Fire And Ice

20. Taylor Compound.

Phil pulled up at an old Victorian style house, with a trailer and double door garage. The house was located in a rural, single lane between rows of trees. The house sat away from any main road.

The main house had a turret and huge porches. A lot of the windows had been replaced with new ones, but the outside looked shabby and was in bad need of some paint.

In the night light it was giving off a haunted house on Halloween night vibe. The trailer nearby was dark and the only lights were coming out from two rooms in the main house and the front porch.

"Welcome to the Taylor compound. One of his nephew, lives in the main house while the other lives in the trailer. They're still working on it." He said.

Phil had told me uncle repairs old houses and flip them for money. So it wasn't a surprise to see that they lived in a big Victorian house, while repairing it.

We got out of the car and as we were about to knock, Uncle opened the door, smiling goofily having a mischievous glint that reminded me of Luke.

Uncle showed me a room next to the bathroom, the room's wallpaper were chipped and the only furniture was a bed and a dresser. I placed my bookbag and walked down to the living room where Phil and uncle were talking about the academy, and kept glancing at the clock in the room.

"What are you b-" I was interrupted by a loud sound of bells.

"Can you get it?" Phil said, while uncle snickered. I narrowed my eyes at them.

"I swear to god that if there was someone behind the door with a bucket of cold water or paint or anything," I said walking towards the door and raising my voice so they both would hear my threat properly.

"I'll prank you everyday, every single moment of your life and don't think I would have mercy." I said, waiting for one of them tell me not to open the door.

When they didn't say anything, I got irritated and said, "Whoever is behind this door, I promise you that is you tried to do anything stupid I'll knock your teeth out."

Without giving them a chance to talk, I opened the door clearly irritated. I froze at the spot when I came face to face with North and Luke, who looked suprised too.

"Ugh..." I blinked twice, then shut the door and walked back towards the sound of snickering.

"What the hell are you two playing at?" I hissed.

"Where are they?" Uncle asked.

"Wait, what?" I asked confused, I thought they were pranking me. So was it really North and Luke? Phil shook his head and walked to the door, while uncle was clutching his stomach laughing his head off.

I had a mix of expression as I looked at uncle and turned to see Phil, North and Luke walk in. "What is happening?" I asked.

Uncle got up and cleared his throat bringing everyone's attention to him, "Well, little bird meet my nephew North and Lucian Taylor."

My mouth dropped to the floor, nephew? I looked at them all trying to see if they were pranking me but they looked back seriously.

I sat down and closed my eyes and said, "How come you never said anything about this, old man?"

"Old man?" I heard Luke's say clearly amused. I didn't say anything, I'm not even sure if its real.

"Well, I though you knew."He said defending himself, but his voice told me he was lying.

It feels like he had planned this meeting, I don't know how but I can really feel it.

I didn't say anything, just opened my eyes and survived the four of them.

"Is that all? Or do you still know something I don't." I asked raising an eyebrow at uncle and Phil.

They glanced at each other then said, "You don't need to worry about it, little bird." Uncle said.

Before I could say anything, North asked, " Wait, so the...girl you kept talking was her?

"Yes." Uncle said with a wide grin. They both had clearly planned this. Luke smiled and shrugged while he sat next to me.

"So why are you here, Cupcake?" Luke asked, I looked at him and blinked. "Cupcake?"

Instead of answering he pulled me into a hug. I stilled for a moment then hugged him back.

"Yeah, why is sang here and why did you guys want to see us?" North said focusing back on uncle. That only confirmed my suspicion about them planning this.

"Well, I'll leave to this to you then." Phil said as he inched away. I laughed at him, trying to get away.

"She's here to spend the night and I have a job." He said emphasising the word job, meaning academy. "And I didn't want to leave her alone." Wait, Phil said he wanted to talk to me about the diner? Was that a lie to get me here?

"I'm down for it." Luke said, taking my hands and pulling me up " you can stay in my room."

"I have given her a room, Luke. There's no need to share" Uncle said, fighting his smile. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Take care of my little girl." Phil said giving me a quick hug.

"Yeah, keep an eye on her, she attracts trouble." Uncle said ruffling my hair and they both walked out.

We stood looking at each other, we waited untill the sound of the car to fade. Luke and I sat down, and north glanced at me then turned to Luke and said, "I have to call Kota and tell him."

Luke nodded and north walked away. He turned to me with a smile, "Did uncle give you a tour of the house?"

I shook my head, No. His smile widened and he pulled me towards the staircase.

"Let's got to the tower." He said. Tower? I didn't see any tower.

I smiled as he pulled me into a small turret room with bay window. The room was soft color theme matching the walls and furniture. The room would have looked like something from fantasy if they had repainted it and did some dusting.