Chapter three
The light fell across the figure, it was a woman, she looked very much like her portrait. She was tall and thin and very beautiful, her jet black hair which was obviously long was piled on her head in a fancy sort of bun. Her skin was so pale she was almost transparent, and they saw that her eyes were a dark intense green, the kind that seemed to follow you everywhere.
“Silence young ones!” Her voice was light and sweet, but powerful and audible, it demanded silence, so everyone quieted. The petite blond embarrassingly released her grip on Terrance’s jacket, he gave her a shy smile and pushed his black hair off his forehead.
“There, much better.” The woman paused to give them a smile “I am Dean Adeline Silk, I assume that you’ve met my Assistant Dean, Johnson Jones?” She smiled again as everyone nodded. ‘
“Every year he leads the tour, and brings the new ones to meet me. He then leaves them and I always end up giving them a scare. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do with that man,” She gave a cheery little laugh and gestured for them to follow her back through the doors they had come through.
“I really do apologize for him, he has a sick sense of humor.” They walked back through the halls and past the dining hall. They didn’t go through the doors that led to the hall outside the library. Instead, Dean Silk took a small golden key ring out of a hidden pocket in her slim black dress and opened a pair of light-colored doors. They came through a small closet-like room. The room was packed with wires and monitors and such.
Once again she unlocked a door and they appeared out in the media room, or one of the several media rooms as Mr. Jones had kindly pointed out. As Dean Silk moved she seemed to float above the ground. Now that they were in such a dark room, the teens could see her skin seemed to glow, lighting up the air around her. It seemed like seconds. The last thing they remembered was being in the media room, next thing they were out in the courtyard in front of the school. Several double Decker buses were parked at the curb. Each one had a manor name painted on the side. Hayden, Phillip, Jerald, Terrence, Aden and Peter lined up in front of the bus labeled Dark Side Manor. So did the little blonde girl, and a few others.
“I’m Michelle,” the petite blond said, she barely came up to Jerald’s shoulder. A younger looking boy, also short, with tousled mouse brown hair and freckles told the group his name.
“I’m George,” his voice was high pitched and squeaky. The girl with the bobbed green and blonde dyed hair was Daniela, and the older teenage boy with the black hair was Dave. Dave’s voice was low and hard to hear, but they could tell he had a British accent.
“What do you all think it’s going to be like to live here?” His question was met with silence. Before he could ask again, the bus doors opened
“Come on in guys. We’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes.” As they entered the bus they noticed the driver’s seat was concealed behind a long navy blue curtain. The interior of the bus was so neat that it had to be new, they all took their seats. Many, many more kids piled on the bus and before they knew it they were moving. The windows were too dark to see much more than a few shapes that looked like trees. The ride took much longer than they thought and soon the driver started cracking jokes over the intercom. “What is brown and sticky? A stick! What do you get when you cross a school of fish with a herd of elephants? Swimming trunks!” This seemed to help pass the time. After several more agonizing minutes of the terrible jokes, the doors opened and the driver jokingly said, “Get off!” They all piled off the bus, and were frozen in shock.
In front of them stood a lofty, four story, handsome Chateauesque mansion. It was made of smooth, dark cream marble, with a garbled black shingled roof. The windows were fancy, old, and cracked in places; they appeared to be covered from the inside by dark drapes. A small, white fenced patio held the few stairs that led to the front double doors. The doors were set in a short tower and stood beneath large windows. A chimney stood on either side of the mansion, near one of the four, taller towers. The towers twisted the roof into peaks topped by silver points. Balconies wrapped around the building connecting to each tower and entered upon by hidden doors. It was quite dark by the time they stopped staring in awe. The leaves crunched under their feet as they walked up the steps to the front doors. The doors creaked loudly as they opened automatically.
“Who opened them?” Daniela asked. Evidently, no one had. They all cautiously walked into a room that, in the total absence of light, seemed very large. They heard a slam, and what little light that the half-moon had provided, disappeared. The doors had closed themselves. The oxygen in the room seemed to disappear. It was a good five minutes before the lights flicked on, blinding the cluster of teens.
“Welcome!” A voice boomed as their eyesight adjusted. In front of them they saw two men. One was very tall, with a wiry, sturdy build, thin brown hair and brown eyes, he was very tidy looking. His brown coat, pants and purple cravat were immaculate. The other was a short, slightly larger man with ruffled, thick blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. His green tie didn’t match his purple shirt, black pants, and brown shoes at all. The taller man’s face was grim compared to his friend’s smiling one. It was the smiling man that spoke, in the same booming voice they had heard only moments before.
“Good evening young ladies and gentlemen welcome to Dark Side Manor!” As he spoke he took a step forward and spread his arms out very dramatically, as if to envelop them in a group hug.
“I am Donte Apsley, Assistant Head of Dark Side Manor!” As he said this the more serious, and taller man stepped forward and spoke in a very refined voice.
“I am the head of this manor, my name is Eloy Roblin. You may call me Mr. Roblin.” Everyone stood there a moment, looking at each other. Mr. Apsley was still grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, it’s time for you to see where you will be living for a few years! Oh, by the way. There is no need to call me Mr. like old Eloy here.” Donte gestured for them to follow while Mr. Roblin looked slightly offended. The two men walked side by side to a door on the far side of the room. They hadn’t had time to look before, but now they noticed that the room was actually quite small. The floor a blues and greens pattern; and gray walls so dusty they looked gray, which in fact they were white. The kids followed the two men through the door and entered a fairly large room. Directly in front of them there was a long hallway so dark they could barely make out the large grandfather clock at the end.
Also in front of them to the side was a staircase which looked like it would creak if you stepped in it. To there right, and again to the left a bit of ways ahead, were open door frames. Hanging on the wall next to the door way on the left was a large framed canvas, it appeared to be a map. Before they could look at it they heard, for what seemed like the billionth time that day, a disembodied, voice. This time it was female, the voice was a bit sarcastic and lazy, but light and very icy.
“You do realize this is a loony bin right? The only people that come here are ones with a psychotic death wish.” It took them a while for them to locate the source of the voice but when they did they all sucked in their breath.
There, directly to their right, leaning against the door frame, so gracefully it looked like someone had draped her there, was a girl. Her skin was a pale cream color, almost a milky white. Her hair a dark chestnut brown, and chest length, also looked like it had been merely placed there. She was coltish and slight, her torso, though short as she was, was V shaped. She was wearing a long sleeved gray-blue shirt and black leggings, which fitted loosely around her body. Even though she was leaning, she held herself straight, as if she were tall. As she stepped into the light her skin seemed to glow and her hair seemed to reflect the light, same as her eyes which were a warm chocolate brown color. But her eyes themselves were not warm; they were commanding, and fierce, and they looked straight at Peter.
“Let me guess, fifteen?” She asked him, he gave a stiff nod, his eyes transfixed on her. She laughed, a soft laugh, but the kind tingled up your spine and made you shiver. “You’re scared of me,” she said this softly as she stepped behind him. She rested her hand on his right shoulder, her hand was cold and seemed to burn through his shirt, she leaned to whisper in his ear. “Loosen up” Peter, the poor boy seemed to be frozen with a mixture of fright, and surprise. The girl took a step back, resting her hand at her side, and looked at Donte and Mr. Roblin.
“This one’s hungry,” She swiftly walked past the rest of the clustered group and paused at the base of the stairs, her right foot placed on the first step.
“Welcome to the loony bin. I mean, the Manor.” She walked up the stairs, and then, was out of sight. Someone chuckled, and leaning against the door frame on the left, less gracefully than the girl, was a boy. His clothes matched his hair, they were dark and slightly messy. He made a gesture at the girl who had gone up the stairs.
“That was Lye,” He shook his head, “She’s kind of our own personal weirdo here, and she’s also…” He was cut off because a phone was bleeping. He fished in the pocket of his jeans and turned on his phone. He got a confused look on his face and read the message out loud. “Yes, yes I am.” He then smiled, laughed and put his phone away before returning his gaze to the new kids.
“She’s psychic.” He finished. George snorted. The boy looked at him, “What? You don’t believe me?” Everyone shook their heads. “Well fine then” He looked at Peter and asked “Are you really fifteen, scared of her, and hungry?” Peter nodded while swallowing. The boy’s facial expression matched his word. “See?”
“There’s no such thing as psychics, that was just a lucky guess on her part.” A girl named
Amber said. This time it was Mr. Roblin who snorted, everyone turned their shocked gazes to him and Donte.
“I wish it was a just a lucky guess” Mr. Roblin said stiffly, he looked uncomfortable.
“Yes, she is a real psychic. It’s really freaking sometimes.” Now it was Donte’s turn to look uncomfortable, he turned to his companion and muttered. “Remember the time she asked you when the wedding was, when you were going to propose to Celeste that very night?”
“Yes! I hadn’t even bought the ring yet. I was going to get it before the dinner.” They weren’t very good at being quiet. Donte suddenly snapped his fingers, making everyone jump.
“Eloy! We forgot to tell Anthony he was going to have to cook for more kids today!” Donte cried. Mr. Roblin leaned his head back and groaned
“Every year!” The two men began to walk away when Donte turned back.
“Declan.” He addressed the dark haired boy. The boy named Declan nodded in acknowledgment.”Would you show the newbies the parlor, dining room, and where their rooms are?” Donte reached into his back pocket and handed Declan a few pieces of folded paper. He sighed. “Best of British”
“What did he mean Best of British?” Michelle asked, Declan laughed, and walked to the door were they had first spotted Lye.
“That’s how we Britain’s say good luck. He really means ‘Don’t run into a ghost'” This time Daniela and George snorted together. Declan didn’t respond to this but visibly rolled his eyes. “This is the parlor.”
The parlor was a fairly large room with a fire place, many purple couches and arm chairs that contrasted with the shiny new piano in the corner. The room itself was all indigo and gray.
“Is everything here gray?” Hayden whispered, in vain because Declan heard.
“Pretty much, gray was the style when this place was built; and since the school was named after this manor the figured they should make it match as much as possible.”
“When was this manor built?” Declan looked around before he spotted Michelle to his left, and down, way down.
“Oh, around the 1400’s.” Declan said nonchalantly.
“Wasn’t the tale of Dracula 1897?” Dave asked. A voice answered him from the back of the room.
“Well, yes the tale of Dracula was 1897. However Dracula lived in the 1400’s. The author that wrote Dracula based it off of him. Him being Count Vlad Dracula,” The voice was female and light and sweet. A light-skinned girl with a flower crown rested on her long blonde hair, was walking towards them.
“Well you know I’m all about that history.” Declan said jokingly, the girl laughed lightly and Declan gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She smiled at him and walked towards the door. She turned back and said,
“My name is Claire. Claire Vince.” She turned swiftly, her hair swishing behind her. They all turned their attention back to Declan who was smiling, or trying to, in reality he was smirking. He pointed at the disappearing strands of blonde hair.
“Mine.” All the boys raised their hands in mock surrender. They followed Declan through the door, which lead them back to what was called the stair room. As they were walking to the door, straight across the from the stairs; Phillip paused at the framed picture of the map.
“Is this the school?” he asked, he traced his finger along a line of trees directly behind the building, the map ended after that. “What’s beyond there?” Phillip turned around. Declan had become serious.
“We don’t know, and we’re not allowed to find out.”
Dark Side Manor 