“What…IS…GOING ON IN HERE?” boomed Lira’s voice with a fury that seemed to rattle the very walls of the room. No one stepped up to answer as Lira made her way to the center to the room with her raven perched on her shoulder, her imposing shadow looming over everyone below here. She then paused as she looked around the room, waiting for an answer.
“Nothing,” said Benjamin suddenly in a rather confident manner. He, to Lucian’s amazement, took a step forward and faced his sister with a head held high and a casual grin. “We were just…talking, before we leave,”
Lira’s raven then let out an ear-piercing caw directed at Benjamin, it was so loud that it forced Lucian and the others to shield his ears with their hands. Benjamin’s own raven Maurice then replied with an equally loud screech as Benjamin looked at Blackfeather as though the bird had said something deeply insulting. Lira then scratched its neck, making it calm down before swiftly turning her attention back to her brother.
“Nothing, eh? Well, one does not simply gather frivolously during a time sensitive operation for NOTHING,” she scolded, yet to Lucian’s awe Benjamin’s posture and expression remained relatively unchanged. Perhaps he was used to Lira’s fury.
“Oh really?” said Lily all of sudden, which made Lira’s head jerk upwards. “And why would this operation be time sensitive? Hmm?” she said boldly taking step towards Lira. “It is not as if going on a holiday to the countryside is something that is of utmost importance? Is it?” she said raising her eyebrow at Lira and shrugging.
Lira paused. She looked Lily with a frown, for she was at a loss for words. Lira looked around the room; she could see all the eyes of the room staring directly at her. She then turned her iron gaze towards Lucian, who shivered and gulped at the sight of her fiery eyes that glared at him with intense suspicion. Lucian tried to avoid direct eye contact, but that only seemed to convince Lira of her assumptions. A wave of shock then seemed to wash over her as she came to the realization Lucian had prayed she would avoid. And it did nothing to sooth her inner temper.
“You,” she said in a voice deeper than any abyss. Lucian saw both the Hatlys grab their foreeads and stagger backwards as though they had both had a sudden headache. She then took a step towards Lucian, only for Benjamin to step in front of her and block her path. Yet it did nothing, for Lira just shoved Benjamin aside with a roughness indicating that she was holding back a more violent approach. Others tried to stop her, but none could. She marched in front of Lucian and grabbed him by the collar with both of her hands. “You FOOL, YOU TOLD THEM? YOU DISCLOSED THE SECRETS I TOLD YOU TO PROTECT. YOU UTTER IMEBCILE! YOU…” she shouted as she shook Lucian violently by the collar. But before she could do anything worse Willow stepped in, she grabbed Lira’s and pried Lucian from her grip, she then pushed Lira back with her hand. Charles then held out his hand and twisted his palm. One of the rose-colored curtains in Luin’s bed then reached out and wrapped Lira’s arm. Try as she might, Lira couldn’t free herself.
“Don’t you dare blame him! You all were the ones who were planning to hide life-threatening secrets from us. Did you really think we’d not find out?” said Willow. Lira snarled. “You cannot fathom what you have just done. How you have compromised the future! And you!” she said staring directly at Willow as she tugged away at the curtain wrapped around her arm. “You of all should know, you should’ve seen what is to come and why all the secrecy was of such great importance!”
“It’s rather funny then,” Willow snapped back. “Because neither I nor my brother have seen any vision that justifies your lies!”
Lira stopped tugging. Her face riddled with confusion. “What? That can’t be! Who did you see?”
“Neither my father nor my aunt can perceive any future that Charles and I are part of. Hence, they cannot see what we and by extension, what everyone here will do! So how do they know?”
Lira then closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “Who did you see?” she asked in a much more subdued tone. Willow looked confused, “I saw all of us, and we were all fine. In every future we saw where the calamity came we all get to out safely!”
“And who did you see in the Mirror specifically?” Lira asked again. Willow then stared at her with a bewildered expression. He then turned to Charles, who looked equally clueless. Lira sighed again. Charles then put this hand down, making the curtain unravel and let go of Lira’s arm. Lucian looked at Willow with a look of concern.
“What does that mean?” he thought. “You only yourself, didn’t you?” said Lira whilst rubbing her shoulder. Willow looked like she was at a loss for words as all eyes now feel on her. However, neither she nor Charles would back down without a fight.
“Well that’s not fair!” Charles argued. “Of course we can’t see anyone else. Willow and I can’t perceive each other’s futures. That is why we cannot see how we get to the Mirror, we only know that we do get to it!”
“So what? All this time we’ve been putting our faith in a flawed vision?” asked Joe suddenly. Charles turned to him, now slightly nervous. “It’s…not like that! If Willow or I make it out. Surely that means we all do, right?”
“And that’s only if this so called catastrophe even happens!” Willow added. “That is what we put our faith in! In all the visions, we saw the chance of any outside attack was minimal, miniscule even! Our parents just trumped it up to be something bigger than it for the sake of the safety of the Houses!”
The room went silent. “Well your parents are right to worry,” Lira remarked. “To the Great Houses even a small threat cannot be treated lightly!”
“Oh stop it, sister!” Benjamin shouted whilst rubbing his palm against his face. Lira looked over to her brother with a look of confusion. “What did you say?”
“I said stop it, you spout that Gratousy rhetoric every time there is even a slight problem. And through it you’ve become nothing more than a puppet soldier to your own family,” he said raising his voice out of frustration.
“Well this ‘rhetoric’ is what has been keeping us all alive!” said Lira. “The only thing keeping us all safe from things we cannot come back from,”
“Well I want my sister back!” Benjamin said with a look of desperation. For the first time, Lucian saw Lira’s disciplined demeanor falter. “We cannot live in fear of off chances! And you cannot expect us to!” Benjamin continued. He then stopped and breathed heavily, waiting for Lira’s response.
“I am your sister,” said Lira softly, her face trapped in a state of shock and disbelief. Benjamin gave Lira a somber look.
There was moment of silence. “I think it’s time we take our leave,” said Willow looking around the room. “What we came to discuss has been discussed, there is no point in staying here any longer,”
“She’s right,” said Arthur. “Whatever is left to say can be said on the trains, I say it’s best not to push our luck,”
Several people in the room nodded. And as he turned towards he door he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Some thing that came from the window, he turned around saw a light shining through the glass. A light that seemed to get brighter and brighter every passing second. He glanced towards Laura, who seemed to hear his thoughts as she too then glanced back at him. Charlotte then turned towards both of them.
Suddenly, the attention of both Hatlys were diverted by something from the other side of the room. Lucian looked over and saw that they were looking at Joe, who himself was staring at the door.
“Does he hear something?” Lucian thought and Laura shrugged in response.
“I suggest you all go ahead, I have something I wish to say to the guard outside,”
Lucian looked at Lira, confused. Moreover, it was clear that everyone else in the room shared that feeling for what followed was a wave of subdued chatter and confused glancing. “What guard?” asked Alice. Lira looked at Alice, puzzled. Lucian suddenly felt a strange yet familiar sense of uneasiness creep up his spine.
Meanwhile, in the street outside the house. Henry found himself standing by the door, looking at a window on the second floor with only the visibility granted by the street lamps and the faint glow of the moon near the horizon, hoping to see a glimpse of someone walking by, preferably someone on their way downstairs.
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“Why is it taking so long? I thought Lira would be more effective than this!” he said impatiently. “Just wait, dear. Perhaps they are on their way down at this very moment. Besides, we have time,” said Janice, who was instructing the twins to get into the car.
“Where is Lu?” asked Lidian, refusing to climb into the car. “He’ll be along shortly, dear,” said Janice hastily. Lidian huffed in angrily. “But he told me he’d be here! I can’t sit next to Lucy!”
“How manly indeed,” Lucy scoffed sarcastically. Lidian turned around, frowned and then stuck his tongue out at his twin sister mockingly, to which Lucy gasped as though she had been greatly insulted. Janice closed her eyes and pinched her nose with her hand before sighing.
“But that’s just it, we don’t have time! Eustice’s predictions could happen any minute now!” said Henry impatiently.
“Don’t you dare doubt my daughter, Henry!” said Leonard who stood by the car to Henry’s right, instructing the driver as he loaded his luggage. “Her sharp gaze is bound to get them all to fall in line. For Moor’s sake, it even scares me sometimes!”
“I don’t doubt your daughter’s…persuasiveness, Leonard. But as you can see we are running out of time!”
“Then maybe you can make our leave swifter by helping me!” said David, who was by the front door. He had one of his hands wrapped around Wren’s shoulder. “Father is not getting any faster!”
Henry sighed; he then went over to his brother and wrapped his hand around Wren’s shoulder. Wren seemed to be too busy looking around the road, bewildered and clueless. It was as if he was walking on another planet. “Where are we?” he asked.
“We are still on Allison Street, father,” said Henry loudly so Wren could hear. “We’re taking a little trip over to the country,”
Wren looked around the road, confused. “Allison’s Street? Don’t be daft!” said Wren in a rather offended manner. “This looks nothing like Allison Street! All the street lamps are the wrong shape and all the houses are the wrong color! No, we are definitely somewhere else entirely,”
Henry groaned. David rolled his eyes smugly. “It seems you’ve forgotten to tell him about the renovations you made,” he whispered jokingly. Henry frowned.
As the brother got their father down the steps and onto the sidewalk Henry once again looked up at the window and still he saw nothing. “And why are we going to the Baronies, eh?” said Wren. “You running from something, son?”
Wren then turned to David. “David, what has your brother done this time? Come on now, don’t protect him! No son of a Baron runs from danger!”
Henry groaned again but it seemed as though Janice had noticed his discomfort. For she quickly walked over and took Wren’s shoulder from Henry’s and onto hers. “I think I’ll handle it, dear,” she said cheerfully. Henry gave Janice and relived and grateful smile before walking over to the middle of the road where most of the Gratousy and the other soldiers had gathered to wait. They were all talking to Jeanette, perhaps the only member of the Great Houses who could truly understand them. He leaned on the door of one of the passenger cars, which were parked in a rather unorganized manner behind a row of neatly parked protection vehicles running from one side of the road to the other. He watched as Jeanette and the other guards conversed. He could see them smile and laugh. He wished he knew the subject of their conversation. Surely, it was something more lighthearted than the things that burdened his own mind.
“Pondering something?” said a voice to his left. Its soft and ominous nature almost startled Henry. He turned and saw Marilyn leaning against the car alongside him. Marilyn chuckled at Henry’s surprised look. “It appears as though some things never change,”
“It appears they never do,” said Henry rolling his eyes as he turned back to the men.
“Is it about the children?” Marilyn pried further. “Cause I feel too feel it is quite strange, all of them excusing themselves at once,”
“Well it is to be expected. They know nothing about what’s happening here,”
“Lidian!” Henry then heard Janice shout from behind him. He turned around and saw Lidian run up the stairs and through the front door. “Come back here, Lid” he then heard Lucy shout. Lidian stuck his tongue out at this sister one more time before disappearing into the house.
“Hmm, interesting,” muttered Marilyn. She then immediately went back to their previous topic of discussion without a second thought. “But I do say our children’s antics are much milder compared to what we used to do, eh?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Henry. He then sniggered to himself as he recalled memories from his childhood. “Really now? Tell me, how many times did you and David try to run away from this street under your father’s nose, hmm?”
“That was different matter entirely!” Henry said quickly as he glanced over at the house. “I didn’t want to leave home for the world outside; I wanted to leave home because of what was in it,”
“And you think Lucian doesn’t feel the same way?”
“He has his sisters and his brother AND his cousin. I only had David. It’s quite a big difference,” Henry replied swiftly. He knew Marilyn would not stop prying. Trying to find certain memories Henry did not wish to relive. “So tell me, at the dinner. What made you and Eustice believe that this threat is coming sooner than expected?”
“I don’t know,” said Marilyn with a shrug. “It wasn’t very clear earlier; even with our utmost concentration we could see only glimpses of smoke and the masks of Hunters. But suddenly during dinner it all became rather clear, all the alternate situations went away. It is quite odd,” she said whilst pondering. “But then again, even I do not fully comprehend the nature of how the future decides to reveal itself,”
“Perhaps it was because we are so close to it, perhaps there are no more choices left to make,” Henry suggested.
“Perhaps indeed,” Marilyn replied. “Although the possibility of it not happening at all is still very present. There is no possible way the Order could’ve found this house.”
Henry took deep breath. “Here’s hoping that that is the fate the future decides to bestow upon us,”
Just then, Meredith and Harold came walking up to him. “The men have finished prepping all the cars. The little ones are all inside. All we need are the missing passengers,” said Harold raising his eyebrow at Henry.
“They will be along…any time now,” said Henry glancing away becoming more frustrated by the second.
There was moment “Although I have noticed a rather strange string of odd behavior ever since we arrived here,” said Meredith.
“What sort of odd behavior?” asked Marilyn. “From the children, I mean,” replied Meredith. “I noticed it first when Henry, the others and I returned from our jaunt over to the Great Hall this morning. Henry’s son along with your niece and Carlyle’s daughters were all awake in the living room. They were even having tea if I recall correctly,”
Meredith stopped speaking and Marilyn blinked, as though she had expected something more. “Is that all? Some early morning tea party?”
“Perhaps they were all consoling him about his initiation. After all, we did far rowdier things back in our days,” Harold suggested.
Marilyn laughed. She seemed to be reminded of a particular instance of rowdiness. Henry may not have been a mind reader but he could tell which specific instance she was had thought of. For it appeared clearly in his own mind, the day before Harold’s initiation. He recalled him and Leonard stealing a bottle of absinthe from the old Baron Venshire’s cellar. He remembered becoming blind drunk along with everyone else inside the attic of Venshire Manor. He also recalled never taking another sip of absinthe ever since that day.
“I suppose, but stranger still was how they all seemed to lurk around Henry’s study whilst we were discussing that strange letter he received,” Meredith continued.
“You mean that encoded piece of paper? Why would the children be interested in that? Even we can’t read it!” said Harold.
“I do not know, frankly I don’t know whether it was the letter they were after. But now, combined with their collective absence here. I cannot say it is not somewhat strange,”
“Oh it is probably nothing! I would wager they were trying to pull some kind of joke on you all this morning. I’d even wager it was Willow’s idea. After all, neither she nor Charles is as fidgety as their father!” said Marilyn, she lower her volume during the last part of her sentence as she shot a glance at her brother. “And besides, she has the Morrow sense of humor! They both do!” she said in an almost proud voice. Henry rolled his eyes, for he did not think of such a thing as a compliment.
Just then, Amos Angelmore come walking towards them, his hand point towards the road ahead of them. “Did you send for any extra transport, Demon?” he said in his rough and confused voice. Henry raised his eyebrow at him. “No I did not. Why do you ask? Is the luggage too much for the ones we have?”
“Don’t try to be funny now! I hear the sound of wheels in the distance. And they appear to be getting louder,” he said looking back into the road behind him. Henry felt the small ball of dread bubble up inside him. “How far away are these disturbances?” asked Harold. “Three hundred meters at the farthest, and closing as we speak,”
Meredith gave Henry a worried glare. Upon hearing Amos’ words, Henry’s initial dread grew exponentially and reached its climax when he saw lights appear in the distance, large glowing white dots on a slowly darkening sky. Henry watched, as the lights grew larger and larger. Once they were close, enough he could see that they were indeed vehicles, black cars with silver trimmings. There were about five of them, and they came to a sudden halt less than fifty feet away from Henry and the others.
The soldiers standing next to Henry immediately leapt into action. They assumed defensive positions whilst standing behind the row of protection vehicles. They pointed their guns at the strange cars, from whom no soul stepped out. Henry narrowed his eyes at the plates displayed at the front of the car. He could see that they were blank, just plain white with no letters or numbers.
Suddenly, the door to the passenger’s side seat in one of the cars swung open. Moments later, all the doors of all the cars all opened in a desynchronized pattern. From the cars emerged men wearing black cloaks, their faces obscured by large black top hats that blended into the dim atmosphere.
“STAND FIRM AND READY!” he heard Jeanette shout from behind him. Henry stood behind the nearest car as Carlyle walked up to him, a look of worry stricken across his face. “Can you see into their thoughts?” Henry asked. “Indeed I can, and all I see is conviction and disdain,”
Henry gulped as he turned his attention back towards the strangers. They too took positions behind their vehicles, which were parked like a front facing wall of steel. “Do you sense any fear in them?” he asked. Carlyle titled his head and raised his eyebrow. “I do, in some of them. But it is buried deep within their minds. That means they are trained and disciplined,”
Such words did not ease Henry in the slightest; he took a deep breath and sighed. He then saw the one of the strangers tilt his head. Which revealed a white mask that covered his face.
A mask shaped like the face of an angel.