The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 15

We got back to Jaylon's place late that night, and Charlie and all the others were just as in awe of the enormous house as I had been when I'd first seen it and, to be quite honest, I still was.

"This place is huge!" Charlie yelled, jumping out of the car. Andrew followed, laughing giddily. He and Charlie had been laughing and talking excitedly the whole way here, while Noah had been very quiet and Danielle had been sulking. I had driven them here while Thalia and Jaylon had gone on their own. He wanted to talk to her about his brother Lucas, who he had been shocked to find out had been to see Thalia far more recently than he'd seen his own brother.

"You guys coming?" I asked, poking my head back into the car. Danielle and Noah hadn't moved, but they did now, slowly climbing out of the car and staring up at the house.

"What is this place?" Noah asked.

"Somewhere very lonely if you've been alone here for fifteen years," I said sadly.

"You mean-"

"Jaylon." I nodded. "But we're changing that. We're reuniting everyone, and we will find his family."

"Poor guy," Noah said. I nodded, then lead the way to the front of the house. On the beauteous front porch, in front of the grand doors, I stopped.

"So, are you going in?" Danielle asked. I glanced at her, standing behind me still looking rather sulky, and nodded.

I put my hand on the door handle and turned, but it was locked.

"What, lover boy didn't give you a key?" Danielle laughed a humourless laugh. I shot her a cold look, and Noah didn't seem too impressed either.

"Dan, could you be nice, please?" he snapped.

I pulled my hand away from the door handle and looked up at it. Maybe there was some magical way to unlock it or... I pushed my hand to the hard, smooth wood of the door, one of the few parts without any engravings or patterns etched into the wood.

There was a familiar click, a click almost exactly like the ones the doors to the chambers made, and the door swung open.

"How impressive" Danielle said sarcastically, striding in through the door.

"Ignore her, she's just in a constant bad mood," Noah said apologetically.

"Don't worry, I think some of the stuff here could change that." I tried for a hopeful smile but it must have been more of a grimace because if anything Noah's expression just got more sympathetic.

"This garden is huge," Charlie's voice said loudly, excitedly, as he came up the steps with Andrew. "How many floors is the house?"

"Six," I answered, smiling at my brother. It was amazing to see him so happy, especially since he'd been through some really tough things. "And it takes about a minute to get lost. Trust me, I spent my first couple of weeks of my time here just wandering around without any idea where I was or even what direction I was headed."

"So where are our rooms?" Andrew asked curiously. I stopped where I was, realizing that I didn't actually know which of the twelve sections were for which family. I only knew where the Henwood section was, which I currently was still living in, and the Sylvester section, which I'd been slowly scouring through, seeing if I could find anything interesting that belonged to my ancestors.

"We should wit for Jayden and Thalia before we do any of that," I decided. "I don't think they'll be too long..." I glanced up at the grandfather clock that stood in this hallway and saw that it was already past eleven o'clock.

"So what are we supposed to do until they get back, stand here and wait?"

"Danielle," Noah said warningly.