As Aeron reached Villa Romana he was again shocked at how authentically Roman everything looked.

The complex consisted of three enormous buildings arranged like the side of a triangle. The buildings were all marble, with marble pillars, arches, and flagstones. They surrounded an amphitheater that was dug into the ground, complete with tiered seats and a firepit. There was also a large outdoor swimming pool, again made of marble. Unsurprisingly, there was a fence around the entire area.

As Aeron reached the main gate, he saw that instead of a keypad, there was simply a large padlock. Shrugging, he pulled out what he had figured to be an apartment key. It was worth a shot.

When he turned the key, the lock fell open in his hands. With a triumphant grin, he pulled open the gate. Suddenly, his spirits fell, as he realized that if it opened the main gate, it couldn't an apartment key unless everyone had access to his apartment. That would be super annoying.

He went in any way, figuring that there might be a caretaker or manager for the apartments who could look him up and give him a key.

Not sure where to start, he elected to go and search the nearest apartment building. At the first door, he stopped, surprised. Directly to the left of the door handle, there was a very modern handprint scanner and LED screen. Centered above the door, there was a small brass nameplate.

He decided to give it a go, figuring that it couldn’t hurt.

Aeron pressed his hand against the scanner, letting it do its work.

When it finished, and he read the screen, he almost fainted from shock.

Aeron Paterson

It surprised him that it recognized him, but the real kicker was the next line:

Apartment Complex Owner

I own an entire apartment complex? How did that happen?

He had been standing there for what felt like hours, though was likely only a few seconds, when the door unlocked with a sudden snick, startling him out of his reverie. He stepped through the door and, for the second time that day, his jaw dropped.

Inside, the apartments were a lot homier and comfortable than they looked from the outside. There was a full kitchen on the left, a staircase to the right that led up to a terrace that went all the way around the interior of the apartment. Straight ahead, there was an entertainment center, completely stocked, with an Xbox One X, PlayStation, Wii U and Nintendo Switch. There was a sixty-inch plasma screen attached to the wall, along with a couple of VR sets. There were over a hundred games sitting in a rack beside the consoles The center of the room was taken up by a pool table, an air hockey table, a ping pong table and a foosball table. On the wall opposite the screen, there was a pair of dart boards.

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In a room adjourning the entertainment center, there was a small study, where a mahogany desk took up about half the space. Sitting on top of the desk was a very nice computer.

Heading upstairs, he noticed that the walls upstairs were lined with empty bookcases and that there was enough shelf room to fit a small library.

Going to have to fill those up, he thought as he headed towards the nearest door.

The door led to the bedroom, which was just as magnificent as the rest of the apartment. There was a king sized bed, several paintings adorned the walls; all told they were probably worth a couple million, as long as he found the right person to sell them to.

Leaving the bedroom for now, Aeron went over to the next door. It opened up to show the main bathroom. The bathroom had a Jacuzzi hot tub, two separate sinks, and a two-person shower.

Exiting the bathroom, he went towards the third door, which was actually a pair of french doors that led out onto a balcony that encircled the entire building. As far as he could tell, the only way to access it without climbing was through the apartments.

Leaving the balcony, he headed over to the fourth and final door on the top level. Opening the door, he found an office, in pristine condition, that had a rather large oaken desk in the middle of it. Behind the desk, there were three large metal filing cabinets pressed against the wall. There were also several papers scattered across the desk, the first sign he’d seen of previous occupation.

Seating himself behind the desk Aeron started to look through the papers. There were several papers concerning his apparent enrollment in Bart’s School for Unusually Gifted Teens, the school that he had heard about from the security guard at the mall.

There was also a brochure about the school and a one-time key card that got him onto the campus. Why one time only?

In addition, there were a couple of papers detailing his rights as the complex owner. It said that as owner, all the room doors would open for him unless the current resident was in the room. The resident had to give him permission, or be injured so that they can’t open the door on their own, (though it didn't specify how it would be decided that they were sufficiently injured), in order for him to open the door.

In addition, all the other things could operate at his command, including activating the fire pit, turning on the hall lights and sealing the gates during the flooding. What could that mean?

It turned out that there was a concrete wall that could be lifted out of the ground during flooding season, to prevent damage to the property.

Glancing at the clock, he was shocked by how late it was.

He left the office and went straight to the bedroom. He was going to see if there was anything that he could change into, but he immediately just collapsed on the bed.

He wasn’t sure if his eyes closed before he fell asleep, but if they did, it was certainly a very close call.