Chapter 10
Eldric led us up the stairs and through the door at the top.
The portal led into a luxurious mansion of wood-paneled walls, mahogany floors, and more busts, paintings, and tapestries than a museum.
Gas chandeliers hung over our heads, and the hall was filled with thick wooden doors that led into rooms stuffed with heavy furniture, thick woven rugs, and more dead ancestors than I could shake an exorcism stick at.
One particular portrait caught my attention.
I glimpsed the painting through an ajar door.
It wasn’t so much the majesty of the painter as the strange eyes of the young man.
He seemed to pierce my very soul, and I couldn’t help but be drawn into the room.
The space was some sort of study with a personal desk and bookshelves.
The portrait hung over the mantel, a brushwork some three feet high and two feet wide.
I stopped in front of the painting and gaped at the figure. The faint light from the hall allowed me to see his short sun-bleached blond hair and piercing blue eyes.
“What do you think of him?”
I jumped and whipped my head to my left. Marc stood at my side, his eyes lifted to the portrait. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I-I’m not sure. Who is he?”
He grinned at me. “Can’t you tell?”
I stared blankly at him before my eyes widened. I whipped my head between the two, and my mouth dropped open. “Is that. . .is that a relative of yours?”
Marc chuckled. “Something closer than that. He was my father.”
“Your father?” I whispered as I looked back at the portrait. Those bright eyes. That bright hair. The hint of a sly smile. “Does that mean Eldric knew him?”
“Eldric is my uncle.”
You could have knocked me over with a feather. “Y-your uncle?”
“And I wish he’d pay me some due respects,” Eldric spoke up as he appeared in the doorway with Ramaro at his side. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at the painting. “You’re as pigheaded as your father.”
I half-turned to our host. “So you were his dad’s brother?”
Eldric choked on his spittle. “That fool my brother? The gods forbid! He was fortunate enough to marry my dear little sister.” A slight tremor in his voice revealed his affections on that topic.
He partially turned away from us and nodded down the hall.
“But we’re wasting time on old memories. Come on, and no more dawdling.”
Our host slipped out of sight. Ramaro lifted his nose and marched after Eldric. I turned to Marc, but my smile faded as I noticed the soft look in his eye.
“You okay?” I whispered to him.
He shook himself and smiled at me. “I think I’ll listen to Eldric this time and follow him. Come on, Rose.” He took my hand and drew me away from the portrait.
I glanced over my shoulder as we left the room. The faint smile on that portrait seemed to grow wider as we left.
The other two waited for us further down the hall. Eldric continued as we joined them and led us to the foyer. He had just reached the archway when a figure jumped out from the left side.
“Lord Eldric!”
The bubbly voice belonged to the buxom figure. She was a woman of thirty with long brown hair that waved to and fro with her bouncy personality. The woman wore a maid’s outfit and completed the ensemble with a feather duster in one hand.
She waved the duster in his direction. “Have you been having fun with more guests? I hope they weren’t down there too long. Those young men were so hungry, they nearly emptied the larder!”
Eldric stiffened, and his voice came out in a sharp hiss. “Now is not the time, Gisela. We have some important guests.”
She leaned to one side, and her gaze fell on us. Her eyes lit up, and a smile stretched across her face. “Marcy-poo! Ramy!”
My face drooped before I looked up at Marc. “Marcy-poo?”
“It’s been so long!” Gisela squealed as she pushed past Eldric and raced over to us.
She wrapped Marc in a hug so tight his face turned an unhealthy shade of white.
“You should’ve visited us sooner! My goodness, but you’re as thin as a stick!
” She drew them apart, and her sparkling eyes fell on Ramaro. “Ramy!”
Ramaro’s face drooped, and he turned tail and tried to run.
Gisela swooped down and scooped him into her arms. She performed another bone-crunching hug on the agama, whose tongue and eyes popped out of his head.
He squirmed in her hold as she hugged him tightly between her large breasts.
The little iguana nearly disappeared in those mountains.
Ramaro’s eyes fell on me, and his voice came out in a choked squeak. “Help me.”
I stepped up to the woman and held out my hand to her. “Hello there. My name’s Rose. You’re Gisela, right?”
Gisela dropped Ramaro and wrapped me in her hug. “What a sweet, tasty name! And such a pretty little girl, too!”
I stiffened and tried to suck in as much air as her tight grip would allow. “T-thanks. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Gisela!” Eldric shouted at her as he marched over to us. “Release her at once before we have to resuscitate another guest!”
“Oops!” Gisela replied before she drew back. I took in a grateful breath of unobstructed air. She sheepishly smiled at me while she brushed her duster over my chest. “I’m so sorry, darling! You must forgive me! It’s just been so long since we had guests over that weren’t starving kids!”
Eldric crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at her. “You didn’t have to feed those boys.”
She puffed out her lower lip. “But they’d been in there for a full day, and we had to say sorry somehow.”
“Well, you can apologize to our current guests by going to dust somewhere far away from the lab,” he scolded her.
She put her hands on her ample hips and tapped her foot against the hardwood floor. “Are you going in there again? You just came out of there.”
He rolled his eyes. “I had to answer the cage bell, or you would have given up the rest of our larder. Now, if you’ll excuse us, there’s an urgent curse I need to cast on my careless nephew.”
Gisela sighed, but stepped aside. “Alright, Lord Eldric, but please be careful. The neighbors won’t like you making too much noise at this hour.”
“Yes, yes, just make sure we’re not interrupted,” Eldric insisted as he caught our eyes and beckoned to us. “Now come along before some more foolishness happens, or that eye patch of yours is dislodged.”
“A good idea,” Marc agreed as he slipped up to me and looped an arm around mine. “Shall we?”
“As soon as possible,” I replied.
“We’ll see you later, Gisela,” Marc promised.
A coy smile slipped onto her lips, and she wagged her duster at him. “I’ll hold you to that swearing, Marcy-poo.”
I stifled my grin. “Come on, Marcy-poo.”
The corners of his lips tensed, and he quickly followed the equally eager Eldric.
Our host led us into the foyer and upstairs, past the third floor, and straight up to the attic.
The lofty space stretched the full length of the house, and every inch was needed for the numerous bookcases and tables.
Books lay scattered about the floor and tables, and a fire burned in the small hearth in the center of the wall opposite where we entered.
Much of the room was covered in random layers of dust. So many cobwebs hung above our heads that it looked like the ceiling was unraveling.
The odor of old books and yellowed paper permeated the room.
And there was also a man. He was nearing forty with short, mousy brown hair and pale skin. The man wore a plain brown suit and a polka dot bow tie. He stood beside the hearth, stirring the contents of a small cauldron.
He looked up at our coming and smiled. “Good morning, Professor.” His eyes fell on us and lit up. “Who do we have here? That isn’t Master Torvus, is it?”
Marc grinned as he strode past us and up to the man, with whom he gave a mighty handshake. “What the sea hasn’t taken, but you’re looking fine, Theo.”
“I can’t complain, sir.”
“You do often enough,” Eldric mused as he strode into the room to a pile of books. He grabbed the top tome and blew off a thick cloud of smoke before opening the cover. “Especially about my organizing.”
“I believe it is the lack of organizing where the fault lies,” Theo countered as he wrinkled his nose at the piles of dusty books. “I do wish you would allow me to do some cleaning.”
“And ruin the dust?” Eldric scolded him as he scanned the pages. “Then I wouldn’t know when I touched something last.”
“You might take notes, or allow me to take notes for you, Professor,” Theo countered as he stopped his stirring. “I am your assistant, after all.”
Eldric glanced over the top of his book, and his bushy eyebrows crashed down. “You’re not assisting in keeping that stew from burning. Besides, you’d tell everything I know to your sweetheart if she asked you, and I’ve got enough troubles with keeping secrets.”
A heavy blush accented Theo’s cheeks as he resumed his stirring, albeit at a faster pace. “She is not my sweetheart, Professor. She is merely a patient of mine.” Eldric harumphed, but said nothing.
Marc’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “How is Iris?”
Theo cleared his throat. “Miss Dolios is quite well, thank you. She performed to a sell-out crowd only two evenings ago.”
“She’s a performer?” I guessed.
Theo stared at me as though I’d grown two heads. “Do you not know of the famous Miss Dolios?”
Oh boy. I sheepishly smiled at him. “I, um, of course I’ve heard of her, I just heard the name wrong.”
He relaxed his stance somewhat. “Yes, of course. I would be surprised to meet someone who hasn’t heard the name of the great Miss Dolios.”
Eldric clapped the book shut and nodded at the cauldron. “Stop your simpering and taste that stuff. It’s almost breakfast time and I’m hungry.”