The land of the fey

Chapter Three:

When Emma saw her mothers face she sighed in relief. "You took your time." She said with a glare. She knew she wasn't being entirely fair but her anger had to be taken out on someone. Kathy plonked herself down onto the porch stairs.

"How lovely of you to grace me with your kind words." Emma knew her mum was being sarcastic, how could she not? Instead of replying she huffed and took the keys from Kathy's hand.

Once inside they both gasped, the first floor was open plan. Each room- dining room, living room, and kitchen- flowed into the other nicely. Dark wooden floorboards lined the ground with a dozen unopened boxes lying on top. The odd thing was the spiral staircase. In these sorts of houses you expected original grand staircases not spiral ones. Then she realised why. The previous owners had been the artsy-sort. Proof was lined on the walls. Bizarre wallpaper covered the walls, each one had a new appearance.

The first wallpaper was an elegant design of swirls, the second was a pattern of leaves, the third was floral, and the fourth was of baby kittens.

Emma choked back a laugh. "The previous owner had some serious style, I mean, wow. I especially like the baby kittens wallpaper." Her mum snickered.

"I love it so much I think I may have to tear it off myself." They laughed together openly until Emma realised what she was doing and immediately sobered.

"I'm going to go pick my room." She said seriously and headed up the spiral staircase. Kathy smiled sadly up at her daughter.

They usually got along perfectly fine and she meant it when she said she hated fighting.

Emma frowned to herself as she climbed the staircase. Though she found the staircase out of place she found the strange grandeur of it likeable. She wasn't frowning about the staircase, she was frowning about her mum. Emma hated to give in and she thought that laughing and joking was a sign of it.

No, she told herself firmly, you will not give in to your mother.

Then she straightened her facial features so she simply looked expressionless, bored even. The house had three bedrooms and she found none of them to be to her liking. So she explored further until she discovered the attic. She liked the attic, this was because it meant that she could be further away from her mother.