Vacation VI- The secret is out

"Ready to go up in the air Sophie?" Andrew asked, lifting his youngest daughter high into the air. Andrew lay on the ground on his back. Sophie shrieked with laughter. As Tessa watched, she remembered times like that that she'd had with her father when she was Sophie's age. To her that seemed like a long time ago, like it had been forever, yet, it also seemed like it had only been yesterday. She wondered where all of those years went.

Meanwhile, the rain and the wind pounded outside. Tess watched from the kitchen as the boats tied up at a nearby dock rocked in the water. She wondered if a hurricane was on its way. She turned on the television, in an attempt to see the weather forecast. So far there was no hurricane warning, but Tess was not so sure.

"Daddy?" Zoë asked as she looked out the living room window.

"Yeah."

"What's wrong with the weather?"

"Nothing sweetheart." Her father reassured her, but Zoë wasn't so sure. Even so, she retreated to the window.

"What do you girls want to do tonight?" Andrew asked them. He always asked his children's opinions. The three girls shouted different things at once.

"Tessa, you first."

"I just think that we should have a fire in the fireplace. The weather's right for it after all."

"We can do that? And Zoë?"

"I think we should all just be together." She said, her mind seemed to be off in the distance.

"No problem. And Sophie? Sophie?" He asked, and realized that she was asleep.

"Daddy, we forgot about her nap." Tessa told him, lifting her baby sister out of their father's arms. "I'll put down for her nap, don't worry." She smiled and took a sleeping Sophie up the stairs.

"Zoë." Andrew asked as he sat up. "Do you want to help me build the fire?"

She simply nodded and followed her father outside.

………………..

As their Dad was busy trying to build a fire in the fireplace, Tessa and Zoë sat curled up together on the couch. The weather had changed so rapidly that by this time the two sisters were freezing.

"I know you had a lot planned tonight, babies. But I have an announcement to make." Tess calmly said after she came into the room, pulling Monica along with her. Tessa could see that her mother had been crying.

"What is it Tess?" Andrew asked, looking not at Tess, but at his wife.

"Our little Zoë has her first assignment."

"No Tess! No!" Monica sat on the couch and pulled Zoë and Tessa into her arms.

"Yes babies, what do you think Zoë?"

"I'm not ready. Can't till we wait until I'm fourteen, like Tessa?"

"No sweetheart, the Father wants you to do this now."

"When does she leave?"

"Right now, angel boy."

"No Daddy help me, please!" Zoë cried as she buried her face in her mother's shoulder.

"I know you don't want to go, sweetheart, but you have to. You'll be fine. Look at Tessa. She's been doing this since before Sophie was born, and look how good she is at this now. You want to be like her, don't you?"

"Yes." Her sister nodded as she cried. Tessa smiled at her father's subtle compliment.

"Come on baby, it's time." Tess held out her hand. Tessa threw her arms around her sister, and both of her parents kissed her. When she had finished with her good-byes she held out her hand for Tess to grab.

"One more thing." Tess said. "Zoë will be needing an older angel to guide her. Tessa, you have been chosen."

………………..

The girls had been shipped off on assignment, leaving Andrew and Monica alone and shocked.

"I wonder what their assignment will be." Andrew thought aloud.

"I don't know, I just hope Tessa is back in time for her birthday."

"Me too." He told her, rubbing her shoulder as his wife began to sob loudly.

"Oh sweetheart, it's alright, it's alright."

"No Andrew, they are going to find out!" She cried as he held her in his arms.

"They had to sometime." He told her as he kissed her. "Let's go have a nap, Sophie's asleep." Monica nodded and allowed her husband to drag her up the stairs.

………………..

"We're back at the house!" Zoë's tone was one of surprise.

"Yes baby, we are. And it is up to you to find out what is in there."

Tessa and Zoë exchanged horrified glances.

"No!" They shouted collectively. "We won't do it."

"Babies you're in this together, and the father is with you. Do not fear the evil in this house. It will not overwhelm you like it did last time."

The sisters were comforted by this thought and they smiled at each other. Tessa took her little sister's hand. Tessa was having a more than good time at home, but she was happy that this assignment had come, for it was her first foray into the world of being a supervisor.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Just explore the house girls. You'll know what you're looking for once you find it, and you'll know what to do."

Both girls simply nodded.

"I love you." She told them. They hugged her and she disappeared once she pulled away from their embrace.

"Do we have to go in Tessa?" Zoë asked quietly.

"I would've thought that you would've wanted to Zoë."

"I'm scared now."

"I am too. Come on."

The girls ventured into the house. The door squeaked as Tessa opened it. Zoë clung to her hand as they walked. Tessa could sense the fear that rushed through her little sister, and she wished that she could comfort her, but she had no means of doing so. She herself needed comforting. The feeling in this house was something out the pages of Edgar Allen Poe. This time, the sisters turned and ascended the staircase because they had the feeling they should do so. When they reached the top of the third floor where they were told to be, they were met by an iron door.

"How are we supposed to get this open?" Zoë asked. Tessa pressed her hand to the door, thinking that it would open at her touch.

"Zoë, you try to unlock it. Okay?"

"Okay." She said. "Where are you going?"

"Home, I have to get something, I'll be right back. Don't move." And with that, Tessa disappeared. Zoë was alone and scared to death. But as she stood there absentmindledy trying to open the iron door her fear began to fade ever so slightly.

Not knowing what they would meet behind the iron door, Tessa ran home to retrieve the family gun. Of this gun her mother did not approve. Tessa, however approved of the idea. When she had reached the proper age her father had shown her where it was and how to use in case of an emergency. The gun was locked and kept in a proper place. She got a latter and climbed to where it was located in her father's closet. She was a short girl, about her mother's size. Zoe would soon tower over both of them. As a short girl, she was even too short to reach the gun box once on top of the small latter. She finally got it when she put a small box on the top step of the latter. She put the gun box safely in her arms and grabbed hold of yet another box on the shelf for support as she climbed down. She didn't know it, but the box she had grabbed for support was loose. She slipped and landed on the floor.

"Ouch!" She yelled. It had really hurt. It took her a second, but then she looked all around her at the contents of the spilled box. She had expected this for a while, and now the secret was out.