When We Spirits Awaken

Chapter 3: Unexpected Introduction

Once the door clicked and I could no longer hear Emily's light feet across the floor I jumped off the bed and took my own little tour around my new room.

I headed over to the book case first. As I scanned the spines of each book on the first three shelves, I let out a little laugh. All of them were novels of fantasy and fairy tales. My mother must have put them there as a joke, but I also found each title a little more intriguing than the last. It was a good thing she had gotten so many; otherwise I would have made quick work of them. The bottom shelves held books pertaining to certain things of this world my mother knew I took an interest to; nature and animals, art, history, she even had added some Shakespeare and Jane Austen to the mix.

There was one shelf in the middle of the case that had been left empty and I knew exactly why. Before I could look around the room, Shade was sitting with the bag of books I had brought dangling from his mouth. I rubbed his head and took the bag from him, emptying it and putting all the books from home onto the shelf.

I liked how they sat, on the top and bottom of the case held stories of this world with modern day covers, while the middle shelf held ancient looking books. They all had fine pages that had darkened over the years, and  most of them were larger than the usual novel of this world with covers bound by leather and decorated in the script and style of Vandour, some even held jewels or precious stones within the covers.

After admiring the book shelf for a moment more I continued to search my room.

When I walked into the closet, I had to admit, I was impressed. My mother knew my taste, and Emily had done a great job adding to the collection. I doubted I would ever have to wear the same thing twice, but I already found myself moving my favourite pieces to the front of their individual sections.

I began to do the same with all the footwear and continued throughout the closet. Once I finished rearranging the closet to my liking I did as Emily had planned and brought all the make-up into the bathroom; it took me several trips to do so. I didn't understand why I needed all this, my mother was right about me rarely putting the stuff on, I doubted I would ever use most of it.

 Just as I had done with my closet, I began to shuffle the drawers around and put everything away so it was neat and organized.

As I closed the last drawer in the bathroom I caught a glance of myself in the mirror. I leaned against the counter by the sink and looked closer at the young lady I saw in the reflection. There was no question I was my mother's daughter, I looked exactly like her. She was beautiful, so I suppose that meant I was too.

My long, dark brown hair fell down my back and over my left shoulder with it's natural waves, my eyes were a piercing emerald green and my skin was like that of a porcelain doll; smooth, clean and very pale except for the light colour in my cheeks. I was slim and stood at about five foot seven inches, my full lips were a soft red and my eyes were framed by naturally long, black lashes. I smiled, this was the first time I actually considered that I was beautiful and it seemed to be true.

My smile held as I gave my hair a quick brush before walking into my closet to change. Once I had folded my pyjamas and put them with the rest of my sleepwear I debated with myself as to what I was going to wear today; I had never had such an array to choose from.

When I finally came out of my closet I was in a pair of black skinny jeans and a comfy but fitted, grey T-shirt with a V-neck and a pair of black flats.

Before heading down stairs I decided I would make my bed, there was just one problem; it was currently occupied by a giant black dog.

I crossed my arms and smiled. The bed was large but Shade made it look like it was supposed to be a dog bed, when he spread out, his entire body took it up. He rested his head on my pillows and his back paws hung over the foot of the bed frame, he really was huge, and I still could not get over it. I could tell by the way his tail wagged that he was not actually asleep; he was just enjoying the comfort of the bed. I let out a dramatic sigh and he lifted his big head.