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My room is not that big, I've never needed a lot of space, enough room for me and my rats has always been all I've needed. Now suddenly every spot available was occupied, Maggie and Tia had taken over my window seat, Benjamin was sitting in my computer rolling chair, I had reluctantly taken my easy chair, which left Fi without a place to sit but Fi was completely distracted and admiring my shelves and shelves of books.
Maggie looked over at her sister and rolled her eyes giggling a little
"She's is such a bookworm!" she explained "if she could spend all eternity with her nose in a book, the wee girl would do it."
"I am not a bookworm," Fi replied, with her back to the group "there's nothing wrong with reading Maggie," the words sounded argumentative, which coming from Fi was kind of surprising, but even with her back to me, I could see that Fi and Maggie are just doing what Em and I tend to do, pester each other, acting exactly like siblings.
Strangely enough, even with all the gentle teasing Maggie was doing, I could see just how protective she is of Fi, she sees Fi as her little sister even though physically they are maybe a year, two years apart. My curiosity started to pester, I wanted to know about their past, actually I wanted to know about everyone's past. Benjamin and Tia had clearly known each other for a very long time, Fi and Maggie while vastly different from one another, were clearly very close and loved each other like sisters. How had each of us come into this life? I didn't even know how old each one of them were. I mean downstairs I kind of assumed Benjamin had some pull in the family dynamic of the Egyptian coven, but I was also right to assume even with that pull, he was not the leader of the coven, he was not the oldest, not physically and not in reality.
In a bizarre way, I'm sure they others were wondering the same thing about me, but I've never been a good conversation starter, so I was relieved when Benjamin spoke up first, literally breaking the ice. He glanced up at my mounds of books, notebooks, and other school supplies and smiled a little.
"So, Carlisle was mentioning that you attend school I did not believe him, but now I see that he was telling the truth."
Fiona's ears seemed to perk up a little as did Maggie's.
"You go to school boyo?" Maggie asked in surprise "how do you manage that?"
I shrugged, uncomfortable with being put on the spot like this
"Better than the alternative," I replied "it makes the days seem less tedious and mundane."
"Is it just you or-" Tia started to ask
"No, it's all of us, plus Carlisle has his practice and Esme does restorations, she actually rebuilt this section of the house when we first moved here. It was one big room and Edward and I refused to be roomies so she added that wall there," I added pointing at the wall where my desk is located, right where Benjamin was sitting.
"That is…" he started to say
"Amazing," Tia finished for him "we're lucky if Amun lets us outside," she added growling a little
Benjamin however laughed loudly
"We, what's this we you speak of?" he asked he looked at me "so you are English?" he asked
"Scottish," I replied "but I grew up in London, why?"
"Just curious, you have a similar accent to Carlisle, but it's not quite the same."
I nodded
"So, what's Egypt like?" I asked 'aside from being hot," I added laughing a little, the others all did too
Tia and Benjamin exchanged a look and smiled
"You have never been?" Benjamin asked and I shook my head "to be honest Chris that surprises me a little,"
"My father was a doctor, he went to Egypt a few times in his career, he had his own private practice, but he also volunteered his services with the Royal Medical College, which sent him all over the British Empire, including India, Hong Kong, and Egypt." I explained "I do remember him writing to my mother and I and telling us about his experience riding a camel passed the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx." I paused "does that count?"
"Someday my new friend you must come visit us and see the Egyptian nightlife," Benjamin replied a wide grin "if I can get Amun to what is the term, chill out."
"I think I would like that," I said "it's better than my brother's idea of touring Vegas,"
Benjamin winked
"I've heard there's a fine nightlife there too," he paused and looked at Maggie and Fi, Fi had selected another one of my books and was causally. "Ireland as well hm?" he asked Maggie and Maggie shrugged giggling a little, Fi turned around and joined her sister in the giggles as she nodded.
"My…" she said softly "my older sister went out all the time, of course I was sworn to secrecy, our parents never knew. There was a place she would go with her friends every Saturday night, right up until her boyfriend proposed."
There was a long pause, I think Fi's words about a sibling and parents dug deep into all of us, I swear you could hear a pin drop and minus the crinkling of paper turning and the low whispers from downstairs it was pretty quiet.
Benjamin broke that silence. He looked over at me and rubbed his chin thoughtfully,
"So, Carlisle really did not have time to tell us much about the family, I am curious Chris, how is it you were turned? What is your story?" he asked politely and then looked at Maggie and Fi, "and you both, here we've been chatting for a few days now and yet I feel like we are so unfamiliar with each other."
Tia sighed and gently knocked her head on Maggie's shoulder
"You are so nosy," she reprimanded and he shrugged
"It's in my nature I can't help it,"
"So this is our plan for the afternoon?" Tia asked "telling stories of our past lives?"
I took a deep breath
"Well, normally I'd suggest watching TV in the loft, but it's football season and therefore Emmett has seized control over what is technically my TV."
Now everyone laughed though they knew I was being truthful, even I had to laugh because I knew how ridiculous it sounded to suggest TV to a group of vampires.
"I don't mind stories," Maggie admitted looking at Fi who gave a small shrug, "I think we're all curious about each other, even if we're not as forward about it as Benjamin."
This time Fi nodded as she picked out a book from the shelf and looked for a place to sit, I didn't think twice, I jumped out of my easy chair and offered it to Fi. She looked embarrassed for a moment as she slowly sat down
"Th…thank you," she said softly
"My pleasure," I replied, trying to ignore the giggles coming from Maggie and Tia, they were seriously worse than my sisters.
"Do you agree Fi?" Maggie asked her sister and Fi slowly nodded, she looked up at me quickly and then just as quickly looked away.
"Well, as I said before," Benjamin spoke up "no offense to you two," he said to Maggie and Fi "and don't worry we'll all have our moment to share, but Chris, you said you were thirteen, it's so…"
"So young," Tia finished for him and I shrugged "we've all heard that Carlisle will not change anyone who has some other chance for survival. Is that true?"
I nodded
"It's true,"
"Then how did it happen," Maggie asked,
"You can thank Adolf Hitler and his Luftwaffe for that," I replied "Carlisle was a visiting doctor to London during the Blitz, I was walking home from school, got caught during an attack and didn't make it to a shelter in time. I was nearly crushed by a falling building and brought to the hospital that Carlisle was volunteering at, he took one look at me and realized that I wasn't going to survive, Edward was with him, told him that I was strong enough to survive the change and mature enough to handle the aftermath. Carlisle explained as quickly and as best he could. I mean it was my only alternative to death and I accepted it." I explained and everyone nodded "Alright next," I added looking to the others who exchanged a look, silently deciding who would go next.
Hearing the stories of my new friends was pretty amazing. Maggie had been around during the Great Famine, which had driven a lot of Irish immigrants to America in the 1840s. She was only fifteen, two years older than me and her family basically abandoned her and her grandparents.
Her gift for knowing truths and lies apparently frightened many around her and she was sure that was one of the reasons she was left behind. Siobhan and Liam had found Maggie dying from starvation on the side of the road and Siobhan without consulting Liam changed her, but he quickly accepted her.
I had to admire Maggie and even relate to her, our abilities are similar. To determine a person's honesty whether that be speaking or by action she can tell if they are being truthful or not just be studying them. Meeting someone who has an ability so similar to my own is comforting because it gives me someone to talk to about it, if I needed to.
Benjamin and Tia as I had guessed knew each other before and like Maggie and I would later learn Fi, Benjamin was fifteen when he was changed. Benjamin and Tia are related somehow, but neither are very sure how, distant cousins perhaps. Both were born around 1790 into the first few years of the 1800s so again I was correct that they were much older in reality than myself or even Maggie, I did not expect them to be older in reality than Jasper so this in itself was interesting.
Both had been raised by an uncle who used the kids to bring in money; dancing, singing, selling, pick pocketing, what have you. In Benjamin's case it was his ability to control fire and do tricks with his ability.
Benjamin and Tia became very close and had decided early on that they would run away from their uncle someday, together. During one of his performances, when he was fifteen, Benjamin had no way of knowing that sitting in the audience was Amun, who had heard about his strange talents. He kidnapped Benjamin and killed the uncle when they were walking home.
Amun kept him hidden underground for five years, growing his ability and feeding him stories about the Volturi (none of which I might add are false). Benjamin respects Amun as a father figure, but he was desperate to find out what became of Tia, who was only twelve when he went missing.
So apparently (and this cracks me up) he waited until Amun went out hunting, caused a minor cave-in to trap Kebi, and went out searching. He found her and reunited with her, explaining his new life and what had become of him. Seventeen year old Tia apparently decided that she wasn't going back to her much older husband and instead ran away with Benjamin who changed her and brought her to Amun and Kebi, who were angry at first, but accepted Tia's presence because she was Benjamin's only tie to the human life he'd left behind.
Fi it turned out had a similar upbringing to me, aside from two different countries and two different decades, we actually had a lot in common. Her father was a doctor too, a veterinarian actually. Fi was born in Ireland in 1957 and lived with her parents and older sister.
Ireland has always been a rocky place even when I was a kid we tended to look down on the Irish because they were seen as fools and drunkards and even violent.
Brits at the time looked down on both the Irish and Scottish, but more the Irish, it was just the way things worked. But there was always trouble going on over there, from the IRA to religious skirmishes, to poverty.
My father due to his medical practice was constantly going to Northern Ireland because it was and still is considered British and he told me he had been shocked to see the destruction, poverty, and unhappiness that was Ireland and this was back in the thirties.
Apparently not much changed, because in 1972 a riot broke out across Northern Ireland, between oppressed Catholics and the British Army. It became known as Bloody Sunday and though a majority of the fighting was confined to Londonderry Ireland, it reached across Northern Ireland with fights and riots breaking out throughout the country.
Fi's family minus her sister who was living in London at the time with her husband, was on their way to church when the rioting started. They were Protestants, but were not deeply religious at all, again another similarity to my own family, attending church every Sunday was the biggest extent of their religious endeavors. However that particular Sunday when the fighting broke out, Fi's family was caught in the crossfire.
Fi told us all she really remembers about that day was the explosion, someone had set a car bomb off which in turn set off a chain reaction of them, Fi's dad tried to shield the family from the blast and died as a result, she wasn't entirely sure what became of her mum, all she remembered was her mother telling her to run, but she is convinced her mum tried to get to her father and died in a secondary blast.
I guess Fi ran further than she expected and didn't stop running until she was collapsed a good mile or two outside of town. It was here that Siobhan stumbled on her, she took pity on Fi and without consulting Liam or Maggie, changed her. The reaction from Maggie and Liam was not what she expected as Maggie excitedly embraced her new younger sister and Liam accepted her without any fuss or arguments.
Fi's voice trailed off and we all kind of sat (or in my case stood) in silence for a few moments. I looked around at the faces of my new friends and saw the same sadness on each on. Telling stories about how we came into this life helped us get to know each other true, but I could read into it, it also brought back memories of our past that we had tried to either forget or in my case put in like a scrapbook, there and not forgotten but also not weighing me down. For those few moments the only noise was Chaplin chewing on his salt wheel, I don't think any of us were even breathing at that point.
I was desperate to break the silence but I've never been good at instigating conversation, luckily I didn't have to as a commotion from down in the yard caught our attention.
Fearing the worst I bolted over to my window seat as Maggie and Tia jumped up away from it. Clearly we were all on edge with the Volturi threat. I took a deep breath and looked down into the yard, the commotion wasn't the Volturi thank god, but new additions. These additions needed no introductions I could see who they were from my window on the third floor. It was two of three members of the amazon tribe. Where their sister was perplexed me a little, but I did feel relieved that Alice and jasper has sent them to us.
Slowly I slid off the cushion and turned to my friends, each one had a look of panic on their faces.
"Chris?" Maggie whimpered and I was honestly surprised about the tremble in her voice
"It's okay it's just two of the Amazons."
"They came?!" Tia exclaimed "Amun was sure they wouldn't,"
"Wait only two?" Benjamin spoke up joining me at the window, "I thought they always stayed together, the three of them."
"I know," I replied "that's what Carlisle told me too.
We must have looked ridiculous kneeling side by side leaning on my window sill.
"Amazing," Benjamin said softly to me "they are the beings of legend, beautiful aren't they?"
I have to admit I'd never seen anyone quite like the Amazon coven. They towered over most of my family, the taller one was just short of eyelevel with Emmett, they were imposing commanding a presence similar to Samuel's. Their attire was shocking too, all animal skins like something out of a movie; animal hide vests, animal hide pants you name it. But their attire wasn't all that caught my attention, aside from their beauty I was drawn into their profile, especially the talker one.
Looking at her I could read her body language and it told me such as story. The way she stood and carried herself, she had an ability. I wasn't sure what it was, I just know it existed.
It's something I've noticed with our kind that has abilities, without meaning too, at least in most cases, such as myself, Alice, jasper, Benjamin, Edward, Katie, even Maggie the way we carry ourselves is in itself a confession of our gifts.
All of us have come to rely on our abilities to protect ourselves and our families and that shows. I know for a fact though that myself and those I mentioned as well as others do not do it on purpose it's just part of our being; people like Aro, Jane, Alec, other members of the Volturi guard and even James from a few years ago, they carry themselves with an air of arrogance because of their ability, they feel it entitles them and so they act like it, the flaunt their supposed superiority, seeing those who do not possess such abilities as weaker members of our kind.
Looking down at the Amazon at least at the tall one had that same posture, it wasn't an air of arrogance, but it was the look of protection, her instinct to use her ability to protect her companion. She glanced up to the house and our eyes met briefly, she smiled gently and Benjamin and I exchanged a look.
"I'm going down there," I said softly, not really expecting an answer from the others as I pushed my window open and scaled out onto the roof before dropping down onto the ground below.
Carlisle, Esme, and Edward had beaten us out there as Benjamin followed my gesture, Fi, Tia, and Maggie apparently decided to take the mature exit and went through the house, all three watching curious from the porch.
"Carlisle," the taller Amazon spoke, greeting my father with gusto
"Zafrina and Senna! Welcome." Carlisle called to the pair, even he seemed surprised by their appearance, but it was more the lack of a trio. "Where's Kachiri? I've never seen you three apart."
"Alice told us we needed to separate," Zafrina replied. My ears perked up at the mention of Alice and exchanged a look with Edward who nodded, he could see the whole scenario playing out in Zafrina's mind. I didn't know if it made me feel relieved or even more worried hearing that the Amazons had been in contact with Alice and presumably Jasper, while we were still unsure where exactly they were or what they were doing. "It's uncomfortable to be away from each other, but Alice assured us that you needed us here, while she very much needed
Kachiri somewhere else. That's all she would tell us, except that there was a great hurry... ?"
Her voice trailed off a little as Bella came out onto the porch with Nessie in her arms, instantly both Zafrina and Senna stiffened, they looked from Carlisle back to Nessie, their eyes full of concern and even a hint of curiosity. Zafrina however despite her initial fear, reached her hand out to Nessie with absolute curiosity as Nessie placed her hand to Zafrina's throat and told her story in her own unique way.
When Nessie was finished Zafrina took a step back, clearly in shock, but she turned to her sister and whispered quickly that there was nothing to fear with the child. It was then Edward stepped forward and introduced himself to the Amazons, as if to reply, Zafrina seemed focused on something, Edward's face went from surprised and amused to back to surprised and I wondered what Zafrina was doing to my brother.
As if she could read my thoughts I felt Zafrina's attention turn to include Benjamin and myself, suddenly we weren't standing in my backyard, but rather a rainforest, well, I saw we, but when I looked around I was all by myself, it was the most amazing and somewhat terrifying things I've ever experienced.
I took a deep breath and looked around, desperate for an escape when somehow I spotted Benjamin, doing the same thing I was doing, looking around.
"It's an illusion," I whispered to Benjamin and he nodded
"Must be, interesting,"
"It looks so real, yet my mind is telling me it's not,"
"It must be our abilities," Benjamin replied "because I can sense that what I feel for elements cannot possible exist here, your area of the world certainly has a different feel than my own and even this scenario."
Slowly the rainforest faded around us, returning Benjamin and I back to my backyard. Zafrina smiled at the pair of us and winked, before turning her attention back to Edward and Bella. Bella however just looked confused, and I could see why, she couldn't see anything, how ever Zafrina's gift worked, Bella wasn't affected by it.
"It's a very straightforward illusion," Edward explained "She can make most people see whatever she wants them to see – see that, and nothing else. For example, right now I would appear to be alone in the middle of a rain forest. It's so clear I might possibly believe it, except for the fact that I can still feel you in my arms." He finished hugging Bella gently. Zafrina's mouth gave a twitch as she smiled and focused on something else, Edward slowly returned the smile and nodded "Impressive," he said.
Nessie being the curious baby/toddler/preschooler that she is moved closer to Zafrina, bravely approaching the Amazon
"Can I see?" she asked.
"What would you like to see?" Zafrina asked.
"What you showed Daddy," Nessie seemed to stare off at something, then her face broke into a huge smile, completely dazzled by whatever she saw "More," she commanded and I burst out laughing at her insistence.
Zafrina smiled and obliged, she also looked at Benjamin and I expectantly. I read her body language and anticipated her question, quickly shaking my head.
"No thanks I'm good, once was enough,"
"I agree with Chris," Benjamin replied "fascinating though."
Zafrina nodded and returned her attention to Nessie, clearly Nessie had found a source of entertainment. I think Bella was relieved somewhat. She had continued her demand that Edward teach her how to fight and I was sure that wasn't going to go well.
However, as all this pretty picture thing with the Amazons was going on, I did a quick headcount and noticed that Fi had disappeared. I looked to Maggie who was intently watching Zafrina, she hadn't even noticed Fi's departure.
I quietly snuck back into the house. Everyone else inside was doing their own thing some had even discovered our entertainment center and were actually channel surfing. Garret seemed to be hovering around the Denali clan more specifically Kate.
None of them noticed me as I walked inside. I wasn't exactly sure when or even why Fi had come back into the house it was obvious how shy she is so I hoped she hadn't been spooked or intimidated by the Amazon's ability, but I got the feeling Fi isn't a scaredy-cat, she's just quiet.
Though, if I didn't have my ability telling me the illusion I had just experienced was just that, an illusion I might have been spooked by it. So maybe that was it, maybe she had also been pulled into Zafrina's illusion and had left the scene to escape the sudden change in scenery. So I thought about myself and what I would do in that situation, I looked in the obvious spots first, i.e. our library.
I was not surprised to find her curled up with a book in one of the thick leather chairs. Esme wanted the library to look just like a movie mansion library so the chairs were included in the design, the library was a necessity to hold all the books my family has acquired in our lifetimes.
Carlisle has books that are over two hundred years old including some very rare first editions. Even some of my books from London are stored in here mainly because Alice thought they would look nice displayed in the library instead of hidden away in my room.
Fi was deep in a book, one of our older pieces of literature because I could see the leather binding. She looked up embarrassed when she heard the door open and looked up to find me in the doorway.
"Hi," I said softy
"Hi," she replied, her voice sounding like a kid who had been caught doing something they shouldn't be. "Maggie looking for me?"
I shook my head
"No, I…" I stopped midsentence unsure how to explain that I has been the one to notice she had left. I didn't want to seem creepy like I was stalking her or something. "I...I I was on my way back to my room and saw the light on in here."
"I hope it's okay." She replied "it's just I've never seen so many book in one place aside from a library. My...my village had a small library of course, but there was a great big bookstore a few villages over, even that didn't have as many books as your family does. But I still road my bike there with my friends." She smiled a little laughing at the memory "got in so much trouble when I came home, mum was furious but da had the car and mum was at work when I left, no one to take me. I did leave her a note."
I moved into the library and sat crisscross in the other chair to talk to her properly, this was the most I'd heard her stay aside from telling us her story.
"I did that once," I admitted and Fi looked at me in surprise
"You did?" She asked and I nodded
"Well, sort of, I was in Glasgow visiting my aunt and uncle for the summer holiday, this was 1934 I think so I was nearly eight my cousin he was seven. Anyways my uncle had to go into the village with some supplies. We loved going with him on his deliveries and this was no different. My uncle had a truck but he rarely used it, he always said there's nothing stronger than the trust between a man and an animal and what are we saying to animals if we replace them with a piece of machinery." I paused and grinned "so when we got into town my uncle sent my cousin and I off to explore while he unloaded the wagon, I think if we were older he would have insisted we help. I don't even remember how it all came about, but my younger cousin noticed the train and since he was going through a train phase where he wanted to be a conductor and was begging my uncle to buy him a train set for Christmas. He made a beeline for the waiting train and climbed onto one of the boxcars. Not even sure how the little bugger did it but he got inside and of course I was the older cousin so I was responsible for him and knew my uncle would give us both a tanning if we left so I climbed up to try and convince my cousin to get down and go back to his father, but before we could the train started to move and that was it, we were stuck aboard."
Fi's eyes went wide with amazement.
"What happened?"
"One of the shopkeepers, she noticed the train leaving with us hanging out the doorway and ran to fetch my uncle. We were of course on our way to the next station by the time she did so. The conductor on the platform sent a telegraph ahead to the next station to alert them to our presence and my uncle headed that way to pick us up. "
"I bet he was furious huh?"
"More relieved than furious at first, believe me we got the first half of the lecture on the two hour ride back to town and then the rest of it on the hour ride home." I paused "I got more of the lecture because I was the oldest, but I will give my cousin credit he actually spoke up and admitted to his father that it had been his idea and I had just been trying to get him off the train. My cousin and I were super close, so I made sure we both took the blame and not just him, like I said we were only a year apart, we were more like brothers than cousins." I looked at Fi carefully "what about you, you said upstairs you had an older sister right?" Fi nodded "what about cousins anyone you were close to?"
"I had a couple of cousins I was friendly with. But none of us were very close like you seem to be with yours. A lot of my cousins I never even met, my mum came from a large family but they weren't close. Her older brother and his family moved to the United States when my mum was just a wee lass of nine. Once my grandparents died there was nothing keeping most of her siblings in Ireland and most packed up and left either for the US or for London, I think even one of my aunts moved to Australia."
"How many siblings did she have?" I asked curious,
"Mum was one of eight," Fi explained and I stared at her in shock
"Eight kids, bloody hell," I muttered "and they weren't close?"
Fi shook her head
"Not at all," she said with a shrug "My mum always felt disappointed and sad about it. She made my sister and I promise that we'd never do that to each other. How big was your family?"
"My dad came from a small family just him and my uncle and my mum had two sisters and a brother, but my uncle I never met, he died during the First World War, my mum's younger sister died of pneumonia when she was a baby leaving just mum and her older sister, my aunt. I met her a few times but she lived in Paris and rarely if ever returned to the UK. We visited her a few times when we were vacationing in Paris, but I never knew what became of her when the war broke out."
"I keep forgetting how old you really are Chris," Fi said shyly
"I'm not World War One old," I replied with a grin "just World War Two," Fi giggled a little "anyways, you're more than welcome in here, you can stay as long as you want." I replied "just out of curiosity what were you reading?"
She looked back down at the book, then back at me
"Tale of Two Cities," she said with a smile "Maggie wasn't entirely wrong when she called me a bookworm." She paused "I must come off as pretty rude huh?"
I quickly shook my head
"No way," I said "that's the last thing I would consider you, you're not rude. Trust me, if anyone is rude in this house it's me,"
"You?" Fi asked confused "you're not rude,"
I chuckled
"Believe me I've been called close to that many times, anti-social is more like it. I've always been one to kind of sit back and observe rather than participate. Trust me if I had my way I'd spend all of eternity in this room." I finished gesturing around "I've been a member of this family for over sixty years and spent the first few years housebound. Even then I didn't make a dent in Carlisle's collection." My grin widened "I don't think anyone has including Carlisle himself. But Tale of Two Cities, that's one of my favorites, that's a first edition."
Fi looked down at the book quickly
"Really?" She asked
"Aye, it belonged to my grandfather, he gave it to my father who in turn gave it to me." I explained
"You said it's one of your favorites, just out of curiosity, do you have an absolute favorite story?" she paused "I know it's tough to pick one…at least it is for me,"
"My absolute favorite?" I repeated her question and took a deep breath "promise not to laugh or worse get mad?" I asked seriously and she looked at me confused, but nodded
"I promise,"
"Dracula," I explained and Fi's eyes went wide
"I wouldn't laugh at that or get mad, it's certainly interesting that it's your favorite,"
"It was when I was a kid, my father and I loved spooky stuff; monsters, ghosties, things that go bump in the night." I grinned "who would've ever thought I'd eventually become one of those creatures of the night," Fi laughed a little nodding "so I've told you mine, what's your favorite?"
"It's kind of silly," Fi admitted shyly
"No more sillier than a vampire who loves reading Dracula." I reminded her and she nodded
"Good point, well it's actually the Secret Garden,"
I raised my eyebrow, that title didn't sound familiar to me and it surprised me, I'm usually pretty good with most literature.
"Secret Garden?" I repeated "I'm sorry I've never heard of it,"
Now Fi smiled a little wider
"Well I'm not surprised, it's more of a girl's book." She paused "but it's about this girl named Mary who has to go and live with her uncle after her parents die. Her uncle owns a large manor on the moors, but he's is rarely home, unable to stay for very long on account of his sadness from losing his wife and the house and the grounds are not well kept, they are sad and dreary like the uncle's mood. Mary is a spoiled brat basically when she first arrives, but then one day while she's out exploring the grounds she discovers a locked door, she finds the key and gets inside and finds it's a garden. With the help of a local boy they begin to restore the garden. While this is going on, Mary finds out that she has a cousin who is bed ridden and believes he will die soon, he is more spoiled than Mary was, but the two become close." Fi paused again and winced "sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on. Like I said it's one of my favorites, my mum bought it for me when I was little and I read it every night before I went to bed. I lost count of how many times I read it. But I haven't read it in a long, long time. Summarizing it helps me remember how much I love it."
"Don't apologize," I replied "I think it sounds fascinating, you said it takes place at a manor?"
Fi nodded
"Yes Misselthwaite Manor, Yorkshire I believe."
I chuckled
"Well, it be a perfect setting then, I've been to Yorkshire, it's beautiful there." I paused, taking a deep breath "have you ever read the Sword in the Stone?"
"I saw the movie when it came out,"
I shook my head
"Read the book, it's a great read that I loved as a kid."
"Well, then you really need to read 'From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,"
"Wow, that's a title and a half,"
Fi nodded
"It is, but it's a brilliant book, it's about these two kids who run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City-" Fi started to explain and I sat there and listened. It didn't matter what anyone else was doing, her and I were enjoying ourselves, I had finally found a fellow bookworm whom I could bounce recommendations off of and receive some great ones in return.
Any shyness seemed to fade away from Fi as she clearly became more comfortable, we'd found our connection. I still had the same feeling I'd experienced when I first saw her and I knew it wasn't going away anytime soon and to be perfectly honest? I hoped it never did.
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A/N: Sorry if this chapter felt rushed, I have more scenes in the works that wouldnt have worked in this chapter so I needed to space them out. Take care everyone!