Chapter 2: Adjustments

Oxana opened the door, which shrieked and made the twins jump. "Oh, sorry, the hinges are really squeaky," the lady said calmly.

"Honey, are you home?" A voice called from the living room.

"Yes, darling. And the twins are with me," she called out before gently guiding the two children to the living room. A man with blue skin and black hair was sitting on the couch while a young girl the same age as the twins was putting a puzzle together on the floor. She had her hair in bat wing pig tails and had blue skin just like the man.

The man smiled at the twins. "Hello, little ones," he said warmly, his accent standing out to the twins. "My name is Boris."

"And I'm Vampirina," the young girl said with a smile.

"Weird name," Edgar said before Poppy elbowed him in the side, a silent reminder to not be rude.

"I guess it is different," Vampirina said, not offended at all.

Oxana smiled. "Boris. Vampirina, these two are Poppy and Edgar," she said. "Miss Eda's children."

"Oh, yes, Eda," Boris said before looking a bit saddened and looking at the twins. "I'm sorry to have heard about your mother's illness and her passing, little ones."

Edgar was quiet and Poppy sniffled a little as her eyes filled up with tears. "Thank you," the girl said quietly while her brother nodded softly.

Vampirina looked saddened. "I...I hope you'll like it here," she said softly. "I...I know it's new and all, but we'll help you in any way we can."

Both twins were quiet before Oxana smiled gently. "Why don't I show you two to your rooms?" She offered. "You two can get settled in and I'll call you down for dinner later."

"I hope you'll like your rooms," Boris said. "We did try to make them with your preferences in mind."

Both twins nodded. "Thanks," Edgar said before looking at Oxana. "Um...sorry, Miss Oxana, but...is it okay if we skip dinner? I'm not really hungry."

"Me neither," Poppy said softly.

Oxana smiled gently, knowing the two were still upset over their mother's passing and no doubt the stress of the past week was getting to them. "Alright, but if you do change your minds, you're welcome to join us," she said gently before guiding them upstairs and the two children saw two doors next to each other in the hallway. "Poppy, your room is on the right and Edgar, yours is on the left."

Edgar opened the door to his room and looked inside to find all his stuff was there, even his bed. He was surprised and Poppy was surprised too at seeing all her stuff was there. Oxana smiled. "Boris and I asked the people taking care of your other house to have your things brought here," she said. "We figured you'd feel a bit more comfortable here if you had all your stuff from your previous rooms."

Poppy had tears in here eyes as she hugged her stuffed animals that her mother had given her. "I...I was afraid we'd get new furniture and all our stuff would be gone," she said, sniffling a little.

"Yeah," Edgar said with a nod. "But...you guys managed to get all our stuff?"

Oxana nodded. "We wanted to make you two feel more welcomed here and felt that it would be best for you to have everything from your other rooms," she explained. "We even added a few things we had gotten you as welcome-to-the-family gifts. I hope you'll like them."

Poppy's tears finally spilled over and she cried, to which Oxana went up to her and gently hugged her. "Oh, sweetie, I know," she soothed. "Your mother was a wonderful lady and she will be missed."

Edgar sniffled, going in to sit by his sister. "It's...It's going to be hard without her," he said.

The blue-skinned woman nodded understandingly. "I know," she said softly, gently brushing her hand over his head in a soothing gesture. She did the same to Poppy, who gave her a tearful, yet grateful look. "Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours and I'll come get you two in case you are hungry."

Both nodded and she left the room while the twins stayed in Poppy's room, just sitting quietly for a moment as more tears fell from their eyes. "Well, at least she was nice enough to have our stuff brought over," the boy said quietly.

The girl nodded. "I...I wish Mom was here though," she said. "I miss her so much, Edgar."

"I know," he said, hugging her. "I miss her too."

Downstairs, Oxana sighed as she looked at Boris. "I wish we could take away the pain they are feeling, darling," she said softly.

"I know," he said, placing a hand lovingly over hers. "While we can't do that though, what we can do is give them space and help them when they need it. Treat them as if they've been with us their whole lives."

She nodded. "But...I don't want them to feel that I'm replacing their mother," she said. "That's not what I'm trying to do."

"I know, my darling," Boris said, squeezing her hand gently. "And we'll prove that to them as time goes on."

The next two weeks were a bit hard for the twins, who both fell into the familiar routine of either getting ready for school on school days or just trying to find something to do to distract from the emotional pain they felt. They were quiet in school, which Mr. Gore noticed, but he sympathized with them. He even gave them extra time to complete their assignments, which to two thanked him politely, but didn't say much beyond that.

One evening though, something happened that the twins didn't expect.

Poppy was in her room doing some homework, but having a hard time concentrating on it. Sighing, she closed her math book and put it away, leaning her head down on her arms on her desk as she sniffled, a few tears falling.

A noise made her jump and she looked up, noticing it seemed to be coming from down the hallway. Curious, she left her room and followed the noises that followed to another room. Seeing it was slightly ajar, she carefully pushed it open and peeked inside.

What she saw made her eyes widen in shock.

A mummy dressed as an Egyptian king was moving about the room, cleaning it up. "There," she heard him say in a male voice. "I hope Oxana doesn't mind that I'm cleaning the room, but I just don't want to seem like a messy guest."

Poppy was rooted to her spot before she decided to back up, but she heard someone coming up the stairs. "Oh, I hope the little ones like the dinner I made for tonight, Oxana," said an accented voice the girl didn't recognize and she quickly made a split decision by going into the mummy's room and trying to find a place to hide.

"I'm sure they will, Remy," Oxana said as she came up the stairs with him. Vampirina came out, but she looked worried.

"Mama, are Edgar and Poppy going to be okay?" She asked. "They just...well, I wonder if they like us and like it here."

Oxana smiled. "Give them a bit more time, bat-cakes," she said gently. "I'm sure they will warm up a bit more to us, but they need time to adjust still."

Just then, Edgar came out of his room and when he saw the skeleton, he let out a scream, which startled Oxana and Vampirina as well as Chef Remy, whose eyes widened at seeing the boy was staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. "Oh, dear," the skeleton said.

Edgar took off running. "Poppy, get out of here!" He called out. "They're monsters!"

Her brother's cry made her jump and bump into the dresser in the room, making the mummy turn sharply to find her there and he gasped. "Oh, my," he said.

Poppy tried to bolt for the door, but the mummy was quicker, shutting the door and locking it before the girl reached it. Now very frightened, the young girl whimpered and backed away from the mummy, turning to run, but she tripped over the rug in the room, falling down to the floor. "Ow!" She cried out in surprise but then remembered the mummy on her tail and quickly scooted back, her back coming in contact with the wall as the mummy loomed over her, his hands outstretched to grab her, to which she curled up in fear.

Down in the kitchen, Edgar was shaking as the skeleton came closer, cornering him and reaching for him, making him curl up and tremble fearfully, wondering what was going to happen to him and his sister.


Oh, dear. What's going to happen to the twins? We shall find out in the next chapter coming soon. :)

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GoldGuardian2418