As the next two weeks passed by the house was cleaned, and slowly closed up, and by the Sunday of December sixth they found themselves in the airport awaiting their flight nervously. Mister Whittaker and the Trust paid for first class tickets, so aside from the flight not being as frightening as they thought it would be, much to their relief it was actually very luxurious. However, it was a long flight. Nine hours later and jet lagged, they found themselves throwing their bags onto the hotel room floor and falling across their beds.
Elizabeth felt like she had been run ragged even though she hadn't done anything but sit in an airline seat for most of the day. Sitting down on the bed she claimed for herself and Ailsa, she looked at the wall in front of her and let her mind wander while Blair led Ailsa and Lachlan to the window looking out over the city.
"We should all go to bed early," Elizabeth suggested firmly in her nanny voice, "Tomorrow we will be going by uncle Gabriel's publishing company and visiting his manager, Missus Wenticot. Hopefully, she will give us more information on your uncle than we were able to get from Mister Whittaker."
"Man! This sucks," Lachlan griped for the thousandth time, "They should have just let us stay in our home and made you our guardian Elle."
"Yes, well," She answered carefully, "This is one of those life lessons. We very rarely get to have things our way. We do the best we can, try to be good people, and deal with the...good and bad that happens in our life. Besides, there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why your uncle has been unreachable."
"There had better be," Lachlan grumbled as he looked out the window.
"Well I think the city looks rather lovely at night," Blair commented.
"Yeah, as long as we are up high enough that you don't have to smell it," Lachlan sneered sarcastically.
"Okay kiddos," Elizabeth interrupted, "Those that are taking showers, get started. If not, then let's try to get some sleep. Everything will be better in the morning!"
——(!)——
Two hours later Elizabeth wiped the steamy mirror in front of her and looked at herself. Bright sapphire eyes stared back at her. They were her father's eyes while her dark honey-brown skin, dark earthy brown hair, sharp elvish features, and thick pouty mouth were her mother's. Besides her mother's slim facial features she hadn't inherited any of her other lithe qualities. Her father had said she inherited her muscularly thick, Rubenesque body from the women in his family. Sighing at her overly plump breasts, she looked back up and began braiding her waist length hair for bed. When she was finished she pulled a linen nightgown over her head and left the bathroom.
She had expected the children to be asleep by the time she was out of the bath, but before she turned out the light she saw three sets of eyes staring back at her, a dark silhouette cast against her white nightgown. Flipping the switch, the room was enveloped in darkness as she whispered, "You three should be asleep by now. It's past midnight in London!"
"We're sorry," Ailsa apologized as Elizabeth slipped into bed beside her, "We just wanted to wait and see if you would tell us a story?"
She groaned inwardly. She was exhausted!
"No story tonight," She answered to dejected "Ah's", "However, let me ask this for next time. If you could be a fantasy character what would it be? Ailsa you start."
There was a long silence as she thought about it. Underneath the covers she found Elizabeth's hand, took it, and squeezed as she stared up at the ceiling, "I would want to be a fairy."
"A fairy," Lachlan laughed, "Why a fairy?"
"Because they seem to always be so happy," Ailsa answered, "They love the forest, and they can grant wishes."
"Wishes," Lachlan laughed again just before its significance hit him and he stopped laughing and mumbled, "Oh…"
"Okay," Elizabeth whispered just loud enough for them to hear her, "Your turn Blair, what would you be?"
"Not me," She answered quickly.
"That's not an answer," Lachlan chided, "Come on you've got to pick something. Surely you have an idea of what you would want to be."
"Smart. Cunning. Beautiful. Dangerous. Magical," Blair retorted.
"Those are traits, Blair, not a character," Ailsa sighed.
"Jeez, I don't know," Blair retorted in a grieved rush, "I don't know what I want to be! Maybe…maybe a fox so I can run away and hide!"
"Okay then," Elizabeth purred as she looked over Ailsa to the silhouette of Blair, "So a smart, cunning, beautiful, dangerous, magical fox! That sounds wonderful darling."
Laying back down, she smiled as she continued, "It's your turn Lachlan, what would you be?"
Lachlan snickered as he purred, "That's easy, I want to be the hero. A courageous warrior, strong enough that I can take on anyone or anything, and fast enough so that I can rescue the ones I love, like you Elle."
"Ah, thank you Lachlan," She purred happily, "I love you too, I love all of you!"
"What about you, Elle," Blair asked once the room was quiet again, "What would you be?"
"Me," She answered with a laugh.
"Yes, you silly," Ailsa giggled, "No adventure is a good adventure without you!"
"Okay then," She mumbled, and then hummed as she thought about it, "When you three were small and we would play, I would be the monster."
"That was then," Blair chided, "This is now. You can't be an adventurer and a hero if you're the monster!"
"Oh really," Elizabeth retorted, her tone rising in challenge at Blair's assertion, "Are you sure of that? Because, I would be a monster, or at least part monster and part hero. I would be a warrior and guardian," She paused to think and then nodded before she continued, "Yeah that's what I am, half-monster, half-hero, and one-hundred percent guardian of my three wonderful, magical, cunning, beautiful, charges!"
"Is that why your eyes are blue but your skin and hair are so dark," Lachlan sniggered.
"That's right," She answered, playing right along with his teasing, "My father was a hero knight, and my mother was a devious half-dark elf huntress!"
"Whoa," Blair gasped, "That sounds awesome, and magical!"
"Indeed it was," She agreed with a nod, "It was magical, and yet, it was not meant to last. They fell in love and left their peoples to roam the land. Their love was so strong that a few months later they had a baby, a little girl. Then a few years later while the baby girl was young, the half-dark elf huntress died mysteriously. Overcome with sadness, my father left the little house he had built for his wife and child, and he tried to return to his but they wouldn't accept him back."
"What? Why?" Ailsa gasped, while Blair and Lachlan had become very quiet.
"Because they saw his little girl. They saw me," Elizabeth explained, "A child with the long pointed ears, dark earthy brown hair, honey-brown skin of her half-dark elf mother and the piercing blue eyes of her father. They knew then what he had done, something they considered taboo. He mixed his blood, his people's blood, with that of a monster and the child, I, was an abomination."
"What did your father do," Ailsa asked.
"Heartbroken by his people's prejudice and hate, he left with his baby girl and he wandered from town to town and city to city. He took jobs here and there as he could. Until one day when he was out working as a guard for a caravan he was killed."
Ailsa gasped and squeezed Elizabeth's hand tightly. She was fully enthralled by the story and whispered, "What happened to the baby? What happened to you?"
"The baby was no longer a babe. She grew up while he was out working and adventuring," Elizabeth answered with a small sigh for distant memories that played in her head, "The half-hero half-monster girl was working and no longer lived at home. She was living with her employers so she was safe. Her father on the other hand was finally forgiven by his people and buried among those of his family. As for me, part monster and part hero, I guard the children of a noble family and heaven help anyone that tries to hurt them…"
When she finished Elizabeth heard the soft breathing of Blair and Lachlan sound asleep. Ailsa sat up and leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before turning over and laying on her side facing away from Elizabeth before whispering, "That was a lovely story Elle, thank you."
Smiling sadly as thoughts of her dad and mum flitted through her memory, Elizabeth turned towards Ailsa and laid her arm over the slim girl's waist. Ailsa slipped her hand into Elizabeth's as they spooned and fell fast asleep.
——(!)——
The next morning they walked the few blocks needed to arrive at Gabriel's publisher. They proceeded inside and climbed three stories of stairs where they found themselves standing in the lobby in front of the receptionist. Elizabeth felt like she was in a library, and the woman in front of her was a librarian. A rather hot librarian with long wavy brown hair put up in a bun, vintage fifties cat eye glasses that made her already big brown eyes look like she just stepped out of a Margaret Keene painting, and wearing a an olive worsted wool suit with a double breasted vest and a creamy blouse.
Looking up from her computer, the receptionist smiled as scanned the visitors. From Elizabeth to Ailsa, Blair, and then Lachlan. Her brows furrowed, but her smile never faltered as she returned to Elizabeth and greeted them, "Good morning, welcome to Arclight Publishing. What may I help you with today?"
Smiling warmly, Elizabeth answered, "Good morning. Yes. We are here to meet with Missus Wenticot."
The receptionist looked at her computer screen and scrolled through the calendar before she looked up and purred, "Ah yes, you must be Miss Wright and the Thorburn children. Missus Wenticot's office is just to the right. The fifth door on the left. She's expecting you."
"Thank you," Elizabeth acknowledged before leading the way down the hallway.
She knocked on the fifth door on the left with the name plate, "Henrietta Wenticot," and entered once she heard a faint, "Come in."
Elizabeth opened the door and the office was barely big enough for all four of them to fit inside. There were shelves to the left and right filled with binders of manuscripts. In the center of the small office was a cluttered desk that Missus Wenticot sat behind. Though she could barely be seen. She was hidden behind large stacks of binders of stories awaiting her verdict on whether they were publishable or not.
Standing up from behind her desk, Missus Wenticot moved around so that she could be seen. She was an average looking woman in her early to mid-fifties. Once lustrous copper hair was now more white then red although her face was still smooth and youthful. There were crinkles at the edges of her sharp green eyes and a deep crease between her eyebrows from many years squinting at manuscripts as she read them. She was dressed in white blouse and a gray suit making her look like she might be the head librarian.
"Ah yes, the nanny and Gabriel's young nephew and nieces," Missus Wenticot purred as she looked them up and down, "Well, don't you all look like you just stepped out of an British fantasy novel!"
"Pardon," Elizabeth asked.
Missus Wenticot chuckled and waved her hand dismissively, "You know what, nevermind," she said as she shook her head and laughed ruefully to herself. Offering her hand to Elizabeth first, once shaken she proceeded to tell the children, "So I imagine this is all stark raving mad for you, having to leave London and come live in America with your uncle."
"A bit," Blair agreed in a low shy mumble.
"A bit!" Lachlan parroted in shocked outrage, "It's a blanken travesty! If I hadn't promised my parents that I would be on my best behavior, I would say it's a f..."
Elizabeth offered a toothy smile as she covered his mouth with her hand while he kept mumbling exactly what he thought about the whole situation. Thankfully it was only a garbled, "Wahwahwahwah."
"What he means to say is," Ailsa finished for Lachlan, "Is, yes this is all very strange and new and scary for us. We've never left Europe before, and now here we are in America!"
"I can very well imagine," Missus Wenticot answered with a nod as she sat back down behind her desk again.
"Missus Wenticot," Ailsa asked.
"Please, call me Henrietta or 'H'," Missus Wenticot interrupted, "My mother was Missus Wenticot."
"Yes, ma'am," Ailsa agreed with a smile and a nod, "Missus H, where is uncle Gabe. Why didn't he come to our mother's funeral?"
"Honestly", Henrietta answered as she looked Ailsa directly in the eyes, "I don't know. He has always worked like this. Once he starts a story he disappears for months at a time. No one can reach him or find him until he suddenly comes into the office after the book is finished and hands me the manuscript. But, I have to say, he has never been unreachable for this long. He's not so far overdue on his latest book that I was overly concerned, but given the circumstances, well I am worried now. I called the police when I got the call from Mister Whittaker and asked them to perform a wellness check, but I haven't heard back from them either. So, I assume he is fine."
"But you don't know that for certain," Elizabeth asked.
"No," Henrietta answered with a shake of her head, "I guess I don't. But, like I said, Gabriel isn't too far overdue on his book. He's usually as reliable as clockwork, so I am sure he is fine and will be surprised and delighted to see you."
"Except for the slight inconvenience that we are showing up unannounced, to stay," Lachlan sneered bitterly, "and the fact that his sister and brother-in-law are dead!"
"As for that," Henrietta answered with a nod, "I am sure your parents contacted him when they put him in the Will. So he knows to expect you, given the circumstances."
Lachlan hissed angrily but said nothing else. Henrietta looked through the papers on her desk and once she found what she was looking for handed the parchment to Elizabeth, "We have a car and a driver waiting downstairs. He will drive you to Norway and drop you off with Francisco Hernandez. He's a local driver that delivers Gabriel's groceries to him and anything else he needs when he doesn't want to go into town himself. Francisco knows the area best and will take you to Gabriel's home as soon as you arrive."
Looking at the address, Elizabeth nodded. Looking back up, she searched Henrietta's emerald eyes before she responded, "Thank you Missus Wenticot, Henrietta."
Standing up, the children took her que that it was time to leave, and followed her out of the office and down to the garage. Once there they met Gerard Birmingham, another grizzled old man but this time with smiling black eyes, frosted curly black hair, and dark black skin. As soon as he saw them he gave them a broad white smile as he introduced himself and he took their luggage to put in the trunk. When they were in the car Gerard looked at Elizabeth in the rearview mirror and asked, "Where are we going today, Miss Wright?"
"Here, Mister Birmingham, Missus Wenticot gave me the address," She answered as she handed him the paper with the address on it.
He looked at the paper and then he looked back up and smiled, "It is a beautiful day for a country drive."
"Yes it is," She agreed.
——(!)——
The drive was pleasant though long, but within another couple of hours they were waving goodbye to Mister Birmingham as he drove away headed back to the city. Standing outside the local grocery-mart, they walked in and grabbed snacks and drinks. Once they were checking out they asked for Francisco Hernandez. The cashier smiled and nodded before calling him over the intercom. When he came up he talked to the cashier wondering what she needed before she pointed him to them. They were sitting on a bench eating and drinking their snacks when he approached.
"Good afternoon, I'm Francisco," He greeted, "How may I help you?"
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Francisco," Elizabeth answered with an exhausted smile, "I'm Elizabeth Wright, these are Ailsa, Blair, and Lachlan Thorburn. They are Gabriel Shara's nieces and nephew…"
"Oh Mister Shara," Francisco interrupted excitedly and nodded that it all made sense to him now, "Yes, Missus Wenticot called me. She said you would be coming today, but honestly I got busy and forgot! But, you're here now, so are you ready to go to Mister Shara's place?"
"We are," She answered with a relieved sigh, "Very ready!"
He smiled and nodded, "Good, then just wait here while I go get my keys. I will be right back!"
Where the ride from the city had been in a luxurious Lincoln Towncar with tinted windows and black leather seats, the ride out to Gabriel's property was in an early 2000's Dodge Neon. Elizabeth took the front seat which was fine for her, but the kids, while not very big, being fourteen, twelve, and ten, still looked like sardines crammed into a can especially with all their luggage in the trunk and tied to the roof. The only relief was that it was forty-three degrees so they didn't have to worry about sweltering in the confining ride.
"So have you ever visited Mister Shara before," Francisco asked, trying to alleviate the awkward silence.
"No, this is our first time," She answered simply, but as silence settled over the car again she decided to ask, "So, you've been making deliveries to Mister Shara for some time now?"
"Yes," He answered as he looked both ways before making a left turn, "I have been making deliveries to Mister Shara for the last five years now."
"So, what do you think of him," She asked bluntly.
His eyes opened wider at the question and darted furtively from watching the road to her before answering, "I um. I think he's a nice guy…"
"That's it, just nice," Lachlan asked, his tone scornful.
Francisco laughed nervously and looked at Lachlan in the rearview mirror, "Well, the thing is, I have only met him a few times. Don't get me wrong, he's not a hermit. He is awkward though when talking to people, and a complete nerd. Let me just give you an example. He came into town one evening when I was at Freida's Diner. He very rarely does that. Hannah Glassman was waitressing that night. She's the prettiest lady in town. God's honest truth. She won an award and everything. Anyway, Mister Shara sat down and she came up to him and he just froze. I don't know what he was going to say to her, or order, and apparently he couldn't even remember what day it was. Then, he just got up and hurried out!"
"So he gets nervous around people, pretty girls, or just that particular waitress," Elizabeth asked.
"Oh he gets nervous around almost everyone, except kids, he really seems to connect with kids. He starts telling them stories you see. His stories I think, and you can actually see him relax," Francisco answered.
"He's not a perv, is he?" She asked instantly on guard.
"Oh no! Nothing like that," He answered with a strong shake of his head, "I think he is more at ease in his stories, and the kids love hearing them, so they get along well."
"So," Elizabeth said, changing gears, "What about this place of his? Is it pretty? What is it like?"
Francisco smiled and looked out the windows around them as he answered, "Honestly, it looks a lot like what you see now."
Looking around she noticed that the road was pinned in on both sides with large trees that spread out for as far as they could see in every direction. It was late fall, almost winter, and so there were very few yellow, red or deep brown leaves left on them. It made the forest seem dark and ominous.
"Mister Shara has roughly one-hundred acres of property that backs up to a large national forest," Francisco continued, "So it feels like it goes on forever…"
"What do you mean," Ailsa asked.
"Oh nothing," He retorted with a shake of his head, "It's just, when I first started making deliveries to Mister Shara I used to meet him at the gate. I would unload the groceries and he would carry them back to his house which is about two hundred yards from the road. Anyway, a couple years ago he wasn't at the end of his driveway waiting for me so I decided to carry the groceries up to his house myself. I walked up the driveway and made it to his house no problem. However, I still couldn't find Mister Shara anywhere, so I left the groceries on the porch and left. As I was leaving," He paused and he licked his lips and his hands trembled on the steering wheel, "It felt like the driveway was moving on me, changing directions as I walked. So, I left it and figured I would cut across the woods to the property line. I was lost for three days before I finally found my way out and back to the road."
"No way," Blair whimpered, a tremble in her voice from fear.
Ailsa clasped hands with her and Lachlan seemed visibly pale when Elizabeth looked back at them and then turned to Francisco who was grinning as he watched the kids in the back seat. She was not amused, and shook her head as she said as much, "Shame on you Mister Hernandez."
"What," He asked innocently while shrugging his shoulders as if he had done nothing wrong.
"Scaring children," She accused as then turned back to reassure them, "Don't pay attention to him kids, he's just telling tales to scare you a bit. Isn't that right, Mister Hernandez."
He laughed as he pulled off into the driveway and stopped in front of the gate, "If you say so, Missus Wright, if you say so. We've arrived, this is the place."
Looking through the gate she saw a long driveway that was little more than two ruts cut through the grass from years of being driven over between trees that seemed to grow so close together that it was amazing that a car could pass through. The ruts disappeared into the forest without her being able to see the house at the end and a chill of fear ran up her spine and back down.
"Are you going to take us up to the house," She asked as she stared into the forest.
"Nope. This is as far as I go," He answered with a shake of his head, "You think I was kidding. Telling a story to scare the kids, but here's the thing, I wasn't. I really was lost for three days in those woods. So now I never go past the gate. I drop the groceries right here just as Mister Shara has arranged."
"So you intend to make us walk from here to the house," Elizabeth hissed in annoyance, "With all our luggage…"
"Yep, and with a few groceries that were on back order as well," He answered with a nod.
She hissed as he turned off the car and left to get the bags from the trunk and untie the large luggage from the roof.
"Come on kids," She growled before opening the front passenger door.
The day was cold. Not as cold and wet as London, but still, cold. Pulling her coat more tightly around her plump, Rubenesque frame, she shivered anytime she stared down the long driveway. Once Ailsa, Blair, and Lachlan were standing outside the car with her she tugged at each of their coats making sure they were on properly and warm before leading them around to the trunk to retrieve their bags.
Each of them had a backpack, a bag slung over their shoulders, and pulled a suitcase on rollers. Francisco looked rather unrepentant as he handed a bag of groceries to her, and it took all her willpower not to unleash her fury on him. Once she had the grocery bags in hand, he looked her straight in the eyes and warned, "Whatever you do, stay on the path. As long as you do, you will make it to the house, no problem!"
Elizabeth nodded and Francisco smiled at her reassuringly, patted her on the shoulder, and then walked with her around the car until they were in front of the gate.
"Don't worry so much," He purred as he continued around to the driver's door and got into his little Neon. He cranked up the engine and then leaned his head out the window to yell, "Getting to the house is the easy part! It's the leaving that's hard!"
Elizabeth's mouth fell open. She was about to tell him to hold on and wait, but he was already looking backwards as he backed his car up onto the road, he waved, and then drove off.
"Well, isn't this some shit," Lachlan pronounced prosaically.
"Language Lachlan," Elizabeth corrected him as she turned back to the gate and shook her head, "But yeah, it is."
"Are we really going in there," Blair asked timidly.
"We have to," Ailsa answered, "We have to find out what has happened to uncle Gabe!"
"That, and I am a city girl," Elizabeth grumbled, "And the alternative is camping out here in the cold. Something I am neither equipped for, nor knowledgeable of doing."
Lachlan sighed explosively and hunched exaggeratedly. Lifting his bag up and slinging it over his slim shoulders, he sighed, "Alright then, here we go!"