Chapter 3: Aunt Helena's

            “So, what did you pack?” Sylvia asked me quietly as we drove out.

            “Photos, a few toys and books, and this big fat volume,” I whispered back, holding up the big brown book that I had tripped on earlier.

            “Wow!” she mumbled in quiet admiration. “Can I see that?” she asked, holding out her hand to reach for the book.

            “Sure,” I said, handing it gently over to her.

            Very carefully, as if afraid it was going to fall apart in her hands, Sylvia opened the book. But it wasn’t quite a book; it was a journal filled with pages of handwriting about…fairies.

            “What?” I whispered in surprise. “Who would write a book about fairies? They don’t exist, so why bother?”

            “I have no idea…” Sylvia gently closed the book and handed back to me. Glancing at Mrs. Anne’s face in the mirror, she leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “I think we should keep this a secret…”

            I nodded. And we entwined pinkies. Pinky promise.

***

            Mrs. Anne pulled up onto a dirt driveway. It was almost dark as I stepped sleepily out of car, lugging my suitcase. Mrs. Anne carried a snoring Sylvia and handed me my sister’s bright red suitcase. My own suitcase was now a faded crimson. I dragged it up the steps to the house.

 I looked up to see that it wasn’t really a house, but a mansion. A glorious mansion. It was a bright red with a brick red roof. The house was entirely submerged in red. A red fence surrounded red boxes of crimson flowers. Our suitcases fit right in.

“Well,” Mrs. Anne said, giving a sigh, “Your aunt is certainly a very odd person.”

I nodded. I could already understand what mother had told us. Crazy. I rang the red doorbell and listened as a friendly ding dong! sounded around the mansion. Silence followed.

I shivered a cold breeze blew me a few inches forward. I hit my nose on the door with a thunk! And the door opened. Before I could fall over the threshold and into the freaky place, a white haired woman caught me. Like her house, she was dressed in red. I picked myself up and frowned.

The woman before me had bright blue eyes. Her hair looked shiny, and it rested on her shoulders. “Welcome,” she said, and I saw that her teeth were pearly white. “Sorry for not coming sooner. Come in, please.”

Mrs. Anne carried Sylvia over to the nearest couch. The inside had a color theme of blues and purples. I smiled, happy to rest my eyes from the bright reds.

“Thank you,” Aunt Helena said to Mrs. Anne, grinning.

Mrs. Anne returned the smile and walked out the door. I heard the sound of tires on dirt and I knew she had gone.

***

“You two can share a room,” Aunt Helena said, pointing to a huge open room with two beds, “If you insist, though, we can give you separate-“

“No!” I said, a little bit too loudly, “We’ll share,” I whispered, grimacing at my outburst.

Aunt Helena didn’t seem to notice, if see did, she acted like she didn’t care. “Great, anyhow, I’ll be off to bed now. My bed room is that one at the end of the hallway. Call me if anything seems a bit…off. Oh, and don’t open your window! We wouldn’t want bugs coming in, would we?”

I nodded halfheartedly and crawled into the bed next to Sylvia’s. She continued to snore as I lay awake, staring at the window. So much had happened today. I sighed.

 Aunt Helena seemed okay. Sure, she was a little strange, but it looked like she could be a fun person. I sighed again, and after taking one last look around the room, I dozed off.