Lowe and Gray: The Atavistic Box

Chapter Three - The Most Beautiful Lady in the World

JENSEN'S CAR WAS a beautiful black Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III made in 1963. It was once his own that he had retrofitted with all sorts of modernities such as navigation and climate control, however, he lost a bet to Adrian a few years ago - sheerly due to luck on Adrian's side - but the fact it was back in Jensen's possession, was all that mattered. He told Aurora all of this when she asked what car it was. The car talk meant nothing to her - merely a way to make conversation - but she couldn't deny the car was beautiful.

Aurora stared at Jensen as he drove, and plucked up the courage to ask the question that had plagued her mind since the moment she saw him. "Why the sunglasses?"

"Curious little spirit aren't you?"

"You wear them all the time even if you're inside, and even if it's dark. Why?" She pressed.

"I have poor eyesight," Jensen responded simply.

"So wear normal glasses."

"I used to. However, I soon learnt that my eyes seem to be a small insecurity of mine."

"Sunglasses and a suit is an odd combination."

"The suit is the modern gentleman's armour."

Aurora pulled a face. "So where are we going?"

"We can meet with someone who could perhaps give us some answers as to who those men were," Jensen replied. "She's not far from here - just on the outskirts of the city."

"Can I ask you something else?"

"You just did. But, of course."

"Why were you at the house tonight? You saved my life - but how did you know?"

"I was in the area, I wanted to come to visit the house."

"Is that the real reason? Because if you want to visit a house, you knock, you don't burst in throwing it off its hinges," she said, eyebrows raised.

"I'm not going to knock on a dead person's house. Besides, what were you doing there all alone?" Jensen asked.

"I found this," Aurora said and showed him the ripped curtain fabric. "When me and my mum visited the house after the reading of the will. It's morse code, it said come back. So I did. I feel like Adrian wanted me to be at the house tonight. I feel like this was meant to happen."

Jensen didn't respond for a while. "Perhaps so - I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason. But the less you know about this, the better. You're a perfectly normal young lady and after tonight you will resume your perfectly normal life."

"What? I can't go back to a normal life. You can't expect me to forget about all this. This involves my brother! And I've seen magic now! And you and your wand-"

"Sceptre. And it's sorcery, not magic," he corrected. He hated it when his sceptre was mistaken for a wand. He wasn't a Warlock.

"I've seen a world I never even knew existed. You can't expect me to want to forget about it."

"I didn't say you wanted to. I said you should."

Aurora folded her arms. "Well, I don't think I should."

"Your own world is safer. Normal."

"See, I don't think that's where I belong." Jensen cocked his head to the side, but didn't respond. "What else can you do? With sorcery?"

"Lots of things. My discipline means I can manipulate the elements. Fire, water, air, earth. I can also track people. There's other disciplines, other types; mind-reading, teleportation, wall-walking - flashier things. I'm much more..."