The Charles Family's Legacy

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

    Something’s off about this dark and hollow hallway. There’s something sending chills down my spine, something cold and empty creeping from inside of me. What is this dark magic? Something happened here, I just know of it, and no one else can tell. No one thinks twice about the rather dark blood stains in the corner of the room, no one bats a glance at the crooked painting and misplaced bricks in the wall. Or are they misplaced? Everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason. One just has to look close enough to be able to find it, and I know we’ll find it.

    Buying a taxi as a teenage girl who wears suits is most likely not the best decision, yes, I know this. But I had no time to delay at a time like this. He had called in the middle of a school lecture saying it was an emergency, that I had to drop everything and roll. He’s either stuck in some crevice of the house or there is an actual problem- I’m hoping for the latter option. Precious time should not be wasted on unnecessary things. We should all know this.

    “Where ya headed, kid? Dressed like that I’d say a party of some sort.” The taxi driver had one arm linked around the other seat and the mirror was faced, not so subtly, directly towards the top half of my face. There was a toothpick hanging lump in between his crooked teeth, the piece of wood nearly falling every time that disgusting jeering grin took over.

    “Why ask if you’re just going to answer yourself? Clearly you don’t want my answer.” I caught his glare in the reflection of the mirror and pride swelled in my chest as he uncomfortably shifted.

    “Was just making an inference. No need to get your hooters jumbled up.” He lowered the window slowly and spit into the road, a gag cutting itself off short as I averted my gaze outside my own window. I’ll never understand how someone can lose dignity in themselves, especially in front of others. Being comfortable with spitting on the ground when others are watching is horrifying, petrifying. I couldn’t help but steal a few more long stares at him, though. His accent was heavily country in contrast to myself and most people down here who sound like wannabe british people.

    “What part of the world are you from? With an accent like yours, I’m surprised the Charles family hasn’t had your head by now.”  He shot an offended look at me.

    “What part of the world are you from? The Charles family are darn tootin’ some of the nicest people to have been put on this earth. Talking like that, you should have your own head hung from a ceiling.” His knuckles on the steering wheel were white and boned up the more he tightened his grip.

    The Charles family was the only family here that mattered. They were billionaires, no one knows where all the money came from, who showed up with their flashy rings out of nowhere. Not everyone knows this, but me and my friends have a feeling they use magic. Dark magic. Walking past their castle could leave even the boldest person shuddering breathlessly. People looked up to them. The Charles family seemed to be loved by everyone. But I- we- weren’t buying it. There was absolutely no way they came from heaven above and no one had any suspicion of them. Something must’ve happened that no one knows of, and we’re going to find out. One way or another.

    The rest of the ride was quiet and awkward before I shoved money in his hands and took off with a nice gesture that was my middle finger.

    Barnes and Nobles. You’d think a group of teenagers trying to solve the world’s unsolved mysteries wouldn’t decide to meet in such a public place, right? In all honesty, we could be sitting right in front of the Charle’s family themselves and not think twice about what we say. Having that confidence was hard to achieve, especially with my nit-wit of a friend and partner, but at the end of the day, we got what we needed to do. It’s not every day you get to break into a billionaire’s house.

    I closed my eyes briefly, relishing in the aroma of the freshly printed books and brewed coffee, the smell of home. I would come here every day as a child, though when I was younger there were barely two full shelves of books. It’s changed a lot since then- for the better of course. There was just something so calming about having a second home, something so comforting.

    “Pst. Pst. Hey, you. Psst. Over here. Hey. Ally. Alice. Turn around.” He poked at my ankles with a quite long stick that did a poor job at hiding his position underneath the table. I lift my foot and stomp on it, snapping it in half in the process, listening to him verbally shudder. My back curved quite uncomfortably as I squatted down to his level, head hanging nearly completely off my shoulders and we made eye contact.

    “I can hear you, you know. What are you even doing under there? Your outfit is going to get dirty.” I huffed and placed my hands on his shoulders, pulling him up to his legs in one swift motion. Owan Gray. I’ve known him since we were kids, practically born out the womb together. He was younger than me by a good three years, also shorter. His hair was blonde, nearly platinum, and messy, usually falling in front of his eyes with even the smallest of movements. He wasn’t very masculine, per say, but he was built lean enough to get around in life, and he sure wasn’t too feminine. He’s just… Owan. A fascinating little boy I just so happened to get along with. Maybe it was because of how keen we were on our theories of the Charles family using magic, dark at that. Even the most absurd things could bring the most powerful person and a scum to the earth together.

    He dusted his grey hoodie off and looked up to me, a bright, eye-crinkling smile taking over.

    “Don’t be so worried for me, Ally. A little dirt never hurt anyone, did it?” There was an unoccupied table in the very back table that they quickly took hold of, sitting their bottoms down and settling down.

    “If there’s enough dirt you can suffocate someone. What if that happens to you?”

    He rolled his eyes. “There’s not enough toxic energy and dark magic in this world for me to have that bad of luck. Trust me, sitting under a table won’t kill me.” He took my hand into his palm, reassuringly squeezing it despite my angry grumbles.

    “I think we both know that’s a lie.” I retorted in a hushed whisper, retracting my hand back.

    “I already know where this conversation is going, and I’m glad we’re on this topic. I called you here because of the Charles Family. One of our inside people called me and said that the family changed the entirety of the hallway. They said that since the last time we’ve been there everything is different. The paintings on the wall have tilted and some of the walls are even missing bricks. Here, look.” He moved impossibly closer to me and started pointing at pictures on his phone. “The bricks were even moved into weird and awkward positions.”

    “Holy mother of the stars, you’re right.” It was as if someone purposely wrecked the hallway. “There’s no way that naturally happened. Someone had to have done that. It’s almost as if they were moved in hope to be caught. But why? Why would anyone...” I squinted my eyes. There were no tables in the long aisle and no flat surfaces besides the ground, so there were no clues visibly left out in the open. “Did he say anything else, perchance? Anything useful that we could possibly put to use?” I looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer, something, but he just sat there lost in his thoughts, thinking.

    This was one of the downsides of having people do work for you. They’ll snap a picture of everything they see but not what we specifically need. I guess there wasn’t anything we partially needed. Anything can help in the current situation we’re in, there’s just some things that can be helped better than how they were.

    “Not particularly. I mean, at this point, our best option is to look at it eye to eye. We’ll never really know what’s actually going on unless we see for ourselves.”

    There was a recognizable silence. As our eyes met, I knew we both we’re thinking the same thing, the familiar glint I knew was in my eyes shone in his own nearly grey ones.

    I tilted my head. “But do you think Sage would come with us?”