Chapter One: A Family Estate
Alicia, a twelve year old girl with wavy dirty blonde hair, is an only child with her Mother and Stepfather. Her mother is Kelsey Marine; who has brunette hair up in a tight bun and is currently looking out the windshield through the rain. Her stepfather is a tall and dark haired man, and was sleeping in the passenger seat. Alicia thought he was quite handsome, for a forty-five year old. Kelsey glances at John, in the passenger seat, then at Alicia through the rearview mirror. "You still awake, sweetie?" Alicia looks up from looking out the window at her mother. "Yeah." She lets out a yawn and Kelsey smiles, "Why don't you get some sleep. I'll wake you when we get there, okay?" Alicia yawned once again and nodded, her eyes getting heavy. She rested her head upon the window and fell asleep. Kelsey looked back out the windshield and sighs, "Wonderful." she mutters, turning the wheel.
Alicia wakes up to someone gently shaking her shoulder. She slowly opens her eyes and rubs them with the back of her hand. "Huh? What's going on?" Her mother smiles at her. "We're here." She says softly, and Alicia jumps out of the car; pulling a red drawstring bag onto her back, and looks up. She was standing in front of a huge Victorian castle that was possibly from the 1800's. She grins. "Wow, this place is huge!" She exclaims. Her mother chuckles, "This belongs to a relative of ours. He's in America at the moment, but he said that we could stay here. And I just couldn't resist the offer." Kelsey's eyes sparkle with joy and Alicia jumps up and down with excitement, twirling around on her toes to get a look at every inch of the front of the castle. "Come on! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She squeals, pulling on her mother's hand and jerking her towards the humongous castle. Kelsey laughs as her daughter pulls on her hand. "Alright, alright! John's in there already, setting up our rooms for the few weeks we're here for." She says, walking with Alicia towards the Castle. Alicia was jumping with excitement. "Mum! Will there be cool knights and stuff?" She questions, looking up at her as her mother tugs open the big heavy mahogany doors. "Maybe, why don't you look for yourself?" Kelsey says, grinning widely and holding the door open for her. Alicia streaks inside, squealing with energy and bouncing up and down on her feet.
Alicia stood in the middle of the hallway to the entrance of the Castle, gazing at everything around her. The architecture in the castle was beautiful, shapes and swirls were carved in the stone that built the place and stained glass windows of the seal of the castle made the entire building bright with colours. The lighting was held with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Hanging tapestries were hung on the walls etched with Knights standing by their steeds, and princesses with their prince. Alicia was speechless by how much this place was decorated and built. A pretty blue vase sat on a table in the hallway, filled with several colourful flowers that she couldn't name. She could even see the staircase leading upstairs; she had a lot of exploring ahead of her. She turned to face her mother, words failing to help her describe how happy she was. Kelsey just smiled and rested a hand on her shoulder. "This place is quite beautiful, isn't it?" she murmurs, looking at a painting on the wall of man in his late fifties with dark hair and greying lines. He looked a bit important and tired, but Alicia wasn't really interested in the painting. "Do you think knights and warlocks lived in here long ago?" She squealed, bouncing up and down and starting to walk down the hallway. Kelsey hummed a sort of agreement, not exactly paying attention to her babbling. "Try not to get too lost." She says, and Alicia glances back at her mother. "John and I will be in the study which is the first door down this hall on your right. If you need us, we'll be there." Alicia grins and nods, understanding. "Okay!" She makes to dash off, but her mother calls back to her. "Alicia! All the bedrooms and bathrooms, along with a library, will be upstairs! Please be careful. Try not to break anything." Alicia lets out a whine. "Mum! I'm not going to destroy anything! I'm thirteen!" Kelsey points a finger at her, waggling it. "Almost, thirteen." She corrects. "Just another week." Alicia grins and waves at her mother, bolting off.
Kelsey seated herself down in a chair in the study, looking out the window at the back garden; which had a fountain, some stables for horses, and a beautiful flower garden, everything looking green and colourful. There were no horses held in the stables currently, but Kelsey assumed that back in the days when King Arthur was big the knights would ride off to battle on their horses, their armour shining in the sunlight and the stable boys would clean them daily, along with the blacksmiths shoeing the horses up. She smiled at the thought and planned to take Alicia out to the stables later on in the day. She looked up as the door opened and smiled as John walked in, wearing a smile upon his face. "Is everything alright?" She murmurs, standing up and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Yes, we're all settled in." John replies, hugging Kelsey and kissing the top of her head. "Alicia has a room just down the hall from us. Don't make that face! She'll be fine, Kel. She's turning thirteen, I'm sure she can handle sleeping by herself fine." Kelsey was frowning and John looked at her seriously. "I know. She's just the wandering type though. When something catches her eye or adventure is just out of her reach, she takes off after it." She lets out a frustrated sigh, sitting down once again. John chuckles and rubs her shoulders, comforting her. "It's alright. She's a child; it's in her nature to get into trouble, you know this more than anyone." Kelsey smiles and nods, agreeing. "You're right; I shouldn't be too worried about her, whatever could go wrong?" She laughs.
Alicia was in quite the predicament. She found the kitchen and decided to rummage through the cupboards for some food, since she was a tad bit peckish, and found herself high up on one of the shelves. She looked down at the floor and her eyes widened. Why did she always have to get herself into trouble? She opened her mouth to call to her mother for help, but then closed it shut. She pursed her lips; was her mother close enough to hear her or was she too far away to not hear her? She let out a shaky breath and looked back down, and wondered how she even got up here. Well; the counter was only three feet high and she was four eight or just about, and there were two levels of cupboards that she got the bright idea to shift through the top ones. It was about six in a half feet back down on the floor, more or less. She took a deep breath and jumped off of the cupboard, screaming as she fell, crumpling to the floor and holding her knee in the process. "Ah! Th-that wasn't a good idea…" She mumbles, shakily getting up and righting herself with the help of the counter. "Maybe I'll just ask mum if she can find me some food." She mumbles, hobbling out of the kitchen and hopping down the hallway to find her mother.