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The Master Bedroom

At the words 'I will stay behind' the woman's vivid lips curved into a tiny, secret smile. Spreading her arms, she gently shooed the other children out...pausing in the doorway once they'd stepped back into the Sitting Room once again.

"It's been a pleasure. You can see yourself out, I assume?" She left Thanes to his cleaning, for now...speaking only to Dimitri and Sera in the doorway. WIth a final nod, she eased the door closed, her reflection catching in a jagged section of pane on the distant clock face.

In the reflection, her hair gracefully brushed her shoulders as she pushed the door shut.

The Sitting Room

The Sitting Room was largely unchanged, now that the lights were on. Most of the furniture had been uncovered, and the dust and plaster had finally settled. Near the wreckage of the chandelier, however, a dark spot was evident on the rug. It had been too dim to see it before, but a large patch of the rug was oddly discolored.

From the Master Bedroom, no sound echoed...not even the sweeping of glass. Even the storm was silent.

Thanes refused to watch as Dimitri and Sera left, and it was possible only Rotary would know the reason. As proud as he was, there was an element in the situation that honestly frightened the boy. If he watched his seemingly less than desired companions leave the feeling might become a little overwhelming. The girl's words had been somewhat comforting though, and he mentally reassured himself that if he was to finish the cleaning quickly, he would definitely be out of that room by eleven.

The photograph might have been old, but the Forgotten's paranoia was quite fresh.

He crouched near to the glass, setting down the vase gently before he began to move the pieces into a pile. His daemon, who had been near silent as the decision for Thanes and her to stay was made, worked with him. Her claw like legs were unstable, but good for picking up the shards with little chance of harm being caused. Rotary's tongue worked as well, delicately moved as a third hand as it helped Thanes gather the glass together.

While the young magician kept his back to the woman at the door, the Mimic daemon gave no such unintentional trust. Both of her beady red eyes continually darted up, focusing on the woman for fleeting seconds before they were looking at the glass once again. Rotary had the will to tell Thanes he should move to keep the lady in sight as well, but was quite sure that would only cause him further agitation.

The Balcony

The doors between the Sitting Room and the Master Bedroom seemed reluctant to open, and no sound answered Sera's call. Finally, with a bit of effort, the doors gave way...and opened directly onto the balcony. The storm pushed and rattled against the side of the house, rain still slanting down under the overhang.

Lightning crackled as the wind shifted abruptly, lighting up the sky. There were no drainpipes, no trellis, no fire escape. Only a four story drop, from the highest balcony the House had to offer.

About fifty feet away, a gnarled tree stood outlined by the storm. In its barren branches, two crows hunkered...both staring at the startled girl in the balcony doorway.

The Master Bedroom was gone.

The Master Bedroom

"You're doing well, but..." Crossing her arms, the woman shook her head. "...why are you using your hands? Chores are not meant for the likes of us."

Strolling closer, the woman settled upon the couch...reclining casually to the side. Her hair was down in soft waves around her shoulders, crimson dress clinging in a rather distracting fashion. Offering Thanes a slightly gentler smile than she'd revealed before, she lifted one hand in a dismissive gesture.

"I've been here for a long time, boy. Too long. Boredom makes for idle amusements, does it not? Tell me...what's your price?" Her eyes were dark, unreflective, but her smile was deeper than love itself.

"Stay with me for a while, here, in the House. In exchange...well. You've yet to tell me your price. I'll teach you all I know, and you...will drive away the dullness." Thanes found himself inclined to agree, whether or not his reason told him better. "If the offer is mundane enough to refuse, then I'm sure you'll forget all of this...very shortly."

Only a woman could make an offer sound like a threat.

Thanes' form stiffened as the woman began to speak once more, and it took him some time before he straightened so that he was standing at his full height. Something rang true in what she had started to say, or at least it sounded wise enough to the young Forgotten's pride. His gaze lingered on her body, Thanes' teenage mind taking note of every single grown up detail.

"My price?" the boy questioned idly, tone somewhere between slightly amused and extremely enchanted. Before he knew exactly what he was doing the young wizard had taken one step towards the woman, then another.

There was the smallest feeling that he needed to turn away, but it was crushed by the overwhelming urge to simply agree. All Thanes had to do was name a price. "Money does not... interest me, but. Power."

Suddenly, he was right before the woman. He had to have moved at some point, but for the life of him Thanes did not remember telling his legs to walk. "Power and knowledge are two things I desperately desire."

Rotary quivered, rocking from foot to scaled foot as she watched her other half go towards that woman. She attempted to call his name several times, but the youth seemed to be under a spell, or perhaps he simply no longer cared. The daemon found herself without a mind to try and stop the pair at the moment, merely standing back and watching something she knew was wrong go on right before her.

Thanes might have been inclined to purr as the woman had him sit. He was well prepared to be kissed, and his reaction was slightly surprised as he felt the woman's lips lightly touch both of his lowered eyelids. As she pulled back he had blinked his eyes open, instantly looking around the now startling room with a new sense of clarity. None of it had been real, had it? The music might even have been part of the illusion.

It was a smile that graced the boy's lips rather than a frown. Words that concerned the world and power filtered in, and the male Forgotten knew that he would return. There was very little that would be able to keep him from doing so.

He stood, beckoning with his arm for Rotary to draw nearer to him as he stepped towards the door he knew Sera and Dimitri had exited through. "I'll be back soon."

With a final gaze towards the woman that seemed more illusion than anything else, he reached forward to turn the knob.

((Sorry, I couldn't get on last night))

Dimitri didn't find anything about the dark spot. Nothing. So he stood up and raised an eyebrow to his daemon. She responded wordlessly, in the emotion of worry. He found himself agreeing with Sera, he didn't trust the lady but she left to open the door. He could then hear her yell that the room wasn't there anymore.
Di and Remember's eyes darted around the room, "Then come back in here!" He yelled to her after a few long steps to the doorway. He slowly walked back to the dark spot, bending down to touch it again.

That's when Thanes walked in and it seemed as if he opened the door, even though Sera had left it open. A second later Nisha came storming up the stairs they came from and Di's stomach twisted. He half expected Desperate to be following her but instead she was alone. Her elephant daemon probably couldn't've gotten through the steps, Remember reminded him. She wanted to tell him about the machinery down below but something stopped her. She shouldn't bother him with pointless things. Of course there was machinery down there!

So Di stood up and lied, "Doing exactly what you told us to be doing. Search the House for things you would like." He said. He didn't think telling Nisha that they were waiting for Thanes to get out of the room with the strange woman would do any good and do much bad. But Di was surprised that he said it so convincingly. "Now let's get down before you collapse from being so far from your daemon."

Sera blinked and looked up when she heard footsteps, still playing a soft song on her oboe before she noticed Thanes. Gasping, she put the oboe on her bag and ran over to give him a tight hug, squeezing the boy tightly. "You're back! I'm so sorry! Did that witch hurt you?!" The girl stepped back to hold Thane at arms length and give him a good once-over to make sure everything was in tact...or...well...make sure everything was the same as before.

Nisha's voice startled her and caused Sera to jump an entire two feet away from Thanes, staring at Nisha for a moment as if trying to think of an answer. "And we found some! Hope you like what we found!" The girl nodded in agreement to Dimitri's suggestion of going back downstairs to Desperate, walking back to the balcony to collect her things while waving away the wispy girls. "Then we can negotiate out way out of here! Isn't that great news, Thanes? You've probably wanted out more than all of us!" She didn't even bother to see if they were even leaving at the time he wanted them to.

She was about to head towards the door but Nisha insisted on them just showing her the stuff now. With obvious reluctance Seraphine reached into her bag and took out the jewelry box and comb. "Here's what I found. I forget what Dimitri found...did you end up finding anything, Thanes?"