Vesta Mansion: Book One - The Power Inside

by P. A. Priddey

  ‘And this is gonna be a great party, how?’

  ‘Venue’s don’t make great parties, people do, and there’s a free bar,’ he said, which got a cheer.

  Carrie grinned. ‘Now you’re talking my language.’

  ‘You might regret it,’ Blaze told Alex.

  ‘Why would I?’

  ‘All these mad women drunk in your home,’ said Blaze, her voice sounded low as if she realised the house was now finished.

  ‘I have a plan,’ Alex whispered to her.

  Carrie changed seats and sat closer to him. ‘What does more than a house mean?’

  ‘That you’ll have to see for yourself,’ he said. It wasn’t warm on the coach, but he started to sweat. Whatever he had gone through before never made him this nervous.

  ‘Is he always like this?’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ James shouted. ‘He’s full of mystery and surprise.’

  Sarin stood up and sat next to Alex. ‘Papa.’

  ‘Yes, sweetheart.’

  ‘You know we been waiting to move into our new house,’ she whispered. ‘But we’d hate to leave our friends.’

  Alex looked out of the window as they drove down a dark country lane. ‘I’d hate that too, you just have to trust me.’

  They arrived at the gates and James stopped the coach.

  ‘It’s a bit dark here, and kind of spooky,’ someone behind him said.

  ‘I told you,’ said Sally. ‘It’s a haunted house.’

  Yeah, you’re quite correct, Alex thought as he felt Sarin shiver. He passed her a remote control. ‘Press the buttons.’

  She did and the gates opened. Lights either side of the drive lit up as they drove through.

  The trees were neatly trimmed back and silence filled the coach as the top of the mansion came into view, then the mansion. It looked even bigger under the lights.

  ‘More than a house,’ said Carrie. ‘You weren’t bloody kidding.’

  ‘This is our home, Papa?’ said an excited Adhara.

  ‘Yes, sweetheart, this is home. Ladies welcome to Vesta Mansion, the venue for your party,’ he said, as James pulled up and they stepped off.

  Blaze stared at the mansion. ‘This is why it took so long?’

  ‘Just how rich are you?’ said Paige, in an unfriendly tone.

  Carrie stared open-mouthed at the mansion. ‘How many people live here?’

  ‘I’ll answer any questions shortly.’

  They entered the mansion through the main doors on the left side.

  Paige looked around. ‘Is this where we’ll be spending our honeymoon?’

  Alex nodded. ‘If it’s OK by you and Claire.’

  ‘I think it’ll be acceptable, and I might get my answers if I stay here for a week or two.’

  They looked down the mansion, the hall was long with only the stairway in the middle, and could see all the way to the room at the other end. The walls were eggshell white, with the polished oak stairway and floor standing out.

  ‘Is this the room we gonna party in?’ said Carrie, as she took in the hall.

  ‘The party room is over there.’ Alex pointed to the back wall and a set of double doors, which was the second room on the left side.

  ‘That’s shocking, you mean we can only party in there or are you hiding the rest of the mansion from us?’

  Alex smiled at her. ‘Only from you, the rest of the ladies can go anywhere they like; I think you’d be best sat at the bar.’

  Carrie frowned. ‘I was beginning to like you.’

  ‘I’ll give you a tour if you want, but let’s get you all a drink first.’

  ‘Is this where we watch television, Papa?’ said Adhara, sitting on one of the three sofas, looking at the large screen on the wall to the right of the fireplace.

  ‘If you want, but there are lots of them all over the mansion.’ Alex opened a set of double doors with two round windows. The bar was to the left with the stage in the centre. Behind the bar was a hatch with a door next to it. ‘The handsome barmen will serve you champagne,’ he said, looking at James and George behind the bar.

  Paige raised an eyebrow. ‘Your barmen look a lot like your driver and a solicitor I know.’

  ‘Are you saying I’m understaffed?

  ‘Maybe, and I hope your taste in champagne has improved.’

  Alex shrugged. ‘I don’t drink the stuff, and it did cost five hundred pound a bottle.’

  ‘How much? Are you mad?’

  ‘Why, don’t you like it?’

  ‘That’s beside the point,’ she said, and took a glass.

  ‘What’s the hatch for?’ said Summer, pointing to the wall with a door next to it.

  ‘I’ll show you shortly,’ said Alex.

  ‘Can we have a drink too, Papa?’ Adhara pleaded.

  ‘OK, but just a little one.’

  Is that wise? House said in his mind.

  One will be OK, but can you take the alcohol out?

  You expect a lot from me.

  Alex was a little injured by the remark. It wasn’t a request, it was a question, and I really didn’t think you could.

  Oh, sorry, yes I can do it for them. Would you like me to do it to everyone’s drinks?

  No, there’d be a riot.

  Carrie grabbed Alex’s arm. ‘You gonna give us a tour?’

  ‘OK, if you grab your overnight bags I’ll show you your rooms.’

  Paige put her empty glass on the bar. ‘Have you picked them for us already?’

  ‘For a few, but I thought everyone else should choose their own. Now if you go upstairs you can pick which rooms you want to sleep in.’

  The women grabbed their bags, and he whispered to Blaze to leave hers behind. She did but looked surprised.

  Alex climbed the stairs and could hear whispering behind him. ‘The rooms down here are mine and the girls, and the one there’s Asima’s,’ he pointed to seven rooms at the front of the mansion. The first two rooms opposite are reserved.’

  ‘But we share,’ said Sarin.

  ‘I know, but I had to give you one each. If you go and check the third one out I believe you’ll be happy.’

  The twins ran to the room and opened the door. Inside was a large television, and games consoles.

  Alex pointed to a door on the back wall. ‘This room is the honeymoon suite.’

  ‘Is that for us?’ said Paige.

  ‘Yeah, I don’t expect to have many weddings here.’

  They looked inside. It had a large four-poster bed with pink silk sheets and duvet. Bouquets of flowers sat in vases all around, and a doorway which led to a bathroom. All the rooms had built-in wardrobes and en-suite bathrooms.

  Claire picked up a pillow. ‘Pink?’

  ‘I didn’t design it, Trisha Green did,’ said Alex, dropping the name of a well-known designer.

  ‘Really? I love her stuff.’ The room also contained a television, a bottle of champagne and presents.

  ‘Now the rest of you please choose a room with a key in the door as they’re all free,’ he said, and they disappeared except Blaze as Alex shook his head at her.

  ‘What are you playing at?’ she said, giving him a stern look.

  ‘Trust me,’ he said.

  Blaze sighed. ‘I knew you were going to say that.’

  The others came back out of their rooms ready for the tour. Alex noticed Carrie had chosen the closest available to his, and hoped she did it for that reason. He gulped and realised he would know if she took someone else in there. ‘The top floor contains more bedrooms similar to these,’ he said quickly.

  Adhara looked up at him. ‘What about the other rooms downstairs you haven’t shown us?’

  ‘You want to see them?’

  ‘We want to see everything.’

  ‘Are you OK?’ he said to Carrie, who stood almost rooted to the spot, not knowing she had the same thought as he did.

  Carrie nodded weekly. ‘Just waiting for my guided tour.’

  ‘Come on then.’ Alex o
ffered his hand, which she took and smiled.

  He led them downstairs to the right side of the mansion towards the front. ‘This is the library,’ he said, opening the doors. Inside were shelves full of books with computers on tables in the middle.

  ‘I like this room,’ said one of the women, who he had already knew was Michelle Carpenter, who had taught the girls how to use their phones. She looked about thirty with brown hair, which was longer on one side.

  They continued up the front of the mansion. Alex showed them some empty rooms, which for some reason he wasn’t sure what they were for. He bypassed one room, letting them believe it was also empty, and showed them an office next to the front door and a cloak room. The last room on that side was a study. They made their way over to the back wall and the first room.

  He opened the door. ‘This is the kitchen.’

  ‘Wow! I like this . . . it’s huge . . . it has everything,’ said Summer, as she brushed past him. ‘I’d love to cook in here, have you hired anyone yet?’

  ‘No, not had a chance as the mansion was only finished yesterday.’ Alex could hear more whispering behind him.

  ‘Who’s going to cook us breakfast?’ said Paige.

  ‘I could rustle you up something.’

  ‘Oh no, you’re not rustling up anything in here,’ said Summer. ‘I’ll do breakfast . . . that’s if there’s any food.’

  ‘All the fridges, freezers and cupboards are full.’

  Claire looked around the kitchen. ‘You’re gonna need a lot of people to look after this place.’

  ‘You’re probably right.’

  Walking down the hall they passed the party room and toilets when they came to another set of doors. He opened them to show a gym which was as large as the party room. There were exercise machines at one end with mats at the other by more doors.

  ‘It’s a big gym for one person,’ Carrie observed.

  ‘It’ll be for those who live here and want to use it.’ He showed them to a changing area through the doors at the other end.

  ‘Isn’t this over doing it,’ said Paige. ‘When you can just walk out of the gym and go upstairs to change.’

  ‘This isn’t for the gym, it’s for the next room,’ said Alex, as he opened more doors to the largest room of the mansion. Inside was a swimming pool, which had no water in as yet.

  ‘Now this is something else,’ one of the women behind him said.

  ‘Isn’t this all a bit over the top?’ said Paige, now sounding somewhat bitter.

  Alex walked to the edge of the pool. ‘It’s what I designed the mansion for, I wanted to make it so there’s something for everyone to use.’

  ‘And who is everyone? There’s just you and the girls from what I can see.’

  ‘Like Claire said, I’ll need a lot of people to look after the place.’

  Claire looked confused. ‘You’re going to let your servants use the gym and swim in the pool.’

  ‘There won’t be any servants, just workers.’

  ‘It’s the same thing in a place like this.’

  ‘No, they’ll do their hours, whatever they’ll be, and enjoy the mansion. There won’t be any uniforms, no maids or butlers, but cooks and cleaners and other workers, too,’ he said, and noticed Carrie was gripping his hand tightly.

  ‘And who’ll be announcing your guests, and serving your meals?’ said Claire, still looking confused.’

  Alex shook his head in disbelief. ‘No one is getting announced, and I’m quite good at opening doors myself. As for the meals, I won’t say whoever works here can eat when they like as it might upset the cook. The hatch in the party room is for everyone to collect their own meals, including myself.’

  ‘And you’re going to eat with the commoners.’

  ‘Everyone here’ll be equal, the only difference is I won’t have a fat lot to do and get to spend some quality time with my girls.’

  Claire almost smiled. ‘I don’t suppose there’s a golf course.’

  Alex shook his head. ‘No, but there’s enough land to put a few holes down.’ In fact, there was enough land to build a course on.

  Adhara stared up at him, her eyes going big. ‘What about us, Papa? Is there something we would like?’

  ‘There might be.’ He smiled at her, and they left the room. He started to walk back down the hall when Sarin grabbed his free hand.

  ‘You’ve forgotten a room.’ She pointed at the doors by the library. The room where House dropped the ceiling down at an angle.

  ‘You want to go inside?’

  ‘Yep, we do,’ Adhara demanded, with her arms folded.

  ‘OK, go and press the switches by the doors,’ he said, his daughters and Tia ran over. He followed and opened the doors, the girls screamed with delight.

  ‘It’s a cinema in our own house,’ Sarin squealed, as everyone followed her inside.

  ‘We have a popcorn maker in the kitchen.’

  ‘This is impressive,’ said Blaze.

  Adhara beamed. ‘Can we watch something now?’

  ‘There’s something we can watch, it won’t take long.’ Alex let everyone take a seat. They weren’t normal cinema seats, but large leather recliners.

  The film was only ten minutes long; it was from a digital camera James had taken at the wedding. He could hear them saying, ‘Look there’s me,’ and ‘I don’t sound like that.’ After the short film they left the cinema with the women walking ahead of Alex who was now getting many hugs from his happy girls. Claire dragged Carrie away from him. The women were sitting on the sofas when he caught up with them.

  Claire looked up, and nonchalantly said. ‘We’ve decided that we should be the ones taking care of the mansion.’

  Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Really?’

  ‘Well, you know we ran our own cleaning company and Summer is the best cook you’ll ever find.’

  ‘I know of your business but never tasted Summer’s cooking. You have to understand, who works here has to live here.’

  ‘Rent free?’ said Michelle.

  ‘And a free bar, too.’

  ‘We’ll need twelve for cleaning,’ said Claire.

  Summer rubbed her chin. ‘I’ll need eight for the kitchen.’

  Alex laughed. ‘Nice try, I can see what you’re doing.’

  Claire smiled sweetly, a look Alex had never seen. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You’re trying to make sure all your friends have a job.’

  ‘Do you blame us?’

  ‘No, it’s a lovely idea, but we’ll need eight for cleaning, and three in the kitchen.’

  Claire’s look changed. ‘I couldn’t choose some and leave my other friends out.’

  Summer shook her head. ‘Neither could I.’

  Alex understood their worries. ‘There’s more to do here than cooking and cleaning. There are plenty of other jobs, so just choose those who have worked with you in the past. It won’t be favouritism that way and there's a job for everyone.’

  Claire looked relieved. ‘OK, I’ll have Paige of course, Kerry Vincent.’ She pointed to a short-haired blonde woman. ‘Jodie Jones.’ She had cropped hair and dazzling eyes. ‘Kristina Beckett.’ She was one of the younger ones, with long brown hair. ‘Emma Parker.’ She was also young, with brown hair and blonde streaks. ‘Sammy Barton and Millie McGrath.’ A slim woman, and like Asima wore braids.

  ‘I’ll have Anna price and Leanne Brown,’ said Summer. ‘And my surname is Cruise.’

  ‘What can I do here, I’m a beautician and hairdresser?’ said Carrie, now looking worried.

  ‘It must be what one of those empty rooms are for, just write a list of the items you need to turn it into a salon.’

  Carrie’s eyes grew big. ‘You’re going to let me have one here? Oh, and my surname is O’peia.’

  ‘It looks like there’ll be a lot of women here, and I won’t be cutting their hair,’ he said. And your surname could be Aylward if you played your cards right, he thought, and cringed at how stupid it sounded.


  ‘I’m Skye Stone, and I work in an office as a secretary,’ said a woman wearing glasses.

  ‘We need a secretary in the office, and we also need someone who knows about computers.’

  ‘That’s a part-time job at best,’ said Michelle.

  Alex nodded. ‘And another driver.’

  ‘I could do both those jobs, and I’m Michelle Carpenter.’

  Alex looked at two of the younger women. One was Donna with long dark hair, the other Livvy. She was what Alex guessed a Goth or an Emo, but he didn’t know the difference.

  ‘What about us?’ said Livvy, in not the friendliest of tones. She had black make up on and wore black trousers and a white lace top. The look she gave him matched the tone of her voice.

  Alex saw through the glare. For some reason he liked her, and returned the look with a warm smile. ‘You were the ones who did Blaze’s garden?’

  ‘Yeah, but what good’s that here?’

  ‘I need a garden out the back, and the front needs looking after.’

  Livvy leant back on the sofa. ‘And that’s a full-time job is it?’

  ‘Yeah, I want a garden designed out the back and somewhere nice for anyone to sit on a sunny day. You’ll be in charge of the gardens, and you’ll need one other,’ said Alex, looking at the other girl.

  ‘Really?’ she said, now looking a lot happier. ‘I’m Livvy Birch and this is Donna Taylor.’

  Three of the younger women remained, the shy girl Sally who embraced him when he and James saved the twins from the men under the bridge. The last two were Amy and Lucy.

  Alex leant forward with his hands on a sofa. ‘Sally, I know you’re at college training to become a teacher, so you have a choice.’

  ‘What choice?’ said Sally, the only other woman wearing glasses.

  ‘You can go to college, and live here with your friends, or become the girl’s teacher.’

  ‘I’d love to tutor them,’ she said smiling. ‘And it’s Fisher.’

  Alex looked at Amy and Lucy. ‘It leaves you two, what experience do you have?’

  ‘None really,’ said Amy, unsure as she looked up at him. ‘Just college and working with horses.’

  ‘Horses?’

  ‘We worked with them for a few months.’

  ‘Were you any good?’

  ‘I think so, but we love horses.’

  ‘Then you can run our stables.’