Over the Eternal Garden Wall and Into the Unknown

Chapter 23: Rich With Truth

Chapter 23: Rich With Truth

The grandly ornate golden gates of Quincy Endicott and Margueritte Grey's mansion stood in front of the group, the only thing separating them from true shelter. It had been a long and hard night, one that threatened to pull Wirt and the rest of them down with the impending storm and their rapidly growing exhaustion. Already, the sky was tinted in a pink light, the sun beginning to rise, the start of a new day. They hadn't slept; they hadn't even the chance to doze during the trek. Greg was practically dragged along and kept to stand by Wirt, who was only enduring his own tribulations due to the urgency of finding refuge before the next blizzard. They were all dirtied and numb from the constant movement through the forest. It was a miracle that they were standing before the gates of a safe haven, awake - well, half-awake - and with all their possessions at hand.

Beatrice couldn't wait any longer, patience thin as she tugged open the unlocked barred doors, slipping on the brick walkway in her haste. The two brothers stumbled after her, trying not to fall while they traversed the frost-slick ground.

As they came closer to the large building, with its ice-encased decorative greenery and intricate architectural tastes, the peeping heads of Endicott's peacocks poked out from inside a few of the windows to look at the newcomers curiously. A couple of the birds pecked at the foggy glass. Wirt looked away, nervously biting the inside of his cheek. The meager amounts of pain took his mind off of his intense fatigue for the moment.

Stepping on the porch, they each knocked, waiting for a familiar face to come out and greet them. Surprisingly, it didn't take long at all before the door swung open to reveal a man. A second passed where he narrowed his eyes in curious suspicion but a flash of recognition soon came to him, the gray-haired male grinning widely.

"If it isn't my two favorite nephews!" Quincy smiled, opening his arms out wide in joy as he received them in his home. "I thought I might've gone crazy when I saw you all at Margueritte and my doorstep! Like . . . Like you're ghosts come to haunt me!" The eccentric man chuckled to himself, stepping back so they could walk in and then blocking them almost immediately, a distrusting impulse of sorts. "But that's ridiculous, yes?"

"Something like that, good sir!" Greg responded while he forced his eyes to stay open by holding the lids back with his hands. "We're sleepy as can be! Might as well be ghosts! But I'm no floaty thing so I guess I'm out of luck."

That seemed to be enough to satisfy Quincy, who stepped aside with another bright quirk of his lips. "Come! Come! Family and friends are always welcome here in our extremely large and luxurious house! The more the merrier! Company is a treasure! Not that we don't already have plenty of that . . ."

With mumbled appreciation, Wirt and the others filed into the mansion, shutting the door afterwards. They were standing in a large ballroom of sorts, a Georgian-styled candlelight chandelier hanging unlit from the tall ceiling. The wooden floor was covered by an intricate rug, elegant and sharp against the many halls that branched off from the room. Light filtered in through the windows, the morning shadows being washed away in a flood of color.

"Goodnight! I'm going to bed right now even if it's morning!" Wirt's sleepy brother yawned, flopping down to lie on the comfortable-looking carpet, Jason Funderburker in his arms. The frog was drowsy too, having watched over them during the journey.

"Greg! Not on the floor . . ." the gnome-dressed boy scolded, hurrying over to pull him up off the ground despite his own want do the same.

"You nephews of mine must be worn to the bone, poor lads!" the male of the household averred once the seven year-old was standing again. "Please, take a snooze in one of our many guest rooms! I'll show you the way and later we can have a jolly time together, this reunion will be! A jolly, fun time!"