Yodeling Pickels, here are her pajamas: bedheadpjs. com/ Shopping / ?NcIctId=5&NcFsId=159 Thanks to the newest reviewer Irene! I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG. Everyone has probably given up on me, but for those who haven't… thank you!

Chapter Ten

SAMANTHA

I didn't see Alex at all the next day, and for that I was glad. It gave me some time to think over everything that had happened the other night with a clearer head. But I was still anxious; I kept imagining that I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but every time I turned to look there was no one there. I didn't go searching for him again though; there wasn't any reason for him to hide from me anymore. If he wanted to find me he would.

Later that night I walked down to dinner, looking up as I entered the dining room I stopped short. A tall figure was standing with his back to me, leaning on the large fireplace across from the doorway I was in. He was silhouetted against the light emanating from the chandelier above. My heart started beating harder in my chest as I walked slowly into the room, my eyes never leaving the Beast… leaving Alex… as I travelled towards my customary seat at the table. As I began to draw the chair back he stood upright and pulled his hand away from where it had been resting on the mantle, "Hello Samantha." He said softly, turning his head a little towards the direction I was standing in. My hand froze and I sucked in a quiet breath. Don't freak out, this is Alex. You know him. He's your friend. I slowly looked up to see that, very like myself, he had hardly moved.

"Hello." I whispered, and dropped my hand from the chair back. He turned to look at me and I was able to hold his gaze for a quick moment before looking down again while he continued to stare at me. It made me uncomfortable, but it was only fair I thought, suddenly remembering how long and hard I had studied him the other night. He abruptly moved away from the hearth and further towards the table.

"Is it okay if I have dinner with you tonight?" He asked. His tone was one of a person trying to gradually persuade a small animal to come over to them. I stood up straighter; not wanting him to think I was afraid, even if I might have been. I was too proud for that. Moving my eyes away from the floor I glanced up at him and squared my jaw before looking away again, this time trying my hardest to be indifferent and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah, that's fine." I answered, happy to find that my voice hardly quavered at all when I spoke. "It's your house after all."

"Yes," he said, fidgeting with the tablecloth. "But you're the guest."

I sat down to prove to him how relaxed about it I was. "I don't mind, it'll be nice to have a little company." I said and shook out my napkin before laying it down onto my lap. He still looked a little apprehensive and it almost made me laugh, the way we were acting anyone would think I was the beast and he the mystified visitor.

"If you're sure…" He said, giving me one more chance to back out as he pulled a chair out on the other side of the table.

"I'm sure." I said firmly. In actuality I wasn't really sure at all, but how could I kick him out of a place in his own house? It would've been beyond rude, whatever the circumstances were. Besides, I had promised myself last night that I would find a way to see him as Alex, as my friend. If I wasn't going to do that then all of this might just fall apart, I could feel it sliding toward the edge already.

We were both seated diagonally across the table from one another so I turned my chair a little to the right in order to make conversation better. The only problem was I didn't know what to say. This aggravated me quite a lot. Our conversations had practically been effortless when we were emailing or instant messaging, but now sitting together in the same room we couldn't find a thing to say. Finally I cut through the uncomfortable silence with the only topic I could think of: our surroundings. "This house is very nice." I said, feeling foolish. This was only a little bit better than talking about the weather, but not by very much.

Alexander looked around and nodded his head. "Yes, it's actually been in the family for quite a while. My great –great- however many great- grandfather designed and had it built back in the 1800's. It was rather small back then, I've read; from old journals and books in the library.

"But it's so large now." I said, prompting him to continue.

"Over the years it's become sort of a family tradition for each new owner to add something of their own to the house. Whether it's large or small is up to the person."

"Any…um… interesting additions?" I asked, glad the conversation was going somewhere and determined to keep it moving.

He smiled and nodded, presenting me with an easy sight of his eyeteeth; they were longer and much sharper than any human's I'd ever seen. I shivered slightly and glanced hastily away as he continued. "Back in the early 1900's one of my relatives came into the estate, she was so paranoid someone would break in and rob her that she brought hundreds of workers in to add hidden hallways and rooms into random parts of the house."

Well that explains the bathroom behind the bookcase, sort of. I thought to myself. "How many are there?" I said aloud.

Alexander shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, as soon as the builders were done she destroyed all documentations about it. "

"But her children must have known." I said, intrigued.

He shook his head, "She didn't have any; after her husband died she sort of just shut herself up in this place."

I shivered slightly, how many other people had stayed locked in the house?

"But before she died she did tell her nephew about the hideaways. As soon as he inherited the estate he began looking for them, determined to find each and every one. He was convinced he had, but later his daughter discovered another one, and then his grandson unearthed a couple after her."

"And you still think there's more?" I asked, skeptical. I mean it was a big house but it wasn't that big.

"Counting up all the ones that have been found over the years there are about 150 so far." He paused for a moment before adding, "I actually found one last year." I could hear the hidden pride in his voice and smiled slightly.

"Will you show me?" I asked leaning forward.

He looked up at me, surprised. He probably thought you'd want to get away from him the first moment you could. I thought guiltily to myself. I bit my lip: feeling ashamed for even entertaining the idea of stealing away in the dark the night before. I looked up into his face, something I hadn't done for more than a second or two throughout the conversation, and gave him a smile. "Come on, I want to see." He tapped a finger on the table and as if that decided it stood up and began to move away from the table and down towards the door. I followed after him as quick as I could, he walked so fast! We came to a floor I hadn't really spent much time on, mostly because a lot of the doors had been locked tight. Alex came to one such door put his shoulder against it and his hand on the doorknob. In one movement he turned the knob and pushed inward on the door. A shove that would've taken me a running start to put as much power into as he did in one go and with that opened the door.

I trailed in after him with my mouth hanging open. "I thought all these doors were locked!" I exclaimed.

"Nah," he said lightly, "they're just more stubborn than the other ones."

"It seems all sorts of little mysteries are being solved today." I said to myself, and turned to look at the room we were now standing in.