“This setback or failure is on your head when push comes to shove.”           “Professor Digby, I understand you’re highly trained in your field. Which is all fine and dandy. But I am the one responsible if those craftspeople get injured on my property. You, sir, are not. The incidents could also cause damage to the estate. Of which would also cause your precious schedule to fall behind and the costs to go up. So technically, I may have just saved us from several lawsuits, expenses due to schedule delays, and staff safety. Now please show us around and then you can go home for the day.”           “Fine, but I will contact Mr. Winters and file my complaint.”           “Sir, you can do as you like. I won’t stop you. You are a grown man.” Gemma had enough of this man. She would see Mr. Winters long before this man would call him, and she’d fill Mr. Winte

     Larin closed his pack and again looked at his best friend and cousin. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Keep an eye on the mirror for one of us to explain the situation better.”     “I still believe it’s a bad idea to go behind the elders and worse going alone. What if you get in trouble? Who will pull you to safety from certain death?” Hugo wasn’t happy about any of this. Not only was he inheriting all the responsibilities of being a leader, but Larin never bother to ask him if he wanted it. That, and he felt like he’d be missing out on a wonderful adventure full of mystery and danger.     “I need you here, and again I don’t plan to be gone long. We can’t let Greyback get a foothold in that realm. They have no protections from him or his ilk.”     “I still don’t understand why we have to care a

     “I’ll attempt to remember the past incidents I learned about through my predecessor. I can have my assistant copy the notes and send them to you. But for now, well… as you know, twins run in your family. This estate has been here from before the founding of the town. One of the strangest things is one twin always leaves, never to return. In the beginning, with communication being spotty, no one knew they were missing. The family would never speak of them again. Now, as the generations passed and communications got better, your family couldn’t say they’d moved away. People could investigate and find they’d never made it to their location. A few people investigated the last time this happened. Your Great Aunt Ester was never found, but they found no evidence of murder or death by accident. She just… disappeared. There are at least three or four incidents like this since the town’s records started.”

             “I am sure you have several questions. But would you introduce me to your friend, please?” Larin waved his hand at the blonde woman to his left. He struggled not to snicker at her bug-eyed expression. She just appeared too comical.             “Oh, uh, this is Rebecca Davis. We call her Becky for short. Becky, this is Larin, the guy from the mirror. I’m sorry I don’t remember you telling me your last name or, for that matter, who you are in all of this, really.”             “Yeah, I think you’ve told me that already. Yeah, what is your involvement in all this, and you better blurt it because her brother is arriving soon.” Becky squinted at him suspiciously.          &

              “Would you like to see exactly what a Fear Monger looks like up close and personal? I believe that would make everything clear.”               “What about the book? I can translate it at night, but can Evan read it? I mean, we have moonlight here. None in the butler’s pantry.”               “The journal I forgot about that. I can’t remember what they wrote in it, in the first place. It may help us find more information on what we have to do to return the portal to its correct state.” Larin slapped the table while saying this. He’d forgotten about the journal from some long-forgotten ancestor of his. He’s been told that this ancestor was infatuated with one guardian, but because of circumstances, they found themselves trapped on opposite ends of the portal. Someone created mirr