THE MYSTERY OF THE IRVINE LODGE
CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The fresh smell of rosewood instantly filled their noses when Olivia pushed open the heavy door. It slid smoothly over the nicely polished oak plank ground, allowing the six friends to enter easily. As they stepped inside, their eyes were instantly mesmerized by the high ceilings. The planks started all the way from the ground as walls, climbing up until they reached the beginning of the ceiling and then bending to reach a mutual point at its center. The brown leather sofas complemented the architecture of the lodge perfectly, blending in with the early colors around.

"This place is amazing!" Bess was the first to make her way into the living space, her wide bewildered eyes scanning every corner. Olivia chuckled softly as she followed her friend, the smell of leather instantly filling her nose while she placed her backpack onto one of the leather couches that enclosed a small glass coffee table.

Even despite the bright daylight outside shining through the huge windows that covered the entire long wall opposite the door, Olivia struggled to keep her eyes open. As thrilled as she was to be on a getaway with her friends at her family lodge, her heavy limbs and tired muscles were a strong reminder of what they were truly here for.

"Look at this view," Nick's words came out in a sigh as he stepped toward the glass terrace door, admiring the bright blue sky surrounding the tall mountains.

"This place is insane," Ace added, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets. He made his way toward Olivia between the couches and the fireplace, while the others were focussed on the enchanting view outside the windows.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe a place this nice could have anything to do with a curse," George uttered, shaking her head in disappointment. Her words made Olivia's heart tighten a little, another reminder of what she was going through.

She snapped her head when a soft pressure was placed on her shoulder and smiled softly to see it was Nancy's. "But don't worry; we'll find a way to end this." Olivia nodded gratefully, trying to maintain her smile when all she truly believed was that she was doomed. As much as she didn't want to think that way, she couldn't help the countless doubts swimming in her brain.

"Yeah, there's got to be something here that can help us." Ace reassured, placing his hand on the small of Olivia's back. Olivia appreciated his words of comfort and Nancy's attempts at assuring her that everything would be okay, but a tight tug in her gut was telling her not to get her hopes up. Hope for the best, expect the worst. "I mean, you said that after you had that vision in your aunt's room at the hospital, you saw the mural of your family tree, right?

"Yup." Olivia turned around to point at a wide hallway to the left, where at the end, a large wooden staircase stood. Her friends' eyes followed her index finger while she spoke. "The mural's upstairs where the bedrooms are."

"Great, so that's where we'll start!" Nancy declared optimistically, forcing on a grin to build some confidence in the hopeless girl. Hesitantly, Olivia nodded before leading the way, her socks padding quietly against the wooden floor.

She led them past the big living area– the largest room in the lodge– and into a hallway where paintings were hung. The acrylic paintings were exquisite, with clear focus and effort in every detail of the facial features of every member in the Irvine bloodline. The earthly tones of green and brown matched the smooth brown wooden frames that surrounded the paintings, as well as the walls that were a lighter shade of brown. As they reached the end of the hall to where the staircase was, Olivia's eyes fluttered shut and she took in a shallow breath.

It had been years since she had been in the Irvine lodge. The last she had been here was over eight years ago, with her aunt Hillary. She had distracted her, sheltered her from the pain of her parent's divorce. Because of Hillary, not a tear had been shed and not a single thought of fear crossed little Olivia's mind. Olivia wondered if she had been any help to her aunt, in distracting her from the demons she was battling herself.

The first wooden step creaked as Olivia placed her foot onto it. She gripped onto the railing before ascending further, the sound of her friends' footsteps on the old wood making similar sounds. Their mouths, however, were zipped– silent in respect for Olivia and the pain she was enduring being at her and her aunts' sacred place, and in anxious anticipation of what they would find.

The stairs led to the second floor, smaller than the one before. From the narrow staircase, the area widened into a hallway of some of the bedrooms. It held a similar theme to the area downstairs, giving off a very mountain cabin vibe. Although the place was cold considering there being no heaters because the architecture of the place was so old and the fireplaces hadn't been turned on in almost a decade, there was still a cozy warmth to the whole lodge. Everyone could tell that once, it was home to Olivia. A place of joy, of love.

Now, it was a place of darkness and secrets.

Now, it was a place that deepened the hole in Olivia's heart, reminding her of what she had lost.

Olivia swallowed the thick lump in her throat, blinking several times to wash the tears away. She nodded her head to the left, motioning for everyone to look in the direction. A ground-to-ceiling tall square of flat wood hung up, pinned against the wall with strong steel nails. The light brown surface was engraved with art that had Olivia's friends gaping with parted lips and bedazzled eyes, dumbfounded by the talent that had gone into the work. Small outlines of mountains were carved in the background over land where a rainbow stood over them. And in the foreground, right beside the large carving of the lodge where every window and wall and point on the roof was carved with immense detail, stood a tree. Its trunk was thin but branched off into at least fifty names. "Arthur Irvine, he built this place." Olivia traced her finger over the carving of his name, at the very beginning of this tree. "There've been renovations and maintenance of course, but we owe everything we have to him." She trailed her finger to the center of the tree's trunk, where a tiny symbol was carved. "And this is the same symbol that's on the ring's box. I knew I had seen it before, I just couldn't remember."

"Well, you figured it out now. That's all that matters," Nick persuaded, patting Olivia's shoulder with his eyes still plastered onto the family tree.

"What do you think this means?" George asked, scanning over the large artwork. She turned to Nancy who had stepped forward and placed her hand onto the wood, trailing it over every marking.

"I'm not sure..." she mumbled, her eyebrows knitted together in deep thought. "There's no pushing point. It's all solid." Pursing her lips, she drew her ear toward the mural and knocked on it. "Doesn't sound like there's anything behind it either."

"Maybe there's something solid inside... like a safe or a body or something."

"A body?" George snapped her head to Bess with her face scrunched up in utter disgust.

The British lady raised her hands in exaggerated surrender. "I'm just saying! You never know."

"We could pull these out, find out." Nick shrugged, squinting to get a better look at the nails that connected the mural to the wall. He turned to Olivia with his arms folded over his chest. "You got a toolbox anywhere?"

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Olivia's eyes drooped heavily as she watched Nick carefully tear off the metal that pinned the mural to the wall. She hoped desperately that they would find their answer, that with this last nail he was pulling out, they would have a solution. So she remained stiff in her position on the carpeted floor, her legs crossed and her teeth drawing blood with how tightly they were biting onto her bottom lip. The taste of metal didn't bother her– next to her tired muscles and the dark circles around her eyes, a little bit of blood on her lip was mediocre.

"Can you go any faster?" Olivia spoke up, sounding snappier than she had intended to.

With his entire left arm pressed against the mural to keep it standing, he looked down at the girl in frustration. "Considering I'm the only one working on this huge thing with no assistance, no, Olivia, I can't go any faster," he snapped back, "unless you want me to drop and break this."

Shamefully, she slumped her shoulders and stared down at her fingers. "Sorry," she muttered, picking at the bloody skin around her thumb. "I would help but you're not letting me."

"You can barely stand, Liv," he sighed, stepping back up on the two-step ladder.

"Should I get the others to help?" She felt bad, watching him hurt his fingers, and letting her other friends search through the entire lodge to try to help her. She felt useless, sitting on the ground helplessly while her bones and muscles slowly decayed as the sands through her hourglass ran low.

"Don't worry, I got this. Almost done." His voice strained at the end when he dropped the claw hammer on the ground and lifted the mural with his bare hands. The veins in his neck protruded as he lowered the wood onto the ground, and pressed it against the wall with a sigh.

"There's nothing!" Olivia stood to her feet, her heart racing in a mixture of anger and concern.

"Hey, hey, calm down, alright? That symbol still means something." Nick climbed down from the ladder and moved toward the mural. "Maybe it's just supposed to tell us something."

"Like what, Nick?" Olivia barked, her eyes pooling with tears of fury. "It's not telling us anything other than the fact that I'm going to end up just like my aunt!"

With assertively raised eyebrows, Nick made his way directly to Olivia. He gripped onto her wrists to stop her from flailing her arms. "No, you're not. We promised you we're going to fix this, and we will."

"How?" she whimpered, shaking her head in disbelief. "This is the only place in the entire lodge that has the symbol!"

"We will figure it out, but you need to calm down first, alright?" His dark eyes pierced into hers pleadingly, forcing her to purse her lips and nod in silence as she allowed air to refill her lungs. She sucked in a shaky breath and used the palms of her head to wipe the wetness away from her cheeks.

"Hey guys, I found a cool wine cellar!" George's voice echoed from downstairs, bouncing off the wooden walls of the house.

Nick looked at Olivia with his eyebrows raised suggestively. The girl only sighed and tore her eyes away, staring at the floor. She didn't feel like relaxing– how could she? When she knew her death was just around the corner and something dark loomed in this lodge, Olivia wasn't sure she could ever relax her tense shoulders ever again. "Come on, we all need a break," Nick encouraged, lowering his head to grasp Olivia's eyes. Reluctantly, she looked back up at him and sighed before nodding, and he grinned before turning his head to the staircase and yelling back at his girlfriend. "Count us in!" It was a welcomed respite from their vigorous searching. Olivia could already feel her hope draining, and with every sip of expensive wine, the weight on her chest lessened.

Olivia's sunken eyes shot open wider when a soft weight suddenly fell into her lap. Her eyes darted between the comforting gray blanket now on her crossed legs on the floor and George. The brunette walked toward an empty spot in the circle they were all sitting in on the ground, with a blanket in her hand much like everyone else. Her head snapped back to her lap when she felt the material shifting, only to see Ace's hand reached over. He unfolded the blanket with both hands and covered her legs with it, and when he averted his gaze to her, Olivia put on the strongest smile she could manage. It appeared as more of a curl of her lip, but Ace understood the suffering her entire body was enduring.

Guilty, Olivia turned away from him, giving her undivided attention to the bottle in her hand. In the dimly lit wine cellar they were seated in, she could hardly read the label on the glass bottle. It didn't really matter; she was happy with whatever she was drinking as long as it would numb the aching in her chest and freeze the tornado of thoughts in her brain.

Nancy placed a hand on Olivia's knee to draw her attention. "Hey, are you sure your family won't mind that drinks are missing?"

The brunette almost snorted with a laugh, her eyes so ragged she could barely set them still on Nancy's. "Who cares?" she scoffed, shrugging and waving her bottle out in front of her. "And anyway, I'll be dead before my dad or my bitch of a grandmother finds out."

"Don't say that," Ace whispered, almost pleadingly. He snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her closer to his side, almost as a way to comfort and remind himself that she was still here. Olivia allowed herself to melt into his arm, but the warmth his body radiated onto her was nothing like the comfort of the big bottle of wine she was taking another big sip of.

"Let's not get too carried away– we can't be hungover while searching through the lodge tomorrow," Nancy suggested, glancing at everyone. It was clear though, who her statement was implied to with the way her eyes lingered on Olivia just a few seconds longer.

Olivia chuckled and drew the tip of the bottle to her mouth. She angled the half-empty bottle upward and filled her mouth before taking a loud gulp. She knew Nancy aimed her comment at her, but she couldn't find a nerve in her body that cared anymore. "There's no point anyway. I'm going to turn out like my aunt." She took another big sip and looked back at her friends, unable to keep her eyes focussed on just one of them.

"No, you're not," Ace grumbled, his tone heavy. He pulled his arm away from Olivia's waist, as though he was losing his temper with her.

"We're not going to let that happen," Bess agreed.

"Well, then you're wasting your time." The pitch of her voice changed with each word.

Nancy's attention drifted between Ace whose jaw was clenched tightly and Olivia who could barely control her movements. "It's getting kinda late," she said, using her hands to push herself onto her feet before she stood up. "Maybe we should all get to bed."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Nick agreed, following promptly. He extended his arm to help George up. Olivia watched through thin eyes as they all stood up one by one until she was all that was left on the ground.

"Come on, Liv," Ace held his hand out. "Put that down." The girl only rolled her eyes while she took Ace's hand, but not without her bottle in the other hand.

"Woah," she giggled, her eyes blurring slightly and her knees buckled, but Ace's hold on her was tight enough to keep her on her feet.

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself grounded while he tried to remove the wine from Olivia's hand. "Give me that."

"So bossy."

"Just put the bottle down, Liv."

She sighed before drawing it toward him, but her thumb slipped over the wine that had spilled over the sides of the neck of the bottle. She gasped as it dropped to the floor with a loud crash, and winced when the glass shattered into thousands of small and large pieces.

"Your leg!" Bess cried, pointing toward the small cut on Olivia's ankle. "Is that--"

Olivia frowned and glanced down to her feet, where broken glass lay around her with the remainder of the wine. A small gash rested right above her ankle and trickling from it, was black liquid. She blinked several times, to make sure she was seeing it clearly, and it wasn't the effects of the alcohol. But with the increased adrenaline in her veins making her heart pound uncontrollably, Olivia had sobered up enough to know what she was seeing was true. "Wh-why is my blood black?"

"It's okay, it's not a big deal," George quickly spat out, trying to calm the girl before she got sucked into a panic.

"How is that even possible?" Her voice came out in barely a whisper as she stared at her ankle.

"We'll figure it out tomorrow," Ace promised, his previous anger at her instantly washing away when he saw her eyes rim with tears. "It's probably nothing," he said through gritted teeth to try to force himself to believe it too.

Bess stepped toward the fazed girl with a hand held out. "Let me clean your wound."

Ace shook his head and wrapped his arm around Olivia. "I got it," he declared, nodding to Bess gratefully. She nodded before turning around and leaving up the creaky wooden stairs with Nancy, George, and Nick. "Here, careful." He took Olivia's hand and began guiding her out of the mess of glass beneath them, but he frowned when she tugged him back.

She pointed to the brick wall of the wine cellar, where several expensive bottles of wine were hung with nails for the aesthetic. Her eyes were frozen wide open, lips parted as she gawked in disbelief. "Look," she gasped, her lip quivering more as she tried to say more, but no words came out.

"Oh my God," Nancy whispered, trotting back down the stairs with the clanking leather boots.

"It's the symbol," she said shakily. It was carved into a single brick, at the center of the wall, right above the final row of wine bottles. Her eyes pooled with tears– of sadness, of relief. Of hope. "We have to figure out what it means. Now."

"You're so drunk you can barely stand, not to mention your foot!" George pointed at her friend's wound.

"And we're all tired," Nick added, nodding in agreement.

"It's best we start over tomorrow when we're fresh," Bess said, smiling apologetically at Olivia. "Just get some rest, okay?" She turned around and began to make her way back up the stairs, with her spirits heightened ever so slightly now that they had found another clue. The others followed closely behind, leaving only Ace and Olivia in the cellar.

"We can't just give up." Olivia looked at him helplessly, practically begging him to help her work on the mystery now.

He brushed her hair out of her face to get a better view of her eyes. "We're not giving up, Livvie. I promise you we'll work on this first thing in the morning."

He took her silence as submission before nudging her to move toward the tight flight of stairs. They climbed up out of the cellar, Ace sticking close behind her to keep the girl stable while she swayed from side to side in her drunken state, until they reached Olivia's bedroom.

Cold air immediately struck as they entered, sending a wave of tremors through Olivia's body. She scurried toward her bed, her shoulders hunched in the cold while Ace walked to the window to shut it tightly. "Thank you," Olivia mumbled, watching Ace from the bed as he walked toward her. She could barely keep her eyes open while he pulled open the drawer of the bedside table and began rummaging through the clutter of things.

"Where's the first aid kit?"

"In the bathroom," she said, nodding her head toward the ensuite to the left. She watched through droopy eyes as he disappeared behind the door. Sighing, she propped her chin onto her knees and closed her eyes, trying to wish everything, apart from herself and Ace, away. "Found it," he announced cheerfully, holding the small red bag in the air like a grand prize, in an attempt to lift Olivia's mood. He unzipped it and pulled out an alcohol spray and pack of different-sized bandaids, sitting at the edge of her bed. She grimaced as the cold alcohol stung the wound, and almost giggled when she saw Ace in almost as much pain as he sprayed more of the alcohol. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," his words rushed out urgently as he pulled his hand away, worried he had hurt her. before wrapping half of the roll of material around her ankle.

"It's okay," she giggled weakly, creeping her hand into his free one and entwining their fingers together. He gave a wan smile before beginning to wrap the bandage around her ankle. After tucking the end of the material under the first layer, he smiled gently and lifted himself up. He tugged the comforter from under Olivia's legs and covered her body with it. "Thanks, nurse Ace."

He scrunched his face up in offense. "Nurse? I'd prefer 'doctor'."

"Hey, if I'm Ophelia, then you're 'nurse'," she declared, waving her index finger in the air matter-of-factly. When Ace rolled his eyes, she chuckled and her laugh was prolonged when he joined in on the soft laughter. Unfortunately for Olivia, her exhaustion and draining thoughts didn't allow joy to ever last very long.

Upon noticing Olivia's expression drop, Ace placed his hand on her knee. "You're gonna be okay," he reassured. She nodded weakly and closed her eyes while he planted a small kiss onto her forehead. "Goodnight, Livvie." He turned around and began to walk away, trying not to let his shoulders slump with sadness until he was out of her sight. He didn't want her to feel worse than she already did.

"Please don't leave." He halted when Olivia's voice sounded from behind him in a croak. She had said it in such a quiet voice, it made his heart ache. His chin quivered at how weak and shaky her voice had been– how fragile she sounded. Her teary, pleading eyes and pale skin were even more shattering when he turned around to look at her.

"But you need to rest."

She shook her head and scooted to the center of the bed to make space for Ace. "I don't want to sleep... I don't want to have nightmares." Without a word or movement, Ace slowly began to walk toward her. He was worried if he tried to smile or frown or say a word, he would set her off. The last thing he wanted was for her to hurt more than she already was.

"I got you," he promised as he tucked in beside her, curling his arm around her neck. She closed her eyes and dropped her head onto his warm chest, smiling softly when she felt him place his chin gently on her head. "I got you," he repeated to remind her he was here, always.

"My aunt and I used to lay here all the time," she mentioned abruptly, subconsciously intertwining her fingers into Ace's. He listened closely while she spoke, in a daze while he stared at the wall in front of the queen-sized bed. "She'd tell me these stories, about her childhood friends, her school. I was always mesmerized. I always thought she had the most amazing life."

Ace nuzzled his cheek closer to her head, his lips being buried under her light hair. "I'm sure she did, no matter what happened in the end," Ace insisted, stroking the back of Olivia's hand with his thumb.

"I didn't remember much... not until today, at least," she went on, disregarding Ace's words as she got lost further into the sadness of her mind, "but now I realize- she was never happy. Not even here. I think all these summers we spent together here, she was trying to save herself from this curse." Her lip trembled so she pursed her lips, trying to force back the lump in her throat. "I loved her. More than anyone," she whispered, breaking her gaze from her hand, to look up at Ace. He looked down at her with a similar expression, his eyes glassy and lips parted ever so slightly as he took in her words. Her eyes flickered between his eyes and lips, and she barely processed her thoughts before she pushed herself up to reach his mouth for a kiss.

Her lips locked with his, and they parted momentarily as Olivia twisted her body and climbed onto his lap before slamming her mouth back onto his. Ace's hands cupped either side of her face as their lips moved along rhythmically, filling Olivia's core with an immense heat she had never felt before. It started in her abdomen and fluttered all throughout her body– to her chest, her thighs– until her arms were laced with goosebumps.

Ace moved one of his hands from her cheek to the small of her back, pulling her body closer toward him. She shuffled up his thighs until their bodies were as close as possible as she straddled him. Their bodies pressed against each other, feeling him so close to her, it sent adrenaline pulsing through her veins and a warm fluttering feeling in her core like a thousand butterflies. Her sore muscles, her broken heart, her wounded leg– they were nothing. They were mediocre, insignificant compared to the pure bliss Ace served her while their tongues danced together. It was as though nothing in the world was wrong– as though Olivia's time wasn't running out.

Her chest heaved heavily as she unlocked her arms from behind his neck and dragged them along to the collar of his shirt. Without breaking the kiss, she began to unbutton his blue shirt. Her eyes widened when she felt him place his hands on her shoulders to gently push her away from him.

"Are you sure?" He searched deeply into her eyes for an answer, as if her words wouldn't be enough. "We can wait. We don't have to right now."

"I'm sure." She slid her hand onto his soft cheek, stroking it with her thumb as she looked between his eyes and lips.

"You're- you're drunk... and sad-- you're not in the right state of mind."

"There's nothing I want more right now. You're the only person that ever makes me feel okay," she whispered, inching her face closer to Ace's, her warm breath sending shivers of desperation through his body. He allowed her to plant her lips onto his once more, continuing where they left off with synchronized tongues and heaving chests.

Olivia panted as she fumbled with each of his shirt buttons until she reached the last one, right above the waistband of his jeans. She trailed her long nail along the skin under his belly button, making him groan at her tease, before pulling the shirt down his arms to leave him shirtless.

Her stomach burned when she felt his cold fingers through her tank top trail down to the hem. He curled it upward and lifted it off her body with ease, before running his calloused fingers up and down her back. She trembled and threw her head back when she felt them trail from her lower back to her bare collar bones and up to her shoulders. When his index fingers reached her bra straps and tugged them down her shoulder, she couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips in the middle of their kiss. He reached his hands behind her back and unhooked her bra, allowing it to drop down behind her, onto his slightly bent knees. His tongue flickered over his bottom lip as his eyes took her in, how beautiful she was, how she was willing to be his. He wanted nothing more than to be hers.

His lips moved from hers and then to her cheek. She threw her head back in pleasure, enjoying the warm sensations he was bringing her as he lowered his mouth to her neck, to her collar bone, then lower and lower as he went down to the rest of her body.

No one had ever made her feel so beautiful, so safe when she herself didn't believe she was.

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OMFGGGG I SHIP THEM SO MUCH