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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

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𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐌𝐍 and the days grew shorter, darker and gloomier. Rain seemed to pour out of the grey clouds every other day and the river at the foot of the hill almost started to stream past its riverbed. The sombre atmosphere drifting through the mansion only amplified, though, when word of the bombing of London reached the countryside.

Night after night, the German aircrafts dropped their bombs on the capital city, and the Summers siblings could not even begin to imagine what it would look like or how it would have been if they still had been in London.

Parts of the city were being evacuated, but every night, families had to huddle together in their backyard shelters, fearing for their lives and not knowing whether they would see another sunrise. Every night, children were doomed to become orphans, siblings to become an only child, or parents to become childless.

Alexander sat in the living room, leaning with his chin in the palm of his hand as he stared out of the arched window. Today it was miraculously dry outside, but Mrs Macready wanted them inside to make a good first impression on the new guests who would arrive today ─ since the professor had graciously opened his mansion for the children who were being evacuated out of London to keep them safe.

Apparently, the Summers siblings gave the head of the housekeepers heart attacks every time they returned to the mansion with dirty clothes from the adventures they had outside. Whatever they did or did not do, it always sparked some anger within Mrs Macready. The Scottish woman was difficult to please, and most of the time, the siblings wished she was as hard to find as their own grandfather. They could count their meetings with the professor on one hand ever since they had arrived five weeks ago.

The voice of the radio announcer echoed through the room, accompanied with some static noise of the bad reception, but Alexander quickly turned down the volume when Rosaleen walked inside as well. He lay half over the armrest of the couch to reach the radio knob, yet Rosaleen barely noticed it as she had her nose once again buried in a book.

Alexander recognized it as the notebook written by the professor and he suppressed a sigh. 'You're reading that again?'

Rosaleen sat down next to him on the couch, folding her legs underneath her while she absentmindedly adjusted the green checkered fabric of her skirt around her. 'I like the story,' she answered simply, flipping over to the next page.

Alexander groaned and peeked over her shoulder to see which part she was reading. Jadis, the villain who Diggory had awakened by ringing the bell, was wreaking havoc in the centre of London. Alexander slid down further against the backrest, averting his eyes from the book and staring at the bronze chandelier hanging at the ceiling. His sister always dealt with the harsh reality by burying herself into fantasy books; she rather escaped it than faced it, but Alexander knew it wasn't healthy as it hadn't done her much good the last time she had used books as a coping mechanism.