The Mystery in the Attic Chapter One:
Arrival
"Hallo, und guten abend. My name is Lilli Zwingli, and you must be-"Lilli stopped herself. The person who opened the door for her was most certainly not Lord Roderich Edelstein, esquire. Nor was it Elisabeth Héderváry, his companion. In fact, the door opener appeared to be some sort of paranormal being invisible to the naked eye, or possibly not there at all.
Behind the door lay a very expensive-looking carpet with strange symbols etched around the edges, leading to a tall staircase. Illuminating the whole sight were stained-glass windows depicting sweeping landscapes, akin to what Lilli had seen on the train to the manor. Chinese vases lined the great hall in shades of blue, getting darker as they receded from her vision. The most breathtaking sight, however, was the massive chandelier hung from the rafters. Lilli assumed it was just as expensive as the lavish carpet and made of real diamonds.
A sharp cough brought Lilli back to earth. It was a strange girl, appearing not much older than herself, with platinum blonde hair and a scowl. She was wearing a maid's outfit. "Are you, uh, Elisabeth?" Lilli asked. This new girl was unnerving, to say the least, and downright terrifying if one were to be completely honest. Lilli was going to join her brother in asylum if she was to be her new 'mother'.
"I am Natalya. You are Lilli. I have been assigned to you." Natalya's voice was deep and empty, and the massive ceilings rang with her voice for a spell after she finished speaking.
"Nat! Has the carriage pulled up yet? I want to be the first!" A much warmer voice called from up the stairs. The floorboards around the landing creaked ever so slightly, causing a cacophony of shrieking to echo through the foyer. Natalya winced, and Lilli breathed a sigh of relief. So Natalya-Nat- was human, too.
"O-oh! Nat, you were- uhh- were you at least polite- Hello, Lilli, it's great to finally meet you- I've been so excited- was the journey nice, how is your brother- you know I've met you once before but you probably don't remember you were just, small- here, let me take that- Nat will you- alright, now come on, we've been waiting for you for dinner." Lilli's head spun. This Ersebet wasn't much better. Natalya had disappeared, and Ersebet took this opportunity to glide one hand around Lilli and guide her to the left, revealing a large and dimly lit hallway. A candelabra atop a long table flickered at the end, and a teen wearing a cravat and a powder blue waistcoat leaned against the doorway. He looked about the same age as Natalya, and had blond hair as well, flopping overtop of his eye. He seemed very young to be Roderich.
"This is Noah Andersen, he's staying with us for the time being. Roderich is teaching him." Lilli did not bother asking what. As they neared him, he disappeared back into the room.
Inside, Noah, Roderich, a brunette about Lilli's age and a caramel-skinned girl between her and Nat's age were already seated. Ersebet directed her to a seat beside the caramel-skinned girl and took a seat at the end of the table, across from Roderich.
"Are you Lilli? I have heard SO MUCH about you! Elisa has been so excited! My name is Michelle, by the way. I'm one of Mr. Roddy's students. That's Noah, and she"- Michelle pointed to the brunette-"is Lucille. So, you're supposed to be like their kid?"
"Michelle, manners." Roderich smiled at Lilli. "We shall be taking care of Lilli for a while. You have met Natalya and Berwald, yes?"
"Not Berwald yet. I thought it best to get her accustomed to us before we introduced someone so intimidating." Elisabeth replied.
"Berwald's the butler. He's super tall and scary. He almost never smiles." Michelle whispered.
"Now, Lilli, tell us about yourself." Roderich said coolly.
"What happened to your brother?"
"Why's he in the hospital?"
"He's not in the hospital, he's in the asylum!"
"Why's he in the asylum?"
"Are you crazy too?"
Lilli bit the inside of her cheek. Thankfully, Roderich took control.
"Is this how we treat others? Have some tact! Lilli may not want to talk about it. Don't push her." Michelle looked at her feet. Lilli noticed she wasn't wearing shoes. Neither was Lucille, who had exuded an air of nobility, or Noah, whose pressed pinstripe suit clashed greatly with his bare toes. Elisabeth's stockings brushed the floor. Even Roderich was without footwear. Lilli immediately felt odd.
The rest of dinner passed without incident. Nat came around at the end to take the plates away. Noah immediately took off towards the left hallway, disappearing into a room near the beginning. Lucille hung around for a moment more to whisper something to Elisabeth before going up the stairs in the foyer. Michelle followed suit, leaving Lilli alone with her "parents".
"Lilli, if you have any questions, feel free to ask right now while we're alone." Elisabeth grasped Lilli's arm loosely.
"Why can't I stay with Vash?"
Elisabeth's smile drooped. Her hand fell back to her side, and she looked pointedly at Roderich. Roderich cleared his throat.
"The authorities have determined Vash to be unfit to take care of you."
"But why? What did he do? He was absolutely fine for eleven years- why?"
"They worry that, that your brother, would harm you as easily as he did that poor trespasser."
"No. He never would. He would never. He always- took good care of me."
Roderich and Elisabeth shifted uncomfortably. Roderich excused himself, dabbing at his brow with his cravat. Elisabeth was frowning, lines on her forehead.
"Natalya? Would you take Lilli to her room? Please, give her a tour while you're at it." Elisabeth disappeared after her fiancé. Natalya shifted her icy stare to Lilli.
"Follow." Nat took off at a brisk pace back towards the foyer, gesturing to each door.
"Bathroom. Drawing room. Servant's quarters. Paint and sculpture room. Main hall." Lilli, meanwhile, focused on the location of each squeaky floorboard.
"Violin room, piano room, general string room, percussion room, wind-instruments, brass instruments, concert hall." Nat pivoted and almost ran right into Lilli.
"Upstairs in this building is all your bedrooms." Natalya receded into the shadows. Lilli ran up and down the stairs a few times before she was certain she could run down skipping the creaky stairs in her sleep.
It was only when she arrived at the first door that she realized she didn't know which room was hers.
One half of the upstairs was behind a locked door to the right, a door directly above the stairs had a huge padlock and a 'keep out' posted on it. On her left was six doors. One was painted sky blue. Another was pale pink. Next was a deep indigo coloured door, and a deep red. The end of the hallway had one white and one black door.
Time for some detective work. She had read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, after all.
The pale pink was similar to the frilly dress Lucille was wearing, and Lilli didn't want a door of that color either way. The sky blue across from it was either Michelle's or Noah's. The indigo, red, black, and white were all ambiguous, and Lilli didn't want to walk in on anyone.
Lilli needed her brother. "Vash?" she yelled. Vash never answered. He was in another country. Elisabeth and Roderich did.
"Lilli? What? Is he here?"
"U-um."
"Do you need something?"
"Which, which room-"
"Yours is white. We didn't know which color to paint it." Elisabeth was distant, and seemed to be looking at something behind Lilli's head. Just as quickly as the door had opened, Elisabeth vanished back inside.
Every single floorboard creaked on her way to the room.
Thanks for reading! In case you don't know-
Lilli- Liechtenstein
Michelle- Seychelles
Lucille- Monaco
Noah- Luxembourg
Natalya- Belarus
Berwald- Sweden
Roderich- Austria
Elisabeth- Hungary
