

Like she was invisible.

Her aunt especially didn't like her, none of them did. At first she was happy that she never had to visit them since they lived in America, but after moving to England, she knew there was no way for her to avoid them anymore. Her uncle still lived at the States, but still.

She kept looking through the window, watching as the scenery changed into the steep hills and farmhouses. Her aunt lived at the countryside in a big farmhouse, and she was also a mage. 

Soon her father drove to the side road and the scenery changed into forest area. In that moment she knew that she was in for one hell of a week. 

"There it is!! Auntie's house!!" Roxanne exclaimed as she pointed forward towards a house. Rosetta glanced forward. *It hasn't changed at all...*, she thought to herself.

The house rose up on the hill at a distance. It looked like an old ranch house with large lands of grass. It kinda looked like an old horse ranch. Rosetta remembered the old swing on a hill, where she used to sit and watch all the relatives play and gush over Roxanne, leaving her out of the circle. Auntie did have a couple of horses back then, but they were big and brute. At least towards her, Roxanne was allowed to ride them when she was a child, but Rosetta wasn't even allowed to be near them. 

The car pulled up to the yard and another older female dragon came out. "Sharon! Mason!! It's been way too long!" she hollered. The family climbed out from the car and Mason walked up to her sister, hugging her. "It has, way too long, my dear Sheila. How are things here?" he asked. "Boring as usual, but that's life outside London", the female replied and looked over to Sharon and the girls. "Oh my goodness!! Look how much the girls have grown!" she said and rushed to Roxanne and Rosetta, hugging them both. 

Rosetta blinked twice. She had never been hugged by anyone of her family before. Sheila moved back and took a better look at the two. "Ah, Roxanne is definitely coming to her mother, at least at the looks department. And Rosetta..", she looked at her which made Rosetta quickly look away. She knew better than to look at any relative in the eye. She felt her aunt's gaze on her for a moment before hearing a scoff and the older female stood up, walking back to her brother. 

"We need to talk, both of you", she said. Sharon and Mason stared at her in wonder. "Well, so do we. I thought you hated the girl!" Sharon said but her mouth was quickly covered by Sheila and she hissed. "Shush!! Don't talk so loudly out here!!" she said and looked around. "Now come, we need to get settled inside, I won't have any of you standing around here all day!" she said and pulled the parents along.

Rosetta followed Roxanne inside the house and looked around in the house. It was decorated like a ranch hotel, with different artifacts hanging from the walls. There were a lot of photos of her aunt and the rest of the family, with her in them too. 

Standing away from them with a sad look on her face.

She sighed as she looked at the photos and then looked over to the living room she knew her family and aunt were at. She walked slowly to the doorway and stood by it, listening to the conversation they were having.