While posting this update, I'm currently on rewriting A Tale of Two Hearts, that Vocaloid story I wrote from way back when. If you're into that, you can check it out soon. I'm not sure yet if I'll delete the original story or just create a new one that says REWRITE. On with the actual story though...
Flora and I continued to head up the mountain along the path, but we stayed close together. We didn't want to risk any more accidents, especially if the perpetrator was still nearby. Things were going to be more dangerous from now on.
We reached the mayor's house and I was amazed at how magnificent it was up close. It was enormous, bigger than any normal house I had seen. It was covered in intricate columns and arches. When it was first built, it must have been incredible. But now age had worn it down. Creeping vines grew up the walls and the garden was overgrown. A cherub fountain sitting in the middle of the courtyard seemed to be filled with more dirt than water. The place gave off an eerie feeling, almost like it was haunted.
"Look at all these pretty flowers!" Flora gestured towards a group of wildflowers growing in front of the mansion's steps. She picked one and brought it to her face to smell. "On our way out, we can take a few back," I told her. As Flora continued to play among the flowers, I walked up the mansion's steps to its big front door. I grabbed its knocker and banged it against the door.
I was a bit surprised when a thin, nervous looking man answered the door. He was wearing a black suit, the kind that butlers would wear. Despite his timid appearance, he was young, probably only 20 years old.
"Sorry to bother you," I said to the man. "I'm Luke Triton and I was wondering if I could talk to the mayor. I have some extremely important questions for him." By now, Flora had joined me on the steps and was standing behind me, observing the man. "I'm sorry," the man frowned. "The mayor isn't here at the moment. You'll have to come back another time."
That's odd, I thought to myself. Millie said that the mayor never left his mansion, so where could he be? "Could you please let him know that I stopped by?" I requested. When the mayor returned, maybe he would have time to talk to us. "I'll let him know," the man nodded. "By the way," I asked, as the man started to close the door. "Who might you be?"
"I'm Ned, Mayor Pemberton's butler." Ah, so I was correct about him being a butler. With this remark, Ned shut the door and I heard it get bolted shut. "Well that was a bust," I sighed. "We came all the way up here for nothing, and we almost fell over a cliff."
"Where do you think the mayor went?" Flora asked, examining a pink flower in her hand. "I thought he never came out."
"That's what I thought."
"Maybe he's still inside?"
"What?" I asked. Flora might be on to something. "Well," she explained. "If I were in his shoes, I probably wouldn't come out for anything. I'd just send them away and pretend I wasn't home. Nobody would be the wiser."
"That's brilliant!" I exclaimed. Flora seemed a bit surprised at the compliment. "We have to get inside," I told her. "I have to know for sure if he's in there. We have to talk to him!"
"How are we going to get in?" Flora asked. "Ned locked the door, and there's no way he'll let us in."
"Maybe there's a window in the back. This place is so big, I'm sure no one would notice if we snuck in." I expected Flora to be a bit wary of my plan. After all, we could get in trouble if we were caught, but she seemed all for it. "Let's go!" she smiled. We wandered to the back of the mansion. Instead of having a backyard, the mansion backed up right into a huge forest. Even though it was the middle of the day, the tall trees blocked the sunlight, making the forest look ominous. I wouldn't want to take a trip into those woods.
Flora and I scanned the back of the house, looking for an open window. To our good fortune, there was one and on the first floor at that. The window provided only a small opening, so it would be a tight fit for me to get through. Flora could probably fit through easily. The window was grubby and you could hardly see through it. Flora decided she would go first and she carefully pushed the window open.
"You know," I told her as she pushed herself threw. "This window kind of reminds me of a puzzle I heard back in America." Flora was fully through the window and was now standing inside the mansion. She gave me an annoyed look. "Now really isn't the time for puzzles." I blushed, a bit embarrassed that she had called me out. The Professor used to always give me puzzles in tense situations. It helped relieve nerves.
"Hurry up!" Flora chided. I started to put my foot into the window, when I heard footsteps from inside the mansion. "Hide!" I told Flora. Flora rushed off into the mansion and I ducked down underneath the window. I tried to control my breathing and not make any noise. There was someone walking to the window. I could hear their footsteps and suddenly, I heard the slam of the window being shut. My eyes widened in alarm. I was stuck outside while Flora was inside. Hopefully, whoever shut the window would disappear and Flora could come back and open it for me. I prayed that Flora wouldn't be caught.
I sat underneath the window for a while, until Flora returned and opened it for me. When I saw that she was okay, I gave a sigh of relief. I was about the enter through the window, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. One of the curtains in the upper window was swaying, as if it had just been shut. Had somebody seen us? Ignoring this, I pushed myself through the window and into the mansion.
The inside was even grander than the outside. Fancy carpets covered the floors. There was a huge grand piano in the corner of the room. I noticed a red velvet couch that looked very comfortable. This was all in just one room. I wondered what the rest of the mansion could look like. There were many paintings on the wall, a mix of landscapes and portraits. "The mayor must be rich," I said. "Just look at all these things." Flora was silent, staring at a portrait at a girl on the wall.
"Is something wrong?" I touched Flora on the shoulder and she seemed to return to her senses. "Sorry," she apologized. "This place... it just reminded me of my old home a little bit." I had forgotten that Flora had come from a similar background. She was born into a family of money and lived in a mansion like this for a long time, at least until she moved into that tower. Even though Flora had seemed to move on from her father's death and leaving her home of St. Mystere, she probably still thought about them often.
"Now if I were the mayor, where would I hide?" I thought aloud. "He'd probably be up in his room, which I'd assume would be on one of the higher floors. We should check there first."
"What do we do if we find him?" Flora asked. "We'll ask him our questions." I paused for a moment. "And then we'll get the hell out of here." Flora and I found a set of stairs, leading to the second floor and quietly walked up them. We noticed that the mansion seemed to have a lack of staff. It seemed like Ned and the mayor were the only ones living here.
The second floor had more rooms than I thought. Most of them appeared to be empty guest bedrooms. I don't know why you would have so many if you never had any guests. We didn't search room in depth. We didn't have time for that. We just opened each room's door and peaked in. If there was nothing there, we moved on. There was little time to spare.
After searching through about 20 rooms, I was ready to give up. "Maybe the mayor isn't in here," I sighed. "We can't give up!" Flora shouted in a determined voice. "This could be important. He might know something about the Professor!" If Flora wasn't going to give up, then neither was I. "Let's keep looking then," I told her.
We came across a room that was different from the generic ones we had seen. The walls were pink and instead of having a bed or dresser, there was an easel and lots of paint. There were a few paintings sitting on the floor. They looked to be in the same style as the paintings we had seen downstairs. The artist must live in this house. Perhaps the mayor had a secret hobby.
"Look at this one!" Flora pointed at the painting that was currently being worked on. In the center, there was a girl bending down to pick up a white flower. She seemed to be in a forest, similar to the one outside. "It's beautiful!" I noticed the girl in the painting had a sad expression on her face. It looked like she was crying. The girl's hair was braided and she had on white dress. She looked like an angel and a ghost at the same time.
That's when something clicked inside my head. "Flora, doesn't this girl look like someone we've met?" Flora bit her lip and looked at the painting. "Now that you mention it, something about her is familiar. Wait!" Flora brought her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Doesn't that girl like the one we saw last night?"
"Exactly," I agreed. "The ghost girl is connected to this mansion and the mayor."
"Did somebody else see her?" Flora asked. I shook my head. "I don't think so. If nobody in town dares look at her, I doubt anyone here would. So how could they have known what she looks like?"
Flora and I were both trying to think of a solution to this puzzle when we heard soft thud coming from downstairs. "Did you hear that?" Flora asked me. "Could it be Ned?" I wasn't sure who it was, but it would be dangerous to go down and check. We'd definitely be caught. There was another thud. Someone was trying to cause a racket.
"Luke, look!" Flora was standing by the room's window and pointing outside. I walked over and looked out. We could see Ned walking away from the mansion, towards the path that led to town. "He's gone!" I observed. "That means... someone else is in the house with us." A nervous feeling was growing in the pit of my stomach. Something about this seemed off.
"We should investigate that sound," Flora said. "It's coming from downstairs. Maybe it's the mayor?" I decided that investigating the sound was a worthy risk. What if it was the mayor? Flora and I headed back down the stairs and were standing in the main hall of the mansion. We heard the thud again. It seemed like it was coming from further down. Did the mansion have a basement?
"Search for a door leading to a basement or cellar," I told Flora. "The source of the noise must be down there." Flora and I split up, trying to find something that would lead us to the basement. I entered the mansion's kitchen. It was clean and obviously had been in use recently. There was a pitcher of water sitting on the table with three cups. Three? Did that mean there was a third person here in the mansion? There was also an empty silver tray with some crumbs on it. It was obvious that there had recently been food on it.
I noticed a picture frame laying face down on the counter. I picked it up and examined it. It was a family photo. There was a stately looking man, who I assumed was the mayor. Beside him was a beautiful woman with long hair. That must be his wife. She was holding a baby wrapped in a blanket. Behind her was another man, an older one. He had the same face as the mayor. Next to him was a tall man. He reminded me of Ned. He was lean and a bit odd looking. His expression was stone cold. Everyone else in the photo was smiling except for him. The final person in the photo was a little boy. He was dressed in a nice suit and was holding the hand of the tall man. I assumed that they were father and son.
This picture reveled that the mayor wasn't as lonely as I thought. At one time, he had a family made up of his wife and who I assumed to be his daughter. I couldn't say for certain who the other people in the picture were. Wait a minute. If the mayor had a daughter, where was she? I hadn't heard that the mayor had a daughter. Millie made it seem like he lived up here all alone. Could she be able to help us?
I left the kitchen and went to look for Flora. I found her in a large sitting room where she seemed to have found something. "Luke!" she exclaimed as she saw me. "I found this door and I think it might lead to the basement!" She pointed at a wooden door in the back of the room. "We'll go down in a second," I told her. "But I think I learned something important." I explained the picture to her and my belief that the mayor may have a daughter. Once Flora was all caught up, we decided to head down into the basement. I reached for the door's handle when a voice behind us shouted "STOP!"
Flora and I turned around and saw the ghost girl. She looked angry, but also frightened. How did she get in here? How hadn't we noticed her sneaking up behind us? "Leave this place," she warned. "Leave this place, please." Her voice had a pleading tone. It sounded like she wanted us to leave to protect ourselves. "Can you help us?" I asked the girl. She frowned and shook her head. "You know something," I told her. "We know you're no ghost, so spill it." The girl stayed silent, but gazed up at me. Her eyes seemed to look straight into my soul.
Suddenly, Flora rushed in front of me and grabbed the girl's shoulders. "Please help us!" Flora cried. "Where's the Professor? Where is he?" Flora set her head on the girl's shoulder and started to cry. The sudden shock of the girl's appearance and stress had caused Flora to breakdown. The ghost girl look down at Flora with a sad expression.
"I-I can't help you." The mysterious girl looked ready to cry herself. "Please leave," she repeated. "And you won't be hurt." There was another threat. "We can't do that," I told her. "Listen, we have a problem and I think you do to. We can work together to solve them both." The girl gave me a hopeful look as she was considering my offer. "I can't guarantee your safety," the girl said after a long pause. "If anything happens, I can't be held responsible."
I gave the girl a smile. We had a new partner, and hopefully one that would be the key to this mystery. Flora left the girl's shoulder and thanked her multiple times. She seemed to have recovered a bit. I was readying my questions for the girl when I heard the front door open. The girl seemed to enter a panic. "Go!" she yelled, as she ran over to a window and opened it up. "He's back. You must leave now." Her urgent tone convinced me that it was time to go. Flora went out the window first and then me.
Before the girl closed the window, she said, "Meet me in the alley from before tonight. Now, run away from this place and don't turn around until you get to town." With that, she closed the window and rushed off. It seemed that she was trying to escape the house too.
"Let's go!" I grabbed Flora's hand and the two of us ran as fast she we could towards the path. As we ran, my mind was deep in thought. We had finally made some progression in this case and I felt like we were getting close to finding the Professor. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together, but a few were still missing and they were the most important. Hopefully, the ghost girl could answer all my questions and then we could finally know the truth behind Spectre's Cape.
Reviews and criticism appreciated! :)
