Guardians of the Watchtower: North

Chapter 2

"Trespassing is illegal, this is private property you need to leave immediately!, this is Fomalhaut Manor, I will call the authority's if you don't leave quietly now!" said an aged and heavily weathered male voice. The flood light in his hand blinded both Ivy and her mother, making it impossible to see who was speaking. The bright ring of light in Ivy's eyes made that clear as day.
"You don't have to do that!" Ivy said, quickly putting her hand up, trying to block some of the false light so she could attempt to see, but the spots dancing in her vision made it harder.
"And why not?" the voice asked in a bit higher tone.
"Because I own this house!" her voice began to rise as well as her annoyance with the blinding light and getting the third degree from some stranger in the middle of the night.
"This house is owned by Hedera Fomalhaut! Not..." he started, but Ivy cut him off mid-sentence, knowing that what he was about to say was going to be something rude and uncalled for.
"IVY! I PREFER IVY!, and apparently my father left this house to me!" she yelled, throwing a glare in her mother's direction, feeling slighted for being lied to for all these years.
"I'm going to need some proof." he replied, taking his tone back down.
"I got proof!" Shanon chimed in, digging in her purse, unzipping the many pockets looking for Ivy's birth certificate, but Ivy beat her to it.
"I got your proof!" Ivy pulled a silver chain out from under her t-shirt and held it up into the light. Her father's ring gleamed as the light hit it, like a sparkler in the dead of night. It was clearly made for a man, bulky with filigree swirls encasing the same crest as the one on the iron gates at the beginning of the lane that brought her here.
"Madame Fomalhaut! I am so so sorry I did not realize it was you, please pardon my behavior," he begged in a much softer tone than before.
"Ivy, just Ivy, who are you anyway?" Ivy asked as she pushed the flood light down towards the ground and tucked the ring back into her shirt.
"I'm John ma'am, the caretaker for your estate," he replied, pushing his large hand forward to take hers.
"Okay John, well we are both tired and need some sleep," Ivy said gently taking his hand and shaking it slowly.
Ivy let go of John's hand and turned to grab her old, black backpack from the front seat of the station wagon. She tossed it over her shoulder, snagging her waist length silvery blonde hair in the strap as she did. Ivy pulled her hair up into a high bun to keep it from going everywhere, except where she wanted it to. Ivy walked to the rear of the old rust bucket of a car to grab her beat up brown suitcase from the ground and back again to where Shanon was crouched down, putting the contents back in her purse. Ivy faked a half smile as she turned back to John.
"So where do we go?" Shanon asked, as she stood back up and smoothed a stray hair back on Ivy's head. Ivy shrugged her mother off as she stepped in the direction John had indicated for them to go.
"Right this way, ma'am," John replied, in a more manicured voice that showed the etiquette he'd learned, over the years, working for Ivy's family. He quickly turned and walked towards the big red door that stood out against the white of the house. The steps that led to the front porch were larger than normal, the sides were framed with the same wrought iron filigree as the gate and were lit with side lights which made each step easier to see. John stopped just in front of the door, his left hand on the handle as he turned to Ivy he smiled, making the lines that were already present on his relaxed face deepen.
"Welcome Home Miss Fomalhaut," he said as he turned and unlocked the door.
"Thanks.," Ivy replied fussing with the stitching on the strap she was holding, not looking up to meet his smile because she didn't feel like she was coming home, she felt like a prisoner being taken to Alcatraz on a sinking boat.
John opened the door, pushing it wide and walking into the darkness only his flashlight cut through, as it bounced off shining objects sending a cascade of sparkling rainbows raining down to the floor. He found the light quickly and flicked it on leaving Ivy in awe as she walked into the large marble foyer. Suddenly the overhead light gleamed off the floors and columns, making the silver veins in the marble gleam and shimmer as she walked further into the room. John motioned for them to follow as he moved on to the next set of rooms, flicking each light on as he went by. Each room was bigger than the one before and all were filled with silver and glass display cases, full of what looked like antiques from all over the world and furniture that didn't look like it was from this century, to begin with. The fourth room split in three different directions, a wing on either side which was dark and long, and a set of marble double stairs that went up and split in two different directions. John walked to the stairs that split to the right and stood, patiently waiting for Ivy as she looked in the cases, at the hand painted fans and the little tea sets with cherry blossoms delicately painted on the sides. The next case she pressed her face against, as the light shined off the smooth metal of the daggers and throwing stars that laid on the silky red cloth, the largest sword caught her eye. She stared at the dragon that was swallowing the blade, it looked older than she was, the green jewel in its eye stood out, like black paint on a white canvas, against the red silk cloth. Even the jewel was envious of the green of Ivy's eyes accented with black, blue and gold spikes that framed them.
"Your father was quite the collector of many beautiful things."
"I can tell," Ivy said mostly to herself as she quickly glanced in her mother's direction, her fair skin was that of an alabaster statue smooth and perfect with blue eyes that made the sea envious, Ivy turned away from the glass and walked over to John.
Nodding slightly he turned and began walking up the stairs, Ivy looked at her mom who motioned for her to follow him. Placing her hand on the cool marble banister, she climbed the stairs after him. The second floor looked almost identical to the first and was lined with the black marble and columns and split in three directions as well.
"Mrs.Fomalhaut your down the south wing, third door on the right and Miss Fomal...", but Ivy cut him off again.
"If you finish that name I will end you, call me Ivy, just Ivy". She said half-jokingly.
"Yes Ivy, this way, you are in the north wing at the very end of the hall." he leaned over and flipped a switch that lit every light at once down the long hallway.
"All the way down there?" Ivy asked, pointing to the arched doorway with black velvet curtains, that looked like a miniature doorway from the distance.
"Yes ma'am" He simply replied with a slight chuckle escaping him.
"I'm gonna need a segway or something on wheels to get to my room everyday man!" she sighed in protest, at the distance she would have to walk and began to drag her feet loudly as she headed to her room.
"It's really not that far, Ivy," John said, trying to hold back another chuckle, as he walked with her.
"Yeah, says the man that's lived here for like ever," Ivy cut back with a sideways glance at John.
John walked a little bit ahead to open and tie back the curtains for Ivy.
"Well, you're on your own from here, the light to the left is for the hallway and the sitting room and the one to the right for your bedroom."
"There's more hallway?"
He pulled out a silver skeleton key covered in filigree at the top, that wrapped around the long stem to the bottom and handed it to her. Ivy turned and looked into the dark room beyond the curtains.
"Why do I need a whole room to sit? What's the key go to?"
When she turned to look at John, he was gone.
"Strange old man," she muttered to herself as she stepped into the dark. Leaning over and feeling along the wall, Ivy fumbled around for the light.
"Where is it?" taking a second before finally finding the switch and flipping it on. She was, indeed, in another hallway, but this one was much smaller than the huge hallway that led her here. Looking to the end of the hall, she saw a white door that shimmer with glittery ivy designs painted on the door in pretty swirls that criss crossed themselves ending in palm size leaves in pale greens and silver. She walked further into the hallway, stopping mid-step she noticed the floor to ceiling black-framed pictures on the walls. , Tears filled her eyes threatening to spill over onto her porcelain skin.
"Daddy?"
Ivy looked around from one framed image to the next, both the walls of the hall were covered with different images, of Ivy and her father, from the time she was an infant until she was thirteen. "I miss you, daddy," she reached out her delicate hand and grabbed a frame. Pulling it off the wall and holding it snugly to her chest, she turned and walked the rest of the way down the hall. She put the key John had given her in the lock and turned it. Ivy pushed the door open; wide enough to let some of the light from the hallway in, to see where she was going and to help find the light switch.
The light was a lot softer than the one in the hallway but it still filled the room. The furniture had the same look as the furniture downstairs. Black filigree covered chairs with silver seats and a large dark table that looked like it was meant to seat ten people, not one, sat to the right. A couch covered in a sheer, shimmery silver cloth sat in front of a fireplace that was expansive for the room, to the left. Looking around there were two more doors, a set of glass double doors straight across from the entrance, and a set of black doors to the right of the fireplace.
"That has to be my room," she thought.
Setting her bags on the couch, Ivy walked to the glass doors looking out, as she flipped the switch she slid the skeleton key into the lock and opened both doors at once. The smell of wet earth, rich and alive, filled her nose. Stepping out onto the balcony she was able to see the little tea table on the right and an ivy plant growing wild around the pillars that held up the roof. The lake she had seen earlier, in the distance, was in her backyard; framed by a maze of bushes and statues, from what she could see in the moonlight. Taking a deep breath, Ivy breathed in that earth once more, as she yawned and stretched all the way to her fingertips. She turned and went back inside, locking the door behind her. Grabbing the tattered backpack from the couch and heading for the two large, black wooden doors of her room, she hesitated for just a second, her hand on the swirling silver handle. She unlocked the door and pushed them open, like she had done before, to help her find the light. Flipping it on she quickly turned to see her room and was breathless. This room was huge and, like the sitting room was, covered in black filigree along the ceiling and across the walls, splitting the white panels at a third of the room. The black marble floors gleamed like they had been freshly polished but what caught her eye the most was the massive, ebony canopy bed that sat centered on the far wall. Black lace poured over the sides of the top frame and flowed down, barely gracing the floor on all sides; in the center of the headboard was her family crest, silver and gleaming in the light and framed by the copious amounts of pillows piled up at the headboard. On either side of the bed was matching ebony night stands. The wardrobe stood in the corner on the far right side of the room, very large as well, and it was covered with a silver cloth like the one on the couch in the sitting room. The vanity table was also covered with the same thing, silver cloth. Ivy walked over and sat her backpack down, gently pulled off the lace like cloth. The delicate sound of glass chimed and sang as the cloth slid over bottles of all shapes and sizes, filled with beautiful smelling liquids, of different colors. On a mirror like tray sat a heavy, ornately designed silver matching brush and mirror set, Ivy smiled gently to herself. Hugging the picture a little tighter to her chest, she looked around to see what else was in the room. Catty-corner to the wardrobe, Ivy saw a door that was half open. Getting close enough to look into the room, "Score!" she thought, the bathroom matched the room, covered in marble as well, gleaming in the low light surrounding Ivy's form in the doorway. Ivy gently closed the door. She started to climb into the bed, kicking off her skater sneaks as she moved further into the center, and pushed them off the edge with her stockinged toes. Turning down the blankets from under the pillows she crawled under them, feeling strangely safe and warm, almost instantly. Pulling the picture frame out from under the blanket, Ivy laid there looking at it for a minute. She traced the outline of the picture with her finger and kissed it, then sat it on the side table, propping it up against the lamp. Turning so she could lay and look at it, curled up in a warm ball, the world around her began to fade into darkness. "Thank you daddy." The last sight she saw was her, five years old self, long white-blonde hair, even wild as ever then, all around her;, forever frozen in a laugh with her father holding her tight to his chest, wrapped in his muscular arms as they danced around the house, back in Denver. "I love you, daddy, I wished so bad you were here to see me almost all grown up now....just to hear your voice for a few minutes."