Interlaced (book 2 of Intertwined)

Chapter 5: Unknown Dangers

I cautiously stepped into the dark abyss, shining my flashlight into the room. We stepped further into what must have been the gallery. Dust was thickly layered on anything its greedy fingers could get a hold of. The furniture layed abandoned with sheets draped over them. Spider webs crisscrossed together creating a labyrinth to walk through.

Lilly and I carefully moved through the room, the boards creaked and moaned with each step. The spider webs clung to us as we reached the grand staircase. The banisters were made of dark mahogany with intricate carvings. We began searching the main floor. We had already seen the gallery when we first came through the door way before we reached the grand staircase. It held a family room, kitchen, dining room, a library, a study, and a bathroom.

The family room that was to the left of the entryway had straight back furniture with golden finishing. A large painting of a family stood above the mantel. There was a women sitting in a chair with a man around the same age standing behind her with his hand on her shoulder. On her lap sat a little boy about the age of ten. He shared the same eyes as the mother, the same eyes as Lilly?

I couldn't help but stare at her, was this her family? Is that boy her father? I never knew that Kurt Thornton was her father until my mom told us. He was known for being a heartless animal. He murdered his parents at the age of 19 and it only got worse from there. The Council of the Enchanted has been hunting him for years, but he was a shapeshifter and made it virtually impossible to find him. The boy in this picture looked so innocent and yet he would become one of the most wanted men in the Paranormal world.

I looked at Lilly now and saw here close to tears. I reached up to  touch her shoulder causing her to jump. She looked behind her and saw me standing there, sending a wave of comfort through my touch. She leaned into my touch as we both looked back up at the painting. We stared at until she turned away from it and moved towards the dining room that was connected to the far end of the room. We pushed the wooden swinging door into a heavily decorated room. The table was huge, it could fit twenty people at least. Each of the seats had a place setting and candle holder at equal distance apart. The candles placed in it seemed unused and the place settings placed perfectly. There was paintings of flowers and beautiful landscaping coated with dust. The kitchen was the least overdone room we've seen so far. It was small and even felt cramped. The appliances looked new besides the dust and cobwebs. It had no fancy touches or decorations. It had no flare for status and money. People with this much money must have had a servants, maids, and a chef.

The library was set on the right side of the gallery. It had floor-to-ceiling shelves with the ceiling reaching twenty feet above. It was two stories with a spiral staircase and a rolling ladder attached to the shelves. It was filled with some of the best writers throughout history.  I ran my hands across the spine of each book. There was Shakespeare, Whitman, Cummings, Frost, Dickens, and so many more including one of my favorites, Edgar Allan Poe. There was research books such as Science and Psychology based ones. There was a section hidden towards the back hidden away that was about the Paranormal. There were few if any books for light reading. It was a library designed for the rich. The study was through a set of large, double doors. It had a large desk with two armchairs in front of it with one chair behind it The study felt right for writing books and other important documents. I could see myself spending hours in here bent over a laptop and typing up my stories. Lilly tried to look through the desk but it was locked, after having me try it still wouldn't budge so we gave up.

The house seemed undisturbed besides our footprints. We went back towards the grand staircase and looked at each other before deciding to follow the hallway on the left side. The hallway lead to a much smaller staircase going downwards.

Lilly and I shared a look, "What do you think we should? Should we go downstairs or keep looking around?"  she asked.

"I think we should go downstairs and get it out of the way."

We followed the beam of light downstairs. The dust and webs were heavier here appearing as though the upstairs was used long after the downstairs was. The small hallway that lead out towards a bigger room. The basement was dark and hard to see even with the flashlights shining. As we swing the flashlight around, I caught a glimpse of a reflection. 

Lilly tug on my sleeve and I moved my light to where her's sat. With the flashlights together we could make out more detail. It looked as if it was a bar? We moved closer to it and noticed more bars, together they made up a cell.

"What the hell is this? Why is there a cell?" I asked. This mansion was overly decorated and  was carefully set, it was meant to scream rich so why do they have a dungeon in their basement?

"Look there's more, there's cells all along this wall. I don't see anything down here, let's head back up," she said as we walked further into the room. Heavy chains sat on the ground abandoned from whatever use the previously held. I saw Lilly shivered before turning back towards the stairs.

"What could these cells be used for and why are there chains?"  I asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like it down here,"  she responded. Lilly looked back at the room, feeling as though I was being watched. It felt like someone was hidden from our view, but that couldn't be. I shook my head before walking to her. Lilly and I finished looking through the rest of the room before going back upstairs.

The moonlight made it through the cracks in between the boarded up windows. Wait the moon light? There was no moon shining tonight, it was dawn. We looked at each other before running through the mansion back towards the door. When we made it, we slowed down and made sure to fully close the door. I helped Lilly back up the gate, it was quicker now that we could see.

I grabbed Lilly's hand and pulled her back down the trail. It was pretty and way less scary with the light. It made it easier to avoid the potholes and roots that were sticking up and slowing us down before. We made it back to the car in half the time it took leaving it. We jumped into the car and rushed back down the path in reverse. Lilly and I both released a sigh of relief and a small smile.

Lilly grabbed her phone from the center console and showed me the time, 4:35. We spent the whole night looking for her mother or at least evidence of her with no luck. It's a good thing that yesterday was a Friday or else we wouldn't make it through the day. 

"What's wrong," I asked as we pulled back onto the main road. The drive seemed much shorter than it was last night. I know that to her this felt like a let down and a waste of time, but we're both ok and we didn't find her mother dead.

"We spent the whole night and found nothing. I don't think my mom is there. I'm sorry I wasted your time," she said glancing down while fighting back the tears. We pulled up to the same light as yesterday and of course it was red. I looked at her and grabbed her chin.

"Hey, it's ok Lilly Bud. We knew there was a chance she wouldn't be there, but look on the bright side she's still out there and she could be just fine," I gave her a small smile and rubbed my thumb along her cheek causing both of our breaths to hitch. I could felt her leaned into it slightly before she realized what she was doing and pulled away.

The light changed and we sped quickly towards my house. We rushed past the trees and abandoned building back to his house. We pulled into the driveway at 5:02. We went around back to the porch and slowly eased open the sliding door. We tiptoed into the house and up the stairs. We made it to our doorways without making too much noise.

"Goodnight Lilly Bud, sleep tight," I said gently into her mind.

"Goodnight Cole." I opened my door with a squeak. We both looked at each other and froze.

"Cole is that you?" I hear Rose calling from downstairs. Crap.