Lele’s white sneakers cautiously treads on the earthen floor layered with interwoven straws of hay. Lele’s gaze wanders around the interior of the enclosed stable, listening to the sounds of horses bleating, Lele’s nose slightly wrinkle at the pungent odor that they emit.
Lele strolls down the middle walkway and views the adjacent stalls that accommodate pure breed horses. The first she meets is a spirited, golden brown Arabian horse, lithe with a compact body and strong hindquarters. The Arabian blows a plume of air from its nostrils and inquisitively sniffs the air in her direction. Lele smiles and happily approaches.
“Hey, girl. Well, aren’t you a beauty.”
Lele greets by cupping her hands on either side of her wedged shaped head and tenderly strokes her long cheekbones. The Arabian merrily neighs in pleasure, standing absolutely still to encourage Lele to continue massaging her. Eventually, Lele’s hands fall to her side and she continues her journey further down, to admire a thoroughbred, racing horse to her left and a spotted Appaloosa horse to her right. Lele smiles at them both, but suddenly…. she halts. Gradually she saunters forward, spellbound, hypostatized by the magnificence she sees before her.
Out of all the horses, Lele is drawn to the last stall that houses a majestic, ebony mustang whose coat glistens sheen midnight black. Lele carefully approaches; his head shakes and the sounds of its hooves clapping on the ground in protest, rebound.
“It’s okay… I will not hurt you.”
It’s not like she can, even if she tried. The brawny black mustang, powerful in stature with a deep chest and sculpted muscles, a head taller than her.
The mustang’s ears pin backward, and his seamless tail swishes in warning. Still. Lele persists. Her glacially moves forward, hands slightly elevated. The mustang hostilely stomps in aggravation, warding her away but yet, Lele persists. The mustang bawls out a ferocious neigh and lifts its front legs. Lele persists; she turns her face to the ground, avoiding eye contact, hands raised in surrender and slowly approaches .
“Shhh, easy boy.”
To her surprise, she soon feels soft fur brush against her fingertips. Lele looks forward and watches the mustang's head cautiously lean in forward. Lele remains still and allows her to establish first contact, and once she does, Lele serenely pats and rubs her down.
“See… you’re not so scary and neither am I.” Lele murmurs. The mustang blinks and calmly looks away, allowing her to massage him.
“The last stranger to approach Ace, ended up in WavesPort General with fractured ribs... limbs. Pretty much everything was broken.”
An involuntary gasp breaks from her lips as she whips her head to the side, to see a silhouette of a masculine frame standing in the center of the walkway, the intense light from outside obscuring her vision. Lele’s eyes narrow into slits, her hand freezes underneath the mustang’s chin.
“So… you knew that and yet you just kept quiet and... watched?” Lele questions. She rotates her body and her slowly crosses over her arms.
The mystery man chuckles.
“You survived, didn’t you? And if something happened, I would have happily taken you to WavesPort General… I think it’s one of the few places in town that your family doesn’t own.”
Lele frowns and angrily strides forward to confront the mystery man and once the blinding lights rescind and she can clearly see him, her eyebrows raise and abruptly finds herself at a loss for words. Lele’s eyes roam over his gold-dipped hair like the strands of the sun that perfectly cascade on both sides of his face. His vibrant green eyes curiously staring back at her flecked with hues of blues and his plump pink lips that-
“Can you stop fawning over me and spare yourself even a shred of self-dignity.” The man jeers; he lifts his hand to her face and pinches his thumb and index finger together. Lele gapes at him, her mouth rounding.
“What? I’m not fawning over you!” Lele exclaims and a wolfish smile spreads on the man’s face, exposing his one cheek dimple as he tilts forward to whisper to her.
“Tell that to your drool on the floor.” The man straightens up and shoulders past her, heading directly to the Ace’s stall. He unlocks the latch of the door, enters and locks it behind him.
“Yeah because pompous arrogance is so attractive.” Lele retorts and whirls around and marches straight out of the stable, the man moves from the mustang and peers over the stall’s door to watch to her frame recede with the distance, he lets out a humored scoff and nonchalantly tends to Ace.
Lele eventually finds her way back inside, stomping down the expansive, polished foyer of the manor, treading heavily to her quarters, utterly peeved. She incoherently mutters to herself and flicks a glance ahead of her, only to instantaneously reel herself to a halt.
“Mr… Mr. Apion.” Lele awkwardly mumbles. Mr. Apion hesitantly nods his head as if to confirm her statement.
“I see you have just come back from the stables. I assume you have acquainted yourself with the prized possessions of the Apion manor.”
Lele blinks a few times before responding with a vigorous nod and plasters on a fool-proof smile.
“Yes, I have… they are all beautiful.” Lele beams, but Mr. Apion’s eyebrows seem to draw together, furrowing. A quizzical look about his face.
“So why have you not taken one for a ride? The manor grounds stretch on for miles, I implore you. I indulge in a few things and even less satisfies me, but going on a ride always clears my head and gives me clarity.” Mr. Apion persuades.
Lele fights to maintain her smile.
“I’ll keep that in mind, plus someone’s already in there. After that, I sort of lost my appetite for… clarity.”
Mr. Apion slants his head backward and looks at her with a knowing expression.
“Ah, I see. You must have met Hunter. You must excuse him, he prefers the company of animals rather than humans.” Mr. Apion explains and a wry scoff escapes from her mouth.
“I wonder why.” Lele mutters under her breath. She glances back at the questioning look on Mr. Apion’s face as she clears her throat and re-adjusts her volume.
“I’m sure his nice a guy.... deep down. I’m going to go look for my brothers.” Lele abruptly concludes. She snakes around Mr. Apion and immediately speeds up her pace, heading to the staircase and shortly surges up the steps to the second landing.
Lele scans over her shoulder, striding forewords to see no-one behind her, she swivels her head forward and stops herself from almost colliding with Miss Apion.
“Oh, dear!” Miss Apion chirps in fright, Lele slings herself backward and theatrically clutches her chest to make sure that her heart remains inside of her chest.
“They’re bloody everywhere.” Lele murmurs under breath, so low it’s not heard.
“My apologies, Le-le. I saw you coming, but you shot down the corridor like a bullet. Now that I did not anticipate.” Miss Apion snickers. Lele stares back at her and folds her lips inward.
“Well… I hope you are enjoying your stay here. I know we are not as technologically equipped as… teenagers would prefer, but the manor grounds offers much more than senseless television with propaganda advertisements and so forth.”
Lele’s lips thin into a terse line and she curiously tilts her head to one side.
“Yep, I agree and your home is truly… something. It’s like living in a time capsule… if you will excuse me.”
Lele bows her head and darts around and past Miss Apion, eagerly fleeing down the dark wood passage, mentally counting the closed doors of other bedchambers in order to locate her own that is next door to her brothers.
Without knocking, Lele bursts into a room to find it empty, the bed made and floors waxed to a shine. The bedchamber is absolutely spotless.
“Definitely the wrong room.”
Lele closes the door and travels two doors down and lightly taps on the door with her fist, to make sure she’s in the right place.
“Go away, Lele!” Atticus barks. The door muffles his shout, but it is clear either way.
“How did you even know-
Lele barges inside and slams the door close behind her and from that point, she instantly regrets it. Her shoulders curl over as she immediately slaps her hand over her nose and mouth, physically wilting from the fermenting, sour stench that fouls the air.
“The stables smell like Dior perfume compared to your room.”
Lele squeezes her nostrils together in a poor attempt to block out the overpowering odor. She surveys the room in pure horror, unable to see the floor that is blanketed with layers of clothing, mainly different colored hoodies. Atticus reclines on the bed, surrounded by empty packets of crisps, sweets, biscuits and a variety of pastries which is served on a separate platter.
“We only arrived yesterday. When Miss Apion said to make yourself at home. I’m sure she didn’t mean for you to turn one of her luxury bedchambers into your room that is as fresh-smelling as Tutankhamun’s grave.” Lele snipes, wrapping her arm around her nose and mouth, glaring over the room with eyes of judgment.
“Always a delight to see you, sister.” Atticus says, displaying a plastic smile and popping a miniature quiche into his mouth.
Lele’s eyes zero in on him like a homing missile.
“How is that you can eat the same portion of a blue whale but still have the body of an Olympic athlete!”
Atticus bellows out a guffaw, grotesquely showcasing the munched and chomped quiche in his mouth.
“It’s called working out. You should try it sometime because you look like you eat those blue whale portions.” Atticus laughs.
Lele snarls and her gaze lands on his phone lying at the foot of the bed, just one arm reach away. Lele’s scowl dissolves and is replaced with a mischievous look.
Lele lunges for the phone and darts to the archway window, where she elbows the window open and shoots her arm out, dangling his phone in her hand. A two-story drop from the ground.
The laughing instantly cuts out and Atticus shoots up to his knees, furiously swiping away the empty packets, and slowly raises his hand to Lele, placatingly.
“Lele, my beloved, Victoria secret model of a sister… let’s talk about this.” Atticus negotiates.
Lele grins like a Cheshire cat.
“Lets… what were you saying about me and my portions a moment ago?”
“You mean the facts I was stating?”
Lele’s frown returns and she releases her hold on the phone for a split second only to re-catch it by craning it up by her two fingers, pinched on the phone.
“Whoa, I didn’t think I was going to catch it.” Lele laughs, bewildered. Atticus frantically lunges forward on the bed and Lele shoots her other hand up, halting him.
“Move and I drop.”
Atticus freezes and shakes his head, clenching his jaw.
“You’re a monster!” Atticus spits out.
“If the next words out of your mouth is an insult. Good luck spending your senior year without a phone.”
Atticus sighs and lies back on his ankles.
“If you don’t give me my phone back… I’ll tell mom where you really were and what happened on July seventeenth 2018.”
“Don’t move and I tell.” Atticus adds.
Lele’s face blanches and without a second thought, she redraws her arm and tosses his phone back at him. Atticus swiftly catches it mid-air and smirks.
“And you’re pure evil, you snitch.” Lele grumbles.
“Cut from the same cloth, little sis. Now, tell me what you want before I drop you out of the window.”
Lele concedes, but that does not stop her face from curdling from the tenacious odor that presides in her brother’s bedchamber.
Lele winces and begins to breathe from her mouth, but then she starts to uncontrollably cough. She beats her chest and shakes her head.
“No, now I can taste it.”
Atticus rolls his eyes and reaches for anther miniature pastry.
“You know what, I wanted to talk to you about something but I can see it’s not worth it.”
“Probably.”
Lele huffs and marches to the door, but as she reaches for the doorknob. She halts.
“Atticus, where’s Josh?”
“Hilda is giving him the royal tour of the illustrious Apion manor… at least the parts he is allowed to see.” Atticus answers without making eye contact.
“You mean the parts like… Mr. Apion’s workplace?”
Atticus instantly blinks up to make eye contact with his sister and once again his iconic smug look returns.
Atticus heaves himself out of bed and plucks off an empty packet that sticks to his shoulder. Lele grimaces and shakes her head.
“Mark my words. One day that sporty metabolism is going to fail you and you’re going to get fat.”
Atticus arcs his brow and looks down as he lifts up his black tee to exhibit his flawlessly chiseled stomach.
“That’s six reasons why I will never.” Atticus smirks and Lele growls as she furiously flings the door open and exits with her brother in tow.
Lele and Atticus begin their expedition by starting with the entire second landing in search of Mr. Apion’s workplace, after a while they digress to the first landing and then to the ground level, checking every room and inspecting behind every closed door, only to find nothing.
“It's official… we’re lost. I feel like we’re in the medieval manor edition of maze runner.” Atticus drones.
Atticus and Lele travel through the warren corridors of the manor that are like intertwined networks of identical passages, weaving ceaselessly.
Lele pauses at the bottom of the spiral staircase that twirls up into the heavens. Lele turns her gaze skyward and places her fists on her hips. Atticus grins and drops his head back down and wags his eyebrows at his sister.
“It’s time to work on that cardio.”
The siblings trek up the staircase, all the way to the third landing, and once they reach it they tread down anther identical corridor, all the doors closed.
Lele feels herself stiffen, blanketed with a chilly, worrisome feeling. A feeling of fear.
“Is it just me or did the temperature just miraculously drop like a thousand degrees like it does in the movies?”
Lele glances at him sideways and lets out a built-up sigh. They both round the corner to see a male dressed in a deep maroon color, posted beside a double door at the end of the passage.
"That’s a first.” Atticus whispers.
The male rotates his head and glowers down at them. Lele grabs the sleeve of Atticus’s hoodie and drags him back around the corner.
“We clearly have been compromised.” Lele mutters. The siblings briskly walk together, heading back to the main staircase.
“Compromised from what? What the hell is Mr. Apion hiding in his workplace that needs to be guarded?”
“Ancient artifacts?”
“Million dollar diamonds?”
Atticus fires a line of investigative questions and Lele shoots him with an irritated look, exaggeratedly shrugging her shoulders.
“I don’t know but, I do know that I will find out.”
Atticus glances at his sister and smirks.
“Maybe Josh was right and his a spy… or a covert operative or something that has to do with the government.”
Lele focuses her gaze before her and inhales a deep breath.
“Honestly, I hope that’s the case.”
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