Disclaimer: Don't own New Moon
Jaquis, for all you who might have this wrong, is pronounced JAY-KISS. It's not a real name, I know, but hey, his parents were weird.
I hope you've all noticed that I'm doing an extensive revision of Coming Sunset that is differentiating it from Mrs. Meyer's book, as I have looked back and found it overly similar. A few details have been changed and they have been improved structurally and grammatically. Please go back and reread it sometime, but I'm only a few chapters in with the revision and you can probably find the cutoff.
I have been working on this for forever! It's long and it covers a big gap in the storyline, so please, enjoy and review!
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Aubrey became somewhat more accustomed to her school over the next few days. Though the workload remained the same, the people had become more familiar to her. Mr. Edeson had talked her into getting a tutor for nearly every class. Jack hadn't been too happy when he received the email at his work. Aubrey wasn't complaining though, as her tutor looked quite similar to Orlando Bloom. The only downside was that he reminded her of Marek as well. She left their sessions often without a dry eye.
And now it was Friday, the day of the trip to the Hall. Jack still didn't know of Aubrey's plans. She'd forgotten to fill him in. Lunch had just ended at Clemenside and Edeson's registration class had turned their attention to wrestling. Desks had been cleared aside in the center of the room and a crowd had gathered around, chanting and passing money notes around as two young men wrestled on the hardwood. Mr. Edeson called out names over the jeering and catcalls and was answered by crude responses shouted from the crowd. Aubrey was leaning up against the familiar wall space in the back of the room, regarding the brawling boys with bored interest.
"Miss American Pie," said a voice next to her. She smirked.
"Sir Karpus Christie," she replied, sticking her tongue out at Kurt. He raised an eyebrow.
"What does that even mean?" he asked.
"That's for me to know and you to not," said Aubrey. Kurt let out a highly sarcastic laugh.
"You're still coming tonight, aren't you?" he inquired. Aubrey nodded, ignoring the tap of guilt in the back of her head reminding her about Jack.
"I wouldn't miss a haunted castle," she said. Kurt crossed his arms at her tone, looking her in the eye.
"What? You don't believe that it's haunted?" he asked. Aubrey gave him a look that said plainly 'you're not serious'. He shook his head. "It's true. You could ask anyone here. Not a single one would dare go out there." He looked around and spotted a red-haired, freckled boy who was jeering at the wrestlers. "Oi! Umber!" he shouted. The boy turned.
"What?" he shouted back.
"I wager you £200 that you can't last one night in the Hall!" Kurt challenged. A strange expression overcast the boy's freckled face. His mouth turned into a thin line and his eyes went cold. It looked like fear.
"Do you think I'm a complete ass? Only an idiot would go to the Hall, day or night!" he called. A wrestling competitor stood and was jerked back to the ground by his opponent and the redhead's attention was recaptured. Aubrey frowned at his answer, but Kurt looked pleased.
"What did I tell you?"
"Are you trying to discourage me from going?" asked Aubrey. Kurt shook his head.
"I'm only building up the anticipation," he said, holding up his hands in innocence.
"Davies!"
"In tip top form today, Sir!" Kurt shouted without looking away from Aubrey.
"There's really nothing that can scare me," she said, "after the last place I lived."
"Where did you live?" asked Kurt. Aubrey hesitated. She'd backed herself into a corner. Personal past information was supposed to remain classified. She couldn't say Forks...
"Arkansas," she said. Not entirely a lie, she had lived there.
"Where?" asked Kurt. Aubrey raised an eyebrow.
"It's in the south. By Texas." A smile spread slowly over Kurt's features, and a sense of foreboding shadowed Aubrey's mind.
"Texas, aye?" Then, to Aubrey's horror, he switched his accent for a bad southerner impersonation. "So yer from Arkansaw? I reckon you got yerself a couple cattle down thurr. Yew got yerself a bo yet?"
"Moore!" Mr. Edeson called out tiredly from the desk at the front of the room.
"Oh you're funny," said Aubrey sarcastically. Kurt shrugged.
"I am," he said with a smirk.
"Moore!"
"Modest too I see."
"As always.
"MOORE!"
"Aubrey, they're calling you," said Kurt. Aubrey whipped around.
"I'M RIGHT HERE!" she screeched over the cheering of the wrestlers. She saw Edeson turn back to his form to check off her name. Aubrey let out her breath in a whoosh. Kurt was looking at her.
"A bit out of it, aren't you?" he asked. Aubrey smacked his arm.
"You distracted me," she said. Lie. She'd been waiting for Neils to be called.
Before Kurt could retort, the bell rang and Mr. Edeson shoved the students towards the door in relief. In the compressing mass of students, Aubrey caught a last word.
"We'll come by around 7."
"Gotchya," she replied to the general mass.
The rest of the day passed quickly. This completely went against the 'The-More-You-Want-It-The-Slower-It-Approaches' rule, but that was easily explainable. Jack still had to be told. The stress of the Witness Protection Program and the fact that they drove on the other side of the road in England were wearing down Jack's nerves so that his temper was just a question away from arising fully blown and snapping.
Guy was leaning on his truck outside at the end of the lawn like he had every other day that week. Aubrey smiled and waved as she walked over. Guy uncrossed his arms and opened the door for her silently. Instantly, she was suspicious, fixing him with a look as she climbed up into the cab. Guy walked around and stepped into the driver's seat. They had noticed that the driver's seat was on the opposite side of the car in all of the other cars that terrorized the highways, but their truck had been flown in from Forks. "All the better to cuss out the bad drivers hogging the road next to you at red lights," Jack had said. They had turned out onto the highway when Aubrey spoke.
"Something's wrong isn't it?" she asked. Guy didn't look at her.
"He's not in Forks anymore," he said. Aubrey looked at him.
"Do you think he followed us here?" she asked. Guy shrugged.
"They know he caught a plane to New York after us, but where he went from there they're not sure. He could have caught a plane to Scotland or Ireland and commuted over here. We don't know where he is, Aubrey."
"Are we going to move again?" she asked, genuine fear behind her words. Guy didn't answer, but his mouth tightened into a small line. Aubrey got the message. She looked out of the window with hopelessness. If they kept moving, then there was no chance of Marek ever finding her.
Back in Suburbia the hours passed slowly. Aubrey finished her homework so that her father would not be able to use that as an excuse. She showered and watched a little bad TV, all the time biting her lip over what Jack might say. She had never worried about his reaction to a request before, but regarding the last time he had said no...well, that hadn't ended well. And the stress from the move would probably set his accept-o-meter needle leaning to no. Guy had disappeared shortly after they had arrived, locking himself away in Jack's room with his ear glued to a phone.
When the front door finally opened, Aubrey jumped to her feet and walked out of the den into the narrow front hall. Jack sat on the staircase with his shoes hanging on the very tips of his toes. He looked immensely tired. Aubrey leaned casually on the banister and gave him a smile.
"How was work?" she asked cheerily. Jack slowly moved his bloodshot eyes to meet her gaze.
"Spectacular," he said in a flat, uncharismatic voice. Bad day. Bad sign.
"I had a question to ask you," said Aubrey. Jack didn't speak. Aubrey went on, "These kids from school invited me out for tonight and I was wondering if I could go."
"Where are you going?" asked Jack.
"They say they've found a haunted house, and since I'm the ultimate authority on anything remotely supernatural for obvious reasons, I want to go and check it out."
"And who are you going with?" asked Jack.
"Friends from school, I just told you."
"Do these friends have names?"
"Umm...Jaquis Meath and Kurtis Davies," said Aubrey.
"No," said Jack. Aubrey's jaw dropped in fury.
"What? Why not!" she demanded.
"So it's unfair that I'm not letting you go out to a deserted house late at night with two boys you barely know," asked Jack mockingly. Aubrey let out a frustrated sigh.
"Do you think I would trust them if they were like that?" she asked.
"Look, we've been here for too short a time. I don't even know these boys and you can't possibly know them well by now. I just don't feel good about it, Aubrey. My answer is no." Aubrey stared at him, her jaw open in disbelief and anger. She turned and stomped off into the den, leaving her father alone on the stairs. Guy brushed past her, his face turning to watch her stalk off before he walked over to Jack.
Aubrey flopped onto the threadbare couch, crossing her arms and ankles in a huff. Did Jack not know how much she needed to get out of the house? She couldn't look at the phone without thinking of Marek. She couldn't look out at the yard without thinking of Marek. The couch she sat on even at that moment; it was the very same one she and Marek had kissed on, watching Romeo and Juliet just a few weeks before. Anything they had moved from Forks to England held memories of Marek, and Aubrey could not escape the pain that hit along with the memories. She needed to get out.
"Declined the princess her request, did you?" Guy's voice floated through the walls. Aubrey rolled her eyes. The walls of this new house were far thinner than in her old house in Forks. Aubrey glanced at the clock. 6:56. They would be outside to pick her up at any minute.
"She'll live..." mumbled Jack with a sigh. "I'm going to bed. I'll eat dinner tomorrow..."
"This early? You really must've been working," said Guy. Aubrey heard her father's laugh followed by footsteps landing heavily on the stairs. An idea suddenly formed itself in Aubrey's mind. Slowly she stood, stretching out her limbs as she walked out into the hallway. She nearly ran into Guy in the doorframe.
"I'm going up," she said, pointing at the stairs. "Try to get more sleep. I didn't get any at all last night." Guy nodded.
"You sure you don't want dinner?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm still full from lunch..."
"'Night then," said Guy.
"Night," replied Aubrey with a wave, starting up the first few steps. She stopped mid-step when she noticed her brother staring at her. "What?"
"Nothing," said Guy, turning and walking into the kitchen. Aubrey raised her eyebrows and ran the rest of the way up the stairs.
There were four rooms upstairs. At the far end of the hall, Jack had claimed the southwest room. There was a restroom directly opposite the stairway, and Guy had taken the lone room at the other end of the building. The room between Jack's and the stairway on the wall nearest the street belonged to Aubrey. The door to this room had not yet even swung shut before the window on the opposite side was being pried open by the room's inhabitant. Aubrey stuck her head out into the twilight and craned her neck to look down the street. No cars yet.
She listened for a moment. A few bleeps echoed up through the floor. Guy was watching TV. A cop show it sounded like. Aubrey sighed through her teeth in relief and looked down the side of the house for a foothold. It was a straight shot down, but there was a row of large, bushy bushes below. Aubrey hesitated, judging how many injuries she might sustain and how she would excuse them away. Then, she took a sharp breath and climbed up onto the window, never hesitating for even a second before she jumped.
The bushes worked...for the most part. Aubrey rolled out of the little garden bed onto the fresh, green lawn and breathed steadily, assessing her damages. The wind was knocked out of her chest and her arm had hit the house as she fell. Nothing too serious seemed to be amiss. She got to her feet and looked back at the house. The only windows that faced the yard were Aubrey's window, one set into the front door, and a high semicircle window across from the top of the staircase. Nobody was looking. She was in the clear.
Aubrey quickly ran to the street and began to make her way towards the main road. She couldn't risk that the sound of the car might be heard over the TV. Paper-thin walls came with a downside as well. Aubrey stopped three houses from the corner, sitting on the sidewalk.
An old, well-worn, red car with a black stripe that Aubrey took to be, by reading its unfamiliar logo, a Vauxhall turned the corner and Aubrey recognized Kurt in the passenger seat. She stood and waved to get their attention and they pulled up to the curb. Kurt rolled down the window with a smug grin set in place.
"In the back," he ordered. Aubrey didn't have the humor to retort. She climbed into the back of the sedan and shut the door behind her.
"Thought you were at number eight?" said Jaquis, turning the car into a driveway and backing back out to face the road. Aubrey turned her attention to a cardboard box on the floor of the car as she answered.
"Decided to save you the fuel," she said. Her brow furrowed as she picked up the box and set it on the seat beside her, rummaging through it. Five flashlights, a tin of bandaids, two lighters, and a pair of walkie-talkies lay haphazardly inside. Aubrey moved two of the flashlights aside and uncovered a five-inch knife in a leather holster. She looked up at the front. "What is all this stuff?"
"Well the house is abandoned," said Kurtis.
"So?"
"So it has been for quite a while. No electricity, no heat. And it's bloody huge, so if we split up--"
"That's just tempting a haunting. Haven't you seen the movies? Splitting up in a haunted house is not a good thing," said Aubrey.
"You scared already?" Kurt asked, twisting around in his seat to look at her.
"I don't even know what it is I'm supposed to be scared of," laughed Aubrey. "What's the haunt story of the Hall?" The boys exchanged looks.
"Well, originally the Hall was ordered to be constructed by a baron back in medieval times. He and his Italian wife lived in it for a time. Then--"
"Then a man from town went to the Hall to see the baron, and when he walked inside, the baron and his wife were dead on the floor lying in deep red pools of blood with their veins all pulled out of their wrists and necks and their insides laced over their cold bodies like decapitated jellyfish on the victims of Jaws!" interjected Kurt. Aubrey stared at him.
"People began to bid on the property," Jaquis continued, ignoring Kurt. "The winner was a lonely old Romanian marquis. He moved into the Hall, but he never came out after that first entrance. Someone went in to look around, but he didn't come out either. So the property belongs to the government. They haven't tried to sell it since." He paused, glancing at Kurt. "But about a century ago the people that lived nearest to the Hall said that they heard animal roars coming from that direction along with booms that sounded like explosions. When they looked out at the Hall, they could see smoke rising from the inside. Nobody bothered to investigate."
"Because there was nobody there to investigate. No people to this day! The place is deserted!"
"How do you know?" asked Aubrey.
"Noland Erikson," said Kurt. "Football athlete from the seventies. The Hall had been inactive for fifty years, so he accepted a dare to run through the Hall on Halloween yelling at the top of his lungs. He did, and he survived. Bravest guy I've ever heard of."
"Where is he now?" asked Aubrey. Kurt shrugged.
"Hell if I know. But nobody's dared go in since anyway. We're the first in fifty years!" Aubrey felt her stomach flop suddenly.
"And why did you ask me to come?" she asked, looking at Kurt. Kurt glanced at Jaquis before replying.
"Well, we figured this would count as your initiation to this country," he said. "It's better than what we would normally do."
"What would you normally do?" asked Aubrey. The boys laughed and Aubrey took that as the best answer she would get.
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