Chapter Four

Ethan was shown around the house. Mansion, he thought. The place looked even bigger on the inside. He followed the butler down the hall to the kitchen then down another hall to the dining room. Everything was brightly lit. And the more he saw of the house, the more he started feeling comfortable. At home. The butler didn't say much about each room, but he didn't have to.

He stopped when they passed stairs that led up into darkness. "What's up there?" Ethan asked. The butler hadn't even noticed he had stopped until Ethan spoke up.

The butler, Benjamin he said his name was, came back to stand beside Ethan. He looked up at the stairs then back at Ethan. "That leads to the Master's room," he said. "You're not allowed to go up there. Now, follow me." He turned to continue the tour.

"Why not?"

Benjamin turned back a bit reluctantly. "There are rules in this manor," he said. "It'd be best to follow them. Before something worse happens."

Ethan thought back to whatever had cut Brian's arm and nodded his head. Benjamin looked relieved then continued the tour.

Ethan didn't pay much attention to the rest of the tour. Curiosity was taking hold of him. Part of him WANTED to go up that dark stairway. The sensible part of him wanted to stay away from anything that even LOOKED threatening. The sensible part of him was losing the tug of war going on in his head.

"Who's the Master?" Ethan spoke up for the first time since the dark stairway. "Why haven't I met him?"

"He doesn't take kindly to guests," Benjamin said. "The last guest he had cursed him and the manor."

"Gotcha," Ethan said. "How long has this place been cursed?"

"It's felt like a lifetime," Benjamin said. "It's been fifteen years."

"Damn," Ethan murmured. At 22 years old, fifteen years ago he had been a small child. "So you were pretty young back then." The butler didn't seem to be too much older than himself.

"I should have been older by now," Benjamin said. "The curse slowed time for us. We won't be free to live normal lives until the curse is broken."

"Broken?" Ethan asked. "So this won't be a forever thing?" Now there was hope that he would get out of this. But if time slowed down...he might be here longer than he thought he'd be. "How do you break the curse?"

"You don't have to concern yourself with that," Benjamin said. In other words: he knew how, but Ethan couldn't help.

"Is it like a true love's kiss thing?" Ethan asked. His only experience with curses was watching those fairy tale movies as a kid.

Benjamin didn't look like he wanted to share any details about the curse. "If I help break the curse, we're all happy," Ethan added.

Sighing, Benjamin gave in. But not in the way Ethan wanted. "You'll have to ask the Master about that," he said. "If you ever see him."

"Not a social guy in general, hates guests...sounds like a fun guy," Ethan said, a bit sarcastically.

"You have no idea," Benjamin said then continued on with the tour.

Ethan met the Chef at dinner. It was easy to understand why Brian had been afraid of the guy. With a knife, the man was terrifying.

After dinner, Ethan was shown to his room then left alone.

Pacing back and forth in the room, sleep would be damn near impossible at this point. Ethan thought over everything he had heard and seen. It was a lot of information he probably wouldn't get used to. It would probably be easier for everyone if he did, but he was essentially a prisoner. Willing, but still a prisoner.

He walked over to the window when he heard rain starting to fall. It was too dark to see anything outside. Even when the lightning flashed, he could still see nothing. By the sound of the wind, the storm would get worse, so there would be even less to see later on. He pulled the curtain closed then stepped away from the window.

Sulking wouldn't help anyone.

Snooping might.

He walked over to the door and poked his head out, looking up and down the hallway. He didn't see or hear any sign of anyone. He stepped out, closing the door silently behind him. He headed down the hall, coming across no one. He took another look around then headed downstairs.

Benjamin walked into the kitchen where Chef was finishing up with washing the dishes. They couldn't leave a mess around, the Master would be upset. Especially a mess that would hint at a guest staying.

"It's just askin' for trouble, letting him stay here," Chef said, speaking of Ethan. "That bullshit story -"

"No one asked for your opinion," Benjamin said. He set a plate of food on a tray. The Master's meal. "Just clean the dishes."

"I don't like this," Chef said. "First time in fifteen years guests start showin' up? And only a few months before -"

"It's not just convenient timing," Benjamin said after he was finished preparing the tray. He picked it up. "It's fate."

"You're just assuming he's the on that can break the curse," Chef said. "You know what they say about assuming."

Benjamin ignored him and left the kitchen, heading up the dark stairway Ethan had noticed earlier.

Ethan walked into the room the butler had brought him to when he arrived. The lights were off except for a single candle lit by the sofa. He picked it up and walked over to the fireplace. To the hidden portrait. He didn't know why he was the most curious about that. He might have found something more interesting up those stairs Benjamin said he wasn't allowed to go up.

He reached up and pulled the blanket down, revealing the portrait. It had grown yellow with age. It gave off the feeling that those fifteen years Benjamin spoke of had lasted much longer than the butler had said. But that wasn't what caught his attention the most.

There was a long slash through the face of the man pictured. Ethan couldn't tell what the man had looked like. All he could see was the old-fashioned suit he was wearing.

Ethan reached up and touched the silk fabric the portrait was made out of. He ran his fingers along the torn fabric. Whoever had done this hadn't liked the portrait, obviously. So why was it still up? True, it had been covered, but no one had bothered taking it down.

"Who are you?"

The voice startled Ethan. He dropped the candle, which went out before it hit the floor. He quickly turned to see a figure standing in the doorway. It was too dark now to see anything else.

"I was just looking around, sorry," Ethan said before realizing that wasn't an answer to the question. "I'm Ethan. I'm staying...here..." He trailed off, remembering what Benjamin had said about the Master not liking guests.

He didn't know how he knew, but the person standing there was none other than the mysterious Master of this manor.

"You need to leave," the Master said, still standing in the shadows. Lightning flashed outside, casting light through the window. Ethan only caught a glimpse of a red robe the man was wearing. "Now."

Ethan didn't bother pointing out that he was told he couldn't leave. Or even about the fact that it was storming out. He just knew he had to leave. He ran past the man and out of the room and down the hall to the entrance.

He shoved the door open and ran out into the night.

Finding the Master's room empty, Benjamin set the tray down and headed back downstairs. He made it downstairs just in time to see Ethan running down the hall and out the door. He hurried to the room he had seen Ethan come out of.

The Master was there, replacing the blanket over the portrait above the fireplace. A fire had been started. He didn't turn, but he knew Benjamin was standing there.

"You know how I feel about guests," the Master said. His voice was deeper than usual. But he didn't sound angry, just annoyed. "Especially when -"

"You scared him off," Benjamin said. "You know he won't make it to the gate."

"Then we won't have to worry about him anymore."

"He has friends on the other side," Benjamin said. "His death will be on you." He knew it wouldn't mean much, but he was hoping to get the man thinking.

Benjamin turned and left. He headed out into the night to go after Ethan.

Hopefully It hadn't got him yet.

Ethan couldn't see much in the dark and the rain, but his desire to leave was overriding all of his other feelings. Whatever might be hiding out in the darkness didn't even concern him anymore. After meeting the Master of the manor, a worse evil was waiting behind him in that house. He would take his chances with whatever might be waiting for him at the gate.

He could run, he wouldn't have to worry about being chased. And if the worst thing that could happen was a scratch on the arm...

He came to a halt just by instinct. Over the sound of the downpour, something had rustled about in the bushes. Ethan turned and backed up then turned again when he heard a similar noise behind him.

After a few more turns he got lost and was unable to discern which way the front gate was. But the manor still loomed over him in a dark shadow, so he headed straight away from it. Surely he would walk into something.

What he walked into was the last thing he wanted.