We were waiting around the kitchen table, eating takeout when Kayin showed up. He peeked a head in from the living room before smiling and coming fully into the room. I whistled playfully at him and he rolled his eyes, even though he really did look good. He was wearing a suit, a feat which I really didn't expect from someone who's house was almost a garden. And it was a really nice suit at that. It had to have been tailored, and the fabric was a deep black. He was wearing a deep green waistcoat and a black tie, and the suit jacket was long enough it should have been called a trenchcoat. And, yeah, he cleaned up well. His only response was to sigh and steal one of my fries.
"Where's Brie?" he asked, sitting down beside me. I shrugged. I hadn't actually seen her since her screaming fits with the phone, and Rina had been keeping me occupied with getting me ready and feeding me dinner.
"Probably getting ready," Rina said, and Kayin nodded. He looked between the two of us for a second before frowning.
"Shouldn't you have eaten before you put on the dresses?" He asked, and Rina batted him away with a laugh.
"We didn't plan ahead," I supplied, and he smiled.
"Okay, fair enough." We ate in silence for a while, and I had to keep smacking his hand away from my plate. We didn't have to wait long for Brie because a few minutes after Kayin arrived, so did she. I threw up hands up in surrender as soon as she cleared the doorway.
"Okay, I give up, everyone here is hot when they're dressed up." I announced, and Brie laughed. Her hair was curled more softly than usual, and her makeup seemed somehow cleaner. The dress she wore was black, hitting just above the knee, but there was a red rose pattern that snaked its way up the skirt and onto the bodice, curling around so that it got progressively more crimson towards the neckline. She was wearing mostly black jewelry, with black pumps and of course her gold bracelets. She kind of broke the elegance by sitting on Rina and starting to pick at her food, though.
"Don't get any ideas," she warned, and it was only after I laughed that I realize she was talking to Rina and not me. I had to laugh again at the fact we were all dressed to the nines, about to go fight a war, but first we were sitting on each other and eating takeout. Eventually Brie got up and cleared away the plastic plates, dumping them into a nearby garbage can.
"We should go," Kayin said, looking down to check his watch. I felt myself go cold. I'd managed to forget, at least for a while, why exactly all this was happening. But that was gone now.
"Right," I said quietly, and I felt Brie come back over and squeeze my shoulder.
"You'll be fine," she insisted. "We'll make sure you're never alone." I nodded once, collecting myself.
"To the Manor?" I asked, hoping I remembered the name right. She nodded, and started to lead us through the house. Eventually, though, she hung back a little bit so she would be beside me. I was about to ask when she slipped something onto my wrists and powered ahead. I frowned, holding it up before quickly snapping my arm back to the side. It was the bracelet, and the stone was looking so cracked that it was barely holding together.
I was almost surprised to see Skylla leaning against the wall once we made it into the hallway. I wondered if Brie had ended up calling her, or if she'd just known to show up on her own. She was wearing a deep blue dress that hugged her figure and then began to flare out at her knees. The train continued at the back, and it was inlaid with gold and pearls. The resemblance to a mermaid tail didn't escape me, and I doubted it would escape anyone else. Brie walked past her, not even sparing her a glance. Rina was a little more patient.
"We're off," she announced, and Skylla nodded. She was staring after Brie, and I found myself wondering why exactly she was even here. It was glaringly obvious she wasn't exactly wanted, but she looked like she was determined not to care. Thankfully she just waited until we passed before trailing silently behind us. I quickened my pace a little, so that at least Kayin was between me and her. It was uneasy, to say the least, and I got out of the house as quickly as I could. No matter what I did, I found I couldn't trust her.
We piled into Kayin's car, Rina and I in the back and Kayin driving. The sunset was already starting, so I assumed to car ride wouldn't be too long. It seemed almost too convenient that some universal meeting place would be this close, though. Only after Kayin started the car did I realize Skylla wasn't coming with us.
"Is she not..." I trailed off, gesturing to the girl waiting by the door. Rina shook her head, the one to answer questions as always.
"She has her own way to go," she replied, which made sense. I didn't even want to think about how tense the car ride would be.
"So, where is this mansion?" I asked, hoping it would be a lighter topic of conversation. From the smile Brie threw me, I guessed it was. Kayin was smiling too, which is what made me clue in to the fact that this was definitely not just a light topic of conversation.
"The Ravenna house, actually." Brie said it like it should have meant something, and Rina glared at her before cracking a smile. It was blatantly obvious I was missing out on some information, but Kayin was already driving.
"Okay, geez, where's the Ravenna house then?" I laughed, more than a little uneasily.
"Norway." I frowned at Brie, trying to process that.
"Um, as in, in Europe?" I asked, sure I was wrong. She nodded enthusiastically, which made absolutely no sense. "How the hell do we get there then?"
"Magic," Rina winked, and I felt my heart speed up. That was not the answer I wanted. The answer I wanted was somewhere along the lines of "Oh we're just kidding Cammie don't worry about it."
"It's perfectly safe, of course," Kayin piped up, and I tried to smile even though it showed to be incredibly insincere. Asking farther would only result in more answers I didn't want, so I just stayed silent. The entire car was silent, until a low whistling came from outside. It sounded just like the wind, but at this point I knew there was no way it was wind. Of course, I was right. A mist was starting to gather, tinged in a deep velvet purple. I eyed it warily, turning over to Rina to make sure it was supposed to be happening.
"That fog is the easiest way to travel. You need a lot of people to do it, though, especially for the amount of guests that'll be coming. They really didn't spare any expense." I smiled a little in relief at Kayin's explanation. The fog kept getting thicker and thicker, but soon it lightened to be a warm, pale pink. It wasn't as scary as it could have been, which alone gave be comfort. Even though we couldn't see anything Kayin kept driving, and I sat expecting some reality-bending warp overseas. Nothing came. Instead, the fog just slowly cleared. We finally stopped driving in front of a gate, and beyond it I could see the mansion.
"Mansion" was beyond an accurate description. It was the kind of huge that made you assume it was a hotel, or an apartment complex. And it was an old kind of house too, made out of big grey stone bricks. The driveway was straight and wide, far enough from the road that I couldn't pick out details. But before we could even get in, we had to get through the gate.
The gate was huge, towering at least eight or nine feet above the ground. It was a regular shape, silver bars peaking at the middle and receding down the to sides. But what really stood out was, of course, the giant metal dragon that dominated the front. It was pressed flat into the bars, elegant curves as its tail swept a circles around the left side. Its head was raised, proud, glaring down anyone who approached the gate. If I was driving I would have probably turned around, or just stared in awe at the thing. Behind it the mansion loomed and behind even that was the dark sky, somehow retaining touches of the gold sunset. I still didn't know who lived here, and I wasn't sure I wanted to.
We came up to the gate, and the dragon turned its head. I jumped, and I could feel my eyes go wide. Rina just smiled and put a hand on my arm, like a literal silver dragon looking at us was a normal thing that I should be okay with. Obviously, I wasn't. Its eyes glinted yellow in the headlights, but it felt like it wasn't really the headlights at all. I was starting to calm down a bit, since it had stopped moving and everyone else seemed okay with it, until its jaw opened wide. I clutched Rina's arm painfully and she just shushed me, brushing it off. I expected flamed to come out, destroy the entire car, but no such thing happened. Instead, Kayin just spoke calmly.
"Abrielle, Rina Minamoto, Kayin Locklear, and Camille Dent," he said, and the dragon closed its mouth. That... that was the intercom. I looked at Rina helplessly but she just laughed again.
"She's a little dramatic like that." She whispered as the dragon's tail whipped around, effectively unlocking the gate. The two halves swung apart and Kayin drove through like there wasn't still a silver dragon watching our every move. I couldn't help but stare as we went past, and the dragon watched me as well. I could swear it was smirking, like it knew the exact effect it was having and it was relishing in it. As soon as we passed the gates swung shut again, and the dragon settled into its stone form.
We began the drive up to the mansion, and now I could see it better. I was hardly about to as how they'd gotten a Victorian mansion in Norway, but here it stood. I didn't even bother questioning if we'd really travelled overseas, because a look at the beautiful landscape around us told me we certainly hadn't been driving long enough for anything else. Most of the windows were illuminated with a warm light, and cars of all kinds were parked outside. Even with the short notice apparently there hadn't been any trouble in making up a guest list.
I was beginning to think it wasn't a house at all, but a castle. It had a tower in the centre, for one thing, and it was peaked and layered so that it was way too big for even one family to inhabit. Rina gently elbowed me to try and get my attention away from the mansion and towards making it out the door. The ground under my feet was a little bit moist, and what water I could see was glittering violet in the light. It was either a trick of the light or the aftermath of the purple fog that had brought us here, and I wasn't about to question which one it was. I followed a little shakily after Rina, because there were a lot of people around and none of them had human eyes. We certainly weren't out of place, since every suit was designer and every dress looked more expensive than my house. We got a few nods as we passed through and up the steps, and almost every person did a double take when they saw me.
"Am I this big of a deal?" I whispered to Brie, and she nodded.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," she said, before taking my arm and linking it with hers. It at least made me feel a bit better, knowing I wasn't alone. We walked up the stone steps and through the propped-open wooden doors, and into the entrance hall. It was littered with people, all illuminated by a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There were winding staircases on either side of the room, and straight ahead was where most of the noise and music was coming from. Everything was either pale cream of rich violet, and I had a feeling if I found whoever owned this place they would have violet eyes.
"There's some people I have to see," Kayin said, and Brie nodded and shooed him off. Rina came up beside me just and Brie released my arm, and we were at least able to walk together. I watched him walk over to a girl in a purple dress, and somehow thought I'd found who's house we were in.
"Are you ready?' Brie asked, and I nodded before realizing what she meant. We'd walked into a ballroom, the large expanse of floor in front of us filled with people. Who had all stopped whatever they were doing. Every eye was turned to me, and everyone started clapping simultaneously. I didn't know who had announced my arrival, I only knew that everyone knew exactly who I was.
They started moving towards me almost instantly, and I gripped Brie's hand a little tighter than I should have.