Whatever enchanted object was keeping the place protected, it still had yet to break. Tavin glanced at Muriel. “Can you—“
“Open it?” she guessed, stepping up to place her hand through it. “Isn’t that what I’m here for?” It was a casual remark, though he couldn’t help but think of it as a bit passive-aggressive. Given what Lustris told him earlier, he decided not to mention it and simply assume it the way she likely meant it.
Tavin walked past the fence without any issues. He did stop right in front of the door, though, when a thought crossed his mind. “Would you rather stay here? I know it isn’t exactly…” He didn’t want to risk upsetting her, and some of it was bound to do that if she stumbled upon it.
“It’s fine.” It was hard to tell whether she knew what was in there and decided it wasn’t a problem or didn’t know. After all, he only figured out as much as he did from looking at the trip in hindsight and with the memories of three other people who’d been there. He definitely wouldn’t have realized—or remembered—half the stuff he saw if it weren’t for that.
“Just don’t run off, okay?” He knew it was only a couple of rooms. But that didn’t make what they could find in those rooms any less disturbing. They seemed to be victims similar to Muriel’s experiences.
“You sound like Mom,” she pointed out. “Just because I wandered once doesn’t mean I’m going to do it again. I’ve already figured out there’s nothing interesting here. I came to help you with whatever you’re here for, not because I had my own reason to come back here.”
He hoped what he wanted was still there. It probably was, but he still couldn’t banish the thought of it. He hadn’t been here in eight years; that was more than enough time for someone with even half of Lydia’s sense of adventure to learn about it and take it. That wasn’t considering what it actually did, since he’d never exactly been told and it only now seemed important.
Tavin cautiously opened the door and, after hearing it creak, silently prayed the house wouldn’t fall apart on them.
With the kind of condition it was in, the barrier must not have kept out the weather. The wind and rain could get strong in this part of the plains, and it was only a simple wooden house. With no one to tend to it, it probably hadn’t taken long for it to get in this state. Yet even if its safety was questionable, all of the objects were still in the same places they were in the last time he was here.
Muriel definitely took note of it too, stopping by the entrance to the kitchen to look around. “If Aunt Lydia hadn’t said anything about it, do you think any of us would’ve really noticed?”
“I would’ve, if given enough time,” he responded with a sideways look to the door at the end of the hall.
She came to a bold subject change with her next question. “Is this what the Estate looks like now? Like… like nothing ever happened there to begin with?”
“It’s in much better shape than this place. There’s actually people taking care of it, unlike here where I’m pretty sure we were the last people to be here.”
“Are we looking at the same place? Everything is exactly the same. Last I checked, things don’t stay like that for eight years.” To prove her point, she walked into the kitchen and ran her finger along one of the plates at the table. “Look, there’s not even any dust on it! Can you explain that?”
“Well, believing no one’s been here is better than thinking some random person keeps coming back,” he pointed out. “At least that way we can both walk through here with the idea that we’re completely alone.”
“But why’s everything so neat, even if it is falling apart? It could be a memorial for the people who lived here for all we know.”
“A memorial that also includes the decomposing bodies of the people. That’s definitely normal.”
“I didn’t see anything and I was in every room,” she remarked matter-of-factly.
Tavin held back his own statement, the thing he hadn’t realized until he looked back on it. He knew where those bodies were and he would need to go back there soon enough. He already found himself getting nauseous at the thought of it.
Muriel wasn’t quite done with her argument, though, as she pointed to a hole in the wall. “Look, that wasn’t there when we were here! And it’s not a rundown kind of hole, so don’t tell me it’s just because the house is old!”
He immediately recognized it. “I hate to break it to you, but that doesn’t change anything. Mother did that.”
\.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*./
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While Elena, Lewis, and Muriel were looking through the kitchen, Lydia stopped right at the door. Tavin chose to stay beside her instead of look around, which was something she didn’t notice at first.
“Is this place going to last another ten years..?” she mumbled, putting her hand on the wall. She put too much weight on it, however, and her hand went right through it. “Crap. I’m okay! Just broke the wall!”
“We weren’t worried about you!” Lewis called back. “I mean, you trip over air half the time, so…”
“I can feel the love, I assure you!” was her slightly-annoyed response. She pulled her hand back to her side and mumbled something about if she should try to fix it. It was at that moment that she noticed her son staring up at her.
“What are you doing?” Tavin asked.
It was clear she was trying to think of some vague answer. “I’m checking to make sure this place won’t, you know, fall down.”
“I don’t think you’d let us all wander into a place that might collapse randomly,” he pointed out.
“I didn’t say in the near future,” she replied. Eventually she sighed, “I’ll be honest, I want us to come back later—just the two of us. A couple years from now, preferably, but we can figure that part out when we get there. The only thing is, I need to make sure this place will still be here by then.”
“Why don’t you just… take whatever you’re looking for with us?” He knew he probably shouldn’t be questioning his mother. But he was also very, very confused, and almost wondered if she’d thought about it in the first place. It wouldn’t be the first time she forgot something everyone else would consider common sense.
She looked away when she gave him her answer. “Because then someone’s going to figure something out that they’re not supposed to.”
“Hey, Envi! Can you come over here?” Lewis poked his head out of the kitchen.
Lydia walked over to her brother and, soon enough, the three siblings were having a hushed conversation about something. He heard her say something about a hidden room before something else caught his attention: Muriel lazily peered inside each of the rooms before wandering into the one at the end of the hall.
Tavin gave a glance to the adults before deciding to follow her. He knew he should’ve alerted one of them. But it wasn’t that far, and he didn’t plan on actually stepping in. If any of the three were attempting to watch the kids, then they would notice and stop them both.
“They told us not to go on our own,” he reminded her as he stood in the door. It was a wonder he didn’t question the upturned crib, dark spots, and ominous figures sitting in the window seat.
Muriel didn’t pay attention to her surroundings either. She absently pushed back the crib and began feeling around the floor. “They didn’t tell us not to do anything. They told each other to keep an eye on us. We’re not disobeying them if they’re not doing what they said they would.”
“I don’t think that’s the right way to think of it…” He looked over at the adults, but they were still having their conversation. They didn’t seem to notice anything. A whispered sibling argument, perhaps, by the way Lydia and Lewis were glaring at each other.
When Muriel found a hatch in the floor and lifted it open, she reached over to him and grabbed his arm. “This area feels weird, I want to see what it is. I’m bringing you with me so I can learn who you are. No telling the adults!” That warning really wouldn’t have stopped him if she hadn’t tugged him closer. She even forced him down first and followed with little time for him to try to escape.
The only thing he could see after she closed the hatch was whatever object was in the center; though the only thing he could determine was that it was a vaguely-glowing orb. He realized it was the object Lydia must have been here for.
“We’re not supposed to be here,” he mumbled. He stayed right by the ladder and was ready to leave if she proved to not listen to him.
“You’re right,” Muriel responded brightly. “I don’t really remember things like what adults told me, but I don’t think they mentioned walking into random, dead people’s houses. We aren’t supposed to walk into a random house that belonged to random people. But the taller lady—your mom?—does it anyway. She sets a really bad example. I say we might as well follow her example, right? If she didn’t want us running off then maybe she wouldn’t give us the opportunity to begin with.”
He started to turn around and put his foot on the ladder. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. I’m going back and getting M—“
“What did I tell you? No telling the adults.” She pulled him back down and practically dragged him closer to the center of the room. “All the boys in the village were either interested in bugs, swinging twigs around, or getting dirty. It was kind of annoying, but at least it wasn’t boring.”
“I’m sorry that I’m so boring to you,” he remarked sarcastically.
“Make it up to me by touching this!” She grabbed his hand and forced him closer to the orb.
“What? No!” Tavin resisted as much as he could until a light from the hatch distracted both of them.
Lydia practically jumped down, dropped to her knees in front of him, and pulled him in for a hug. “Tavin, there you are! Never run off again, okay? It’s not safe for you to be down here. There’s things that you aren’t ready for yet, and… I don’t want you getting hurt.” She let go so she could look at him. “You didn’t touch anything, did you?” For the first and only time he could remember, she looked scared. Whatever was here, she really didn’t like the idea of him finding it.
He shook his head. “No.”
“What were you thinking, going down here?”
“I wasn’t going to. Muriel grabbed my hand and dragged me out here.”
She glanced in the girl’s direction, but she must not have liked the expression she got in return. Lydia got up and gently nudged both of them closer to the ladder. “How about you two stay with Aunt Ellie and Uncle Witless outside? I’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”