Hi everyone,
I’m writing a fantasy story about a mystery house with a treaure hunt!
Love
Oriole
Chapter One: The Mansion
Anne clutched her suitcase and looked up at the House. It was an enormous mansion, hidden behind massive steel gates with pointy tips that whispered “keep out”. Thick vines were starting to grow over the steel gates.
The wind started to pick up, ruffling Anne’s curly long red hair. In the distance, a crow called. Anne could feel a few drops of rain starting to fall. She looked down at her black buttoned shoes.
“Mum, I’m worried,” she said, squeezing her mother’s hand, turning her dark black eyes towards her mother. Her mother was in her forties, slim and petite, with short curly brown hair and the same dark eyes as her daughter.
Her mother looked morosely at the house and the bleak hilltop that they were on. They had had to climb for a good half an hour from the bus stop, only to find this gloomy building waiting for them.
Sally, Anne’s eight year old sister, however, seemed unconcerned. She looked just like her elder sister, only smaller and with a short bob of auburn hair instead of waist-length hair. She looked up at the sky and laughed happily, sticking out her tongue to taste the rain. She had always been a cheerful child, although she had become much less so after their father passed away in a car accident two years ago. Still, she had always loved the rain.
Anne sighed. She wished she could be as carefree as Sally. But she was eleven now, and as the responsible older sister, she had to worry about life and her family.
Her mother’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Everything will be fine, Anne”, she said, although she did not sound very convincing. “We need to get in before it starts pouring”. It was at times that she really, really wished her husband were still alive. He was always so much better at reassuring the children, especially Anne. Mrs Elizabeth Smith blinked back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her again, as they had so often in the past.
Anne could smell the warm rich smell of the soil that spoke of a storm to come. She nodded.
Elizabeth took out a key and unlocked the gate. It creaked loudly as it opened, and the weary family
walked towards their new family home.
Elizabeth looked at the door’s knocker for a few seconds. It was very old, dark black but parts were worn shiny with use. It seemed to be covered in some sort of symbols. She shrugged, and knocked.
The door opened, and a pointed, thin face scrutinized the family. Anne jumped. It looked so strange, as if it belonged to a gnome. Then, a tall thin body stepped out from the door. Suddenly, a look of recognition shot though the long-legged being. “The Smiths!” He shouted, “Oh I’m so glad you are finally here! Come in, come in, come in!”
In no time at all, the family was sitting down in the living room, with a giant pot of hot tea and some biscuits. The inside of the house was much more pleasant, although the interior decorator clearly loved the “opulent decor” style. Everything dripped with gold paint and rose images adorned the walls. The chairs were large, comfortable, and as soon as she snuggled up in one of them, Sally promptly fell asleep.
Anne checked the ornate clock on the mantlepiece. It was five o’clock in the afternoon. The old Daddy-long-legs served them tea and then curled up in a chair of his own, his long legs jumbled around the chair.
Anne drank a sip of tea from a lovely china teacup adorned with peacocks. She could feel some sort of strange braille code on the teacup and rubbed up against the bumps with her thumb.
Well, she thought, as she munched on a biscuit, this is not bad. Certainly better than the outside. When she had found out that the family had to sell and move from the small apartment that they’d owned, in order to make ends meet, she’d been very worried. But a sudden inheritance from a long lost uncle on her Dad’s side had changed everything.
The Daddy-long-legs introduced himself. “I am Mr Tan, and I am the caretaker of this flat. I used to work for Professor Thomas Smith, who lived in here until his untimely death from a heart attack. We were all so shocked. And also to find out that young Anne and Sally were the two surviving heirs, we were shocked too. But, I am so happy that you are here. This place needs a happy family.”
“Thank you very much,” Elizabeth said politely. She had been shocked too. Just as she had been running out of money and starting to despair, a distant relation that she’d never known of or heard of had left them a house.
Mr Tan continued, “this is not a typical house, as I’m sure you are aware, and in time, you will also find out all about its secrets. But now, would you like to settle into your rooms? It’s been a long journey, I’m sure.” He looked at Sally, who was snoring contentedly in her corner.
Later on, snuggling in her own bed, Anne fell asleep, wondering just what secrets Mr Tan was talking about.
Only to wake up a few second later to hear a voice laugh and say “it seems like you have the sight. Tantantan chose well.”
“Who are you? What did you say?” Anne sat up, drawing panicked breaths that grew more and more ragged as she started to see and feel her bedclothes move around her.
Her pillow hopped to the edge of the bed and perched on it.
“My name is Pillow”, it said, in a high voice, taking a bow.
Beside Pillow, a bolster langourously reared itself and also bowed. In a very deep voice, it said “And I’m Bolster.”
The blanket that Anne had been clutching and shaking behind squeaked out “I’m Blankie!” Anne shrieked, dropped the blanket on the floor and clutched the edge of the bed. Was every thing in the room going to introduce itself to her? Could everything speak?
“Oh come now, don’t be frightened, we’re your friends,” Blankie said, trying to throw itself back onto the bed.
“What are you?”
“Bedclothes. Ok, we are enchanted bedclothes. We’re here to help you. We’ve heard all about your family’s troubles and we really want to help. This house is all enchanted and there’s a fortune in treasure hidden in this house”.
“W-why? Why do you want to help us?” Anne said, getting out of bed to escape the blanket which was trying to wrap itself around her again.
“Our old master enchanted us. But he left the world too suddenly to train a disciple. If we don’t have a master’s magic to rely on, our magic will slowly leave us and we’ll go back to being just regular items.”
Anne struggled to understand this. Magic? “But, I have no magic.”
“Oh, you certainly do. If not, you would not have heard our voices and you would not see us move.”
“Why is there a fortune hidden in this house?”
Bolster said, “Our old master dabbled in cryptocurrencies. Bought them when they were cheap. The keys to unlock the hardware are enscribed all around the house as symbols so that he would not forget.”
“Why?”
“Hmm, our old master loved computer science. Magic is really similar. Spells are just ways of programming the world among us to do our bidding. It seems he decided to just give cryptocurrencies a go, because he thought they were cool.”
Anne sank back into bed, confused.
“Come,” Pillow said kindly, “it’s very late, and you should get some rest. We’ll talk again in the morning.” Pillow snapped its fingers, and with that, Anne was asleep.
The bedclothes gently rearranged themselves around her.