The Magic Porthole.
CHAPTER 1 - New House, New Treasures
The summer heat beat against my face as I breathed in the forest-y scent, which was blowing in the wide-open car window into my face, causing my whitesh-blonde hair to fling every which way.
My mom, Suzanne Donnelson, was driving, and listening to some music from a CD she brought along for the long, 125- mile drive northward from our old home. We struggled to survive for years where we used to live, when Mom saved up enough money to buy a house with some property up in Washington State.
I've never been to Washington before, so it was a trip worth looking forward to. I really wanted to see Seattle, and the Space Needle, but was greatly disappointed when our destination in more inland, in the forest. I didn't care, though. I never really cared about anything, as long as it promised some kind of adventure.
"Beautiful, isn't it Jade?" Mom sighed, taking off her sunglasses, and let them hand by their beaded string around her neck.
"Mm-hm," I absentmindedly answered. That long car ride sure made me drowsy enough not to answer her with actual words.
"Oh, come on!" she insisted. "Don't you think this is beautiful? I sure do!"
"Yeah, it's great, Mom," I finally forced out of my mouth, crabby all of the sudden. PMS is beginning to kick in again, and it's beginning to show. Especially on my face in pimples, and around my stomach in bloating.
Mom was quiet as she continued driving, shaking her head at my irritability. The end of the road was marked by a cattle-guard, and a gravel road on the other side. The car bumped across the guard, and continued to bump and vibrate along the badly washboarded road. It made me really want to pee whenever I am vibrating like that.
"Thank God I can trade this car in for a Jeep," Mom commented after a few minutes of bumping along the winding gravel road.
I didn't answer, but hung on until we stopped at a V in the road. One was the gravel washboarded road winding up to the right, and a smooth plain dirt road, a bit grown over by grass and some low-growing weeds, winding down to the left into an aspen forest. Right in front of us was a faded yellow and green Real Estate sign, with an arrow pointing straight to the overgrown dirt road.
We have arrived our destination. Mom glanced at the driving directions sitting next to her, reading them softly to herself; "'When you get to the V in the road, turn left in direction of arrow'..." She straightened up and turned left. The vibrating torture was finally over.
The new road was frighteningly narrow, and it twisted in every direction you could possibly think of. After a few long minutes of that ride, we approached a covered bridge ahead of us. It looked as if it hadn't been crossed in over a century.
"Don't worry," Mom reassured me, after seeing the uneasiness on my face. "Shawn told us it's been reconstructed last year."
Last year! That wasn't good enough! How many people have crossed since then?
But we went over it anyway. I hung on tightly as I listened to the car's engine echo inside the darkness of the bridge, to hear if there were any creaks and cracks happening. I let out a huge breath of relief when the car finally left the bridge, and continued along the road, which went on for another mile or so until we reached what looked like a parking space in a thick aspen grove. Off to the right was a small old tool-shed, and a large old barn with corrals were seen on the right. But no house.
Mom parked the car next to the shed and shut it off. "Well, we're here." She announced.
"Where's the house?" I asked anyway. It had to be here!
"Shawn said to take the hand-gate on the other side of the shed," Mom explained. "There's a footpath which leads you straight to the house."
"Great!" I muttered, getting out of the car, and shutting the door. "First we have to drive a million miles to get here, and now we have to walk another!"
"Jade," Mom said in her 'you'd better not even think about it!' voice. "Stop complaining, and help me get these things out of the trunk."
"Sure," I muttered back. Mom popped the trunk, and I lifted it open. Inside were two sleeping bags, four duffel bags, a laptop bag (with the laptop in it, of course!), and one big cooler with food inside.
I lifted the cooler out with all the strength I could muster, and carefully set it on the ground. Mom pulled out the duffel bags to carry herself, and handed me the sleeping bags.
"We'll both come come back for the cooler," she said. "Put it back in the trunk, just in case there' s wild animals out here that's bigger than you."
Wild animals bigger than me?! Why does Mom have to joke around and scare me like that!? I thought as I heaved up the big ol' cooler and dropped it back into the trunk.
"Careful! There's two cartons of eggs in there!" Mom lectured.
Whatever. I picked up the sleeping bags and followed her around the front of the shed, towards a small wooden hand-gate, which looked like it was in need of a major paint job. I lifted the rusted latch, and pushed the gate until it creaked open to reveal a small little footpath ahead.
Mom went first, as I stayed to shut the gate behind us, and quickly broke into a small run to catch up with her. She jogs, walks, bikes and swims all the time, so she's pretty much in better shape than her daughter - who is me, of course.
The walk - or strenuous hike, if you need my point of view - was about five minutes long, until we reached a small clearing big enough for the two-story reddish-brown Victorian home, and the yard and garden, which lay off to the left of the house.
Mom stopped to admire the house in front of her. "Absolutely fabulous house, if you ask me."
Fabulous, I think not. Old, yes. Peeling paint, missing windowpanes, shabby roof was all I could see in this old junker. Why in the world would she buy this place? Was it because it was cheap? Probably so, knowing my Mom.
Without another word, Mom continued towards the house, as I remained where I was, looking this place over.
"Jade, come on!" Mom called over her shoulder, still heading towards the house. Hesitantly, and trying my best to ignore any bad feelings I had about this dwelling, I finally followed after Mom.
Once inside, I could smell the musty interior before my eyes adjusted to see it. Old-fashioned wallpaper was everywhere. A steep stairway stood right before me, which lead up an unknown world...
"Leave those sleeping bags there, and we'll go back and get the cooler," Mom said. "Come on."
I pulled my eyes away from the dark stairs, and turned and followed mom back outside.
--
The cooler was brought back, and set in the kitchen, which lacked any appliances whatsoever.
"Shawn said he'll have a brand-new fridge, stove and microwave brought here tomorrow," Mom answered me without my asking. "We'll just eat what we can tonight. Does tuna sandwiches sound good to you?"
"Yeah, they sound great," I mumbled back, just looking around with boredom in my body language. Mom noticed that too, obviously.
"Why don't you go upstairs and pick yourself out a bedroom?" she prompted me. I guess that sounded like an ok idea.
"Sure," I quietly answered, ignoring her odd look she was giving me as I walked by her, and headed for the stairs. I couldn't blame her for giving me an odd look, for I am usually a very talkative and outspoken person all the time. Today was not my day, I suppose.
I tromped up the stairs, which echoed loudly throughout the house, when I slowed down when I heard a really scary-sounding breeze coming from a room up there. Slowly, I crept up each step, until I reached the top.
Off to the left were two doors. Bedrooms, I'm sure. There was another door directly behind me, on the other side of the stairs, too. That could be the bathroom.
To my right was a single door, which was plain and slightly crooked, and secured shut with only a latch through a hole. The spooky wind sound was coming from in there.
Heart pounding, and suddenly overwhelmed with fear, I cautiously approached the door. I listened for a moment for any other sound, and then I lifted the hook out of the hole, and pushed the door open.
On the other side of the door, there was a long, bare, attic-like room, with a single window on the other end. Right next to the window, in the corner, was a self-standing mirror. It was a beautiful mirror, too; with a thick carved mahogany frame surrounding the glass.
The sound was coming from the window, by the way, since it had a pane missing.
I walked across the room, and right up to the mirror. It was about two inches taller than me, and I saw my whole reflection in the flawless glass. It was bright and clear like nothing I've ever seen before. I studied the elaborate carvings on the frame, until my eyes rested on the raised crest on the top of the frame. Carved within that crest was a criss-cross symbol, with the letters 'E, I, Co.' in between the criss-crosses.
Now, what does that mean? I wondered. Those letters and that symbol sure meant something, but I couldn't place it. Maybe once we have a phone line and Internet access, I could Google the 'E. I. Company', and find out. It would be great once our storage van arrived tomorrow. It contains all our furniture, and my desktop computer and computer desk, too.
I continued to study the frame over again, until I spotted on the right side of the frame, a metal keyhole. It was an old-fashioned keyhole, which was as long as my thumb. Sheesh, that could be one heck of a huge key to fit into that hole.
Where was the key to this? Stepping forward, and peering at the edge of the mirror, I could easily tell that this mirror behaved like a door, by being able to open in half. Was it made like that, so one could replace broken glass, if they had to? Or was it for hiding secret 'E. I. Company' documents inside of it?
Since it was locked, my best guess was the latter. No mirror would be locked, if they didn't mean to hide something valuable and/or important within it. Or maybe it was a door that leads to something...no - that's impossible!
I took my pocketknife out of my pocket, flipped the blade out, and tried to pick the lock.
"Jade!" Mom's voice echoed from downstairs. "Would you please get our sleeping bags, and come eat dinner?"
Sighing heavily with disappointment, I put my knife away, and walked out of the room, latching the door behind me.
