Taylor was exhausted when she arrived at the house. She'd woken up with a killer hangover more than twelve hours ago now, and, although it had faded, she still hadn't gotten anywhere near the amount of sleep she normally did. She stifled a yawn as she got off the bike, gazing up at the mansion in front of her.

It was safe to call it a mansion, actually, because the driveway was at least a quarter mile long and shrouded by trees and had an iron gate at the bottom, which usually remained open but could be closed for privacy - or protection. And it was so modern, much more than Taylor had anticipated. The outside was a stark white, with massive curved windows and wood accents. It reminded her of something Frank Lloyd Wright would've built and, briefly, Taylor wondered if he did. A Mercedes sat in the carport, the same bright white color as the house.

Michael must've left this part out while he was catching his sister up, the part where their mother had married one of the richest men Taylor had ever met - er, would meet.

"Jesus, Michael." She gazed up at it. "This is insane."

"He's usually not this ostentatious," Michael shrugged. "But, big house for a big family, I guess."

Taylor flinched at the 'family,' but tried her best not to show it. Moments later, Sam came running out of the house towards her, his button-down shirt flapping in the sea breeze.

"Tay!" He threw himself at his older sister, nearly knocking her down seeing as they were just the same height.

Taylor hugged him just as tightly as she had Michael, finding the same thing - they both smelled like home, like Phoenix. It made her wish for things she knew she could never have back.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed. "You've gotten so tall, Sammy."

Michael smiled at the two of them, his eyes darting between them and the rising moon. It was getting later, he was getting hungrier.

Sam and Taylor continued to chatter, until Michael caught his younger brother's eye.

"C'mon, I want to show you the house!" Sam smiled at his sister, pulling her inside while casting Michael a cautious glance. "Mike probably wants to catch up with his friends."

"Oh," Taylor said softly, not wanting to show her disappointment that her brother seemed less than excited to see her. "Max's kids? The ones you told me about?"

"Yeah," He nodded.

"You told her abo - " Sam began excitedly, but Mike quickly cut him off.

"About Max having what he calls adopted sons, who sometimes stay with us. Yeah, I mentioned it." Taylor's brows furrowed at Mike's response, and he knew he'd have to come up with something better than that. "I thought she'd want to know in case she saw them hanging around the house. Anyways, I'm off."

Michael got back on his bike and sped away, Taylor glancing after him before returning her attentions to her remaining brother. He could sense her disappointment.

"I'm not going to lie to you," She shrugged. "I was kind of expecting a welcome home party or some bullshit thing like that. Not that I really wanted one, you know. It's just I haven't seen you guys in months, it would've been nice to have everyone together on my first night here."

"They're all at the boardwalk," Sam huffed, kicking a rock with his shoe.

"The boardwalk?" Taylor questioned.

"Yeah, that's where they all go at night. Max has a video store down there, and Mom helps him out with it a lot. Mike and the boys just get into trouble, mostly, but it's where everyone goes to hang out."

Taylor smiled softly, misconstruing his anger for disappointment. Sam had never had much luck with friends back in Phoenix, and she'd figured Santa Carla had been no different. She thought that, while Lucy had been busy with her new husband and Michael had been raising hell with his friends and falling for some hippie, Sam had been sitting at home, lonely and friendless all summer.

"Do you want to go to the boardwalk, Sam?" She urged him. "I haven't eaten dinner yet, so we can grab some food down there and check out some of the rides. Maybe they have an arcade, like back in Phoenix?"

Sam's heart lightened at her proposal, but he shook his head. He would take her to the boardwalk during the day, when his family and whatever else was lurking around Santa Carla was sleeping, and it was safe.

"Alright," Taylor said softly, knowing better than to push him. "So, can you show me to my room first, then to the fridge? I'm starving!"

Sam gulped.

"Your room is the easy part, but we, ah, we don't really have any food. I'll order us pizza or something - Chinese?"

"Either is good!" Taylor told him. "But you remember - "

"No meat," Sam smiled at her. "Of course."

Taylor had been a vegetarian for as long as she could remember. She wasn't quite sure why, but the thought of biting down on something that was once alive made her stomach churn. Half the time she had a hard time even looking at raw meat, avoiding those isles in the grocery stores and steering clear of the deli. The sight of those chicken breasts, fattened up artificially with red, bloody veins glowing under pink-white skin, once made her race to the customer bathroom to empty her stomach.

"Thanks, Sammy."

He nodded at her, gesturing towards a modern, freestanding stairwell that was the focal point of the home's entryway. "Your room is upstairs, at the end of the hall on the left. You can't miss it because all of your boxes are in it. I'll order the food while you get comfy."

Grateful not to be in this strange, new house alone on her first night, Taylor hurried upstairs to her room. Wooden doors adorned the walls on both sides, probably branching off to other bedrooms or a bathroom, but Taylor didn't want to open them in case she and Sam weren't the only ones home after all. The last thing she wanted was to walk in on Max and her mother in their bedroom.

Opening her bedroom door, Taylor found that Lucy had been exceptionally good to her - although this probably wasn't the master, it had to be the second-best room in the house. Pink shag carpet adorned the floor, and a wicker bed and two side tables were on a carpeted platform. On one side were two mirrored closet doors and a small bathroom, and on the opposite was a large, curved picture window.

Taylor moved around boxes to cross the room to the window, peeking outside of it. She could see the lights from the boardwalk from here, although not very clearly. She watched as a delivery car began to pull up the long driveway, and turned around to walk downstairs and meet it.

But when Taylor spun around, the room was not as it had been when she walked in. The closet doors, which had been shut before, were cracked slightly, and Taylor took a step towards it, holding her breath. Maybe it was Nanook, who, to think of it, she hadn't seen since she entered the house. She walked forward just slightly more, and her question was answered.

A dark, shadowy figure leapt from the closet, and seemed to fly over to her from across the room.