The Inventor from Velothain

The Study

“I’m home!” Florence yelled, closing the door behind her. When no one answered, she threw her bag to the side and looked around the house.
“Edgar! Uncle Jasper!” She called again. “Anyone still alive?”
She trudged upstairs, in to her quarters to see her brother curled up on his bed. He had a darkened look on his face.
“Edgar, are you alright?” Florence asked. “What did I miss when I was gone?”
Edgar let out a pained, sad groan.
“Edgar, I already know that you were faking your illness, you can stop now.”
“No, its not that.” He sat up and faced Florence. “Uncle Jasper already sniffed me out.”
“Then, what’s going on? Why do you sound like a dying cow?” She sat down next to him.
“Well what do you want first; the depressing news or the crappy news?”
“The depressing news?”
“Percy isn’t getting his voice back.” Edgar said simply.
“Oh, so he…and she…oh Edgar.”
“Yeah, it gets worse.”
“How could it possibly get worse?”
“You haven’t heard the crappy news yet.” Edgar sighed. “Well, you know our parents?”
“Well yes, we’ve known them for sixteen years.”
“Could you tone down the sarcasm for five minutes?”
“Fine go ahead.”
“We’re here because our parents didn’t want us.”
“Edgar, that’s not true. If they didn’t want us, then they would’ve gotten rid of us years ago.”
“Clearly, that’s not the case. Because social services decided that we were being ‘neglected’ so they decided to put us here.”
“That’s not how it works, they don’t just ‘decide’ to bring us here.” Florence corrected. “It takes a real reason for us to be taken from our family.”
“There was; neglect.” Edgar replied.
“But there’s no way that- “ Florence stopped.
“There’s no way, what?”
“Well, how could we have been neglected? I mean, we were fed right?”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean our parents were marvellous people. I think I smelt a rat when they took us out of school to ‘home school us’”
“They did for a while, right?” The twins sat silently for a moment. They were in complete disbelief. All sorts of questions were racing through their head: why did their parents give them up? Why did they bring them here? And why now?
“Uncle Jasper wouldn’t tell me about the situation. I yelled at him a little.” Edgar replied.
“Well what do we do now?” Florence asked.
“We have nothing to do with mum and dad. Jasper is our family now.”
“That sounds a little harsh.” Florence said, arching her brow.
“Kids!” Jasper called from behind the door. “I need to nip out for five or ten minutes. I’ll be right back”
“You know what this means?” Florence had a sly look on her face.
“Oh no.” Edgar knew exactly what she meant.

******

“So, remind me again, what the code word is again.” Edgar asked.
“When you see Uncle Jasper come in, you say ‘the dark magician’.” Florence replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Alright and what do I do if he comes up into the study?”
“Try to keep him away from the study, just talk to him about your novel or something.”
“Fine.” Edgar muttered as he trudged down the stairs.
“Thanks Eddie!” She called as sweetly as she could.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Florence crept into Uncle Jasper’s dusty study. It felt as though she had stepped back in time. The house may have been old and Victorian, but the study looked as though it hadn’t been touched for decades. What was it with this guy and doing a bit of spring cleaning? It was still magnificent nonetheless, there were bookshelves that covered the entire wall, huge wine-coloured armchairs and a dark wooden desk at the far corner.
The desk had a quill and ink and a leather journal. There didn’t seem to be anything of importance, Florence checked the draws. A few letters and ripped pieces of paper were packed inside. She rummaged inside in the hopes of finding something that related to her parents.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, Florence noticed something. It was a letter in a golden envelope with a wax seal. It looked like it had been opened, she picked it up. On the front the address read:

Jasper Swan
Rose Manor, Sunshine Country Road
England

Florence knew she was being nosy, but that was the fun of it. Life would be too boring if she just knew what she was told, she needed to find things out for herself, even if it meant poking her nose in places she shouldn’t be.
Florence opened the letter. The paper was a dirty yellow with burnt edges. It looked like when Florence and Edgar tea stained paper when they were younger.

Jasper
Now, I know you’re quite annoyed with me. I totally understand why, but just listen to me.
At the moment, you and I are the most important people in the universes without anyone else knowing, isn’t that exciting!?
Regardless, I just want you to know that I will miss you. I mean this must be the first time in thirty years that we’re apart. Even if it is for important business, its still sad that we don’t get to see each other anymore. But even so, I’m sure we can still write, right? Please don’t be angry at me.”
I love you.

Florence smiled sadly. She may not have found anything about her parents, but she found something that was just as good.
Who are they?  She asked herself, with an excited look on her face. Despite knowing her uncle for a week, she knew nothing about him, apart from that fact he had a lot of secrets, but that wasn’t really a life changing fact.
As she searched the draw, she noticed the same type of letter, as she looked through, she saw that they all were saying the same thing.
Who was this person? Were they a lover? A friend? A sibling? Was it her dad? Maybe that was the reason that her and Edgar hadn’t met Uncle Jasper until a few days ago.
Her questions were cut short. When she heard her brother yell from downstairs.
“Dark Magician! I repeat, Dark Magician.”