Drury Manor: Volume 1

prodding to get him to open up any more than he already had. I was starting to get really aggravated. Was I actually supposed to be staying here? How could I last more than ten minutes in the presence of these people? One look at their somber faces was enough to make me want to run into the night screaming. And were they trying to be so weird, or did it just come naturally to them?

  My uncle could say all he wanted that he did not blame me for the accident, but this situation was proof to the contrary.

  We sat in silence for a while longer. Trevor refused to respond to any more of my questions. So now he had a problem with me too? Was he angry at me for offending his precious orphans?

  I decided enough was enough. I rose from my seat. “I’ll just go exploring, then.”

  That did the trick. He looked at me with a hint of pleading in his eyes. “You can’t! Not without an escort.”

  “Are you supposed to be escorting me around everywhere I go?” I said. “That would get pretty tedious after a while, don’t you think? I’m going to be here for a long time, you know, and I don’t intend to sit here at this table the whole time.”

  His nostrils flared. “Obviously. But until you learn where you can and cannot go-”

  “I’ll go wherever I choose.”

  He started fumbling with his hands. His fingers coiled and uncoiled around each other. “You don’t understand.”

  “Enlighten me. I’ve already grown bored with all of this secrecy and mystery, and it hasn’t been three hours.”

  “Who are you talking to, my dear boy?” Esau boomed from the doorway.

  I turned to face the master of the house. His arms were folded across his chest, and he continued to wear that amused expression on his face that had nearly driven me insane earlier. There was no sign of the others. I found I could not quite meet his eyes. I started looking for interesting things around the room to focus my sight on.

  I pointed at Trevor.

  “Who?” Esau repeated.

  “Him.” I pointed at Trevor again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trevor slowly shake his head from side to side.

  “Young man,” Esau said, “you and I are the only people in this room.”

  “Trevor! Your son!” I was starting to lose my patience now. In another minute I would find my uncle and beat him over the head until he gave me the keys to the Mercedes, at which point I fully intended to drive off into the night. Let them call the police.

  Esau jolted upright like I had given him an electric shock. The expression on his face contorted into a look of surprise.

  “Are you trying to have a joke at my expense?” Esau said.

  I had no idea what he meant.

  He elaborated. “My son Trevor drowned in the lake several years ago. The question is, why are you trying to upset me?”

  My mouth fell open. I looked at Trevor, who returned my gaze, an apologetic expression written across his face. That was when I realized that Esau couldn’t see him.

  4

  Esau continued to stare at me, his eyes grown hard and his demeanor much stiffer than before.

  “I asked you a question,” he said.

  “Alright dad, that’s enough,” Trevor said. I jumped at the sound of his voice. Even worse, Esau looked at the boy and laughed.

  “You ruined it,” he said. And then, pointing at me, he added, “Did you see his face?”

  “It’s not funny.”

  “Very well.”

  I looked from one to another. I wasn’t sure who I was going to kill first. “That was a joke? You were playing a joke on me?”

  “He was,” Trevor said, making sure that I understood that he had not been in on it.

  “Oh please,” Esau said. “I figured you of all people would appreciate that.”

  A flush crisscrossed my body. I felt the blood rush to my face. Trevor drew a sharp breath. I knew it! The little runt had lied to me about how much he knew about me. His reaction to his father’s jest proved it. I would have to pull him aside later and beat the truth out of him. I couldn’t exactly do that in front of Esau, however, so for now the jerk was safe. It took a moment of focused willpower, but slowly I unclenched my fists.

  “I want to go home, now. I’m not staying here.”

  “I’m afraid that ship has sailed,” Esau said. “Your uncle has just left.”

  I couldn’t believe it. Of all the emotions that could have welled up inside of me upon being told that my uncle had gone through with it and abandoned me here, the one I felt first and the most strongly was fear. I don’t know why that was my default reaction, rather than shock, anger, or incredulity. Something about this place. This terrible, no-good, creepy place.

  I rushed past Esau, down the corridor that led away from the dining room, back the way we came earlier, past the winding staircase where I had earlier seen the lovely little girl, and right out the front door.

  My uncle’s Mercedes was gone. There was no sign of it along the winding path leading away from the house, otherwise I may have tried to chase him down, as fruitless an endeavor as that would have been. I couldn’t believe he had not even told me good-bye. How could he have just left me like that?

  I sank to my knees on the landing, as bitterness rose like bile in my throat, and I knew the answer.

  He had never wanted me around to begin with. I was a distraction to his precious Amelia. He was probably all too happy to be done with me, and was even now grabbing the bottle of brandy from under the driver’s seat, the one he thought I knew nothing about, and offering up a little toast to the heavens for his good fortune. He was rid of me at last.

  I had never hated him more than I did at that moment. And God knows I had plenty of reasons to hate him.

  A soft voice from the doorway floated past me. “You believe me now?”

  I did not turn to face Esau. “Why did you trick me like that? With Trevor. Why did you pretend you couldn’t see him?”

  “To see if what I heard about you was true,” he said.

  “You could have just asked.”

  “But then, my boy, you might have simply lied to me. I prefer to know things with certainty.”

  I remained in a kneeling position for a long while, refusing to budge, even though my knees already throbbed from my body weight pressing them into the stone.

  “Come in when you are ready,” Esau said. “I’ll have Jacob show you to your room.”

  And then he left me there like that. Alone, on my knees, shuddering in the cold, and staring out into the darkness.

  5

  I woke up early the next day and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. The morning sun chased away the nightmare that had been threatening to shatter my already troubled mind. All I kept seeing was that ice breaking, and I was sliding toward the chasm, grasping desperately for any perch that would save me. Amelia was somewhere up ahead, screaming. I couldn’t help her. And then...

  The dream faded, and I was back in the here and now. The bed was comfortable enough; it was actually preferable to most of the ones I had ever slept in, but I would have traded anything for one more night in my room back home. Not that stuffy townhouse owned by Uncle Milton and Aunt Celeste, mind you. I mean my real bed, and my real home. But it could never be. Not now. Not ever again.

  It was better to not dwell on such things.

  I dressed slowly. I wasn’t in any hurry to go downstairs. Jacob, the butler, had shown me to my room the previous evening, once I had collected myself enough to come back in from the landing after Esau dropped his bombshell and then left me there. Jacob led me up to the second story bedroom that would serve as my quarters for as long as I stayed at Drury Manor. I found my bag tucked into the back of a closet, already emptied. My few personal belongings had been put away for me. The clothes were neatly folded and placed in a bureau that was almost as tall as I was, all polished oak and gold-plated rings for handles. The framed photograph of me and my mother sat nearby on a little mantelpiece that jutted out of the wall.

  I stared at the pictu
re for a long while. My mother and I had the same black hair and sharp, pointed noses. For some reason, however, those features looked prestigious and regal on her, whereas on me they just looked like... Well, like black hair and a pointed nose.

  Oh, mom. What were you trying to tell me? And what have you gotten me into?

  I felt the tears threatening to break free, so I tore my eyes away from the photograph. I looked at myself in the mirror, straightened my jeans with the palm of my hand, and pulled at the striped polo shirt I wore so that it would fall the way I wanted it to. I took a deep breath. This was probably the calmest and most peaceful moment that I would get the entire day, and I was not exactly thrilled at the prospect of opening my door and hiking out into the maelstrom of weirdness that surely awaited me.

  I exited my room and headed toward the staircase, all the while thinking about Trevor and his stupid warning that I should not wander around the house without an escort. Clearly, the kid’s social skills could use some work. Living out here at this sheltered location apart from the real world had done him no favors. Perhaps Esau should have made more of an effort for his son to get out more and interact with actual people.

  Then again, Esau wasn’t exactly the poster child for the town welcoming committee either.

  That was when I heard the first faint, rustling sound from somewhere behind me. I spun, expecting to find Trevor running up to greet me. My shoes swished on the thick padded carpet. The hallway was empty. Not a soul in sight. I waited a moment, holding my breath, listening for that sound to repeat itself.

  The