The Wishbornes And The Fallen Star

Chapter 6

I just stared at the empty room in front of me. I knew we didn't have much but I can barely see the difference between this empty room and the room that had all our stuff in.
"Bell!", Raynard shouted from the front door, "would you hurry up!". I glanced at the room one more time, then closed the door. Good riddance.
Walter was loading the trunk full of our clothes into the boot, when I stepped out of the front door. Raynard and Irene were already in the car and Helena and Theo were talking to Peppa who was standing on the bottom step. They all turned to look at me.
"Ready to go Clarabell?", asked Helena and gave me that warm smile again. I nodded and smiled back at her. Peppa was her normal self again, looking like she just got out of bed and hates everyone around her. She just looked at me when I passed her.
"Bye Peppa", I said as I walked to the car.
"Finally", she mumbled under her breath. Helena gave her a sharp look and Peppa quickly straightened and said flatly," Yeah Bye".
Walter opened the car door for me. "Thank you Walter", I said while touching him on the arm,"but you don't have to open and close my door every time." Walter smiled at me and then looked at Helena and Theo. Helena touched my shoulder and smiled before saying, "Certain things are going to change in your life now Clarabell. It's Walters job to open and close our doors". Before I could say anything Raynard yelled from inside,"Bell would you just get in the car please!".
"Raynard can you just relax for a few second?", I said as I got into the car.
***
After about an hours drive we turned onto a road that lead into the Hermidale mountains and forest. It was so beautiful here that I couldn't take my eyes of the passing trees, scared that I might miss something if I blink. Here and there you would see a small stream trickling down some rocks and I could have sworn I saw a red fox drinking water from one of them. A few minutes later we started to drive along a very tall fence, made of black metal, with vines of all different sorts of plants intertwined in between it. On the other side of the fence, the forest continued. We finally came to a stop in front of a huge gate. It must have been at least 50 feet tall. In the middle of the gate was a symbol of a bear with a 'W' above its head.
The gate groaned as it opened and on the other side there was a road that lead into the forest. We drove for about a minute before we saw it. A three story, light brown castle appeared as we drove out of the forest. Not your typical big Cinderella castle, but you could clearly see that it was old - not the bad old, like the vintage old looking castle- with a fountain in the middle and the drive way curving around it. It looked like something out of a fairytale.
Raynard leaned towards me and whispered,"I didn't think old money meant this type of old money". I looked at him with big eyes, still taking in everything.
"That's where you live?", asked Irene with her mouth practically open. Helena smiled at us and said,"Kinders, Welcome to Wishborne Manor". Manor? This looked much more like a small castle than a manor.
We came to a stop in front of stairs leading up to this massive wooden door that had carvings of two bears on them. A man and woman were standing at the bottom of the stairs. The man looked like a ginger Santa Clause - just a bit thinner - wearing gardening clothes. And the woman - who looked like she was in her late 50s- was wearing a yellow dress and a white apron.
The man walked to the car door and opened it.
"Welcome to Wishborne Manor", said the man in a Scottish accent as he held out a hand to help my sister out of the car. "Wha a pure beaut ye are", said the man as he looked at Irene. He then helped me out of the car. He smelt like pumpkin and cinnamon. "And yer sister is a pur beaut too", he said giving us a smile that made him even look more like Santa. It was just full of joy and so infectious that my face almost started to hurt smiling back at him. And I swear he was so happy that he almost started to dance.
"Ahh, and wha we' got here? A handsum young lad I would say", he said as Raynard got out of the car. Raynard even smiled at him.
"Children this is Angus. Our uhm.... well Angus", said Helena as she looked at Angus and started to laugh.
"Angus does a bit of everything around here. He's our gardener, handyman, security and well the person who looks after the manor and family", said Theo as he patted Angus on the shoulder.
"And this is Miss Murray", said Helena as she held out her hand to the yellow dress woman.
"I've been waiting so long to finally meet you", she said in a British accent, as she walked towards us with open arms but stopped a few inches from Irene. "May I give you a hug?", she asked as she quickly pulled back her arms, as if she was scared she might break us if she hugged us.
"Sure", said Irene as she opened her arms to give Miss Murray a hug. "And how about you poppets?", she said to me and Raynard. "Sure", I said as I went to give her a hug but Raynard stayed back and said, "I'm fine thank you". I gave him a sharp look, but he just turned away and looked at the castle with no expression on his face.
"Miss Murray is our head house keeper", said Helena. "The rest of the staff you will meet later. Didn't want to overwhelm you too much on your first day", said Theo," Walter will carry your things to your rooms while Miss Murray will show you around a bit. Helena and I just have some business we have to attended to, but will join you just before you see your rooms". He then turned to Miss Murray and said,"Miss Murray I leave them in your good hands" and made a little bow before Helena and him went up the front stairs.
"Right children shall we go in", Miss Murray said and she gestured with her hands to the front door.
We all started to walk up the stairs, but something in the window in the right corner caught my eye. I looked towards it and saw a woman peering out of it. We made eye contact for a few seconds before she vanished behind the curtains. Probably one of the staff getting a quick peek at us.
Miss Murray opened the front door and my breath was almost knocked out of me. It looks even bigger inside than what is looks outside. There was a massive staircase at the end of the room leading up to the first floor then another two staircases leading to the second floor. On the left hand side there were two archways leading into other rooms and on the right hand side there was one archway that looked like it lead into a library.
The decor was a modern Victorian style. With dark brown wooden walls, staircases and floors, walls decorates in Victorian elements and modern furniture.
"Right children, where shall we start first?", asked Miss Murray.
****
Miss Murray was walking so quickly we were all speed walking behind her just to keep up. She started with the rooms on the left hand side. The first archway led into the 'down stairs living room' which had a spiral stair case in the left hand corner leading up to the first floor living room, 'Which is mostly used by the family', Miss Murray added, - of course there would be more then one living room. The second archway led into a short passage that turned to the right into a longer passage, lined with 3 doors on the left side, one door and a few windows on the right side and one door at the end of the passage. She showed us the room on the right first, 'The meeting room' - which was this huge room with a big round table in the middle - then she showed us the 'Guest dining room', also a very big room, 'The family dinning room', which was a bit smaller room, and then the third door on the left lead into the kitchen. She just quickly opened the door to show us and then closed it so that people inside wouldn't see us.
"Later for lunch you will meet the head chef Furdolph, who is quite the character", said Miss Murray and she walked to the door at the end of the passage. She paused before she opened it and looked at us.
"And this Children, is our ball room", she said with big eyes and a smile, and opened the door.
"Wow!", said Irene as she entered the ball room with big eyes. Wow indeed! The floors where a soft golden marble, the walls decorated with fine Victorian detail and the roof mimicked the night sky and it almost looked like the painted clouds where floating by. Raynard just stood at the door with arms crossed, chewing on his inner lip again.
"Raynard isn't this beautiful?", I asked as I moved closer to him.
He narrowed his eyes and turned to Miss Murray. "Why would people who own a fabric company own a ball room?", he asked.
"November of each year the Wishborne family holds their annual ball, where they invite multiple investors, fashion designers and clothing store owners around the world. They then hire designers to make gowns from Wishborne fabrics and models to wear them the night of the ball in order to promote the fabrics, it's been a tradition for many years", said Miss Murray.
"Do we also get to go to the ball?", asked Irene trying not to sound too excited. "Well of course. You are considered family now and all family members must attend".
"That's so exciting!", said Irene and squeezed my hand. And I have to say, I even got a little bit excited about that.
"Sounds dreadful", said Raynard as he turned around and continued walking down the passage. "Please excuse my brother Miss Murray, he not always like this", I said as we all walked back into the passage.
"Don't worry about it poppet, I understand all of this might be very overwhelming", she said as she closed the door to the ball room. "Next is the first floor", said Miss Murray as she led the way.
***
The first floor was mostly just guest bedrooms and the first floor living area. Strangely there are no paintings or portraits on the walls? One would think a place this old must at least have its own gallery of paintings and portraits?
We came to a stop in front of the stairs that led to the third floor. To the right of the stair was another archway that led into the library. But before I could ask if we could see the library next Helena and Theo came walking down the stairs.
"Enjoying the tour so far?", asked Helena as she stepped of the last step. Damn she is really gorgeous.
"You have a beautiful house", I said.
"It's huge", said Irene as she throw up her arms in the air. Raynard just stood there looking very annoyed.
Helena and Theo just laughed. "Well now it's yours as well", said Helena as he put a hand on Irenes shoulder and squeezed it. She then bent down a bit and whispered with a smirk, "Want to go see your rooms?".
"Uhm, if it's anything like your guest rooms then hell yes!", said Irene. Helena's smile grew bigger and said, "It's even better", and extended her hand so that Irene can take it. Irene didn't even hesitate before taking Helena's hand. I just looked at them then at Raynard who was also staring at it.
We all started to walk up the stairs but I lingered a bit to peek into the archway that lead into the library. It looks huge. I then felt a hand on my back. "Don't worry, I wanted to save the best for last. After lunch I'll show you around a bit, because it's very easy to lose track of time in there", said Theo. I smiled at him and started to walk upstairs.
At the top of the stair was a closed door to the left and a archway to the right that lead into another passage. I would have to start drawing a map so that I won't get lost in this place.
At the end of the passage, the spiral stair case - that lead from the down stairs living room- ended here. And to our right was another passage. "The first door on our left is Raynards room, the second Clarabells and the third Irenes. The door next to Irenes is Clodoveas room and the door at the very end is our bedroom," said Helena. We all just stood in the passage.     "Where is Clodovea if I might ask?", asked Irene. Good question, why isn't she here?
    "Clodovea is still in school. Their school system works different to yours, but in four weeks time she will be coming home for their September holiday.", said Theo. A different school? Does that mean we'll be going to a different school as well? I haven't even thought about that. I wanted to ask about it but then Helena said, "Well? Go have a look, there's a surprise for each of you as well in your rooms", she said. I'll ask about it later. We started to walk to our rooms.
Raynard Irene and I looked at each other before opening the doors. I opened mine first and heard Irene opening hers after me and finally Raynard opened his.
I just stood in doorway, eyes wide and mouth open. This was almost ten times the size of the room that we lived in at the orphanage. "You are joking right?", I said as I entered the room trying to take in everything. To my right there was a massive bed with bedding that had water painted flowers on them and cushions of different shapes and sizes where scattered over it. And in the very right corner of the room was a book case that stretched from the floor all the way to the roof full of books. To the left was a dresser with five mirrors, all looking in different directions and next to it was a closed door. Beneath the windows on the opposite side of the room was a desk and a very comfy looking couch. On top of the couch sat a wooden box rapped in a bow. As I wanted to walk to the box Irene ran into my room.
"Wow, yours is also big!", she said as she looked around the room. She then looked at the closed doors. "You haven't opened it yet?", she said with surprised as she moved towards the door. "I'm still processing everything Rena", I said as I moved towards the door. "Well open it!", she said and her voice went all pitchy. "Okay, relax", I said as I opened the door.
All you could see is draws and cupboards and empty hangers everywhere you looked. It's a walk in closet!.
"And this isn't the best part", she said as she took my hand and led me deeper into the closet. On the left hand side of the closet was an archway that led into the most beautiful bathroom I have ever seen. It had white marble floors, a huge bathtub and shower and a view of the forest that just took my breath away.
"It's amazing right", said Irene as we both stared at the view. I just nodded slowly. We then heard footstep behind us and turned around to see Raynard walking into the bathroom, with his hands in his pocket.
"Does your room also look like ours?", asked Irene. Raynard just nodded, but he looked concerned about something. "Really? Can I go look?", asked Irene and Raynard smiled at her and nodded his head in the directions of his room. As soon as Irene left he walked closure to me and whispered," Did you also get a gift?".
"Yes but I haven't opened it yet", I said as I walked past him to show him the gift.
"I opened mine", Raynard whispered as he followed me.
"And? Why do you sound so concerned about it? What was it?", I asked as I went to sit on the couch next to the present. "It's a crossbow...", whispered Raynard.
"And? Isn't it what you always wanted?".
"Yes, but how do they know that? I've never mentioned it".
"Well Helena does know that you are into hunting, maybe she thought you were more of a crossbow person than a gun person?", I said as I picked up the box and read the card attached to it.

Welcome to the family Clarabell! Maybe you can fill this house with some colour.

"What did you get?"
"Would you relax? I'm going to open it now". I pulled of the bow and my heart immediately skipped a beat as I read "The Wellington set", that was carved onto the box. "That's impossible!", I said as I opened the box to see paints of all different colours and brushes of all different sizes and shapes. I closed it quickly and looked at Raynard. "Not even Irene knows I wanted this set. I never told anyone because it's ridiculously expensive, and I didn't want you or Irene saving all your money again to buy me something for my birthday".
"See I told you", as he sat next to me.
"But Raynard this can still be a coincidence. I mean it did mention in my file that I love to paint, and The Wellington set is one of the top quality paints and brushes you can get. And look at this place. Everything here is of high quality so it makes sense for them to get it as a gift". Raynard just looked outside of the window and started to chew on the inside of his mouth again.
Irene, Helena and Theo came into the room laughing. How is she just so natural with everyone?
"Ahh I see you found your surprises", said Helena.
"Yes, thank you very much. But I can't except this. It's way to expensive", I said as I got up from the couch still holding the box. "Nonsense", said Helena as she walked towards me," it's our welcoming gift to you." She gave me that warm smile again.
I looked at Irene who just smiled and nodded at me. I sighed and said," Well, thank you very much then, I really appreciate it". Helena's smile just grew bigger.
"Well I think Furdolph is almost done with lunch. Shall we head to the dining room?", said Theo as he put his hands in his pockets.
"Ah Ja, ik heb veel hunger!", said Helena.
"What?", both me and Raynard said.
"It means yes, I'm very hungry", said both Irene and Helena. Raynard and I just looked at Irene.
"How did you know that?", I asked Irene.
"What? While you and Raynard are at work I have to keep myself busy you know", she said but I could see she was lying.