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She hadn’t been home for years. Now she had been summoned by some attorney of her aunts. They had sent a message saying she was needed and provided her with the key to the old place.
Why, she wondered, had they notified her? She was not in the Will. She had been told that more times then she wished to count. Sure, she had grown up here. Her great-aunts had raised her. Nasty, irritable old crones. That was how she remembered them. Always telling her to not to do this or not do that. Never pleased with anything she had done. There were three of them, all old maids. They had come up missing several years ago. The small town’s biggest unsolved mystery in its history.
Pulling into the long over-grown gravel driveway, Dani stopped the car in front of the three story Victorian house. Purple wisteria hung from the porch, its long vines hanging with clusters of flowers that were wrapped around anything they could cling to.
Stepping from the car she stood for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out. She could hear the ocean beating against the cliffs that dropped from the back of the old place. Walking up the steps and to the door she pulled the key out, fitting it into the lock. A loud click could be heard as the door seemed to swing open on its own. Inviting her in.
The sun hadn’t quite set yet and the tendrils of sunlight still made their way through the windows. She could see nothing had changed. Stepping through the door she stopped by the circular table in the foyer. An envelope lay on the table with her name on it. “Odd,” she said out loud.
Picking it up she opened it to find a small key and a slip of paper. She quickly scanned the message.
Dani, whereas your great-aunts had told you that you would not inherit their home, it was all a ruse. As you know, the three of them have been missing now for the last seven years. No trace of them has ever been found. The police investigated. Checked and talked with everyone in town and thoroughly investigated Diana Symons. Miss Symons, as you know has always served your great-aunts, making sure that they were never without anything and from what I understand took care of you. She is now also missing without a trace. I will be out in the next day or two, as you are now the sole owner of the house and the acreage surrounding it. I will explain the finances and such then. In the meantime, in their Will there was a directive that you were to have this key and to find where and what it opened. Wishing you the best. Henry Smithinson, Esquire
Taking the key she held it in her hand trying to remember if she had ever seen it before. It was very ornate with the top being in the shape of a dragon, its tail being the length of the key and ending with the part that would unlock something. But what?
She walked into the living room and stared about, her eyes lighting on the painting above the fireplace. It wasn’t an old painting. She had been there when it was done of her great-aunts. She had always thought the artist had done well in capturing their true nature. There was no friendliness in their eyes. She remembered the painter trying his best to get them to smile. It hadn’t happen. They told him they wanted to be remembered as they were and that sure wasn’t smiling. But, now, she could have sworn they were smiling. She drew neared and looked more closely.
“What in the world,” she said. “My eyes must be deceiving me.”
The picture must have been altered. The great-aunts were smiling, but that wasn’t all; each held a goblet in their hands. The goblets were silver in color. Each had a dragon wrapped around it.
“This can’t be.” Dani sat down in the high-back green chair and looked at the painting. Then her eyes caught the reflection of a woman in the window in the painting. She stood again: it was Diana Symons, but not the Diana she remembered.
The reflection showed a woman dressed in a gauzy white dress that had the appearance of those painted by fantasy artists. Her gray hair was streaked with black, her blue eyes inviting the onlooker to come closer.
“This is not the same painting.”
There was no way that it could be. Even her great-aunts were dressed differently.
“I need something to drink. But first, my suitcase.” Dropping the key in her pocket she headed back to the car.
~~~
The flames from the fire cast dancing shadows on the walls in the living room. She had unpacked her things in her old bedroom on the second floor, the whole time her thoughts straying back to the painting that she was again staring at. She had gone through all the other rooms looking for the original one, only to find nothing. She had even checked to see if it had been done by the same artist. It had.
“Why dragon goblets? Why the changes in clothing? So unlike them,” she murmured to herself. When she had asked to purchase a fantasy book they had thrown a fit, saying that it was foolish to read such trash. And the day she had sat sketching dragons had been the worst. Her drawing pad and pencils had been burned, with the aunts lecturing her for hours on the evils of dragons.
She paced back and forth, stopping to turn on the radio. The aunts hadn’t believed in having television, but she got them to buy a radio and put in a phone. That in itself had been like pulling hen’s teeth.
Her hand went to her pocket and she pulled out the key. She knew she had never seen it before. She had been ten years old when she first met the ‘gruesome threesome’ as she had called them behind their back. The painting had been done soon after. She had lived with them for ten years and then told them she needed to leave. Miss Symons had been her teacher. An amazing woman in how she seemed so out of time yet knew everything that was currently happening in the world. The library had been her school room. The books alone in there were worth a fortune, that she was sure of. Some were very old. But she had been taught from them and Diana had related the past history to the present. Math had not been her favorite, nor science. But learn she did. Then she left to find a job. The aunts had fussed. She had been surprised at their sudden concern, but they relented and made sure she had funds to survive till she found her first job.
Suddenly she was brought out of her reverie by the sound of a door shutting above her on the second floor. Then the sound of light footsteps coming towards the stairs. That was another thing: the aunts had refused to carpet the halls in the old house.
Getting up she headed towards the stairway and waited. She could hear the footsteps, they were now at the stairs. She watched as a woman slowly made her way down. There was an air of sadness about her. She was dressed in a long gray dress, her gray hair streaked with black hung limply about her shoulders. Her face seemed to have no color, other than being pale, drawn and lifeless. It was Diana.
She continued down the stairs to the landing then turned and looked at Dani. It was so eerie. She backed up. She didn’t feel threatened. The apparition moved towards her then walked by, stopping in front of the fireplace for only a moment, then headed down the hall to the library. Dani followed, only to see her disappear. Poof. She was gone.
“What the heck. This whole day has just been unbelievable.”
Back in the in the living room she decided that she would curl up on the sofa for the night instead of using the bedroom and make sure the fire continued to burn all night. She just needed the comfort. Tomorrow she would search the house and see if she could find the lock for the key she had been given. And hopefully Mr. Smithinson would come and have some answers about the picture and her seeing Miss Symons.
~~~
Coming out of the bathroom, her wet hair hanging about her face, Dani stood in the doorway of the living room. It was terrible waking up tired. But she was…dead tired. Her eyes focused on the key that lay on the coffee table. Okay, she would look for the lock it fitted this morning. Picking up the key she headed straight to the library. That was where she had spent her time growing up. It was where the Aunts spent their time in the evenings, and it was the only room she had ever seen Miss Symons enter and could never figure out how she had left it to suddenly be in another room. That was what she remembered last night. The lock for the key had to be in the library.
Shelves upon shelves of books lined the room. Nothing had changed. Or had it? That was what she needed to discover. A bay window was at one end of the room, with shelves on both sides. If anything were in here that needed a key to unlock it would have to be behind the books. There was no bare wall space. Just the books. All the way to the ceiling.
Hearing a noise she turned around and gasped. Miss Symons stood in the doorway. “You’re not real. Yet…”
The woman looked at her, a smile hovered on her pale lips that moved as she gave the appearance of speaking. Then she motioned to Dani to come, follow her as she moved to the first set of shelves on the wall next to the window. Dani took a step, then another. Miss Symons turned to make sure she was following, then stopped and pointed to the middle shelf.
Dani looked on in fascination. It came to her that Miss Symons was not a ghost, yet…she turned and looked about the room. She felt there had to be a camera somewhere in the books, that the woman was nothing more than a projection. She had to be. Moving closer she reached out to touch the form. She didn’t feel any fear, just curiosity. Why hadn’t the investigators seen this? Then she jerked her hand backwards. It had passed through nothing and the image had not appeared on it either.
She stepped back. Diana’s smile was prominent now as she still pointed at the books. Dani pulled the first book from its place and read the spine. Dragons Be Here. There was no author listed. It was a thick book, with a black cover and gold writing. She glanced up. Miss Symons was gone.
Flipping through the book she was surprised to find it filled with dragons and elves. Turning a few more pages her eyes caught some words that were underlined.
In their seventieth year they were transported back to their home world. The three women were greeted with a joyous reunion. The dragons came forth…
Dani hands started to shake as she stared at the etchings in the book of the three elderly women. Replicas of her aunts.
Somehow she found herself sitting in a chair. Turning to the first page she skimmed though the words. Soft exclamations and expletives were the only sounds that came from the library for the next hour. Her logical mind said ‘no way’ yet her inner being was affirming each and every word that she had read.
Closing the book she held it tight against her chest. This was the year 2006; no way in reality could anything that was in the book be true. The likenesses of the picture to her aunts had to be coincidental. Magic was done with the likes of Harry Houdini, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy. Wizards were fantasy. Her aunts had convinced her of that. So, no way in Hades were they in that book or anywhere else.
Throwing the book down on the table that filled the middle of the room she went back to the book case. The book had said nothing about a key, or anything that would need a key.
Running her hand along the spines of the books she came to the end. Leaning against the shelf she felt it move and she stumbled backwards.
“Well, the aunts never told me about this,” she mumbled as she stared at the opening. Reaching the table she picked up the book and held it against her.
“So, hidden doors in old Victorian homes? It figures.” She pushed a little harder and the shelving unit opened to reveal a door. A beautifully carved door. The wood had been carved with intricate weavings of Celtic knots that surrounded the door. But it was the center of the door that caught her eye. A dragon. A dragon whose front paws, or were they claws, surrounded a keyhole.
She couldn’t help herself, she had to run her fingers over the craving. It was so life-like. The wood finish felt like real scales on the dragon. Well, at least how she imagined they would feel. She rubbed her hand across its back then gingerly took the key from her pocket.
Her hands shook a little as the key slipped into the lock and with a turn it clicked, then sprang open. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t the giant maw that filled the opening of the door, nor the horrible smell emitting from it. Choking back the desire to vomit on the spot she started to step backwards, only to catch a glimpse of Diana standing behind her. The surprise of seeing her plummeted her forward just as the dragon backed away.
“What the hell,” she screamed as she felt herself fall several feet onto a pile of rocks and broken glass. Her hand landed upon a hard rounded surface and she found a goblet in her hand. One with her face etched in it. Rolling to one side quickly she looked up to where she thought the opening was to the library, only to see the pale shadow of Diana smiling still as she pushed the door shut.
“No!” Dani shouted stumbling to her feet, tripping over loose coins and jewels, not rocks and glass. Then she froze in place as the large maw of the dragons nudged her, pushing her backwards. She stumbled, fear racing through her as she prayed to God that she hadn’t peed her pants just then.
“This has to be a nightmare. I’m going to wake up any moment.” The dragon nudged her backwards again. She found herself pushed up against a cold stone wall.
“Dani. Dani, are you here?” She heard an older woman’s voice. One she recognized. One of the aunts.
“Yes,” she screeched as the dragon lowered its head once again, this time sniffing her.
“Cut the theatrics Dani. He’s just checking you out, to see if you are ready. He is our benefactor.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. You and your sisters never believed in dragons. You told me they didn’t exist. That is was all foolishness. I’m dreaming. You’ve been missing for seven years. Everyone thinks you are dead. All three of you.”
“Well, of course they do, dear. That was the idea. Diana had everything planned. Your coming to live with us was a surprise of course. You weren’t in the plan of things. We were only allowed to live in that plane for seventy of your years. We were granted the time to learn and study, but at a price.” She didn’t get to finish speaking as the other two sisters appeared. The youngest stepped forward speaking in her soft voice.
“I see Henry left you the key, and right on time. Seven years to the day, just as he promised us. We can pay our debt in full.”
“What debt?” Dani asked. “I must be dreaming. And you’ve not from here, you’re from Sweetville. You’re my grandmother’s sisters. You’re…”
As she spoke the three women were slowly transforming. Three sorceresses stood before her. Each looked her age. Malevolent in appearance, each with bright blue eyes that gave Dani the feeling they were cutting through her. Their hair the color of midnight.
“No, we are not your aunts. Their bodies were our hosts for years though,” they laughed together. The youngest spoke again, “It was horrible though, the aging that you go through. So unnecessary if only…” She stopped speaking as the dragon rose to his full height. A deep gravelly voice could be heard.
“Payment is due ladies. Cease with the talk, or you will join her.” Without ceremony the dragon leaned back down and all Dani saw was darkness with her last thoughts screaming in her head. I will wake up, I will wa…
~~~
Diana picked up the book, looked at the page, a tear dropping on the page as she watched a dragon open its maw, its tongue lapping out at the young woman and then she was gone.
“Such a sweet girl.”
She closed the book and placed it back on the shelf as Henry walked in. “Ready dear?” she asked. “The price has been paid.”
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