Eyes of White

Chapter 11: Problems

The two girls sat up at the same time, breathing heavily. Although Persephone's heaving breaths were from fear, Penelope's seemed to be from exhilaration. She looked around the room, confused, then she groaned. "Where are you?" she murmured so quietly even her sister, sitting right next to her in the other four-poster bed that they had pushed over to join the two identical beds with their privacy curtains for emergencies, didn't hear her. "Please, come back! Don't let it just be a dream!" She thought she heard a laugh, the laugh of... whatever Penelope had reached out to, but it turned out to be just the wind rattling against the window.

Persephone, however, was glad the dream was over. The voice had been the exact opposite to what it was to her sister. To Penelope it had beckoned, like a mother asking for a hug. To Persephone it had been a repelling, disgusting, slimy voice, like a slug that had slid into her shoe. She was as turned away from it as Penelope was drawn to it.

Penelope glanced at the time and gasped. It was nine o'clock in the morning. "But we only went to sleep a hour ago!"

"We were dreaming for that long?" Persephone asked. "It did feel like an hour, didn't it!"

"I'm sorry about the dream," Penelope apologised.

"It's okay. That was your subconscious talking. It's not actually how you feel."

But it was how she felt. Penelope still felt feelings of resentment towards Persephone, feelings that had never occurred to Penelope before, ones that the dream must have awoken. "Yeah, but I'm still sorry."

They walked outside and the darkness of the house swamped them.

"What? Shouldn't it be light outside by now?" Penelope wondered aloud. The glass roof was dim and not one crack of light got through.

"Yeah. What the hell?"

Mel and Ara waltzed in out of the kitchen.

Ara laughed and jumped up onto a nearby dressing table. "You need to press this button," she laughed, pointing to a button.

Penelope leaned across Ara to press the big red button, but she stopped when she remembered that Persephone couldn't hear the cat. She pulled back quickly, muttering, "I was just patting Ara," to give Persephone an answer.

Persephone smiled. "You know, I can hear that cat, don't worry. It's weird, but..." She leant over and punched the button down.

There was a sound like metal clanking and light streamed in through the glass roof, more and more as the metal that had covered the glass roof retracted.

"So you figured out how to deactivate the house's security system. Well done," Zania's voice called down from the third floor. "I'll be down in a minute. Go into the kitchen and I'll fix you some breakfast. I bought some cereal I heard kids your age like. I hope I made a good choice."

The girls scurried into the kitchen/dining room and took their places at the blue-green marble bench. The red plastic chairs creaked under the sudden weight, but they were strong and they held. Zania swept into the kitchen a moment later.

Cereal clattered into two melamine bowls and they clunked in front of the twins, milk slopping on the sides of the bowls. Then two spoons were placed beside the bowls.

Penelope and Persephone glanced into their bowls at the same moment. "Fruit Loops!" they both screeched with either disbelief or happiness. Persephone immediately picked up her spoon and started shovelling the cereal into her mouth, while Penelope was a bit more reluctant.

At the end of the meal Persephone's lips were rainbow coloured and she had a milk moustache.

Penelope, however, had no such mouth blemishes. She'd barely eaten any cereal and instead she was reaching for the muesli to pour into yet another melamine bowl, with milk, honey, and just a pinch of sugar. She started scoffing her face with the nuts, bran, oats and sultanas.

Persephone giggled. "You're so weird. You won't eat the 'sugar-filled crap', but you will eat the fructose and sugar in that!"

"Oh, yeah, thanks! Real nice!"

As the twins bickered, Mel and Ara both leapt up gracefully onto the kitchen bench, beside Zania's wrinkled yet beautiful hand. "Do you think it's started?" Mel whispered to Ara.

Ara gave a small nod.

Zania didn't know that Mel had spoken to Ara, and so answered the question as well. "Yes. It has begun."

**Sorry about the wait, everyone, writer's block much?

Also I've had tons of assignments going.

But who really cares? The chapter's up, and I hope it's good enough to make up for the time it took.

Enjoy and vote!**