Chapter 1 ~ House of Secrets
To most outsiders, The Anubis Estate would look like a simple old house; wrapped in ivy and crumbling with age. To Nina Martin, it was home. She smiled as she gazed up at the now-familiar red-brick Victorian mansion. Nina sighed, lifting the handle on her rolling suitcase, and pulling it up the steps behind her as she reflected upon her memories here. Before she could reach up to the door, it swung open again; just like it had on her first day here. Only instead of the mysterious force that had guided it the last time, the door had been opened by the house caretaker, Victor. "You're early." the man said, his cold, dark eyes taking in her messy, travel-affected appearance. "Two days early." "Gran had to leave. It was an emergency. She had to go see my great-aunt in-" "I do not care to hear your life story Miss Martin." Victor barked, slowly climbing the stairs back to his office. Nina pondered the stair case. The ballusters still held their strange, vetical eye shape. The floor of the front hall was still the same red and black checkerboard pattern. An ancient Egyptian casket leaned against the wall beneath the staircase; everything was bathed in the familiar golden light that simply couldn't be found in America. She didn't know why she expected something to be different, because nothing had changed. The place had been empty all of her winter holiday with the exeption of Victor; perhaps Trudy was here somewhere as well. Nina left her case in the hall and sauntered into the kitchen, following the smell of brownies. A stout woman with thick, dark, curly hair was leaning beside an oven, lifting a pan of the delicious-smelling treats from the heated chamber. "Hi Trudy!" Nina exclaimed. The woman nearly dropped the pan in her rush to hug Nina. "Nina!" Trudy, Nina's house mother, was an often-hyper middle-aged woman who loved to cook. "I was just preparing for Mick's arrival. It typically takes two days just to cook for him, and then there are the others!" Nina laughed and hugged her short housemother. Her own parents had died when she was small, so Trudy was the most motherly person she had. Nina was raised by her gran. "Can you help me by dusting a bit? I'll let you have a brownie." She smiled. "I'd do it for free." Nina said, taking a dustrag from Trudy and wandering into the living room. Dark leather sofas gathered around a cherry coffee table. "The first thing I should do," Nina thought as she surveyed the job to be done, "is open the windows and let some light in. There is no use in cleaning if I can't see where the mess is." She pulled the thick red velvet curtains back from the large windows. Deciding that the fireplace would be the best start, she began her dusting there. "I'm going to look like a coal miner when this is done." She thought. "Or a chimney sweep." Trudy laughed from the kitchen. Nina had no idea she had voiced her thoughts aloud. A painting hung above the fireplace; Nina recognized it as the first she had seen of the Frobisher-Smythe family. She decided to give it an extra polish. They were resting in peace now. As Nina used her finger to test for any more residue on the picture, she discovered the imprint of an eye of horus. Strange. She still wore her locket. Telling herself she would investigate later, she moved on to dust the coffee table.
To Be Continued...