The Skylords

Chapter Fifteen

'Well I guess its the other house' said Tessa reasonably. Jane and Sylvie half nodded, like they weren't sure, but still they walked in the direction of the next house.

Sylvie and Jane were extremely silent and Tessa could tell they were deep in thought thinking about something and she could also tell that they were keeping something from her. However she decided not to fixate on it because if it was that important she thought surely they would tell her.

Tessa tried to hide her disappointment, but she couldn't help it, that cottage was so warm and welcoming despite the rude person who actually lived there, whereas the house that they were making their way to was dull and grey.

Paint was falling off the walls and the grass on the lawn was so unkept that it nearly reached Tessa's knees as she waded through it.

As they reached the front door she could see that the window blinds were shut and she could see cobwebs hanging off the blinds.

Tessa pressed the doorbell and she stood waiting anxiously. She turned back to Sylvie and Jane and they both gave her an encouraging smile. She turned back just when the door was opened.

Standing in front of them was an old man in roughly his seventies. He had short grey hair, a grey woolly jumper, grey pants and he was wearing brown slippers.

'Can I help you' he said. Tessa was the first to speak. 'Are you Arthur Jones?' she inquired. 'Who needs to know?' he asked looking at them suspiciously. Sylvie spoke 'please sir we really do need to know' there was such a note of urgency in his tone that even the man looked up startled. 'I'm Arthur Jones' he said sounding wary.

Sylvie walked up close to him and said 'do you recognize this girl' whilst pointing at Tessa. Tessa could feel her face heating up, however the man looking at her looked confused. He paused 'I umm no' he answered as if unsure of his answer. Sylvie was giving the man a look that Tessa fully recognized as the look that he had given her when they had first met. He continued 'this is Tessa Jones' he said. 'The daughter of Alec and Molly Jones. She is your granddaughter.'

Tessa didn't understand why he didn't recognize her name and she could tell that the others were suspicious. The man started to say something but he was quickly cut off by Jane who had been quiet for some time now. ''Wait you don't even have blue eyes?' she said triumphantly. Tessa focused on the man's eyes and she could see that Jane was right, the man had green eyes. How could she have been so stupid to not have noticed this before.

'Ah, ha!' exclaimed Sylvie as if he had known this all along. 'Well explain yourself' he demanded managing to cross his arms in a threatening way. The man just stood there in silence, his face had gone completely pale and he looked like he was going to collapse any minute. 'Fine' he said eventually. 'Just come in, I don't want to draw any attention to myself.' The three looked at him puzzled but still they walked past him, into the first room nearest to them.

They walked into what seemed to be an office. There was a bookshelf on the left of them when they walked in, which was stacked with so many books that the shelf looked like it was going to collapse any minute. Like the outside of the house the walls were painted grey and paint was also falling off it. In the middle of the room was a table with yet more books stacked up on it. There were two seats on the side of the table closest them and one on the other side.

The man that had claimed to be Arthur Jones, passed them 'please take a seat' he offered pointing at the two vacant seats in front of them. 'Just give me one minute and I'll get another seat' he said and he disappeared out of the room. Tessa and Jane sat down on the two seats in front of them, while Sylvie remained where he was standing.

'Do you think he is Arthur Jones?' asked Tessa. Jane turned to her looking skeptical but before she could open her mouth to answer, the man strode in carrying a chair and put it down next to Tessa. He went around the table to sit down as Sylvie sat next to Tessa. The man's face was covered by the stack of books in front of them, he picked up the books and placed them on the ground next to him.

Sylvie was the first to speak 'firstly' he said looking all business like. 'What is your real name? Because we all know its not Arthur Jones.' The man sighed and said quietly, 'my real name is Noah Wood.' He looked down at his feet like he was ashamed of himself. Tessa couldn't think why he had said he was Arthur Jones. Maybe he is lying she thought to herself to keep safe, but she extremely doubted this thought.

Tessa spoke 'why did you say you were my grandfa-, I mean Arthur Jones?' she said correcting herself. She knew Arthur Jones was her grandfather but she couldn't bring herself to admit it, seeming she had never met him before and didn't even know what he was like. 'Well' Noah started, 'I owed him, you see I am still under the Skylord's spell but the day they came to my doorstep to be summoned, I wasn't so sure about it. Arthur helped me you see, because when I refused the Skylord's and they were going to take me away, Arthur saved me. He fought off the Skylord's and I had never been so gracious in my entire life. If it wasn't for him, well I don't know what would have happened to me' he shuddered at the thought of it. 'Well anyway that's why I owe him.'

There was a long silence until Tessa spoke again 'but what has that to do with you claiming that you are Arthur Jones?' She was intrigued with this man's story but she still couldn't understand where the story was going. She looked to both Sylvie and Jane and they were leaning on the edge of their seat looking just as interested as Tessa.

'So I disguised myself as Arthur, because I don't know if you know this but he can change form upon will. This means if they ever do find where he is and if he wasn't ready to change form then I would volunteer myself and claim that I was Arthur Jones. Of course it wouldn't take them long to figure out I wasn't Arthur but by the time they would have figured I wasn't who I said I was, Arthur would be long gone.' He finished and looked up at them.

Tessa sat there shocked unable to speak. What did this mean? Where was Arthur now? Tessa spoke 'but how don't you have blue eyes?' Noah said nothing but merely pointed to his eyes. Tessa looked into his eyes, but didn't notice anything. Beside her Jane gasped and Sylvie looked gobsmacked. 'What?' demanded Tessa. 'His eyes are green aren't they?'

Jane spoke 'Tessa there is a tint of blue in his eyes. This doesn't mean he is a wizard, he can't do magic but it does mean he is able to resist the Skylord's rule if he fights against it.'

Tessa gasped and the three adults looked at Tessa alarmed. 'What is it Tessa?' asked Jane gently. 'Charlie has blue in her eyes' Tessa said, 'I remember her giving out that she had strange color eyes. Sylvie sat back 'well it could be the one thing that saves her.' Tessa felt hopeful for a moment but then thought about her father and mother and realized they did not have blue eyes, did Sylvie mean that they wouldn't survive because they didn't have blue eyes?

Sylvie seemed to have realized what he had said and he started, 'no wait I didn't mea--' 'No it's okay' said Tessa trying to make it sound like it didn't bother her, but her voice sounded weak. 'Okay' said Sylvie uncertainly, but he moved his gaze back to Noah who had been watching the scene in front of him with pity in his eyes.

Tessa attempted to change the subject by asking Noah something that had been bothering her since he had told her his story. 'Anyway are you saying that Arthur asked you to risk your own life by disguising yourself as him?'

She didn't like to think that her grandfather had done that as she felt that, that was a very cowardly way to deal with the situation. 'Oh no no' said Noah confidently. 'No he was against the idea entirely, your grandfather is a very stubborn man. However I finally convinced him, after all how could I not help a friend, especially since he saved my life. I owed it to him.'

'So where is Arthur?' asked Sylvie curiously. 'Although I'm fairly sure I know where he is.' 'He is in the house next to me' said Sylvie.

'Of course' Tessa said. 'My grandfather can change form, no wonder the man looked so young. The man that answered the door was my grandfather!' The three of them got up all of a sudden, 'thank you for your help' said Jane politely.

The three of them made their way to the door but when Jane and Sylvie walked out of the room, Tessa turned back to Noah, 'thank you for helping my grandfather.' Tessa was shocked by what she had said because she hadn't even realized this was going to come out of her mouth. However she knew what she had said was what she really meant.

Noah looked just as shocked as herself but he answered while smiling warmly. 'Believe me it is the least I could do for him. Your grandfather is a good man.' Tessa smiled back at him and turned to follow Jane and Sylvie.........

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