Chapter Eleven

Stella's Point of View

I could feel the fright bubbling up inside of me.

"Why is there a skeleton at my mom's trusted friend's house? Did Betasy do this? Is is that him? Oh my, it better not be."

"Uh, Stella. Your thoughts aren't helping my state of mind much", Leo's thoughts interrupt my panic.

I flash him as big of a smile as I can master (which isn't that big) and grab Leo's arm. He jumps in fright. I will be courageous, for my mom.

"Leo and I will be going inside. There isn't much you can do from here. We are on our own now. Safe travels back", I state to the columans in the loudest voice I can muster.

I can see the relief flash over their faces at delight of going back, but then disappointment at not being able to continue the journey with Leo and I. They all come up and say bye, one by one and then descend their journey back, shuffling their feet and with their heads down.

"Wait!", I hear the companion next to me say.

"What are you doing Leo. Can't you tell that they are scared to go inside?"

"Well, so am I!", He yells back at me through thoughts.

"Come back! You don't have to go inside! All of you can just wait outside!", He yells. They all turn around with a look of pure joy. Of the few moments I remember someone being happy, this would be at the top.

The columans turn around and come back. With that I fiercely grab Leo's arm and walk up the stairs, one creak at a time.

When on the top step, Leo and I look back to see the columans' faces looking at us with hope. It fills my heart with love.

"We can do this.", Leo thought says to me.

"I know.", I reply without a look at the skeleton. It will freak me out. I look at Leo for support and I see his eyes get distracted for a second and sneak a look at the skeleton. His face flashes with fear and when he notices I'm looking at him he fakes a supporting smile. It doesn't work. I look away before I would show him how scared I am.

My hand shakily reaches for the door knob. Slowly, I pull up the brass hook and let go.

"KNOCK"

Leo and I jump. I see Leo start to run back to the columans in the corner of my eyes. Just in time I grab his arm and pull him back.

The door creaks open.

I breathe a sigh of relief. The man who answers looks too nice to kill someone and leave them on the front porch until they rot away to bones. He has dark brown curly hair that is not only on the top of his head, but on the bottom too. His beard makes it look like he doesn't have a neck. It is mangled and fluffy all at the same time. Besides the beard, one other thing about him grabs my attention. His stomach is half his body! It bulges out and covers where his waist and legs meet. A brown sort-of sack acts as his clothes. Leo and I stare at him for a second. He smiles, then giggles, then laughs, hard.

"I'm so glad that you two finally made it!", he smiles at us then walks into the foyer, keeping the door ajar.

"When Stelliana told me that you two were coming I almost didn't believe her. But now I see you all are here! Just like she said! That girl! Always thinking ahead!", he paces back and forth. His belly jiggles with each step.

He stops and looks at us.

"Aren't you going to come inside?"

I look at Leo and step in. My head moves around in circles admiring every piece of the "haunted" mansion. It is anything, but haunted.

Below me is a polished wood floor, not a single spot on it. To my left and right are two big, open entryways that lead to two long dining room tables. Red-pleated, fancy chairs run all around the tables, making the rooms exact mirrors of each other. Speaking of mirrors, behind me are two long, skinny mirrors on either side of the door. Above me, directly in the center of the foyer, is a crystal, dangling chandelier. If an imaginary line split it directly in half then each side of the chandelier would reflect the other side.

But, that is where the symmetry ends.

In front of me to the right, being the main focus of the room, is an wide, elegant staircase. A red carpet drapes over the hard wood, shimmering stairs. The bannister looks as if it took a thousand years to make, each and every detail outlined. I feel so tempted to run up the stairs or slide down the bannister, but I don't. Instead I distract myself.

"He had a skeleton and a haunted mansion outside. How can something so elegant be behind something so scary."

"I don't know. I'll ask.", Leo replies.

Whoops. I forgot about that whole thought communicating thing for a moment.

"Um, Betasy.", Leo steps forward to the man grinning from ear to ear.

"It's BAY-TAH-SAY, but yeeees?"

"Why is there a. I mean, why do you have. Ahem. Um, actually, we were wondering-"

"Why do you have a skeleton outside on the porch?", I interrupt. Leo just couldn't get the point across.

"Just as a reminder of what happens if anyone defies me.", he states.

"Wait. WHAT?! ", I think.

Leo's face becomes as white as a ghost. He looks straight ahead in some sort-of daze.

Betasy starts to laugh. His belly bounces up and down.

"I was just kidding! You all take everything so seriously! The skeleton is just to scare away other people. So is the sign with my name on it! It only shows to people who need to see me, otherwise it disappears and the house looks haunted, very uninviting."

Betasy walks over to us and puts his hands on our shoulders.

"You should have seen your faces!", he chuckles.

Leo and I stare at him. His face falls because only he thought the joke was funny.

"Oh yeah, right. So, what brings you here. I mean Stelliana told me you were coming, but she never said why."

"We are here to learn magic.", I hear my voice say with more strength than I thought it would have.

"And to get a letter from our mom.", Leo adds.

Betasy perks up as if he just remembered something.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that letter! Now where did I put it?", he mumbles to himself and pats down his body. In a few seconds he 'ah ha's and pulls out a letter from his left pocket which I didn't even know he had.

"After you read this we can go about the lessons.", he hands us the letter.

A knock sounds at the door just as Leo gets the letter out of the envelope.

"It's probably just one of the columans.", Leo absentmindedly says.

"Hello? Betasy? We know you're in there with those fugitives. Just bring them out and no one will get hurt.", a raspy, harsh voice says behind the door.

Betasy's face flashes with fear. His eyes dart between Leo, the door, and me.

"You all, come with me.", he ushers.

Leo and I exchange a look and follow him to the front door.

"What is going on?", Leo thought says to me.

"I don't know.", I reply.

"Are we the fugitives the man behind the door is taking about?", he thought asks.

"I don't know.", I reply again.

"Betasy, if you don't let us in then we will have to break in", the voice says again.

Betasy seems to head to the door, but instead he goes to the mirror on the left and puts his hand out in front of it. I hear his whispering something and then suddenly the mirror slides open like a door. A big room is revealed behind the door with staircases and everything. Betasy snaps his fingers and a light turns on, revealing the entirety of the mini house.

"Quickly, in there. No one will be able to see or hear you in there, although you can see and hear them."

Leo and I walk into the open hole where the mirror just was.

"I will come get you after this is over", he whispers, sliding the mirror in front of us.

We watch him through the mirror do a small spell. Just as it ends the front door falls over and a muscular man walks in with a group of people that are just as muscular as him.

"I'm going to go explore this place", Leo whispers to me and hands me the letter.

I smile at him then look back through the mirror.

I have 3 choices here: go explore with Leo, listen in on the conversation with mystery guy and crew, or read the letter from Stelliana.

Hmmmmm...

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I, forever_writing_26, give permission for MLB988 to copy and publish this chapter on her account.

Hello! My name is forever_writing_26! And thank you for reading this chapter! I also want to thank MLB988 for this awesome opportunity and thank you for the crazy cool wattpad readers and writers! This wouldn't be possible without either! Feel free to check out my story "This is Not the End", which is completed! I plan on starting a new story late this month so if you have any ideas feel free to DM me! Had a lot of fun doing this and can't wait to see what everyone else posts! Good luck future chapter writers of this story and great job past writers of this story and awesome work MLB998 for putting this all together! Ok, that's it! Byyyyyyeeee!