Chapter Five

We Are Not Alone

"Now that we're all in the same page, we can get things moving." Victor smiled confidently and walked through the room. "We will be known under different names. Do not pronounce the name von Mallesch unless dire circumstances ask for it."

Ethel shrugged. "It's not like we're used to it, anyway."

Victor seemed conflicted about this observation, but apparently decided to choose the positive perspective and mumbled, "Good. Then you're no longer looking at Victor von Mallesch. You are now looking at Gabriel McGrath, a prominent and respectable young businessman. I have just arrived at St. Agnes to finally meet my associate - Amos Skeffington, in person."

"Do you think he'll recognize you?" Selina asked.

"No, ten years is much too long for that. We're not exactly children anymore, are we? No one should be able to tell who we are, no one is expecting it."

"Gabriel..." Ethel whispered and then laughed, "Oh, I see... You chose your second name,Victor Gabriel. But where does the McGrath name come from? In fact..." She suddenly walked towards her brother in a slow strut. "I am more than interested to know how you found yourself in possession of such large amounts of money." She eyed his expensive clothes. "The Skeffingtons took all our riches for themselves."

Victor looked away. "The money I currently own comes from an old acquaintance of mine and so does the name." He quickly returned his eyes to her. "But that is of little interest now. What matters is that my new identity is more than settled in, it's rock solid. I've worked on it for quite a while." He took a deep breath, as if scaring away something from his mind and proceeded, "You will follow my example and take your second names, it will be easier for you to remember." He looked at Selina. "So, you will now be known as Beatrice LaFontaine and nothing else."

Selina silently nodded and crossed her arms around her chest. She looked paler than usual, uncomfortable, like she had the urge to throw up. Ethel didn't seem to notice though, as her response couldn't be more different, "Then I shall be named Marie Stephens from now on", she declared with disregard.

"Exactly." Victor smiled again. "You must understand, the most important thing about this is our secrecy. We must be swift and effective, without calling too much attention. The fewer people understand that we know each other, the better. The fewer people realize that we're living here, the three of us, the better as well." He looked around the room. "I realize that buying this house was a risk but... I just couldn't bear leaving it in their hands any longer."

Silence crept in, as each of the siblings took one more look around their old home. Avoiding, most of all, the portrait of their family and their siblings' eyes, Selina finally broke the quietness, "The night is settling in." Victor stared at the tall and wide windows, as if to confirm her observation. "I think I'll try and prepare us something to eat." She dived towards the small bag of groceries that Victor had bought and quickly walked towards the kitchen.

"Well..." Ethel put her hands on her hips and watched her sister leave. "I would offer to help, but I'm terrible in the kitchen. I guess I'll be doing you both a favor if I decline from cooking." She sat on the dusty couch, studying her nails again.

Victor was lighting the old lamps around the living room and eyed her with reprehension. "Then you'd better busy yourself with something useful."

"Such as?" she hummed, callously.

Victor grabbed an ancient broom from the corner of the room and handed it to her. Ethel looked at him with honest disbelief on her features, giving him the will to laugh. "You can't be serious!"

"We have to start making this place livable again." He grinned.

She frowned at him and grabbed the broom from his hand abruptly and with more strength than necessary. "What willyoube doing then?"

"I'll see if Selina needs anything and I'll come and help you in a while." His smirk told her otherwise, though.

She grudgingly got up with the broom in her grip as if it was a weapon.

"I would start by the rooms upstairs if I were you, we'll need a clean place to sleep." He grinned as he waved for her to leave. "I bought clean sheets, if you'd care to exchange them." He turned around and headed towards the kitchen.

Ethel grabbed the broom as if to fling it at him, but controlled her temper and unwillingly walked upstairs, deciding that his room would definitely be left for last. When she finally got to the landing of the second floor, she walked through the long corridor, stopping abruptly on her feet. She stared at the first door and gently rested her hand on it.

Hidden behind it was what had once been their parents' bedroom. She quickly took her hand off of the wooden door, like it had burned her. She wasn't ready to see it yet, though she seriously doubted she ever would. She remembered the room as clearly as if she had walked inside it just the day before. The memory of her last visit suddenly imprinted on her mind and she jumped away from the door, as if she was afraid of it.

That memory still haunted her.

She couldn't stay away from that room and she couldn't bear to be close to it.

Making an effort to put these painful thoughts away from her mind, Ethel carelessly wiped the floor with the broom, inwardly thankful for the physical task, avoiding the first door with all her might - until something caught her attention.

Standing there, in front of her, was a black and white stuffed dog, sitting on top of a small cabinet. It was positioned in a way that suggested it was observing her, with an innocent smile on its face. Ethel analyzed it with attention and took a few steps towards it. She was certain that it hadn't belonged to her or her siblings. She knew it wasn't supposed to be there. Besides, it looked way too new and taken care of to be as old as the other objects that lay forgotten around the place.

She shuddered - she couldn't tell why, but something was wrong with the childish toy. Its smile was notnatural. It disturbed her in a very weird way.

"What the..." She extended her arm to grab it, but her action was suddenly stopped as she heard the sound of distant yelling and felt the weight of something latching onto her from behind.

"It's a witch! I knew it, I knew it! Eat her, Jacob!" a childish voice screamed in her ears as its owner tried to keep himself on her back and embraced her neck with his small arms.

Ethel screamed and did her mighty best to release the little child from her. She hit the closest wall with her back and heard the boy scream in pain. She grinned as he let go of her instantly, falling on the floor. Turning around, she saw a little boy, certainly no more than six years of age, grabbing his little blond head with both his hands, dressed in very poor clothes. As soon as he looked at her, his features turned from an expression of pain to one of fear and he yelled again, "The witch is going to hurt me! Eat her, Jacob, eat her!"

Ethel swung her broom on the air. "How dare you, you little rat!" But she was interrupted once again, this time by a sudden pain on one of her shins. Looking around, she saw another child, this one a few years older than the boy - a blonde girl dressed in a ragged grey dress who, apparently, had just kicked her and was getting ready to do it again.

Before the young girl had time to hit her though, Ethel was already grabbing her by the arm, but the child fought her, aiming kicks and punches towards the woman's legs and stomach. The boy quickly came to her rescue, jumping and latching himself to Ethel's shoulders again and pulling her hair.

"What in the world is going on here?" Victor asked, as he and Selina ran up the stairs. As they watched the scene of Ethel fighting the two children in front of them, Selina put her hands on her mouth trying to muffle her laughter. "Take this monsters off of me!" Ethel screamed with anger, prompting Victor to quickly approach them, grabbing the little boy by his jacket and holding him in mid-air. The little boy kicked and screamed, trying his mighty best to free himself from Victor's grasp, but failing. Ethel finally got a hold of the little girl by her arms and the three of them spared a few seconds to catch their breaths.

The little boy pointed his small finger towards Ethel and, amongst his tired breathing, managed to say, "She started it! She's an evil witch! Look, she's got a broom and everything!"

Ethel spared him a furious glare and grabbed the broom again, no doubt intending on using it as a weapon. "Why, you little-"

"Ethel, calm down." Selina walked towards the struggling boy still in Victor's hand with a cheerful smile. "Don't you see, they're just children." She gently held the boy in her arms and she seemed to have an automatic relaxing effect on him, as he stopped struggling immediately. "You just scared them, that's all." She grabbed the girl's hand and pushed her away from her sister. The little girl didn't look calmer though, she still eyed Ethel with suspicion and threat.

"Iscaredthem? Those rats attacked me-"

"What are you doing here?" Victor interrupted her, eyeing the children not with anger, but with a certain amount of caution.

"This is our new home," the little boy answered, "You should find your own."

Selina giggled and Ethel snorted, "You wish, little vermin-," but she was interrupted again as the girl ran and kicked her one more time, quickly running back to Selina and hiding behind her. "You... That's it, let me strangle-" Ethel furiously walked towards Selina but stopped as she noticed her younger sister's look of disapproval. She didn't let go of her murderous stare towards the little girl, though.

"What's your name?" Selina kindly asked the boy in her arms.

"I'm Joshua and that's my sister, Alice." He pointed at the stuffed dog that was still smiling on top of the furniture. "That's Jacob, my best friend."

"And what are two little kids like you doing alone in a place like this?"

"We're hiding," Joshua told her, playing with her hair.

"Hiding? From who?"

"No one," Alice spoke for the first time, starring at her brother as if warning him to keep quiet. Joshua hid his face in Selina's hair and Alice continued, "we're homeless and we found this house. We wish to stay here."

Ethel laughed, as if the idea was simply too ludicrous and amusing. Alice stuck her tongue out at her and the older woman went back to her killer glare. "Well, tough luck, cookie. This house already has owners." She put her hands on her waist and lowered herself towards Alice. "Go away," she slowly said in a threatening voice.

"But Ethel-" Selina started, only to be interrupted by Victor.

"She's right." Selina looked at him in shock. "Show them the door. They'll have to find some other place to hide, live, whatever it is they're doing." He shrugged, getting ready to return downstairs.

"We can't leave these children to live by themselves on the streets," Selina said with determination, carefully putting Joshua back on the ground, "It's cold and dangerous. We can't abandon them. Notus, of all people-"

"It's quite possible for small children to survive on their own." Victor's eyes went hard and cold. "Trust me." He smiled. "They just need to try harder."

"You're mean..." Joshua mumbled as he grabbed Jacob to his chest and Ethel stuck her tongue out to them with an evil grin.

"Well, I'm not throwing them out," Selina answered with defiance, ignoring Ethel's "I will!"and continuing, "nor will I let you do it."

"Selina," Victor sighed, "we don't have time for this. They'll be nothing but trouble and distractions. Send them to the orphanage-"

"But Victor, how can you? Don't you remember-" Selina never had the chance to finish though, because Alice quickly spoke above her.

"We heard everything." The three siblings went suddenly silent and stiff. Realizing she'd gotten all of their attentions, little Alice took a deep breath and proceeded, with brave audacity, "And... and if you don't let us stay, we'll... we'll tell everyone. We'll tell the whole city who you are and what you are planning to do."

Victor thoughtfully studied the girl, caught in between surprise, slight anger and entertainment at her courage and nerve. Ethel, though, felt nothing but fury and didn't care to hide it. "How dare you! Are you actually threatening us?" She laughed again, more loudly than ever. "Why, going to the orphanage is more than you deserve at this point." She gifted Alice with a devilish grin that made the little girl shudder. "You don't know who you're meddling with."

"But," Alice continued, making an effort for her voice to stay steady and determined and avoiding Ethel's frightening eyes, "if... if you let us stay, we won't speak a word of this to anyone." She looked back at Victor with a serious, decided expression, as if she knew he was the one she needed to convince. "We don't care about those people nor about your intentions towards them. We only want a place to stay. We wouldn't be of any trouble, to any of you."

Victor held his gaze on the little girl for what seemed like minutes, carefully analyzing her and looking deep in thought. Finally, he seemed to have come to a decision. "Very well." He shrugged. "Let them stay. So long as they don't bother us, I couldn't care less."

Selina smiled at this, relieved. Ethel's mouth actually opened in shock, but she refrained from commenting any further, crossing her arms around her chest, looking furious.

"Come on, Joshua, Alice," Selina called, grabbing the little boy's hand, "you must be hungry. I made us dinner."

"Oh, so now we have tofeedthem, as well?" Ethel asked in honest outrage. Selina shot her a disapproving glare and Ethel sweetly smiled in return, as if to apologize. As soon as her siblings' backs were turned to her though, and Joshua was lead downstairs by Selina's graceful grip, Ethel got a hold of Alice's arm and whispered in her ear, "You will regret this." Alice looked at her, determined to keep her steady and serious expression, but couldn't help but shudder again as the older woman's eyes shone with hidden malice and her wicked grin spread across her face.

Ethel let go of her and gently patted the little girl on her shoulder. "Go on now, sweetie. Dinner is getting cold." Her fake gentleness was even scarier than her honest indignation and Alice was happy to get away from her, wondering if she was making the right decision, if she wasn't putting herself and Joshua under more danger by staying inside this house, under the same ceiling as these seemingly insane people.

The five of them ate dinner, Selina happily talking to Joshua as the little boy furiously attacked the food - he was pretty hungry, it seemed. Alice ate quietly, exchanging glares of hate with Ethel, Victor promptly ignoring all of them.Afterwards, Selina helped Ethel change the beds' sheets and they gave all the bedrooms a quick, light clean-up. The first door though, remained untouched.

They argued, because apparently, Alice and Joshua had been sleeping in Ethel's old room and she refused to let them spend another night in there. Selina offered them her own room and still the fight only came to an end once Victor stepped in, saying with authority that it was quite enough and they all needed to rest, for tomorrow would be an important day. Selina didn't quite like what his last statement implied, but quickly put it aside as she helped Joshua wash and prepared him to go to bed - Alice wouldn't take her help though, as she found herself quite capable of doing that on her own.

The next morning, Ethel awoke to the sound of excited footsteps running in her room. She frowned, without opening her eyes and mumbled, "Whoever you are, I will kill you."

The only answer she got was the sound of childish giggles, which was the worst thing she could've heard at the moment. Getting ready to yell at the child, she opened her eyes, only to find herself immediately starring at the stuffed dog. The damn thing was sitting on her nightstand, still smiling, as if taunting her. She quickly grabbed it and threw it away, jumping when she heard Joshua's voice coming from behind her. "That's not a very polite way to treat Jacob." She turned around and found the little boy sitting next to her on her bed, frowning. "He just wanted to say 'good morning', you know?"

"Get away from me," she slowly told him, with the most menacing tone she could make. Joshua looked frightened and quickly got out of her bed, running to grab Jacob from the floor.

"Not very polite, indeed," Alice's voice came from the door, where she stood, shaking her head at Ethel, looking at her with a hateful expression. She was way too serious for a normal child. "Victor told us to wake you. He and Selina went out. He said something about 'getting the plan started'" She smiled mockingly at the older woman. "He told me to tell you to clean the house while they were out." She turned to leave, Joshua running after her immediately - apparently dreading to stay alone with Ethel.

Ethel took a deep breath and sank her head into her new pillows. Obviously, Victor had sent the children to wake her, because he knew fully well how much she hated to be woken up. She then stared at her nightstand again, to the place where the strange stuffed dog had been sitting just a few seconds ago. She shuddered again, remembering how its artificial smile made her uncomfortable.

Something was wrong with these children.

***

The sun rising behind the dark buildings fought against the coldness and the fog, its light blessing St. Agnes with a timid and weak warmness. In front of tall, elegant and powerful gates, Victor and Selina stood and observed in wonder.Victor gave a slight frown of disgust at the image of the eagle that shamelessly spread its wings around the name -Skeffington. It was ironic how it looked so proud. Pride was definitely something that name was severely lacking.

The mansion these gates protected was sublime, magnificent, royal, surrounded by gardens that reeked of green beauty, a small lake under the shadow of an old tree and flowers that filled it with color, in spite of the perpetual grim atmosphere that survived eternally in the misty city. Those small specks of color seemed awkwardly out of place, forced, unnatural.

He looked at his younger sister, shared with her a reassuring smile and said "You know what to do" Selina nodded and his smile grew wider. He put his hat on his head, looking professional, respectable and wealthy.

"Let us begin."

Author's Notes - Do you feel like this is trying to race a snail? And struggling to win? I know *sigh*. But not to worry, next chapter things will finally get moving. The plan will be put into action, new characters will show up and the pace will hopefully get faster. Thank you to everyone who's reading. Please, take the time to vote - if you think this deserves it, of course - and leave a comment, tell me what you think. I love hearing opinions! If you have any constructice criticism to offer, I will be delighted to hear it. If you don't, just dropping by and saying 'Hello' will make me equally happy, eheh.