Chapter 45: Mansion Mates
There were rumors in Swell Valley of the children living at Maythorne Manor. People swore they saw them - small children, well behaved and dressed like they were from the twentieth century. Some said they were ghosts, others said they were an orphanage.
I say they're my flat-mates.
Mansion-mates as the case may be.
I followed Mrs Maythorne into the back garden. She was wearing a long black dress, which was at odds with the white sky and pale ground.
The leaves were losing their color in the colder months.
"Kaya," Mrs Maythorne approached the group. The children were learning how to garden with Mohan.
They were all dressed in red or orange cashmere sweaters with the same blue khakis. I'd never seen cashmere as part of anyone's gardening attire. I guess this was a place of firsts.
"Kaya," Mrs Maythorne looked around at all the children, struggling to find Kaya.
See, this is the downside of dressing them the same. It's both creepy and impractical.
"She's over there," a little boy pointed to behind a tree.
"Why isn't she gardening with all of you?" Mrs Maythorne asked.
"She found a ladybug."
"Kaya dear," Mrs Maythorne called out, walking to a girl sitting cross legged behind a tree.
I was excited to see her. This was the great hope, the girl we had gone to exceptional lengths to rescue. She turned around and I stared at her. She must've been my age, an innocent girl with the most phenomenal eyes.
Violet eyes.
"Kaya, will you say hello to Georgia? She wants to show you around." Mrs Maythorne helped bring the girl to her feet. She then came to me, "Ok, enjoy your time together. It's important that you bond. Stay out in the forest for a couple hours."
"Hi there, my name's Georgia," I told her, while she looked at me hesitantly, "I heard you used to live here."
Kaya and I walked into the forest and she drifted off the trail every few minutes. Something would catch her eye, a colorful flower or a squirrel, and off she would go. I admired her ability to find beauty in the simplest of things. But it was also very hard to keep track of her.
She wasn't very talkative. She spoke with an accent, but I didn't know from where. She seemed wise beyond her years, like nothing would bother her.
The more time I spent with her, the more fascinated I became. She was enchanting; a beautiful and innocent person.
She would hum to herself. Apparently, the world's savior likes to sing.
"Be careful for your trousers," I said when she was kneeling on the muddy earth. Truth is, I didn't mind. I wanted her to enjoy herself, but I know Mrs Maythorne and she would not be pleased.
Kaya looked up at me and smiled. She didn't mind getting mud on her clothes.
I handed her a smooth pebble I found that reflected the sunlight and slightly sparkled as it did. She started collecting small rocks around us.
"We should start heading back home now, Kaya. It's getting late," I pointed at the sun.
She joined me on the path. The forest was so big that I still did not feel comfortable straying from the defined routes.
When we arrived back to Maythorne Manor, the kids were no longer gardening outside. We walked into the house and there were no sounds of children playing either.
But I saw Jesper. It was the first time I'd seen him since the fight between him and Nate, after the revelation about his new girlfriend.
I called him out. He was still a boy I had known for twelve years after all. I would always lay it to him straight. "That was immature, Jesper."
"Dating someone is immature?" He knew exactly what I was talking about.
"You know they have a history. Nate and Holly had a thing. Why would you date her?" I stared up, one hand on the banister.
Jesper was a few steps above me on the staircase. He stopped to talk to me.
"People don't have dibs on people," Jesper said, "I was only upset about you and Nate because I don't trust him, because you kept it a secret from me and because we all live together in this f*cked up family."
"What's f*cked up is all this drama between us!" I exclaimed, "This place has turned us into people I don't even recognize."
I've known Jesper for so many years. We've never struggled like this before. We've always supported each other. I think that coming here, somewhere we're afraid, has caused us both to lash out at each other.
"I've done so much for you, G. I gave up my life back home for you," he said, "Can you just support me in this one thing?"
I looked at him and he looked properly tired. Like my presence was exhausting him.
"I do support you," I said, "I want you to be happy. I just think what happened in the school parking lot never needed to go down like that."
"It wasn't just me. Have you tried talking to the guy who started it? Or do you suck-"
"Don't say it you bast-"
"Colorful language, G."
"This is Kaya, by the way," I pointed to Kaya standing awkwardly beside me.
Poor thing had been staring at our conversation, lost for words, this entire time. I could see the hurt in Jesper's face before he looked towards her.
"Oh wow," he exhaled, surprised as I was to look into her violet eyes.
She took the steps up towards him and gave him a shiny pebble as a gift. He leant down and let her drop it into his hands.
"This is beautiful, thank you. You know they've been looking everywhere for you."
"I was in a prison," she answered.
She seemed so innocent, it was hard to imagine how anyone could be cruel to her. I wondered what life in the prison was like. She didn't have physical bruises or scars, but I guess mental scars are equally painful - and last longer.
"My name's Jesper," he said, "It's very nice to meet you."
He shook her hand. He was very good with children. He used to volunteer at our neighborhood's youth club, doing a lot of sports with the kids. Kaya was our age but the way he spoke to her reminded me of that. He was calming with people.
He set me off, but he was calm with others.
That's when Zander and Brianna walked in through the front doors. They must have been out trying to repair their relationship – or at least Zander was.
It didn't look like it worked though.
"Where is everyone?" Zane asked, "The kids are gone."
"What do you mean the kids are gone?" I asked.
"Well there's one," Zane pointed at Kaya and then looked at Brianna, "And you're technically another, but all the younger ones, where are they?"
"How can we lose them?"
"I don't know," Zane answered, "Mrs Maythorne asked me to spend time with Brianna in the forest and then-"
"She asked me to do the same," I said.
We thought about it. Not good.
"So it was intentional; a distraction. Mrs Maythorne took the kids."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
We waited for Mrs Maythorne to return. Zander, Jesper and I were all new to living at the mansion and we didn't have the same blind trust for Mrs Maythorne that the others did.
We sat at the entrance of the mansion, not wanting to miss her return.
The hours slipped away with the sun, but still she did not come back.
Brianna and Zander had fallen asleep on the porch, wrapped in blankets.
I was rubbing my arms across my shoulders for warmth. The evenings were getting so cold now.
Kaya was sitting on the wooden ground, sketching a drawing with charcoal pen and paper. The cold didn't seem to bother her.
Jesper came back outside, with hoodies he'd gotten for us. He helped Kaya put one on. He chucked the other in my general direction.
"Are you for real?" I glared, picking the hoodie up from the floor.
He helped Kaya with hers. His hoodie was so big on her, she was submerged in it. She laughed as she stretched her arms out and the arms of the hoodie flapped down; her fingers could barely be seen.
The door opened again and Emily came out, wrapped in a shawl, "It's so cold outside, why don't you come in?"
"We're waiting for Mrs Maythorne," I said, "We want to stay awake."
"Why don't you see her in the morning?"
We didn't reply and Emily sighed, "I'll leave this here for you."
She put a lantern down on the porch between us. It glowed warm in the dark night.
"Goodnight," she said and left us.
Kaya moved closer to the lantern to finish her drawing. It was a spectacular piece of art.
She had drawn Mrs Maythorne in the black dress she was wearing today, and a group of people we didn't recognize. They were older than the children from the prison. They were older than us. Her sketches were so detailed and I could make out the details on each of their faces.
That's when we saw movement.
Mrs Maythorne returned in the middle of the night with a group following behind her.
But the children were not with her. It was a group of older looking people. They bounded towards us, not a smile on any one of their faces.
Jesper stood up and nudged Zander awake with his foot.
Zander shot up and accidentally woke Brianna with his abrupt movement. She was about to yell at him before she got embarrassed for realizing she had been sleeping on him.
Then she saw the group she had woken up to.
"Who are they?" she asked.
"Where did you take the children?" Jesper asked Mrs Maythorne, who was walking up the front steps.
We had grown to care for the children. They were sweet and harmless and, after hearing about prison life from Zander, we were keen to help them recover.
"These will be our new temporary guests," Mrs Maythorne answered, "They are all specters in training. I have agreed to train them in anticipation of the first Visit."
What's the first Visit?
Jesper didn't care about all the specter mumbo-jumbo. He was focused on the children. So he asked again, "Where are the children?"
"I traded them."
The shock of what we had just heard, created a silence. I stared down at Kaya's drawing next to the lantern.
I realized that she had drawn this very moment - the group of strangers standing in front of the house in the middle of the night.
Like some kind of premonition.
A/N: Daily updates means another chapter tomorrow!
In the meantime, what do you think of Kaya?
Poor Jesper and Georgia are really hitting a rough patch here.