~}{Birds of a Feather}{~
It was now almost eight and completely dark outside. Everyone sits around in the parlor room, not knowing exactly what we should be doing. I sit on the couch and pull my ponytail out, rustling the waves of gold with one hand. They fall over my shoulders. I then pick up my book and rest it on my lap. It's the same one I had been skimming through on my deck.
Midway upon the journey of my life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there.
"What are you reading?" I look up from my page and around in search of who had spoken. Pam gives a small wave and I smile at her. "That's book is huge."
"Oh, uh yeah. I'm a reader." I laugh and look over the book. It was huge. Nearly a thousand pages within it. I hold the cover to her.
"Classic Works to Read in Your Lifetime." She reads and gives a small nod. "I was never much a reader. Especially not when it came to the classics. What are you reading now?"
"Dante's Inferno." I reply and then go back to reading.
Day was departing, and the embrowned air
Released the animals that are on earth
From their fatigues; and I the only one
Made myself ready to sustain the war,
Both of the way and likewise of the woe,
Which memory that errs not shall retrace.
"Through me the way is to the city dolent;
Through me the way is to eternal dole;
Through me the way among the people lost.
Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!"
I jump at the sound of an organ. I close my book and look over the back of the couch. Emery sat on the wooden bench, hands firmly on the keys of the grand old instrument.
"No corporal presence in over six centuries. No psychic pulse." I look over at Nick and watch as he drags his hand gently over a suit of knight's armor. Emery's playing improves, but its overtone is eerie. I try and begin reading once more. "Emery?"
Nope. I close my book and set it down in my lap with a heated huff.
"Are you thinking of dressing for dinner?" Nick asks and the music cuts off. I hear the bench creak as Emery turns around to look at Nick.
"You tell me." He stands from his seat. "Read my mind."
I give a laugh and look over at Nick. Vick gets up off the couch and rushes over to where Cathy sat on the other. He hold in his hands a bible and points to a certain part.
"Cathy, you were right; Revelation twelve." Cathy looks at the section and smiles, nodding her head. Pam watches as everyone seems to have something to do and leans back in her chair. Emery walks over to where Rachel stands by an old record player. She is looking through the albums.
"Annie! Glenn Miller!" Rachel calls and holds up a certain record. Annie runs from her spot by the fire and to the record player, turning the album over in her hands.
"That doesn't work. I tried it while I was setting up." Joyce calls after Annie, staring at the girl's back. "Sorry Annie."
Suddenly, the door bell rings, catching us all off guard. I stand up from the couch and walk to where Nick was. I watch Joyce as she smiles at us all and puts her things she was carrying on the table.
"Joyce?" Vick asks carefully as he and Cathy stand up from the loveseat. We all stare at Joyce who only continues to smile.
"It's alright." She replies as she walks around the table and out into the entrance hall where the front door was. The others follow behind her, curious as to whom the visitor was. I hang back and walk up to Annie, who was trying to get the old record player to work. The door bell rings again.
"I bet you can get this old hunk a junk to work." I pipe up softly and smile at her, tapping the record player gently. "Can't ya?"
Annie looks to me and then at the record player. She pulls the album from its cover and places it, putting the needle right where it needs to be. The record slowly begins to spin and then picks up speed, music floating into the air. It was a rather peppery tune. She looks to me and then smiles, making me smile back.
We walk into the entrance hall and see the others by the door. Emery holds three pizza boxes in his arms with soda on top. The others look to Annie and me in surprise of the music. I see Nick move from his spot and take Rachel in his arms, twirling her around. Then I see Vick walk up to Pam and ask her to dance. Steve walks towards Annie and me, bobbing his head and smiling while snapping his fingers. I laugh and step out of the way for him to take Annie's hand in a dance.
I watch the others dancing and feel, for the first time since we have gotten here, alright. I walk to Emery and pull the sodas from on top of the pizza boxes. Then I follow him back into the parlor room. I place the sodas on the coffee table and move to stand in front of the fire. I don't budge when the front door shuts or when I hear the others laughing.
"This is terrific!" My eyes snap from the fire to Nick who had spoken. He was looking down at Rachel smiling and laughing, while they continue to dance. I smile at them and turn back to the fire.
"Yeah... just terrific." I sigh, feeling slightly jealous that Nick was dancing with Rachel. I move from the fire and sit back on the couch. I pick up my book and open it to where I had left off. The music continues to play, but I lose myself in the pages filled to the brim with words.
-NICK-
"Isn't there someone else you'd rather be dancing with?" Rachel looks up at me as we move across the marble floor.
"No, why?" I shake my head. Her words have confused me. Rachel nods over to where Luciana sits on the sofa by the fire. In her hands was her book, a heavy thing filled with the words of old philosophers and literary masters alike. I look back at Rachel. "I don't understand."
But I do and Rachel knows this as well. She gives me a look, tilting her head to one side.
"Oh I think you do." Rachel turns her attention back to the bleach blonde she was still dancing with. "I think you like her more than you're letting on."
I smile and continue to twirling her around with the others. She had guessed it. My little secret. I was in fact attracted to the golden haired beauty sitting on the sofa. At first it had only been her looks. Then when she had appeared at the bar like a vision I had found myself becoming curious as to whom she truly was. Then today had only propelled that attraction further passed her naturally mysterious nature.
"It's the strangest thing. I've never felt such lure from anyone as I do from her." I look over at Luciana once more and find my smile turning into a thoughtful glance. "She is like no one I have ever met."
"Because she's a powerful psychic like Annie? Or because she can keep secrets about herself as well as you can?" Rachel retorts with a smirk. I look back down at her smiling and give a small breathy laugh.
"Perhaps... Are you sure you're not physic?" I joke and cock an eyebrow playfully. Rachel laughs slightly and shakes her head.
"Not even a little." She replies as I look back over to Luciana. She places a delicate, l finger with a rose colored nail on the corner of the page and then flips it with a smile, her book drawing her deeper into its web. She was unaware of everything else around her. Perfectly content in her little world far from everything she has gone through; everything I wish she would confide in me about.
"If you wouldn't mind, Rachel," I start gently and cease our dance as the music comes to an end. I look back down at the raven haired girl as the others move into the Parlor room. "But there's a certain damsel that needs to be swept off her feet."
Rachel gives him a slight nudge, smiling as he walks away. I stop in the doorway to the Parlor room and narrow my eyes at the sofa.
"Where's Luciana?" I ask and look about the room at the others. Her book had taken her place on the sofa.
"She was heading towards the kitchen." Emery speaks up and looks up from his plate. I turn towards him in question.
"The kitchen?" I ask, wondering if I had heard right. "By herself?"
"Yeah the kitchen and no not alone." Emery snaps back and takes another bite of his pizza. He swallows the lump of food in his throat. "She went off with Vick."
I take another look about the room and then head down the hall to the kitchen. I look through the glass of the kitchen doors and spot Luciana sitting on one of the tables. She was staring out the window into the health room contemplatively. The moon shines brightly through the top of the health room, illuminating it and the kitchen slightly.
I turn the handle to the door and gently pull it open. I walk up to the side of the counter, slightly behind her and just stare at her a moment longer. She no doubt has heard my footsteps.
"Ready to head back, Vick?" She asks and looks over her shoulder. Her smile falters as confusion washes over her. "Oh. Hi you."
"See anything interesting?" I ask softly, looking between her and the window. She laughs, a melodious tune top any ear, and shakes her head of golden waves.
"Not really." She taps her nails against the table top and looks back out the window. I smile at her and study her as though she were a piece of artwork. The moon's light gleams off her faintly sun-kissed skin, her hair, her eyes. She looks at me.
"What?" She asks after a moment with an embarrassed laugh. She pushes her hair behind her ears and for the first time I take notice to the earrings she is wearing. A stud in her upper ear and a stud in each lobe. The diamonds sparkle, but my eyes are taken with her eyes that shimmer like the ocean waters at night.
"Not to be too forward, but you're eyes are absolutely beautiful." I speak softly, afraid my voice may actually betray me. It's the oddest feeling I have in my chest. A tight, tingling sensation that has found its way to my hands. She was making me nervous. Something no woman had ever done before.
"Are you alright?" She asks kindly and watches me with a steady eye. I give a small laugh and look towards the windows to gain my composure. I hardly know this woman and yet she has such an effect on me.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" I retort with a smile. She gives a shrug.
"Well, I thought it was my turn to ask." She smiles whole heartedly and then hops off the tabletop. "Seeing as you ask me every other minute."
"Yes, I suppose so, don't I?" I reply and watch her carefully.
"Shouldn't you be back with the other? I'm sure Rachel is missing her dance partner." She asks finally. Her words wound me for some reason. A feeling of guilt washes over me. Again, I barely know her and yet I feel so... unlike myself with her around.
"I was looking for my partner." I smile softly. She looks around the kitchen and then meets my gaze once more.
"I haven't seen Rachel in here. She's probably with Annie." She smiles and begins to walk towards the kitchen doors. "I should probably go find Vick. He wasn't looking so good earlier."
"Luciana." I call her name and she stops at the door. She looks back at me with an inquisitive look on her face.
"What is it?" She asks with a small laugh. I try to think of what I had wanted to say, but I don't think there was anything. I just don't want her to go.
"I'll walk with you." I supply and walk towards her. I offer my arm to her and she takes it graciously. We head down the hall silently, no sign of Vick.
"I guess he went back to the others?" She questions softly and looks up at me as though I have all the answers.
"Perhaps." I reply with a laugh and lead her back to the Parlor room.
~LUCIANA POV~
When we get back to the Parlor room, Vick is nowhere in sight.
"Where did you two run off to?" Steven asks as we enter. I let go of Nick's arm and flail my own for affect.
"Well Vick and I went to the kitchen. Then he ran off and Nick showed up." I explain and pick my book up from the couch. I sit in its place and set it on my lap.
"Where is Vick?" Steven asks and sets down the fire poker.
"Right here. Anyone care to dance?" Vick walks back into the room, smiling ear to ear. I laugh slightly and watch as Vick looks around at everyone.
"Well not me. I'm pooped." Pam speaks up, looking towards Vick. "Where have you been?"
"I lost my book." Vick shows his book to us all and moves around Nick's chair. I stand from my seat and take Vick by the arm.
"I would love a dance, Vick. That is if you wouldn't mind." I smile at him and watch his eyes light up.
"Of course, Dr. Gallagher." He sets his book down and pull me towards the entrance of the Parlor room where there was more room to move around.
"Call me, Ana. Please." Vick nods and takes my hand while placing his other on my waist. I feel a pair of eyes on me as Vick twirls us in circles. I cling to him and laugh as he slows down. He was quite the dancer.
"You're very good, Vick!" I laugh again and look back at him. He dips me suddenly, making me squeal and then brings me back up. We dance for a little while longer until we are both tired. I sit back down in my seat on the couch, several feet from where Nick sits in the chair. I stare off into the fire and give a small laugh at some thought.
"It's story time." I look over at Nick, who has spoken. He crosses his legs and looks to Joyce who has decided to join the rest of the group. "We've heard the one about the actress. Tell us about Rimbauer's partner, Mr. Posey."
"Remember that séance I told you about?" Joyce asks as she leans against the back of the sofa that Vick and Cathy sit on.
"Starring the famous gypsy physic, Cora Frye?" Nick asks, keeping his eyes on Joyce. My eyes snap to him.
"Who?" I ask suddenly and then look to Joyce. "I thought her name was Madame Stravinsky."
"That was her stage name. Her real name was Cora Frye." Joyce clarifies and then falls silent. Her eyes narrow at me. "Why?"
"It's just... Never mind." I try to weasel out of the trap I have stepped into.
"No, please. Go on." Joyce encourages, but I shake my head. She nods and then looks around the room again. She begins her tale, but I tune out. Cora Frye... Cora Frye... that name sounds oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it.
"According to family legend uncle Posey had a taste for cowboys." Steve finishes and I couldn't help, but laugh softly as it pulls me from my thoughts.
"He liked, chaps in chaps?" Nick asks, trying to hold back his laughter as well. Rachel and Pam both smile. "Was he into roping or branding?"
"I think a little bit of both." Steve answers, earning another laugh from me. I see Nick smile, still trying to hold back his laughter.
"John Rimbauer bought him out of distress sale prices. He was told never to come back to Rose red, but he did. Once and that was in 1915. John was in Europe and Adam and April were at home with their mom." Joyce explains as I feel an incessant nag of the name Cora Frye again. Why is her name so familiar? Where had I heard it before?
"Grand-dad never forgot Posey tossing him that Tom Mick's hat of his. He wanted to keep it and he threw a tantrum when his mother tried to take it away and the rose..." Steve looks around at all of us. "He never forgot April catching the rose."
"Why did Posey wait a year to do it? And why... here?" Rachel asks as she looks around the room. "Any ideas?"
"If you wanted answers you came to the wrong place." Steve replies, looking back at Rachel.
"Following the suicide John and Ellen kept Adam out of Rose Red as much as possible and as I told you he was at boarding school when his sister disappeared." Joyce cuts into the conversation once again.
"He knew damn well that something was very wrong here. Even then." Pam's voice is hard, laced with fear.
"The male descendents in the Rimbauer line have mostly stayed clear of the family manor. I wasn't here more than half a dozen times as a kid. I got off on my own just once. I was eight." Steven looks back at Joyce who has placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, wait I thought your father ah-" Joyce starts, but he cuts her off.
"No, my father hated this place. He was afraid of it, but it was my mother who brought me. I forgot until today, blocked it out, I suppose. Nick reminded me. She probably couldn't find a babysitter."
"What was she looking for?" Rachel asks, staring towards Steve.
"I don't know. Antiques, loot, I think she was drunk. That's my memory of it, but she so often was in those days. I know she and dad were broke. After we lost the oil company, it's been a family disease; broke-itis."
"And while your mother was treasure hunting you got lost." Nick states more than asks. His tone sounds odd to me. I look over at him and notice the look on his face. He was searching through Steve's memories.
"Yeah... I mean it was no big deal, but..." Steve tries defending himself.
"And you were upstairs before you realized how lost you were." Nick is looking towards Steve, but is actually looking passed him. He was seeing it all like a flash. "One floor above the mirror library. Or was it three floors? Or, or ten? Because when this place gets going, when it feels lively, when it has energy to draw from, Rose Red can make itself as big as it wants. Can't it?"
"Nick, what's going on with you?" I hiss gently. Nick keeps his eyes on Steve, but he no longer looks like himself. His expression was dark, pointed.
"But finally you go to the top and that's when-" Nick was cut off by the Parlor room doors slamming shut. I immediately get to my feet and look about the room. The house begins to rumble. The tables shake, lights fall from the walls, light bulbs burst and cause sparks to fly.
"Oh my God!" Joyce calls out as she looks around the room in frenzy. I duck several times, arms over my head, afraid that I'll be hit by the sparks. Nick stays seated, rooted to his chair, gripping the arms of it.
"What is it! Do you know!" Joyce calls out to Nick as she runs to her computers. Nick's chair shakes violently. I struggle to keep my stance. It feels like an earthquake.
"It's a telekinetic manifestation! With stifling elements, like an earthquake!" Nick yells back to her over the noise of the rumbles and breaking bulbs. Rachel screams and pulls Annie closer to her.
"It's the house! It's coming alive!" Cathy yells, looking around frightened.
"It was already alive!" I scream and duck as a bulb above me bursts.
"How many are there! Can you tell!" Joyce yells out again to anyone that would answer. Pam screams this time, moving closer to Steve as more sparks fly.
"Damn this thing!" Joyce yells at the machines and hits them.
"I'm not sure if there's anyone here. I-I don't know, this is crazy!" Cathy yells, cowering from the sparks.
"Be gone!" Vick yells out to whoever was in the room with us. A bulb blows right in front of Emery's face, causing him to turn around towards the fireplace. A beast comes out from the fire. I lurch towards him and grab Emery beneath the arms, dragging him back from the fire. The beast grabs his legs. I let go of Emery and moves to his side, placing my hand of the beasts. My skin grows a bluish-white. The beast screams and returns to the fireplace.
Suddenly, everything stops and becomes quiet again. I slowly get up from the floor and turn to face Emery to ask if he was okay. Something else catches my attention. A stroller rolls on its own in front of Emery. It's filled with dominos and a red haired doll. Annie gets up from her seat next to Rachel and walks closer to the stroller.
"Oh, Annie, don't, don't touch it." Rachel stands up and watches Annie as she walks closer and picks up the doll. I move around the stroller and passed Annie. I shake my head. Something was very wrong with this.
Rachel, Nick, and I all look back towards the record player that had begun to play softly. Nick turns around first and looks up at me. I can see the apprehension in his eyes and feel the same way. We turn back and watch Annie, knowing something else was coming.
As if on cue, the same apparition from earlier appears in front of Annie. I sit up straight, getting ready to bolt over to her.
"Nick..." I look over at him with fear filling my eyes. He stands up and pulls me to him. I grab his hands, holding them tightly as we watch the apparition form before our eyes. Rachel is about to say something to Annie, but can't think of anything.
"Annie Wheaton, don't you dare touch that thing!" I snap, trying to get Annie's attention. Nick looks down at me slightly startled by my tone of voice. Annie seems not to hear me and moves closer to the ghost, her arm outstretched. Joyce walks behind her, egging her on.
"Annie..." The ghost calls like earlier. "Annie... Come..."
"April Rimbauer! You leave her alone!" I scream, taking a step forward, preparing to block Annie like I had done earlier. I feel someone grab hold of me though. I'm being pulled back by Nick. I look down to see our hands still clasped tightly and then look back towards Annie. "Let me go, Nick."
"No." He argues as I begin to struggle. He quickly wraps his arms around me, locking me to my spot. "Stop, Ana!"
"Let me go! Nick, let go! Annie, get away from her! Don't touch her!" I scream again, causing Nick to hold me tighter against him. I see Steve reach for a glass that has been sitting on a table. "Throw it!"
Steve looks at me, glass in hand.
"Throw it!" I scream again. He looks back at the ghost and then throws the glass with full force. The ghost transfigures into an immensely bright light and then disappears when the glass finally hits the doors that had slammed shut. Everything ceases. The air falls silent. The lights stop flashing. Even the fire dies down. The doors unlatch and slowly creak open.
I watch Annie cautiously. This was the second time today that April Rimbauer had shown up to try and entice Annie. It reminds me of a proverb I have seen in my studies. It was from the pages of The Bible:
If sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, 'Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse.' Walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
"I would advise that none of you go wandering tonight." Joyce says with a fanatical smile seared onto her thin lips. At this moment I am glad that Nick's arms are still wrapped tightly around me. I can feel his hot breath in my hair. Joyce turns her head, still smiling, and looks to Steve. "Wouldn't you Steve?"
He just stares at her a moment. He is unsure what to think of her right now, but he then nods his head.
"As a matter of fact I would." Steve replies slowly. Joyce nods her head, mumbling 'good' to herself and walks over to her table with the computers. The rest of us look around at each other. After another moment I lean my head back against Nick's shoulder and close my eyes. My back is hurting from the pressure of his chest pushed against it, but I don't care. I feel safe in his arms.
The group slowly disperses from the room and we head upstairs. I don't say anything. No one does. We just slip into our assigned rooms and close the doors without so much as another look at each other.