the royal family of the music industry

01. drivers license (prologue)

Olivia wants to ask what people he means, but he interrupts her.
"Do you want to listen to 1989?"
And who would Olivia be if she said no to that.

***

It's about 7 pm when the Range Rover comes to a halt on a small parking lot stuffed with many other expensive black cars and even a few limousines.

The rain still hasn't died down and is pouring relentlessly down from the dark sky, creating puddles on the gravel floor of the parking lot. The sun is long gone and probably close to setting right now, behind the wall of grey that is the clouds.
But since it's not night yet Olivia is still able to make out the trees surrounding them and the little path that is leading right into them from the stone plaster of the parking lot.

James turns off the engine and opens the car door, before immediately scrunching his nose in disgust.
"I hate rain." He says, his tone extremely annoyed but he steps out of the vehicle anyway throwing a
"wait here." to Olivia. She does as told and leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and tries to see more of her surroundings. Apparently, it's only two or three rows of tress until the forest ends, but it's too dark to see anything behind them.

James opens the back door and grabs something from the back seats. Then he shuts the door and opens the umbrella before rushing to Olivia's door and opening it for her.

"Voilà madame." He says in a horrible French accent before extending a hand to Olivia to help her out of the car and immediately shielding her from the rain with the umbrella.

„Thanks." She mumbles, her eyes glued to a spot between the trees. All around the parking lot seems to be just woods, except for the road they were coming from. They have been driving at least two hours only over country roads surrounded by fields and forests, maybe some farmer houses or really small villages on their way. So they're literally in the middle of nowhere here.

"Shall we?" James asks and holds an arm out to Olivia.

They walk the path in silence while Olivias head is overloaded with questions that scream at her, that try to be the loudest one the best the first one spoken out loud, the first one being asked.

"What is this place?" Olivia finds herself asking and James nods into the direction they are going.

"Add another a. It's not only a place, it's a palace." James answers smiling.

They walk past the last big tree that's blocking their view and Olivia's jaw drops to the floor.

In front of them is, just as James said, a palace. It's in the valley beneath the hill they are standing on, surrounded by forrest for as long as Olivia can see in the half-darkness and it's next to a lake twice as big as the castle itself, but it's inside a circle of neat lawn and- is that a football field?

The longer she looks, the more Olivia realises, that it's not just neat lawn. It's a gigantic golf course, next to a football field. There is a cemetery on the other side of the castle and next to the lake is a park.

The palace itself is out of light brown brick, and has two towers- one on the left and one on the right side. On top of the left one is a pride flag, barely moving in the slow wind.
It's big and definitely confusing. Some outdoor staircases here (that lead into nothing), some huge bay windows, that go over two flights there, a part where the ceiling is glass, a balcony with a chandelier and a roof terrace. Compared to the symmetrical garden, it's completely out of place.

In front of the main part of it is a big open gate out of bushes and trees, which the path they're still standing on leads through, farther ahead to the wooden double door of the castle.
Well, door is an understatement.

James sighs. "It's beautiful, innit?" He looks at the castle and it's grounds dreamily.

Olivia sends him a confused look. It doesn't even look like somebody lives here, with ivy coming out of some parts of the brick wall, creating a magical fairytale-y vibe and if it wasn't for the wild thunderstorm above them, it would be inspiring and incredibly beautiful.

But the pavement beneath their feet is wet and littered with puddles, the fountain in front of the entrance is nearly spilling with rain water and on top of that all, a bolt of lightning decides to illuminate the sky and send shadows of trees and high pointed towers onto the ground.

It looks fucking scary is what it is.

"This could be the set of a horror movie." Olivia says slowly while James begins to walk through the gate.

In order to see the full height of the building, Olivia has to put her head back and stare upwards.
A raven flies by and makes this typical raven-ly sound that just screams horror movie. It's quickly followed by hammering thunder shaking the world, while the rain continues soaking their shoes and running down on the edges of the umbrella.

It seems like the planet is drowning or something.

Olivia suddenly sees a figure standing in front of the door, dressed in a black robe, which falls from their shoulders like a cape with an elegant hood pulled over their head to keep their hair dry.

James smiles and walks towards the figure with more force in his step.

As they get into reach, Olivia realizes who it is.

Taylor Swift.