Christmas, the time of year when children stop annoying their older siblings and start annoying their parents and grandparents. Allin Karyetz was one such child, asking for random toys and books. When Christmas day finally rolled around she was one of the most excited children in her family. That year they took a trip to their grandparents' house, in Nebraska. It was a huge house, looking like a medieval castle than a place someone would actually live. It was Allin's fist time there instead of her grandma coming to her house and she was amazed at all of the unusually flat land around it, like the house once had an abandoned cornfield around it, or other buildings. All of that strange information was forgotten upon the first glimpse of the house. The thing was huge certainly, but the strangest thing about it was the massive glass panels in the front that featured an odd diamond-in-diamond pattern.

"Wow." Allin whispered.

"If you think that's impressive wait until you see the inside," Her mom said, having heard the gasp.

It seemed to take forever to finally get up to the front door but by the time they reached it the house was all they could see in front of their car. By the time they had gotten out and unpacked their things from the trunk Allin's grandma had made it out the front door and gotten almost halfway to where they had parked.

"Hi, Mom!" Allin's mother yelled happily.

"Hello, sweetie!" She yelled back as she started running to help them with their bags. When she got there she wasn't even breathing heavily, despite being over 50 years old.

"Mom, you don't need to help us, we have things under control." Allin's mother said in exasperation.

"Oh, please," she sniffed," don't treat me like some broken down old mare who cant handle the harness, let alone the plow.

There must have been a farm here, Allin thought, amused before she noticed that her grandma had picked up her bags and was now walking back towards the front door.

"How she manages, I'll never know." Allin's mother sighed.

Once they had all gotten inside and settled in, Allin's grandma started cooking Christmas dinner.

"It'll be ready at around five, so enjoy exploring Cas- I mean the house." She told them

Odd, she almost called this place Castle, like it was a real person, Allin thought. She looked at her parents, but they hadn't noticed anything odd so she shrugged the thought off.

By 2:00 Allin had searched her way through almost every accessible room in the house, but not finding much in the way of entertainment, became bored. At the end of the hall there was two doors, one was a simple, wooden door with ancient looking steel hinges and a doorknob. That door, however, was locked tight. The other door was more decorative, painted in a pleasant blue color, and the best part, unlocked. She opened it slowly, so as to avoid knocking anything over. Allin needn't have worried because when she looked inside she saw a roomy space with a lighter shade of the color that the door was painted in. In the corner was a small rocking horse wearing a fancy pink saddle. Balancing precariously in the saddle, the only dark spot in the room, was a raven statue. It was painted totally in black except for its eyes, which were a sparkling red color. Someone had purposely set it on the horse so that if anyone walked into the room that would be the first thing they saw. Allin walked over to it, constantly keeping eye contact for a reason she couldn't figure out. When she was standing face-to-face with it she saw that its feathers were not totally black, but painted with subtle greens and blues like a real raven would look.

"You're a pretty bird." Allin whispered to it, as though it could hear her compliment. When it didn't respond, she shrugged and walked away to explore the rest of the room.

The opposite corner was occupied by a toy chest, a huge toy chest. Allin walked over to it and undid the clasp holding it shut. When she opened it there was a light scattering of the average girl's stuffed animals and dolls but hidden under them was a big box. Allin ignored the toys and reached straight for the box.

When she had finally pulled the box out she noticed that it had the same metal designs as the old, locked, wooden door in the hall. She undid the clasp on the box and opened it to find hundreds of old pictures, an ancient looking key, some black industrial thread and a needle. She pulled out the needle and thread first, but set it down when it failed to spark enough interest in her. After the thread she pulled out the key. It was heavy and black.

It probably goes to that wooden door I saw, She thought. I should show this to grandma so she can show me the room.

Allin put the key in her pocket and turned back to the box. For the final time she reached into the box and pulled out about ten of the pictures. Seven of them were pictures of the old house, she put those back into the box, keeping her focus on the final three in her hand. One had her Grandma, only much younger probably about 19 years old, she was smiling, wearing a shirt in that nice blue color and a pair of blue jeans. A purple sweater was tied around her waist. The other person in the picture was a tall man wearing heavy looking, grey and black mountain climbing gear and a black helmet. His face was friendly looking, yet oddly inhuman and flat looking. He carried a pickaxe for whatever reason and was laughing heavily. In the background a shorter man with a huge floppy hat and grey hair was smiling at the couple. At his feet sat a skull, Allin looked hard at that part of the picture for a long time but finally realized that the skull had to be fake. The shorter man was also wearing a very old-timey outfit with a strange looking tie in the front. In the very back was a grove of trees and an old cart that looked like it was falling apart at the seams.

The second picture looked much like the first only it featured a beautiful red-haired girl standing on a stage, playing a well made violin. Also on the stage was another friendly looking man only he was well dressed in a white shirt and brown dress pants. Contrary to the rest of his outfit, he wore heavy boots, an orange striped sock and a jaunty striped bandana. His blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his skull except for one of his bangs, which hung in front of his left eye. A left eye, which had an awful grey scar running across it. He was also playing a violin. In the background was red curtains that typically you would find in a fancy auditorium. The strangest part about that was the raven circling over their heads. Allin turned back to the rocking horse but the bird was still there staring at her. She shuddered and turned to the last picture.

The last picture was a group shot of all of the people in the previous pictures, arms around each others shoulders, laughing and generally having a good time. In the background were the huge glass panels that covered the front of the house. The panels gave off a soft red glow something they had been lacking when the family arrived.

Allin got up suddenly, wanting to tell her grandma what she had found. She ran to the raven statue with the three pictures and key clutched in her hand.

"I'll be right back," she told it, and ran out the door at top speed and back to the kitchen. Unseen by Allin, the raven blinked her ruby eyes.

Back in the kitchen, her grandma was just finishing up dinner preparations. The table was set with gorgeous plates and lots of delicious food items.

"Grandma! I found a room with some cool things in it. It was blue and there was a little raven statue in it." Allin yelled as she sprinted into the kitchen.

Allin's grandma, immediately realizing what she was freaking out about, quickly quieted her, saying "Keep the key hidden, I'll show you the room after dinner."

All throughout dinner Allin was a fidgety mess, constantly glancing at her grandma and at the hallway to the two rooms. She felt sure that her parents knew her little secret and were deliberately dragging out the conversation.

After dinner, Allin jumped up and was like a little twister trying to clean the mess as quickly as possible. When it was done she grabbed her grandma by the hand and started dragging her down the hall.

"Where are you going Allin?" Her mother asked. Her grandmother, however, answered for her.

"Oh, Allin wanted me to show her what was at the end of the hall here." She said amused at how stressed out looking Allin was getting at the wait.

"O.K. Have fun sweetie."

At the end of the hall Allin's grandma turned to her and asked her if anything strange happened while she was in the blue room.

"No, but it felt like the bird was staring at me," Allin said confused about the question.

"That bird has a name you know."

"What is it?"

"Her name is Arma." Allin's grandmother said with a laugh.

"You named a statue?" Allin asked, with a tilt of her head.

"And for a good reason too, but I didn't name her. A- an old friend did." She turned towards the door and whistled. A whistle that was returned by a tapping noise that quieted down as if to announce the arrival of the bird flying through the door.

Allin gasped "She's a real bird? But she was sitting so still!"

"Come on, I need to show you something. I'll need that key though."

Allin handed her grandma the key and they both turned to the locked wooden door. As her grandma unlocked the door the bird, Arma, turned towards Allin and gave her a long stare. Allin couldn't answer her because right as she opened her mouth, her grandma opened the door.

Inside the room it was dusty. Allin sneezed, but when she looked up the walls were plastered with maps of what looked like an amusement park. There were also more pictures of those people from the box pictures. Each one had a signature, apparently signed by the person in the picture. The man with the pickaxe had signed his with CLIMBER. Must be a pet name, Allin thought. The blonde man with the ponytail signed his KARL. The redhead had signed hers with Rachel.

"Who are these people, Grandma?" Allin asked, genuinely curious about all of them.

"Oh, those are friends from better days back when I was young." She replied. "I actually think they're still around, if Arma is any hint to go by."

"Still around?" She asked, but her grandma was staring at Arma, nodding as though responding to actual statements the bird was making.

"Ok, so you'll tell them about tomorrow?" She asked. Arma stared at her. "Ok then." She walked to a dusty window opened it and threw the bird outside. She flew off to a distant forest area, a black spot against the clear sky.

"So what are we doing tomorrow, Grandma?" Allin asked, still confused about the strange one sided conversation with Arma.

"Tomorrow," She said with a smile, "We're going walking in the forest."

The next day Allin got up extra early, trying to surprise her grandma, but was shocked when she saw the note on the table saying that they would be outside all day and don't worry we are totally safe. Walking to the front door she pulled on a coat and old shoes. Outside she saw her grandma waiting by the path that led around to the back of the house. Right before she got there though her grandma yelled.

"Castle! I'm taking someone to see our friends! Keep the house going!"

Allin would have thought that her grandma had finally lost her marbles if the house hadn't responded with:

"Yes, Miss Clarice" At every word the glass paneling flashed red.

"Thank you, Castle!"

Allin ran to her grandma without being prompted. She tried to ask what the heck had just happened but couldn't find a way to put it to words.

"It's just Castle, Allin, don't worry." Her grandma said, laughing.

They walked for about an hour during which time they saw Arma, who flew down and must have said something to Allin's grandma because she told Arma to tell them no tackling.

At the end of the path was a small forest grove. Through the trees, Allin thought she saw a small house but couldn't be sure. They walked into the trees and as they got closer to the center of the grove it became apparent that there was a small house and because Allin could hear muffled whispers she knew that whoever lived there knew that they were coming. Allin's grandma walked up to the door and knocked on it lightly. The whispery voices stopped immediately. She sighed and turned to Allin.

"They know that we're here now and they think that they can scare us," She said, snickering, "but I know where they wait now and we can get them."

She pulled a red marker from her coat and drew two X's on the walls of the house on either side of the door. Laughing quietly, she put the marker away and walked back to Allin.

"Ok, you need to hit the X on the right side of the door as hard as you can. I'll take the one on the left." They both snuck up to the house, taking care to avoid sight of the windows. On Allin's side she could hear quiet laughter. She looked at her grandma, who held up three fingers. One at a time she put them down, after the second finger was down she put her hands together into fists and prepared to swing as hard as possible into the X. Allin did the same.

"Two. One." She whispered, "Now!"

They both swung and hit the wall at the same time with a resounding crash that was responded to by loud yells from the inside of the house.

"Ahhgh! Why would you do that?" There was two of them but their voices didn't sound human, they sounded hollow and toneless but distinct and different at the same time.

Allin's grandma laughed and walked to the door. She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. The scene inside was funny enough to get a chuckle from Allin. Both of the people inside were staggering around clutching their heads and groaning in pain.

"Come on inside, Allin they cant jump us this time." Her grandma said, still laughing.

Allin slowly wandered inside and was amazed at the sheer simplicity of the quarters. There were only a few pictures on the walls, which were painted with simple white paint. The empty fireplace looked like it had never been used, which was a questionable fact because it was obvious that this place didn't have central heating. There was only one other door, which led into a hallway that went in two different directions, presumably to the bedrooms. Allin turned back to the two boys they had startled. The taller one still had a hand on his helmet but otherwise they looked recovered.

"Hello Miss Uhh…" The tall one looked confused.

"Allin," Clarice prompted.

"Ahh. Miss Allin. Pleased to meet you." He held out a gloved hand. "My name is Climber."

Allin grabbed his hand and shook it. Looking closely at his face she noticed that it was drawn on. In mud. She was off put by this fact, but his smile was nice enough to cause her to smile too. As she was shaking his hand she felt a colder presence right behind her. Freezing out of nervousness she glanced around, only to come face-to-face with the biggest grin she had ever seen.

"Ahhh!" She yelped in surprise at seeing the shorter blond guy so close. Allin wondered how he had snuck up on her.

"Hello, little human," He said in a suave voice, still smiling yet lowering his eyebrows in an oddly frightful expression.

It must be that scar, Allin decided that was the reason he looked so threatening at that moment. Wait a minute, 'Little Human'? Why would he use that term? Aren't they human too?

"Karl…" Clarice said warningly.

"What?" He said innocently "She's a new face."

"Carl?" Allin asked, now very confused at the odd subtle exchanges going on between the three.

Karl turned back to Allin, still grinning. "No. Karl; With a K" he said gleefully. Allin shuddered at his constant happiness and at the fact that he had apparently read her thoughts exactly like she would read a book. What had made him think that she had spelled it with a C?

"So, you are human right?" Karl asked "I thought they talked more than this."

"I could ask you the same thing." Allin replied, finally having regained her confidence in speaking to this odd, cold man.