Cloaks, daggers and lies.

CHAPTER I

PRESENT DAY...

There is a small town off the coast of Massachusetts, nestled between fairmount and skullberry woods, called Lakeholt, the residents of this tedious, monotonous, dwelling see nothing remotely new or exciting except the occasional bored fishermen looking for a change of scenery, campers and nature photographers from the next town over.

I stared gloomily at the yellow leaflet, containing information on the town that was going to be my new home for a while, I flipped it over and written in bold print were the words 'population 3,000.' Unbelievable, I mean why the heck was it written boldly, almost like they were proud of it, that greatly irritated me for some reason.

I huffed in annoyance and tossed the leaflet on the car seat next to me, my mom glanced at me looking concerned, and stretched out her arm, placing it on mine, I looked a lot like her except she had pewter eyes, and mine were a forest green, I pulled away I was still upset with her.

"Are you alright Melanie?" she inquired.

I was not alright and she knew that, the very last thing I wanted was to be uprooted severely from my life smack in the middle of junior year, I'll admit, my life wasn't all that great, but it was mine, at least I recognised it, but now I'll have to start all over again, my thoughts strayed to that night three months ago and the weeks following it, constantly living in fear, it had been the most traumatic experience, though loosing Cameron rivalled with that.

"How much further?" Rhonda asked my family's head of security, James Manson.

Rhonda was in her mid forties and had worked for my family for as long as I could remember, she was like a second mother to me, and it just seemed unfair she had to be dragged along into my family's problems.

James let out an exasperated sigh, as he stepped on the accelerator, we'd lost count of the number of times she had asked that, Rhonda hated travelling, and it was a three hour drive from the airport to Lakeholt, not counting the hour and thirty minutes spent on the plane from Manhattan.

"Almost there," he announced, just as we sped past a sign that said, WELCOME TO LAKEHOLT, HOME TO 3,000. I shot the sign a dark look as we drove into the town border.

"It's going to be alright Mel," my mom said reaching out to stroke my hair which I had dyed caramel brown, we both had new haircuts, my mom cut off most of her blond hair, styling it in a short bob, if we were going to live under the radar for the next few months, might as well do it properly.

"Remember I grew up in this town," my mom continued, "it's not bad actually, the people are all very nice, and its grown quite a lot, there were only about a thousand townspeople when I lived here."

That explains why the 3,000 is a big deal then.

"Then why did you leave?" I asked, my mom let slip a few days ago that she ran away from home when she was only sixteen, and she hadn't returned since then, both her parents were dead, she was an only child.

"It's complicated," she replied evasively.

I leaned back on my seat and stared out the window, we were driving past mom-and-pop businesses, and houses with white picket fences now, having left the remote areas,

It was almost dark, so the street lamps were emitting a soft orange glow. Then James swerved to the left, and the houses and retail stores dwindled in number until the road became deserted again, slowly a mansion came into view, and the car pulled up in front of its huge black heavy gates.

"Home sweet home," my mom muttered beside me.

I turned to her, "you grew up here?"

"It was a long time ago," she answered.

James got out of the car, clutching keys, and jogged to the gate, once he'd thrown them open, he rejoined us and guided the car past the entrance and up the long driveway, the white stucco walls of the mansion loomed six stories high and turrets rose from its corners to puncture the night.

We jumped out of the car and began walking towards the front double doors, but James, already ahead of us, led the way to a side door, and we trooped inside once he'd unlocked it.

It was nothing impressive really, we entered the living room and the most stunning thing was the huge crystal chandelier, and compared to the ones back home in New York, it honestly wasn't that wonderful.

At least it was clean, I was secretly dreading having to join in fifteen years worth of cleaning -  no one had lived here for a long time - my mom must have hired a cleaner.

"So what do you think?" My mom asked.

"Oh it's absolutely gorgeous," Rhonda simpered.

I rolled my eyes, I'm betting she was just glad to be out of the vehicle.

"Where's my bedroom?" I questioned.

"Third floor, fifth door to your right, it was my old room, I think you'll like it." She said.

I highly doubted it, but I murmured a thank you, and began stomping up the stairs.

"Fifth door to my right," I whispered once I arrived to the third floor, I stopped in front of a door with a metal plaque, my mom's name Brie was written across it.

Bracing myself for what I was about to see I pushed it open and strolled inside.

My first thought was wondering if I'd entered the right room, it was actually really nice, my mom has an obsession with pink, so it wasn't what I was expecting.

The walls were painted an ecru colour and the furniture were a brown oak, an ornate candelabra stood at the edges of a small cabinet, but my favourite thing about the room was the floor to ceiling stained glass window on one side of the room.

I approached the window, the image was a teenage girl with blond hair and charcoal grey eyes, wearing a pink dress and lying in what appeared to be a rose garden.

It was my mom.

The door opened, and she walked in, "do you like it?"

"Yeah I do," I said, "it's not pink," I absolutely hated the colour.

She laughed, "yes it's not, my infatuation didn't start, till I married your father actually."

The smile faded from her face and I knew she was thinking about dad.

"That's beautiful," I gestured to the stained glass hoping to distract her, it worked.

She put her arm around me, "it was my sixteenth birthday present."

I still didn't understand why mom ran away, it looked like her life was almost perfect, I mean she had everything.

"Why did you leave mom?" I asked again, I kept springing the question on her when she didn't expect it. "I mean you had everything right?"

She shook her head, "not the most important things."

I gave up, apparently I was not going to get a straight answer.

She swiftly changed the topic, "so do you want to go look around?"

"Not tonight."

She sighed, "of course, you're tired, I'll tell James to send your things upstairs so you can get ready for bed."

I nodded, "thanks."

She turned to leave but stopped, "I know this isn't what you want but it's for our safety, and this is the safest place for us right now, they can't find us here."

I wanted to ask my mom how she knew that but something stopped me.

She kissed my head, bid me good night, and reminded me to wake up early for my new school tomorrow, I had already been enrolled at Lakeholt high.

We didn't know it then but my mother's words would come back to haunt her.

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