Some Ideas and Characters Borrowed. Storeyline is Mine - DON'T COPY!

Chapter Three – Stonehaven

Alcide and I had been in Syracuse, New York State, for around two weeks when Alcide suggested that we should go and see some of his friends in one of the nearby towns. It was a strange request as during the 10½ year journey he had never asked for such a thing. Anyway, I agreed, as it would be interesting to meet some of the people he knew before he came to look after me.

Another incentive to go was that I might even find out something about his past. However, the things that I would find would almost be more than I could cope with. Almost…

Alcide arranged for us to go and meet these friends of his late the next week. I thought this was a bit odd because today was only Monday and we were going to see these people a week on Friday. That was a long time to prepare for one visit, wasn't it? Even so, we left for what would be one of the most life altering experiences I would endure. Literally.

To get to the house you had to drive up a long, secluded side road for about 3 miles until you came to a wrought iron gate with a high stone wall that seemed to stretch for miles! On the gate, there was a black post box and a sign that simply read 'Stonehaven'. You then went through the gate and then drove down another long and windy road for around 2 ½ miles, which finally ended at a house surrounded by a crunchy gravel car park and a large grassy border before you hit the forest. These people must like their privacy because all you could see as you drove down this road was a dense forest that seemed to go on forever. It was like a National Park sized thing - but private.

The house was huge! It was a three story (maybe with an attic) but it was built like some old Victorian mansion. It had also had renovations done to make it modern and it looked… homely. It looked like a large family lived here and it had the atmosphere of it too. Dotted around the car park were a few cars and motorbikes. This was another good point as I noticed a Porsche and an amazing looking bike. These people must be rich.

There was a spacious stone porch leading up to the front door with a man waiting on it. The man had wavy brown hair to just below his shoulders and was wearing a faded T-shirt, an ordinary pair of jeans and black shoes. Not very distinguishing, I thought.

Alcide and I got out of the car and started to walk towards the man. The man started to walk towards us andwe metpart way. Alcide and the man shook hands and with a big smile the man said, 'Alcide, it is so good to see you again. How are you?'

'I'm fine thanks. It's so good to finally be back.'

They continued to exchange pleasantries and you could tell they knew each other well by looking at the way they talked. The man then turned to me and I noticed that he now had a strange sadness to him that hadn't been there a moment ago.

'And you must be Max. Alcide has told me many things about you. My name is Lucian and I own this house. I hope you enjoy your stay here.'

I decided to ignore his strange sadness as I could think of nothing that could cause it, so I simply replied 'Yes, nice to meet you,'

The visit to Stonehaven went surprisingly well. There turned out to be around thirty people living here, so my guess at a large family living here had been right. In the house, there was everything you could imagine! On the first floor was a large kitchen, a dining room, two spacious living rooms - which both had a had massive, flat screen TV, a large fireplace and really comfortable chairs - a conservatory and an office. On the second floor was a small library but except for that the rest of that floor and the third floor was made up of large bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. And I was right, there was an attic but I didn't get to see what was inside. The best was still to come. Surprisingly it was in the basement, of all places.

The basement had more things in it than you felt should fit there. There was a mini running track that went round some weights sets, a full sized, heated pool and a large room that had a mini shooting and archery range at one end and at the other were mats on the walls that you could pull down and use to exercise and fight on. I was fine about the archery, as I enjoyed doing it myself, but not with the guns. I know how to shoot and am an excellent markswoman but I don't like guns. No, more than that; I hate guns. Ever since my mother was shot and I found her lifeless body, I have hated them. I learnt the basics from Alcide but I didn't touch them after that. I won't use them again until I have my revenge.

I spent all day down in the basement running round the track and competing with some of the people to see who could lift the heaviest weight. Alcide said it was alright, that I didn't have to pretend to be normal in this place because he knew the people here well, but I still held back. It just didn't feel right to use my full potential; more like blowing my cover. I needn't have bothered…

Because the visit went so well, Alcide suggested that we should come again sometime. I saw no reason to disagree - I liked it here at Stonehaven and I could tell that Alcide did too - so he arranged it with Lucian.

We went back to Syracuse and then three weeks later, we returned to Stonehaven. However, this visit would cause my life to be turned upside down and would force me to not to be able to trust anyone. Not even the person I thought I knew best - Alcide. It turned out I hardly knew him at all…

Thanks for reading amd I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully there will be more soon and it would be great if you could review it. Thankyou to everyone who already has. Tricky.