The bed was a little lumpy and the springs occasionally poked him in the spine, but it was better than walking the cold, foggy streets outside.
A quick glance out of the window revealed what he already knew; while the frost seemed to creep up the sides of the rickety wooden frame, shafts of warm and cosy sunlight shot through the glass pane. It was warm, with undertones of winter, like some sort of hipster coffee.
He grumbled at the thought, he despised hipsters, with a passion that was almost divine.
They did nothing but complain about being born into the wrong era, and while he did personally enjoy several of their innovations, he found it personally infuriating that whenever he decided to like something, someone, somewhere would have an objection to it. "I liked it before it was cool." And, "You're just jumping on the bandwagon." were all things he was used to hearing from their annoying ilk.
With a slight shrug, he brushed off the thought and rolled onto the floor. The wooden boards had a slight icy chill against the bare skin of his cheek, but he refused to move, it was rare that he got to lay in like this, even if the only reason that he could afford to was because of weird family nonsense.
His breathing stilled to a slight whisper as his eyelids once again grew heavy, the chill of the floorboards making an odd albeit relaxing perch. With his ear pressed to the floor he could hear water moving through the pipes in the Inn, the foundation creaking ever so slightly beneath the weight of all it inhabitants, and now snippets of conversations from the rooms below.
The sound barely filtered past all the others, but eventually it drifted to his relaxed ear and his form assumed a more comfortable position that would allow him a better angle to rest at.
"...They made it through the fog?", the voice behind this question was a gruff, masculine voice with posh overtones. It was quickly followed by the lilting tones of a calm feminine voice.
"Indeed they did, gave me a bit of a surprise and more than a bit of fright.".
"Understandable, we do have a curfew for a reason," The gruff voice paused for a while, before continuing. "Still confused as to how they didn't get lost in the fog, it normally takes everyone.".
"The girl says that they followed a bunny through the fog, maybe that's what led them here?".
"Hmm... A bunny? The totems are making their move then...".
A soft thrill of laughter followed, it came from the female one, the one that Alex was quickly beginning to assume belonged to the Innkeeper. She cut her laughter to an abrupt end, "For now that is irrelevant, I need to wake the kids up, and you need to make yourself scarce.".
"Very well." A comfortable silence set itself over the house, and for a while Alex was confused as to if he had even heard anything in the first place, but those thoughts were dispelled by the sudden ringing of a tinny bell, the sound reverberated through the house and rattled him to his core.
"Breakfast! Get it while it's hot!".
And with that declaration the Inn bustled to life, eliciting a groan from the prone boy.
Dragging himself to the breakfast table was an ordeal and a half; a task made considerably harder with the weight of the three king-sized blankets Alex insisted on wrapping around himself like some kind of turtle.
And while he received quite a few odd looks from the inhabitants of the table; mainly his sister, he cared little for them. After all, he was comfy.
Shrugging off the looks, he attempted to reach for his fork, disdain settled upon him when he realised that it was indeed a fork.
"I only eat with spoons." He quietly murmured into his blankets.
The Innkeeper eyed him quizzically before his sister spoke up, "He's always been weird like that, gets it from our mother." She clarified.
"Hey! There is nothing weird about it. It's efficient, why waste two utensils when there is one perfectly good one always available?" He protested.
Leaning over the table to waggle a fork in his face, his sister skillfully countered, "We are not plebs, or common folk, we have nobility in our veins and thus should act as such.".
Alex grumbled, "Last time I checked, nobles often lost their heads, in both the literal and metaphorical sense.".
She responded to with nothing but a haughty "Pleb" shot in his direction.
The Innkeeper watched as Alex awkwardly shuffled mounds of scrambled egg into his mouth, there was something oddly comforting about watching the boy eat, he seemed to be a human vacuum cleaner. Not even seeming to chew, he just inhaled his food like it was nothing.
Shaking the spectacle from her head, the Innkeeper finally decided to properly introduce herself into, "So... Last night was hectic and I didn't get to properly introduce myself nor you introduce yourselves. So, I'll start us off; my name is Sinead, I am the keeper of this Inn and this town's resident gossip.".
She chuckled at this last part.
Erica, ever the extrovert, decided to introduce herself next, "Hello! My name is Erica Drake, I am sixteen years old, a budding athlete and future Olympian!".
Sinead nodded briskly before turning to face Alex, and then, as if to encourage him to talk, she blinked in his direction.
He blinked blankly and then sighed, shuffling deeper into his blankets, he began, "My name is Alexander Drake, also sixteen, I'm the oldest twin, I like reading and silence," he paused for a second before continuing, "I also like food and sleep." With that, he returned to his food.
Sinead smiled. Whilst the boy may have been the oldest twin, he seemed to mentally be the youngest, or at the very least the only one of the twins with a very nihilistic view of the world. Not bad considering the day and age, she just wished that he'd smile more.
The tinkling of utensils across plates brought her back to reality, reminding her that she had important news to deliver to the twins. "I contacted your grandparents last night whilst you slept, they'll send someone to pick you up later in the afternoon, until then you two can explore the surrounding area and familiarise yourself with your new home.".
Alex nodded sagely in response, although he paused oddly for a second, studying the vines that crept at the edge of an open window across the dining room. It was a long moment before he spoke, "Do you think we'll like it here, Sinead?" His eyes seemed to glitter with a little worry and a little less lightheartedness.
"I'm sure you guys will enjoy your time here," She further punctuated this with what she hoped was an earnest smile, "As old-fashioned as we may seem, we do have the internet and most of the things that should keep young things like yourselves well occupied.".
Alex allowed a small smile to grace his face briefly, before resuming his battle with his scrambled eggs. Across the table, even Erica seemed amused, watching as Sinead flitted from dining area to kitchen and back again, a constant blur of busy, motherly motion.
Erica herself did have a few queries though, she stopped Sinead on one of her passes. "Is there anywhere we can explore? We have always loved the thought of being able to find caves and climb mountains and such, isn't that right, Alex?" This last part she inquired directly to her brother who was currently struggling to refill his glass of juice.
Giving her and Sinead a brief thumbs-up in agreement, he shifted the weight of his blankets to finally allow him to grasp the pitcher of apple juice correctly.
Sinead paused whilst wiping down a counter, the rag she was using still poised in the air between wipes, "Hmm, it is hard for me to give you a solid answer. Having lived here for so long, much of the magic now miss my eyes. However, I would undoubtedly suggest exploring the woods nearby, only near the residential areas mind you," At this she resumed wiping, sighing as if remembering something unfortunate. "It is easy to get lost in the woods if you don't know your way, so until you are more well-versed with your surroundings, I would recommend you stay close to town.".
Alex raised a brow but didn't comment, it was odd but also true, logically at least.
The innkeeper gasped, "Before I forget, never ever walk outside when the fog is rolling in, it's dangerous and you could get hurt trying to navigate the town whilst basically being blind.".
Erica pondered, "Is that it? Any local tidbits or places that we should check out?" She pointed at her brother. "Because this one needs to work on socialising, and I'm thinking that exploring a tourist trap might be just what he needs.".
"Maybe try and visit 'The Wallflower & Thistle', it's quite a famous florist near hear, tourists always check it out first. I'd suggest you do the same if you ever get the chance, you will see why people love it.".
Nodding sagely, Erica was about to respond and thank the Innkeeper, but was rudely interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up to the Inn.
Sinead peeked through the window, "Ah, looks like your ride is here." She gestured to the vegetating Alex and then to Erica, "Go freshen up, quickly. Sounds like your grandparents are excited to see you." She said while clearing the table.
Erica hurried out the room in a flurry of anxious motion, Alex meanwhile only gazed out of the window to watch their grandparents walk up.
Deep in his gut he couldn't help but feel as if he was standing on the edge of a precipice and he wasn't even close to seeing the bottom yet.