MISTY RIVER: The Black Prince

Chapter Twelve

I woke up the next day feeling a lot better, so I went to school. After my Gym class, which was my last class for the day, I packed my bag quickly and hurried outside after Sarah. I was going to ask her if she wanted to come over to my house that night, because both Luke and Jake were going to be away, but when I got outside I couldn't see her anywhere. I fished up my phone from my pocket and texted her quickly. "Sleepover at my place tonight?" I hit *send* and then went down to the parking lot. Elias hadn't been in school that day either, so I was surprised when I saw him leaning against his black Porsche parked next to my car, looking out over the road beneath.

"You're back," I said with a tone a little colder than I had intended.

He turned around. "Yeah," he said ignoring the coldness in my voice. He opened the passenger door to his car. "Are you ready?" He made a hand gesture for me to get in.

"For what?" I asked confused.

"I promised to tell you everything," he explained. "I'm just keeping my promise."

"Where are we going?"

"To a place that's important to the story," he said.

Always all these riddles with him. Why couldn't he just give me an answer? "Where?" I said stubbornly.

"My home."

I swallowed hard but then got inside of the car. We were both quiet as he drove higher and higher up on the hill, passing the cemetery and the viewpoint, leaving the rest of the town behind us. It always seemed to be foggy up here. The forest was getting thicker and thicker and all of a sudden I saw two familiar brick poles in front of us. We passed through them and after he had parked next to the dry fountain, we got out of the car.

I swallowed hard. "Elias, is this really a good idea?" I said doubtingly, watching the old mansion towering powerfully over me.

"You don't have to worry," he reassured me. "My siblings aren't home."

It made me relax a little. I didn't know if I could handle meeting them right now when I knew what they were.

Suddenly I heard the front door open and I froze, expecting to see one of his siblings walking outside. However, in the door opening stood a woman in her sixties with short curly brown hair. She had a slightly bigger figure and a kind looking face. I threw a quick glance at Elias. He had noticed her too, but he didn't seem surprised at all. The woman looked up and saw Elias.

"Oh, hello dear," she said and smiled. A second later she noticed me and she smiled even warmer. "Who is this beautiful young lady?" she asked.

Elias cleared his throat. "Judy, this is Alicia Davies," he said and gestured towards me, "and Alicia, this is Ms. Judy Gibson."

"Hi, dear," she said with the heartwarming beam still on her face.

I smiled as sincerely as I could, still a little confused.

She turned towards Elias again. "I'm done for the day, so I'm going home now. I have to hurry and feed Mr. Morrison before he starts tearing down the place."

"Her cat," Elias quickly explained to me.

"Oh," I said and nodded understanding.

"I will come early tomorrow," she continued and then turned towards me again and smiled reassuring. "It was nice to meet you, dear."

I smiled and watched her walk away to a small red car parked on the other side of the fountain. She got inside and started the engine. I walked over to Elias.

"Who is she?" I asked a little confused and watched the car disappear among the trees.

"When I told you I was living with a relative, I wasn't completely lying," he explained. "Judy is a distant relative - very distant, but still... She doesn't actually live here, but she is the house keeper, so she is here practically every day."