Chapter 12
The Estate
"Guten tag. Sigmund speaking! Who's calling?"
"Hey Siggy! It's me, Steven!"
"Steven! Hallo!"
"I need to speak with one of your parents. Would you put them on the phone for me?"
"Ja! Of course, hold on please." I set the phone down and ran to fetch my father. "Father! My manager, he calls for you on the phone!" My father, who was watering the fields, quickly dropped his hose and ran up the hill to our home. As he made his way inside, I handed him the phone. We were back in Germany, once again, for the last few days of my break from school.
"Thank you, son." He smiled. "Please finish the watering whilst I'm talking."
I nodded and took off my coat and vest before heading out, leaving them at the kitchen table so they wouldn't catch dirt. I watered as my mother sprinkled more seeds. She looked towards our property line.
"What's on your mind, Mother?"
"Those men..." She replied. "Do you think they're hungry?"
She was referring to my security guards. They were standing at each corner of our property line. None of them had moved from their post all day, for anything. I nodded.
"Ja, maybe. Should we bring them some raspberries?"
"Ja." My mother smiled. "Let's bring them some good ones."
We worked together to pick some nice raspberries off our dozens of bushes, dropping them into a metal pale. When we found we had enough, we headed inside to wash them off. Inside, my father was still in the kitchen talking on the wall phone. To me, it looked like his eyes were teared over and red, as though he'd been crying. I wanted to ask what was happening and if he was okay, but I didn't want to disturb his conversation. I turned to the sink and washed the berries. Before my mother and I could head out again, my father hung up the phone and closed the back door.
"Sit." He told my mother and I sternly. We did as he demanded and took a seat at the kitchen table. "I have some news."
"What is it?" I asked. I was nervous about what my father might say. Getting a better look at him now, he had indeed been crying. My father took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he inhaled and opening them again as he sharply exhaled.
"We're leaving." He spoke softly. My mother and I exchanged confused glances. She quickly spoke.
"Darling, what are you—?"
"We're moving to a bigger home. A much larger home." My eyes grew.
"Huh?" I questioned. "A bigger home? Really? For what?" He smiled at me.
"Because, my son, you're famous. You've finally done it! You've made a name for yourself and the home is the reward for your hard work!" My father stood up from being seated at the table. I stood up as well. One thing came to my mind of which I had to ask.
"Father, our promise? What about our promise?"
"Almost. We need to get packed up!"
He walked to his room and my mother followed behind him with excitement. I sat back down at the table when I felt the tears come to my eyes. I held them back. The move was surreal, but even more so was the response I'd received from my father. I held back the joyful tears. I was famous.
"Mein Gott..."
It finally hit me at that table.
"I'm famous."
I gasped when yet another thought dropped into my mind. I rushed to my parent's room and stood at the doorway. "Mother! Father!" They both turned to me. "If we move, we would be leaving Isis here. We can't leave Isis here! A-and the farm! All our hard work—!"
"Calm down, Sigmund." My mother giggled. "We're keeping our property. This is still our home."
"B-but, we're moving..."
"Your contract is allowing us to keep this land as well." My father told me. "You're rich, Sigmund."
I covered my mouth in utter shock. It was one thing to be famous, but to be rich? RICH?! The word "rich" and my name in the same sentence just didn't seem right. My parents laughed as I rushed out of the house.
"WE'RE RICH, ISIS! WE'RE RICH!"
I didn't mind the move at all. I had always sorta wished that we could leave this town. The people here were horrid and my family struggled for a long time to make a profit off what we grew on our farm. Yes, we would have to get used to our new life. No, we wouldn't have anymore open fields or farms or marketplaces. No, we wouldn't have any animals to groom or feed. The only thing we'd truly have to worry about was just me and my new business endeavors.
A moving van was sent to us by my manager later that same morning. We had no idea what our new home would look like. All we knew was that it was located in a much wealthier and affluent part of Germany. I sat in our limo when it pulled up and opened a DVD player that Steven sent out with the moving van. I set it down on my lap and watched episodes of my show that would air later in the week. The work never stopped, even on moving day, and I was sent the episodes to give my critic on. My parents watched with me during the entire ride.
"Oh wow, how did you carve that pumpkin?" My mother asked in shock. We were watching the Holiday special that was set to release at the end of the month, before the new year.
"With my mind, Mother!" Her brows rose at my response and she mouthed the word "wow".
The moving van in front of the limo came to a stop suddenly after a while of driving. There was a gate in front of us with a golden letter "S". Behind the gate was a huge manor with neatly cut shrubs and a perfectly lush, green lawn. A bed of flowers sat around a water fountain that gently babbled out crystal clear, blue water. We hopped out, grabbing our carry on bags. To our surprise, my manager was at the front gate.
"Hey there!" He smiled. We all waved at him. "Like the place?"
"Ja!" I grinned. "What part of it are we staying in?"
"I had the same question, actually." My mother added. Steven laughed.
"What? Guys, it's all yours!" We stared at him, then glanced at each other. We laughed with him.
"Good one!" I giggled. Steven stopped laughing and his expression dropped.
"No guys, really. This is your house! All of it is your house!" The laughing we were doing quickly stopped. We all looked up at the manor again, this time with opened mouths. I could feel my face heating up.
"Nein..." I mumbled to myself.
"Yeah!" Steven chuckled.
He swiped a card that cracked open the huge gates in front of us. Slowly, my family and I headed up the path that lead to our new home. The moving van and limo driver drove past us while our heads turned in every direction of the property. We jumped when lawn sprinklers turned on and sprinkled water over the already lush lawn.
"Wow..." I heard my father whisper. Steven rushed to the front door and handed the keys to me when we finally met him there. I stared at him.
"Go ahead, Sigmund. Open it." He nodded.
With shaken hands, I pushed the key into the lock and turned it to the right. Then, I took hold of the long, golden door handle and slowly pushed the massive door open. I was afraid to step in. The décor in the house was extremely modern and organized. Wall hangings, vases and sculptors. Crystal mirrors, shag rugs, chandeliers and rich wooden coffee tables. Luxury practically dripped off the walls and flooded my eyes with beauty. People actually lived like this? Every day?
"C'mon, guys! I'll give you a tour of the place!" Steven spoke out to us, walking inside.
We quickly scrambled to pick up our bags, which we seemed to have dropped, and followed him inside. We passed through the main lobby entrance of our home and up a floating styled staircase with steps you could see straight through. Down what seemed like an endless hallway of doors on the second floor, Steven stopped and pointed to two doors.
"Room for Mom and Dad. And that, over there, is bathroom number one of five."
Five bathrooms? What for? My parents looked inside their room. It was honestly as big as our cottage probably was. Their old room was a shoe box compared to this. Their room alone was enough for all of us to live in, in my opinion.
"Let's keep moving!" Steven called, snapping his fingers.
He pointed out more bathrooms, a study, a theatre and introduced us to our own personal chef named, Lisa. We were also informed that we now had three housekeepers, a pool boy and a team of gardeners. We also had a tennis court on premises and loads of other amenities I couldn't recall. It wasn't just the mansion home that was ours, the whole estate belonged to us. I learned that during the week, I would be seeing a personal trainer to stay in shape and I was also signed up for acting classes. Finally, Steven stopped in front of a colossal, wooden door.
"Here's your room, Sigmund. Go ahead."
I looked back at my parents and smiled before turning to the door. It was a heavy door that forced me to use two hands to push it open. My eyes grew.
"THIS IS MINE?!"
"Yup. All yours!"
A perfectly clean, white room. The room was so white, it hurt my eyes to look around. Tall windows flooded the room with light and gave me a view of the pool and courtyard that we had out back. The beams of sun bounced off the crystals of the chandelier above and made them sparkle. Silver, silk blankets, emerald colored pillows and plush woven chairs. There was a picture of me above a mantle in the room from one of my shoots and a massive television where the seating was. Then came the walk in closet, filled with leather coats and tall boots. The smell in the room was so incredibly rich from the pulled leather and the closet itself was probably the size of my old bedroom. I stepped out the room quickly.
"What if I ruin the carpet with dirt?"
"Oh gosh, Sigmund! Don't worry about that!" Steven laughed. "Everything cleans up nice and easy. Live a little!"
I ran back into my room, kicking my boots off before hopping on the bed. My parents laughed with Steven. This would be something that would take me a while to get used to. I wasn't used to this life at all. I wasn't sure when I'd ever be. This felt entirely like a fever dream.
After a while, we finally settled into our new home. I sat in my room and just stared at the walls. I smiled at the windows. I gazed at the floors. This was my house. My hard work bought us this house. A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I sat up from the fuzzy carpet on the floor, which I honestly could've fallen asleep on.
"Come in!" I called out, which echoed in the room. A man dressed in a tuxedo stepped in with a smile and a slight bow. It caught me off guard and frightened me at first till he introduced himself.
"Hello, sir." He greeted. "Welcome home. I'm your butler, Walten, and I welcome you to call me for any request you may have from this day moving forward. I'll be stationed on your ground floor." I waved at him.
"Hallo, Walten! I'm Sigmund!"
"I'm aware, sir." He replied, trying not to laugh about it. I kept forgetting I was famous. He worked for me, of course he knew who I was. I blushed furiously in embarrassment as he continued. "You've been called by the personal chef, Lisa, for dinner."
I stood up and pulled my boots on quickly, following Walten to the dining room downstairs. My parents were already seated at the long table in the room. I waved at them when I joined and they waved back from their own ends of the table. Chef Lisa entered the room with three of our housekeepers behind her, each holding a plate of food. They placed it down in front of us as the chef spoke.
"Please enjoy!" She smiled. "So happy to meet you all this evening. Do not hesitate to let me know what you thought about the meal tonight. I do take requests also, so if you're craving anything, especially a snack, let me know!" She pointed a finger at me. "But once you start with your personal trainer, don't think you're gonna be getting any sweets from me!"
We laughed at the table as she bowed out. I looked down at my plate. The fragrances entered my nose and put another smile on my face. It had to have been my millionth smile of the day. My parents smiled just the same. We all took a bite at the same time and I couldn't help but close my eyes at the taste.
"Köstlich..." My mother sighed, leaning back into her seat. My father and I nodded. Aside from my mother's wonderful cooking, I had never tasted anything like this in my entire life. And the best part was, we would be eating like this every night! We all finished our meals rather quickly and in silence at that. My butler entered the room and handed me a note.
"For you, sir." He told me.
I opened the note and read it. It was from my manager letting me know that I would be traveling to the United States again later in the week. I would also start my acting classes in the morning and a digital tablet was left in my room with a social calendar uploaded for me to pace myself. I nodded to myself and stood up from my seat at the table.
"I need to get ready for bed." I told my parents. "Work starts tomorrow." I handed my father the note and followed Walten back to my bedroom.
"Sir, your bath has been taken care of this evening. Whenever you're ready, you can head into the washroom."
"Danke."
The cheesy grin couldn't be removed from my face. I just wished my sister could be here to see and live through all this. She would've been over the moon to know that housework was a thing of the past.
I took a moment, once I was back in my bedroom, to look over my calendar for the month and took a seat on one of the many plush chairs in the room. I couldn't believe how full it was and how often I'd be flying out to different cities. New York, Paris, Tokyo, London, South Africa, Northern Ireland. Then there were all the days I'd be in the gym. Kickboxing? I'd never tried that before. Thankfully, my school board meetings were still on the calendar, as well as a personal tutor for school work. It was overwhelming thinking about it all. I massaged my temples and set the tablet down on a crystal table in front of me, standing to make my way to the bathroom.
The room was just as big as all the others. I felt like the carved, marble bathtub could've easily fit my whole family in one go with room to spare. There were little twinkling lights at the bottom and with the press of a digital button on the wall, I discovered a jacuzzi setting and the different colors the lights could change to. It was just insane to me. How rich am I?! Filthy, that's how.
I sunk into the tub and finally let out the deep sigh that wanted to come out since I had put the key in the front door. Being alone gave me a chance to collect my thoughts. I had to change my way of thinking. I had to change my attitude. I had to get serious, if not for myself, for my parents. This wasn't a game anymore, it was my career.
—
With the winter holiday finally over, I'd returned to Milkweed to finish off the term with the end of year wizarding finals. Between my new schedule and settling into my new home, I'd found more than enough time to study. These exams were extremely important to me.
The finals were the deciding factor on if a student would move up to the next level or get left behind to repeat the term all over again. Not only did the scores decide the next term, the points students earned also went towards their overall academic rank. I'd been told by my teachers and members of the board that a wizard's rank in the realm could open new opportunities, shape their professional futures and most coveted, solidify their respect in all of academia. I wanted to be a top wizard. I wanted to be Wizard of The Year, like my father had been.
We'd been taking practice tests in Professor Flan's class leading up to the finals and I'd taken notice on how badly Kyle had been performing on every test. And it wasn't just the ones on paper either. In our gym class, Kyle had been pretty bad at the spell casting test as well, where I'd managed find a new strength in myself. Going through the obstacle course, I'd managed to break my own record more than a few times off practice alone. Kyle had failed miserably and after catching him breaking down in the locker room, I'd offered to tutor him. He was prideful, but reluctantly accepted my offer.
Over the next couple of days, we studied together at our desks in our room and in the courtyard with our own obstacle course. On one particular day, we'd been in our dorm going over potion formulas that he'd been struggling with and it was clear to me that his issue was the fact that he just didn't study. At all.
"The names of ingredients make it difficult for me to remember what potions they go into." He told me. "Some of them have similar names..."
"Which ones?"
"Wolf's bane and leopard's bane. The toxic plants used in poison formulas."
"That's actually the same plant."
"Huh?!"
"Ja. It's two different names for the same plant. The official name for it is aconitum. The practice test used both of its nicknames as a way to trick you. Be careful!"
"How do you know all this?"
"I study!"
Throughout our study session, I'd been getting text messages from Erin. We'd stayed in constant communication well after I'd left New York a couple weeks ago and had swapped phone numbers. She was back at Halfmoon Hallows herself and was also preparing for her witching finals. Both of us had a goal to be at the very least, top three, and we were competing with one another. The banter we had going on at the moment was beyond hilarious, but I was doing my best not to laugh around Kyle. He didn't exactly know I'd gotten close to her over the break and I didn't exactly want him to know.
He'd started to get annoyed when I'd been more consumed in my phone than him though, especially when Erin called. I couldn't ignore her, I had to answer the phone.
"You've got to be kidding! You've been on that phone all day! WHO IS THAT?!"
"Let me take this call!"
"Answer it RIGHT HERE!"
I hesitated, but answered anyways. Erin's voice hit my ear and it was as if Kyle had faded away. I loved hearing from her, more than anything. Especially when I was stressed. Indeed, studying and tutoring had been a stress for sure.
"Hallo?"
"Hey you~! How are you?"
"I'm doing fine today, better now hearing from you~!"
"Hahaha!"
"How about you? How was your day?"
"Honestly? Stressful." Erin sighed. "I'm really doing my best with the spellcasting course, but I can't seem to beat the time."
"Ah, I'm having trouble breaking my personal bests too..." I lied. I didn't want to bum her out with my own good news. I wanted to sympathize with her, even though she probably wouldn't have minded. Erin sighed again.
"At this rate, I don't think I'll make top three this year..."
"Awe, don't sound so down. You'll do wonderfully the way you always do."
"Will you hurry up?!" Kyle grimaced. "Who the heck are you taking to?!"
Kyle had actually managed to snatch the phone from me, and we fought over the phone afterwards. Thankfully, Erin's number in my phone hadn't been saved with her name. I'd saved it under the alias 'Liebe', the German word for 'love'. After the stunt Kyle had pulled, I vowed to never use my phone during our study sessions again and we pressed on till the morning of the finals.
In Professor Flan's class, I had breezed through our written final and Kyle had told me he'd confidently completed it as well. It was the same outcome in the gymnasium for us both. I'd popped in my headphones to start the course and had beaten a record time! And for the first time ever, Kyle had actually completed the course before the timer had ended!
"Ja! You did it!"
"I can't breathe..."
Then came the morning I'd been anticipating all testing season, the results from the Board of Supernatural Academia. Beyond Milkweed's board of education, the Supernatural board was in charge of the overall ranking across all schools in the realm. They tallied up and decided who was top five in every academy and ultimately decided who'd be awarded with the title of Wizard of the Year in each school.
Headmaster Merlin exited the main office and entered the main hall where myself and other students were already stood to see the listing posted. I'd met up with Ivan, who was also anticipating his score. Kyle wasn't the type of wizard who cared. He just wanted to receive a passing grade, not so much a high one.
Although Merlin insisted on us not taking the ranking so seriously, his words had honestly fallen on deaf ears and soon as he'd posted the list to the bulletin board. Everyone crowded around it, making it difficult to see. Before I could even get my eyes on it for myself, I was already receiving glances. Finally being able to see for myself, thanks to my newfound height, I understood why.
"I'm top three!"
"Sigmund, you're number one!" Ivan corrected. "Look again! Wizard of the Year!"
"Mein Gott..."
"Ugh! I was so close to matching you! See? Ivan the Inquisitive. I was three points off!"
"Ivan, you're still second in our level and top five in the school!"
"My goal was top three, but it's okay." Ivan held his hand out to me with a bright smile. "Congratulations!"
I shook his hand and jumped when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Reaching into it, I eyed the screen. Erin had texted me. I parted ways with Ivan after our handshake and read the message as we separated.
"What's the verdict?"
Erin and I sent each other photos of our respective listings and instantly called one another when we realized we'd both been number one. I couldn't believe it! I was elated! After all the stress we'd shared with one another, we'd both managed to make it to the top, together.
"You were so depressed before." I chuckled over the phone. "I knew everything would work out. I told you it would!"
"I'm so proud of you, Sigmund."
"I'm proud of you too, Erin."
"Erin?! As in, the enchantress from Halfmoon Hallows?! Is that who you've been talking to?!"
Spinning around, both Kyle and Ivan had been behind me as I hunched over the phone. I hadn't realized. They teased me about speaking with her, thinking I was bothering her and not at all realizing our relationship. Though I was embarrassed after they'd sabotaged my phone call, I was thankful they didn't know why we'd been talking in the first place.
—
Being Milkweed Academy's Wizard of the Year meant I was expected to take a photo in the realm's joint yearbook. Hearing the news of my first, major award, my father had called me from our new home to congratulate me.
"MY SON! HAHAHA! LOOK AT YOU!" He beamed, smiling at me through my crystal ball. Looking over my shoulder, Erin smiled seeing my father's lilted expression. Besides the Yule ball and the Rune Relay, picture day was the only other event where neighboring schools blended.
We'd already taken our photos and were heading out for the start of the summer holiday. My first full term at Milkweed was officially over.
"Get home soon!" My father spoke to me. "I need to see that golden sash in person!" I adjusted the sash over my shoulder and Erin did the same with hers. Being awarded, it was just part of all the pageantry.
"Okay, Father. I'll see you soon!"
"See you soon, Mr. Nightbreed!" Erin chimed in, waving at the crystal. Kyle had also joined in to the call.
"Yes, yes! See you soon!" He grinned.
Indeed, everyone was coming to my new home for the start of the summer holiday. Even Erin's older brother was coming through. After I'd told them all about my big move, they'd all wanted to see for themselves and I was more than happy to show them.
Despite my father calling on the phone, I actually hadn't heard from him since I'd been back at Milkweed. In fact, neither him, nor my mother, had called me at all. It was out of character for them both, but it wasn't surprising. They'd been micro-managing for some time now and slowly, it had evolved into full time work. Not just for them, I supposed, but for me too.
I would have honestly been thrilled to have had them around the house, especially to meet my friends. But as expected, for most of the summer holiday, they'd been too busy to care.