Argent Eye IV

22

About an hour later, I decided to go back inside the manor house. I noticed Tina walking through the hall when I got there.

"Oh, hey, Mills." She said. "Where've you been?"

"Just on a bench in the garden." I said.

"That looks like a hefty file." She said, pointing at the folder I was holding.

I chuckled. "Yeah, lots to learn."

"Same, girl." She said, holding her own folder up- hers looked bigger than mine, though. "Anyway, I think we're gonna be leaving soon, so get your stuff together."

I nodded. "Cool." I said, and grabbed my holdall bag from where I'd left it.

About ten minutes later, a woman appeared in the room. "Tina and Millie?" She asked.

We both nodded and stepped forward.

"All ready to go?" She asked.

"Yep." I said, and with that, our feet left the floor.

__________

We landed at the bottom of a gravel driveway that led up to a fairly large cottage. There was a grey pick-up truck parked on the drive, and it was surrounded by fields- we were literally in the middle of nowhere, it seemed. I turned to look behind, and realised we were actually on a hill, and down below you could just see the nearby town.

Of course, I recognised it immediately. That was the town I'd grown up near. The town where I'd gone to school, and made friends and had nothing to worry about other than school work and maintaining a semi-decent social life. That time seemed like a lifetime ago, and for a second, I felt a longing to be back there. Of course, I'd lost contact with all of my school friends- we'd all gone our separate ways, dotting ourselves across the country at different universities.

I sighed, and then turned back to the house. It was two stories high, and had four windows at the front, two of which were completely covered in green vines and purple flowers. The porch had several terracotta pots in front of it, all with different kinds of flowers planted in them.

"Isn't this beautiful?" Tina said to me. "I always did prefer the countryside." She added, before leading the way up to the house- the Dreamwalker who brought us here was long gone by the time I turned to say thanks.

"You do?" I asked. "Then why don't you work further this way?"

She shrugged. "More drama in the city, I guess." She said.

"Fair enough." I said, as we reached the front step.

Tina rang the doorbell, and we waited politely outside the porch. A few moments later, a woman answered the door- she had whitening blonde hair, pulled back in a short pony tail, and wore a knitted jumper and jeans. Rose smiled when she saw us.

"You two must be Millie and Tina?" She asked. "Or should I say, Mollie and Chrissy."

I chuckled. "Yes. And you must be Rose?"

She smiled and nodded, before letting us in through the door. It was a narrow hallway, with picture frames hanging up on the wall- I realised after a moment that they were of me and Tina, both sitting together like real sisters. It was very strange to see, given that we hadn't really known each other very long. Someone within the SED had very good photoshopping skills, that was for sure. There were also photos of me and Tina as children.

"Come on through." Rose said, and so Tina and I left our bags at the door and followed her. "Can I get you a drink or anything?"

"Cup of tea would be lovely, thanks." I said.