Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 27

"You're positive yeah?" Vladimir glanced up at the tall Oslo house that looked as though it could crumble at any second. "This doesn't seem like the place Lukas would choose to live you know."

"I know" Emil said. "It's not normally like this. It's usually..." he trailed off and made a hand gesture of sorts. "Pretty? You could describe it that way. It's just fallen to neglect. No one's been here for..."

"A week?" Vladimir raised an eyebrow. "Places don't fall to neglect that quickly you know."

Emil scowled and stepped forwards, pushing open the door delicately as though it would crumble at his touch. Inside was a mess. Dust, debris and a sort of damp smell greeted them as they stepped in, the wooden floor creaking in protest as though it hadn't been walked on in centuries. It wasn't as though Lukas had died only the week before, more like he'd been gone for years and years. Admitably, they'd all been at the Nordic household for a few days before the fire, but those few days couldn't really mean anything. Not really. It was a couple of days against centuries of living.

"Was it always this cold?" Vladimir turned up his nose at the smell and peered into a room which looked as though it had once been a living room, with a grey, furry three piece suite and a fluffy looking television set, which was obviously closer to brand new than the dust made it look. "Or is this just a recent thing."

"I don't understand" Emil picked up a long strip of wood that lay in the middle of the hallway rug. "How could all this have happened in such a short space of time?" He glanced up to the ceiling where a hole was, one piece of floorboard with a newly looking zig-zag end, another with a section half attached, swinging slightly in the slight breeze brought in by the still wide open door.

"Beats me" Vladimir glanced at the far from sturdy looking stairs with an expression like disgust. "So... where are we going?"

Emil opened his mouth to speak but snapped it shut. In truth, he had no idea. He knew that last time he'd seen it was here, but now, he had no idea, and if this much decay had happened to the house recently, it could be anywhere now. "Um..."

"You can't remember can you?" Vladimir sighed. "Fine. I'll take downstairs. You search up."

"But upstairs..." Emil trailed off and glanced at the patchy ceiling and the rickety stairs. "It couldn't be there right? I mean..." he gestured to the stairs. "Whatever's up there'll have fallen right?"

Vladimir shrugged and grinned. "This is your brother's house. You should know."

"You've known him longer" Emil raised an eyebrow. "And the term is 'was'."

"You're the one he told about this though" Vladimir pointed out. "It's no one's fault that we don't know where it is except your own. So off you go. You're the one who forgot where it is."

"I never said I forgot" Emil snapped as he was shoved harshly towards the stairs. "I simply said I didn't know where it is."

Vladimir shrugged. "Same thing."

Emil huffed and started his way upstairs as Vladimir made his way into the kitchen, shaking his head, grinning.

"Idiot" Emil scowled at the floor and rested his hand on the banister for a split second. It creaked horribly and one of the balusters snapped, clattering to the floor. He removed his hand from it instantly. "Damn it Lukas. Why is your house a death trap?"

"I was thinking exactly the same thing."

Emil glanced up to the top of the stairs and nearly shrieked in shock. The Troll was stood - floating would be a better word - on the landing glancing around as though he was wary of something. "Why the hell are you here?"

The Troll looked offended. "Do you mean in this country? In Oslo? True, I don't like Oslo. Too noisy, too many people. Or in this house imparticular?"

"The last one" Emil made it to the top of the stairs and rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn't seeing things.

"This house imparticular?" The Troll frowned. "I'm bored. No one's talking to me. You used to talk to me, when you were tiny, then you started to pretend I didn't exist." He huffed in frustration. "Insolent child."

"I'm not insolent" Emil snapped, moving past him and down the hall. "Anyway, you're Lukas' 'magical creature'. Not mine. Arthur has Flying Mint Bunny, Vladimir has the Vampire, and Lukas has you, the Troll."

"I believe the term you used before was 'was'" The Troll gave him a blank look, floating to appear in front of him again.

"Shut up" Emil muttered, swerving around him to peer into a room.

"Insolent" the Troll murmured before following him.

"Why are you following me?" Emil said, turning fast after he'd searched in various rooms.

"Because" the Troll said in almost an exact replica of his voice.

"Leave me alone" Emil groaned, going into another room.

"Leave me alone" the Troll mimicked, still following him.

"God you're worse than Mr Puffin" Emil sighed.

"And there's another person that you've lost in this whole affair." Emil froze and turned to stare at the Troll, who gave him a shocked look. "What?"

"You..." Emil pointed a finger at him and faltered. "You..."

"Me?" the Troll frowned. "What about me?"

"Shut up" Emil finally snapped. "I don't need you alright? You're just making everything worse you know? Anyway, I'm busy."

"Doing what?" the Troll chased a disturbed dust particle with one hand. "Stalking the house of your dead brother?"

"No I..." Emil trailed off and buried his head in his hands, letting out a shaky breath. "I just... this is all their fault and we're..." he trailed off again, peering out from between his fingers. "I hate them. Every last one of them. All of them. Mr Puffin was my best friend, and Lukas... they..." He let out another shaky breath and stood upright. "The mirror Lukas always had covered up. It'll stop them right?"

"Right" the Troll nodded. "Get rid of them, but not effect anything... probably. If it does, just let them back out again."

"No" Emil snapped. "No, no, no. When this is over, we're getting rid of them all forever okay? For ever and ever and they're never coming back. I'll kill them all if I have to."

"But doesn't that..." the Troll started.

"I don't care what it does" Emil shouted. "I don't care if every single economy in the entire damn world is destroyed. The only thing I care about is getting rid of them. Forever."

"You're pretty set on this aren't you" the Troll gave a stereotypical 'Troll Face'.

Emil nodded. "And the mirror. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes" the Troll sounded excited. "But you're too late!"

"Great and... what?" Emil stared at him. "Too late?"

"It wasn't you. It looked like you..." the Troll started.

"Oh no" Emil took a step backwards. "No, no, no. This isn't good."

"What?" the Troll frowned. "What's wrong?"

"The counterparts" Emil stared at him, before seeming to realise what he'd just said, turning and flying down the stairs. "Vladimir!"

"Vladimir's here?" the Troll faded through the floor and appeared mid air on the ground floor.

"What?" Vladimir appeared from the direction of where Emil remembered the kitchen was, covered in dust and coughing. "You okay?" He did a double take when he noticed the Troll before saluting as a greeting, grinning, and then coughing again.

"The counterparts have the mirror" Emil said, not stepping back when the small cloud of dust surrounding the Romanian reached him.

"They what?" Vladimir stared and went silent for a minute. "Oh. That's... not good."