New World

11 | Blackthorn Manor

The next afternoon, Livvy, Ty, Kit and Lila left for Blackthorn Hall. As they stood before the manor home, Livvy said, "We should have brought Dru. This is every horror-movie fantasy she's ever had come true."

Blackthorn Hall turned out to be in a suburb of London not far from the Thames River. The area around it was ordinary: redbrick houses, bus stops plastered with movie posters, kids riding by on bikes. After days stuck in the Institute, even the foreignness of London felt like waking up to reality after a dream.

Blackthorn Hall was glamoured, which meant that mundanes couldn't see it. Kit had a sort of double vision when he glanced at it for the first time: He could see a pleasant but dull-looking private park, a massive house with very tall walls and gates, its stones blackened by years of rain and neglect.

He squinted hard. The park vanished, and only the house remained. It loomed overhead. It looked to Kit a little like a Greek temple, with columns holding up an arched portico in front of a set of double doors, massive and made of the same metal as the fence that ran all the way around the property. It was high, tipped with sharp points; the only entrance was a gate, which Ty had made short work of with one of his runes.

"What's that one mean?" Kit had asked, pointing, as the gate creaked open with a puff of rust.

Ty looked at him. "Open."

"I was going to guess that," Kit muttered as they headed inside. Now within the property, he gazed around in wonder. The gardens might have fallen into disrepair now, but you could see where there had been rose arbors, and marble balustrades holding up massive stone jugs spilling flowers and weeds. There were wildflowers everywhere—it was beautiful in its own odd, ruined way.

The house was like a small castle, the circlet of thorns that Kit recognized as the Blackthorn family symbol stamped into the metal front doors and onto the tops of the columns.

"It looks haunted," said Livvy as they walked up the steps. "There used to be a whole collection of Greek and Roman playwrites and poets here. Uncle Arthur had nearly all of them shipped off to the L.A. Institute," she said when she saw Kit looking at the pond where the statues were.

"They're creepy," Lila said, "I can't stand them."

"The open rune's not working," Said Ty, standing from where he'd been kneeling to unlock the door. "We'll have to figure another way in."

"Smash a window?" Lila suggested, looking up at the building.

Ty pushed past Livvy and Kit, Lila standing looking through one of the filthy windows round the side, Ty going up the steps.

"Maybe there's a way in through the back?" Livvy said.

"What about this door?" Kit pointed.

"What door?" Ty send.

"Have you found a way to get in?" Asked Lila, appearing from the back of the house. She walked over to them.

"Here," Said Kit, "Don't you see it?"

"I see it now," Livvy said, "but I swear it wasn't there a second ago..."

"Maybe it's a double glamour?" Ty suggested. He stepped up beside Kit. His hood was up, making him look even paler amongst his black hair and black hoodie. "But why would Kit be able to see it?" Ty asked.