Endless Winter (Guardians of The Light)

by J Armitage

  Anais felt very awkward sat there in her supermarket novelty jumper.

  She wondered if she should break the silence and tried to think of a topic of conversation.

  Luckily she was saved by the arrival of Aethelu, Rafe and Alexander, and another young man. Aethelu and Alexander raced each other to the pizza and squabbled over the last slice of pepperoni. Rafe sat down and waited his turn. She was relieved to see that both Aethelu and Alexander were wearing similar jumpers to hers, Alexander’s in dark blue and Aethelu’s in her usual red. Rafe now was wearing a black suit with a pinstripe and underneath he wore a waistcoat with a fob which looked like it might have a pocket watch attached. He had a bright cerise cravat and she could see just peeking out the same elongated star necklace with a sapphire in the centre. He looked very refined and sophisticated that Anais half expected him to have a top hat stashed away somewhere. She looked at what was visible of his neck above the cravat but there was no hint of the damage he had inflicted on himself earlier. No hint of a scar remained.

  Alexander looked exactly as he had done outside, windswept hair atop a face that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a boy band. He caught Anais eye and winked. She felt herself flush and turned her attention back to her pizza.

  The final man sat quietly in a seat on his own and seemed nervous in the group of outgoing siblings. She assumed him to be the brilliant Andrew she had heard so much about, the designer and creator of the wonderful chess set. Most of his face was hidden behind a curtain of poker straight shoulder length hair. It was the same silver white that Anais was now used to seeing and as she watched he blew it out of his eyes, although seconds later it had fallen back to the same place. He was not as good looking as Aethelu’s brothers and sister but he was just as striking in his colouring, although he was sat awkwardly as if trying to make himself smaller. He wore a black shirt and black jeans.

  “So Anais, It’s nice to finally meet you.” Arcadia wiped her mouth. “I take it that you didn’t know about us. I can’t say it’s surprising. Alistair wanted to keep his private life private. I think he just wanted to be normal.”

  “What do you propose we do now Aethelu?” Rafe had found himself a plate and a knife and fork from somewhere and was eating his pizza sat right at the table, a napkin in his lap.”

  “Aldric is expected home soon and it seems we have a little problem. He flicked his eyes toward Anais “I’m sorry, my dear, but your being here does cause some problems for us all. Aldric is not going to be best pleased when he finds out our friend here has escaped.”

  He was like two different people, mused Anais. The carefree, fun-loving man she had caught sight of outside with the snowball fight and this serious man who liked to talk about her as if she wasn’t in the room. She couldn’t put the two together. He was a strange man, an enigma. Anais was yet to make up her mind about whether she liked him or not.

  Aethelu came to Anais rescue. “She’s not escaped, I let her out. It’s inhumane keeping her locked up and if father wanted the job doing he should have been here to do it himself.”

  “Quite rightly so! Where is Daddy anyway? I’d have thought he’d be here to greet me,” said Arcadia.

  “He’s on one of his missions, very hush-hush,” said Rafe. “Now back to the matter at hand.”

  “Well it seems that now she’s here there is very little point in worrying about it,” Alexander spoke for the first time between great mouthfuls of pizza.

  “I quite agree. Daddy will still be able to do what he needs to do, what’s the difference if she’s locked up or here of her own choosing. You do want to stay don’t you darling?”

  Anais looked around. They were all looking at her expectantly, except August who had dropped a bit of his pizza on the floor and was bending down to try to pick it up.

  She thought about it. Winnie was like family to her now, the only family she had and she was beginning to feel at home here. She had not foreseen this moment but she did want to stay, here, with this strange family, with Aethelu who had somehow gone from being her captor to being her friend.

  “Yes, please. If it’s ok with you all.”

  “Well that’s settled then said Arcadia who patted Anais on the hand. She noticed that Arcadia didn’t have to wear gloves to touch her, not even a slight tingle ran through her hand, even though Arcadias hand was still on hers.

  “You are not wearing gloves.”

  “What? Oh no. I’ve spent many years around other people. I can very easily control my little affliction now. I bet Alistair never wore gloves either.”

  Now that she came to think about it, her father was always holding her hand and she had never felt the sensation she had felt earlier with Aethelu.

  “Did one of the boys shock you?”

  “No, it was Aethelu.”

  Arcadia gave Aethelu a knowing look which made Aethelu blush.

  “Interesting. If we haven’t had much people contact we forget how to control ourselves. We have to learn not to shock them when we touch them. It gets easier the longer we are around people.”

  “I find it only happens to me around people I’m attracted to,” said Alexander.

  “Didn’t you shock the milkman last week and a woman collecting for charity the week before?” cut in August.

  “Yes well...” Alexander trailed off.

  “Let’s all just keep our gloves on for the next few days to make sure we don’t hurt Anais. Except me of course.” Arcadia grabbed Anais hand to prove the point.

  Later, Anais moved her new clothes back up to the second floor with help from Aethelu. She was back in her prison room where she had started, which she did not like too much, but she couldn’t very well stay in Arcadias room now that Arcadia had come home. She’d not even slept in it one night. Aethelu fixed the door knob back onto the inside of the door, unscrewed the bolt, and spent an hour tracking down various bits of furniture to make the room more homely. It still felt a bit like a prison to Anais but it looked better than it had and at least she could now come and go as she pleased. Aethelu was so apologetic but as she wasn’t sure who would be home for Christmas she didn’t want to give Anais someone else’s room just to have to move her again in a couple of days. Apparently the bedroom next to hers was Andrews and the others on this floor belonged to Aethelu’s cousin Audsley and her parents Ava and Alfred. There was also a large communal bathroom on this floor which, Anais was pleased to find had a shower. The corridor ended in a door which Aethelu told her led up to the attic.

  Anais thanked Aethelu and shut the door as she left. She opened it again to test that the door now worked and she wouldn’t somehow be stuck in the room. Once satisfied that she could open the door she closed it again softly and laid down on the bed. It had been an eventful day. Her whole life felt like it had been a lie and yet she felt at home here in this strange family, as her father once had. Hundreds of thoughts were flying through her head and it was quite a few hours until she finally fell asleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The next few days flew by in a whirl of festivities gearing up for Christmas. Anais, at first feeling shy and out of place, soon got used to all these new people and her new surroundings. It helped that everyone went out of their way to be nice to her and welcome her into her new home.

  Anais had never felt so happy. She was an only child and although had never been lonely, had always wished for siblings. Here, she was surrounded by people. Although not officially a blood relation to any of them, she was treated as a sister and very quickly became a member of the family.

  August proved himself to be an excellent cook and provided them with amazing meals which they ate around a huge rectangular table in a massive dining room.

  She loved watching Rafe and Alex squabbling constantly over some girl in the village, and listening to Arcadia who told her many stories of Hollywood legends who she had known. Even Andrew who took a few days to get used to having a new person around, had chatted to her on the rare occasions he left his r
oom. He was always very quiet in there but she was assured he was probably doing ‘something techie’.

  When Arcadia wasn’t gossiping about actors, she spent a lot of time on the phone swerving from making big money deals to more intimate conversations. Anais lost count of how many names she heard and wondered how one woman had the time for such a busy work and social life. She also wondered if all the men knew about each other but didn’t like to ask.

  Anais spent most of her time with Aethelu although Alexander (or Alex as he asked to be known) occasionally hung out with the pair. Anais very much enjoyed his company with his easy going charm and quick wit. Looking like Brad Pitts better looking younger brother didn’t hurt either. He was as carefree as Aethelu was serious. They complimented each other very well and Anais could tell they were best friends with their playful banter and light-hearted sibling rivalry.

  However much she liked Alex though, she increasingly found herself wishing she had more alone time with Aethelu. She enjoyed her company so much, but it was more than that. She felt safe when Aethelu was around. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel safe around the others, in fact they had done everything they could to make her feel welcome. It was a feeling of safety she had never known before and it was as strange as their friendship was effortless. It was a hard feeling to define but it was very new. It was probably the way Aethelu made her comfortable, allowing her to be totally herself. She felt no need to pretend to be anything other than she was, Aethelu seemed to like her exactly as she was. It was refreshing. She almost missed the time she had been locked in her room. At least then she’d had Aethelu to herself. When she went to bed at night, she missed her, even though she’d just left her at the bottom of the stairs. It was only when a cheery knock on her door every morning announced Aethelu’s arrival did Anais feel truly happy.

  On the few occasions that Aethelu wasn’t around, Anais found herself fretting, not feeling completely at ease until Aethelu returned. Anais tried to analyse her feelings for Aethelu but in the end she didn’t care why she was feeling this way, only that she was happy for the first time in a long time.

  One day, a week after Aethelu had freed Anais, she decided to give her a guided tour of the old manor. Anais had already seen the main rooms of the house but when Aethelu suggested showing her the rest, she jumped at the chance. Any excuse to snatch a few hours alone with Aethelu. She particularly wanted to see the library. She’d been wanting to see it for a while but she felt rude wandering round the manor by herself, and besides she’d been so caught up in this new environment and getting to know everybody that it had gone to the back of her mind.

  Aethelu told her the manor had been built over 300 years ago as a normal manor house but Andrew, with his ingenuity had been given free rein to transform the manor into something special. She talked with such animation and pride about her home, giving a tour through the rooms as though she was showing off a stately home

  There were parts to the house which Anais would never have guessed were there if Aethelu had not shown her. Andrew had been asked to increase the manors security recently but before that he’d had fun adapting the house and adding extras in his own eccentric style. Aethelu showed her many features of the house which, if left on her own, Anais would never have found. They started in the library on Anais request but she hardly had time to get a good look around it before Aethelu was showing her a secret passage from it to the corridor on the first floor. It allowed the inhabitants to walk the length of the house behind the walls, thus enabling them to spy on the occupants of the library, parlour and dining room through a series of tiny peep holes. The exit was reached via a ladder up to the first floor and a wooden panel that moved back at the flick of a switch. Anais found it fascinating but was disappointed that she’d only spent a minute in the library. It had looked like a place where she would have wanted to spend a lot of time. She made a mental note to go back there as soon as possible. Aethelu had other ideas though and was now showing her another part of the house. The most interesting discovery by far was the cupboard on the ground floor that hid a whole games room. Aethelu had gone into the cupboard to fetch something. When she hadn’t returned Anais opened the door to find the small cupboard was empty. Thinking Aethelu had somehow slipped by without her seeing she closed the door and turned to look elsewhere, only for Aethelu to emerge from the cupboard seconds later.

  “How did you...? I looked, the cupboard was empty!”

  Aethelu took her into the cupboard and flicked a switch which made the walls of the tiny room retract, revealing a large room with a billiard table in the middle. As it was an internal room it was easy to miss the size discrepancy between the inside and the outside of the house. The giant staircase in the main hall had a big part to play in hiding a room this size. Indeed as Anais looked around she could see the underside of the steps formed part of the ceiling of the room. Being hidden behind the main staircase also meant it was lit only by artificial light, in this case a long rectangular lightshade above the huge billiard table in the centre.

  As well as the billiard table, Anais noticed the chess set that Aethelu and herself had played with in her room when she was still imprisoned. A well-used dart board hung on the wall with tiny holes dotting the wall around it proving that the houses inhabitants weren’t all accomplished at everything. She then remembered the hopeless throwing of snowballs by Aethelu and the twins and smiled. She’d have to challenge them all to a darts match someday. Various retro pinball machines lined the walls, lights blinking and long won high scores flashing. As Anais watched, Aethelu turned on a switch and a massive juke box came to life. Its brightness made up for the lack of natural light in the room. A couple more buttons and it started to play. The song was a cheesy disco hit from the seventies. Aethelu held her hands out and waited.

  “What?” Anais asked

  “Dance with me.”

  “Here? There’s not enough space.”

  Anais flicked a switch on the wall and a light shone, directed at a mirror ball that Anais had not noticed. Spots of light danced around the room as the mirror ball spun.

  It was so tacky but nevertheless Aethelu still stood there with her arms open and with a grin on her face.

  Anais laughed and moved toward Aethelu, unable to resist.

  They jumped around to the beat, Aethelu attempting some seriously tacky disco moves. Anais was amazed to realise she was enjoying herself. She copied some of the disco moves and laughed. Aethelu grabbed her hand and twirled her around. The lights spun around her with dizzying effects.

  All too soon the tune ended. Aethelu had just enough time to catch her breath before the jukebox made a series of clicks and another song came on. The song had been a big hit in the fifties. It was a slow song with a tuneful melody.

  Aethelu put her arms around Anais causing her to gasp. She wasn’t sure what she was expected to do now. She was acutely aware her arms were just sort of flopping around at her side. She could either ride out the whole song, feeling awkward with her arms doing nothing or she could give in to her feelings and put her arms around Aethelu. Choosing the second option, she was surprised at how normal it felt. She didn’t know what she was expecting but she wasn’t expecting it to feel so right. She rested her head on Aethelu’s shoulder as they swayed together to the music. Her eyes were closed but she could still see the small flashes of light that bounced off the mirror ball. She could hear the sound of Aethelu breathing over the song, so close were Aethelu’s lips to her ear and she could feel the beat of her heart, echoing her own beating rhythm.

  She held her breath. Anais never wanted it to end. The fifties crooner belted out the last few lines and the jukebox clicked signalling the end of the song.

  Anais was sorry that the song had ended but the sound of people on the stairs above her caused her to let go of Aethelu and look at her questioningly.

  “Dinner time!” Aethelu answered.

  Whatever they were all doing, the family always made time to get together for
the evening meal in the large dining room. Each evening was a big event with the household dressing up. Heavy silver cutlery was used and champagne was served as if it was water flowing from the taps. Each meal consisted of three courses and lasted hours, and it was usually followed by more champagne in the parlour. Aethelu assured Anais that they only ate this way over the Christmas season when she worried aloud that she’d not be able to fit into her clothes much longer.

  The dining room was probably still in its original decorative state, austere and old fashioned in the same deep red and panelling as the hallway. What made it different though, were the amazing paintings decorating the walls. They were a similar style to the ones in the parlour but unlike the rainbow of colours, these were more sombre and deep in hues of reds and purples. Like the ones in the parlour they were abstract but the longer Anais looked at them the more she could see. They reminded Anais of the game she’d played as a child, when she’d laid on the grass or beach and tried to find patterns or objects in the shapes of the passing clouds. When she remarked on how fascinating she found the paintings one dinnertime she was surprised to be told that they were in fact painted by Aethelu herself.

  That night, after dinner, Aethelu took Anais out of the kitchen door, through the courtyard to the outbuildings they had climbed on during the snowball fight. Whilst Aethelu was searching through her pockets for her keys to one of the outbuildings, it gave Anais chance to really look at the buildings. They were obviously originally built as a coach house or stables or quite probably both but now they looked like they had been split into different rooms. Two different rooms judging by the number of doors, followed by two double garage doors at the end.