Scintillate (Scintillate Series Book 1) Page 7

  Once everyone was bundled up, we left the house and went to the garage to claim our ATVs for the excursion.

  “These are sweet!” Nick said as he eyed the ATVs.

  “Thanks. They’re a blast to drive,” Matt said. “They’re automatic with foot and hand brakes.” Matt proceeded to give a mini-lesson on how to ride and, more importantly, how to stop the ATVs.

  Meghan handed me a helmet. “I didn’t think you’d have enough helmets,” I said.

  “Are you kidding?” Meghan said with a laugh. “When Mom heard how many of us there’d be this weekend, she bought extras so we’d be able to go together.”

  “Safety first,” Matt mimicked his mother’s voice.

  I rolled my eyes and looked at Nick, “Which of us should drive first?” My eyes darted between the ATV and him.

  “Do you mind if I drive first?” He placed his hand on the handgrip.

  Excitement beamed from his face; I couldn’t turn him down. “Not at all. I drive home though,” I warned and waved my finger at him.

  Nick settled himself on the seat. “Do you want some help?”

  “Here, hold this.” With a smile, I handed him my helmet, grabbed his muscular shoulders, and slung my leg over the seat. Then I pulled my body close to his. His fresh cologne filled my head, and another coil of rope encircled my waist and strengthened our connection. “I’m ready for my helmet,” I whispered in his ear. Nick craned his head around and handed me the helmet. I placed it on my head. Then I pulled my gloves from my pockets and worked my fingers into the warm fabric.

  “Wow, ATV chicks are hot!” Nick said with a huge grin.

  “Thanks, let’s see how you look.” The butterflies in my stomach awoke as I slipped my hands around his waist and locked my fingers tight. He donned his helmet. Amazingly, he looked even hotter and more mysterious. Nick oozed masculinity. Was I the luckiest girl on the planet? “Not bad,” I flirted back as nerves and excitement bubbled inside me at the same time.

  “Is everyone ready?” Matt asked. He looked from couple to couple.

  “Yay!” shouted Rylee.

  “Anytime,” Reese said, resembling a space alien in his helmet and winter coat.

  “Let’s get going.” Nick squeezed my knee and sent scintillating sensations throughout my body.

  The engines roared to life, and Matt led the way through the backyard. Almost half a foot of snow covered the ground. We went slowly down the hill in the backyard, careful to miss the trees and shrubs. Finally, we made our way to the wider trails which led through the forests. As we sped over the trails, snow billowed up at our faces. The visors on our helmets protected our eyes, but we had to wipe them clean with our hands. Snow crystals clung to our gloves, coats, and boots.

  The bushes were heavy with snow. Their branches nearly swept the ground in the wind. From a distance, groups of towering trees resembled snowcapped mountains. The sun was invisible in the sky, covered by thick gray clouds that gently wrapped winter’s purifying blanket snuggly around creation.

  The cold air beat against our bodies. I was glad I was wearing silk underwear and several layers of clothing. Even though I felt no warmth from Nick’s body, it was nice to be so close to him. As I clung to him, I turned into that sponge again and soaked up his peace. It was like I could feel his peace as it worked on my thoughts and my spirit. Somehow he was able to infiltrate my inner being and change me. I felt like a different person around him, more of my true self. It was as if someone was awakening inside of me and transforming me. I rested my head against his back and thought about the woman I was supposed to be. How would Nick fit into my future?

  We rode for a while over the crisp snow through winding paths surrounded by trees and bushes. As I took in our surroundings, every once in a while I noticed the dark form of an animal as it skulked through the forest. I couldn’t make out the creature, so I wasn’t sure what it was. Bears, wolves, and large cats live in these mountains. Even though it stayed hidden, its presence made me nervous.

  We finally came to an opening in the path which led to an expansive meadow. We blazed across the meadow and made our way to the back of a massive mansion. The ATVs idled, and we took off our helmets as we admired the remains of an abandoned limestone mansion covered in dazzling snow. It resembled a French Chateau. Three turrets rose high and multiple chimneys peeked up through the snow covered roof. The main floor windows were large and rounded at the top. The basement and third floor windows were rectangular. A few windows dotted the attic and turret spaces. Unfortunately, most of the windows were broken or missing. Jagged shards lined the windows and gave the manor a hazardous appearance.

  “What is this place?” Reese yelled over the idling ATV.

  “It’s Sheldon Manor,” Matt replied. “It’s approximately 25,000 square feet.”

  I rested my helmet on my knee. “What do you think?”

  “It’s amazing, or I guess I should say it used to be.” Nick looked back at me.

  Ravi pointed at the manor. “Who built this?”

  “Charles Sheldon. He was an industrialist. He built it in the early 1900’s,” Matt said. “He made his money in the railroad and newspaper industries.”

  “What happened to it?” Lauren loosened her grip on Matt in order to rake her fingers through her loose brown curls.

  “He lost most of his money between the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. His family couldn’t continue to maintain the property,” Matt said. “It slowly fell into disrepair. No one wants it now. It would be too expensive to fix, so it sits here, abandoned.”

  “That’s so sad.” Rylee shook her head, and her long auburn hair swooshed across her shoulders.

  “Do you want to see the front?” Meghan asked. “It’s even more impressive.”

  “Let’s go,” Reese said, and he donned his helmet.

  We passed a garden which held a dilapidated reflecting pool, decaying statues surrounded by overgrown hedges, and crumbling stone walls. Then suddenly, a dark shadowy creature leaped from behind one statue to another. I craned my head to find the animal again, but didn’t see anything lurking behind the statues. I scanned the skies, to see if the shadow could be from a bird, but nothing flew above us.

  Matt stopped his ATV and took off his helmet. “We’ll have to walk from here.”

  I hopped off the ATV and removed my helmet. It felt good to get the helmet off. My head felt lighter without it. I bobbed my head from side to side and kept an eye out for the creature that may have followed us.

  Nick placed his hand on my back. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Just stretching my neck,” I replied as I tried to forget the prowling animal. “I didn’t notice how heavy the helmet was until I took it off.”

  Lauren hopped off the ATV, and her boots sunk into the snow. “I bet this place was gorgeous in its day.”

  “Can you imagine what it would cost to fix up this dump?” Ravi hung his helmet on the handlebar.

  Symmetrical gardens once balanced the chateau’s walkway towards the impressive double doors leading into the manor. Now, all that was left of the impressive gardens was a graveyard of dead plants and overgrown bushes and weeds covered in snow.

  From the front of the manor, the turrets were more impressive. Snow and ice clung to them, which added a touch of beauty — the way crystals and diamonds grace a weathered woman.

  “Let’s go inside,” Reese said.

  “Well, I guess we can try, but we should be careful,” Matt cautioned. “No one’s lived here for decades. I don’t know how safe it is.”

  We stomped through the snow towards the manor. The limestone steps were covered in ice and very slippery. “Here, take my hand,” Nick said.

  I placed my hand in his. “Thanks. It’s pretty slick,” I said and smiled at him. He was already one step ahead of me.

  “It sure is slick,” Reese mumbled to Rylee. I turned back to give Reese a dirty look and saw Rylee nudge him in the side.

  Laure
n reached the door first. “Look at these doors. They’re amazing.” She gingerly touched the carvings on the doors.

  Proudly defending this worn-out manor were hand-carved doors with worn, ornate details. Hand-carved roses and leaves graced the door frame. Surrounding the frame, another décor piece was carved with grain bundles on each side. The door itself was divided into uneven thirds. The larger middle third was a long rectangle that was embellished with roses, scallops, and leaves. The two smaller thirds were squares that held rhombuses which contained a single rose. Smaller roses surrounded the outsides of the rhombuses. Even the door hinges were decorated with intricate floral and filigree designs.

  Lauren tried to open the door, but it held fast. “Is it rusted shut?” She looked back at us.

  Ravi examined the hinges. “No, they’re just caked with snow and ice.” He scraped the snow and ice away with part of a tree branch and pulled on the door. It barely cracked open. “Some help, please?”

  Nick stepped up and placed his fingers in the narrow opening. After some effort, the pair cracked the door enough for us to enter the manor. One by one, we carefully slid through the narrow opening to see what awaited us on the other side.

  Nature herself had taken up residence in the abandoned manor. The pungent odor of wet rotten wood and leaves hit us as we entered. Leaves, branches, and twigs were scattered throughout. A tiny deserted bird’s nest was perched on a doorframe. Spider webs were too numerous to count. We cautiously stepped onto the neglected hardwood floors; they creaked underfoot.

  “I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” Lauren said. She took Matt’s arm and pulled their bodies close together. “This place kind of gives me the creeps.”

  “Are you afraid of ghosts?” Ravi moved towards her and waved his fingers in her face. “Ooo-aahh.”

  “No, I’m concerned because I’m in a dilapidated house with a couple of morons, and no one knows we’re here,” she shot back, clearly annoyed.

  “That actually sounds pretty reasonable to me,” I said. “This place is pretty wasted. Do we even have cell reception in case something happens?”

  “What could possibly happen?” Reese laughed and shrugged his arms. “You girls have seen too many horror movies.” He continued to walk through the house while rotten floorboards groaned beneath him.

  Were Lauren and I the only ones who noticed we were in a death trap, or were we just paranoid? Maybe we had seen too many movies, or maybe everyone else was living in teenage denial that nothing bad would ever happen to them.

  “Hey, come here,” Reese shouted from the room to our right.

  We quickly stepped across the squeaky wooden planks and into an empty spacious parlor with six large windows. Reese was crouched over as he examined something in the grand limestone fireplace. “Look in here!”

  “What? Is something going to come flying out at us?” Meghan clutched Ravi and slowly stepped forward.

  We huddled around the fireplace and saw a mounded pile of leaves, twigs, and mud used to construct a nest.

  Matt crouched down and examined it more closely. “What do you think lives there?”

  “I don’t know, but I bet it has teeth and claws. It might even spray a foul stench at its enemies when it’s frightened,” I added, quite certain pleasant things wouldn’t occupy a death trap like this.

  “You’re a real optimist.” Nick grinned and nudged me with his elbow.

  “I prefer to think of myself as a realist.” I smiled back and hoped he wouldn’t be turned off by my occasional cynical sense of humor.

  Nick walked over to the mantel and slowly ran his fingers across the roses and leaves that were carved in the wood. “Look at the workmanship of this pattern. I bet this was hand-carved.”

  I stepped closer to the mantel so I could study the design. It matched the floral and leaf design from the front door. The center rose was raised above the other roses and leaves in the mantel design. The rose was in full bloom and about nine inches in diameter.

  “Yeah, it’s gorgeous,” Reese said indifferently.

  Nick continued to examine the detailed workmanship. “I didn’t know you liked woodworking,” I said to him.

  “Oh, I just think it’s cool that someone did this by hand.” He ran his fingers over the fine details, clearly fascinated.

  The others had already walked away from the fireplace, and I turned to leave. “Come on,” I said as a cold breeze blew past me; it was strong enough to blow my hair off my shoulder.

  A tiny clicking sound grabbed my attention. “Wow! Look at this!” Nick gasped.

  I turned, and Nick stood beside the center rose on the mantel, but now the rose was flipped up and revealed a secret hiding space. “I found a secret button to open the rose. How cool is that?” Nick beamed as he pointed to the secret compartment.

  Matt rushed over. “What’s in there?”

  Nick carefully removed the items that had been hidden in the secret safe. “This one looks like a land deed. Here’s a letter. And this one looks like another letter.” Nick shuffled through the papers. “Here are some pictures.”

  Lauren tried to grab it. “Maybe it’s a love note. Let’s read it.”

  Rylee pushed Lauren’s hand away. “Ugh! You can’t read someone’s love note. That’s terrible.”

  “They’re dead. What does it matter now?” Lauren said.

  “Please,” I interrupted, “it’s from the early 1900’s, how juicy can it be? It’s probably, ‘I miss you so much. You’re so pretty. Blah, blah, blah.’ Boring stuff like that. I can’t imagine that anything in that letter would be remotely interesting.” Nick looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t tell whether he liked that response or not.

  “Wow, check out this hottie.” Ravi held up a photograph. The black and white photograph captured the image of a beautiful young lady with dark hair piled on her head. She wore an elaborate long dress accented by a pearl necklace. Satin straps held the off-the-shoulders dress in place, and intricate lace flowed around her bodice.

  “You’d look great in a dress like that,” Reese said as he gave Rylee a kiss on the cheek.

  “I’ll try to remember that when I’m shopping at all the turn of the century stores.”

  “Do you think that’s Mrs. Sheldon or her daughter?” I asked.

  “There’s no telling? It may not be either of them.” A pleasant smile graced Nick’s face.

  “Wait,” I said, “was Mr. Sheldon’s wife Asian?”

  “I don’t think so. Interracial marriages were uncommon back then,” Meghan said.

  Ravi pulled out another piece of paper and carefully unfolded it. Expertly painted was a different beautiful woman dressed in a long gown. The dress draped off her shoulders and highlighted a unique necklace. She smiled seductively for the artist. Her pale blue eyes stared into my soul. Her red hair, streaked with natural auburn highlights contrasted with her milky white skin. Something about her seemed hauntingly familiar.

  Meghan peered over Ravi’s shoulder. “Look at her,” she said, taking the drawing from Ravi. “This woman knows how to dress.”

  “Who cares how she’s dressed,” Ravi said. “This one’s just as hot as the other one.”

  “Chill out,” Lauren said. “I can promise you that she does not look like that now.”

  Nick looked over my shoulder to admire the painting. “What’s that in the corner?” His warm breath tickled my neck.

  “I think it’s a date.” Meghan brought the picture closer to her eyes. “It says 1861 or 1867. I can’t make it out. It’s faded.”

  “Hey, turn it over. There’s something on the back,” Matt noticed.

  Meghan flipped the drawing over and gasped, “Hayden. That must be her name.”

  “Unless that’s the artist,” Ravi offered.

  “No, artists usually sign the front,” Lauren corrected. “I wonder who she was.”

  “She looks like she came from money,” I said. “Check out that dress and jewelry. I wonder what happened to
her during the war.”

  “The war destroyed a lot of people.” Nick stared into her ivory face and blue eyes.

  “Come on. Let’s explore this place.” Matt walked away from the mantel, and the others followed him.

  Nick replaced the papers and closed the secret hiding place. I noticed movement in the corner of the room, but it was too quick to follow. When I looked for it again, it was gone. “Ugh! I think I just saw a rat or mouse.” I cringed and wrapped my arms around my body.

  “Really?” Nick chuckled. “That wouldn’t be surprising. Look at this place.” He spread out his arms to highlight the decay. “Come on.” He took my hand. I instantly felt peace flood my body. I knew nothing could hurt me as long as I was with him.

  We followed the floor plan of the manor and entered the next room. The room featured an enormous fireplace and several French doors with a beautiful view of the mountains.

  “I bet this room was the banquet room or dance hall,” Nick said. “I heard they used the long rooms for dancing. They’d opened the French doors to circulate fresh air and cool the room.” Nick turned to me. “May I have this dance,” he asked in a sultry voice. He extended one gloved hand and kept the other behind his back. As he gave a quick bow, his eyes never left mine.

  “Why yes, you may,” I answered in my best southern drawl. His arm wound tightly around my waist, even more tightly than the invisible rope that always managed to slither around my waist in his presence. He took my gloved hand in his; the friction of our snow gloves produced a scratching sound. “Do you think that lady danced in here?”

  “What lady?”

  “The one in the photograph.”

  “There’s no telling.” He smiled and twirled me. His eyes warmed my soul.

  “I’m really glad Matt invited me this weekend,” Nick said. “I hope you don’t think I’m intruding.”

  “No, I’m really glad you’re here.” My heart pounded at our intimacy. Would he kiss me? Here? Now? His face was only inches from mine. I looked at those perfect lips and imagined them kissing mine. His cologne filled my head and reminded me of everything clean and pure. His fingers brushed my cheeks as he tucked some loose strands of hair behind my ear. Nick’s other hand moved up my back and pulled me closer to him.