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𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐏 𝐉𝐀𝐁 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 and he found himself laying in a surprisingly familiar place. The first thing his dark brown eyes met when they fluttered open was a large chandelier hanging twenty feet above his head, the crystal gems dripping from the ceiling like rain drops. As he craned his neck to the left, he found two sets of marble staircases that wound around each other like the Caduceus serpents until they stopped right next to his head. Sunlight soaked the grand foyer, making the golden frames lining the beige walls glow; the paintings they held within basking in the warmth that seeped through their canvases.

He was home.

"Have a nice nap?" a voice asked.

Luc's head snapped to the right where he found a woman standing over him in a navy blue pencil skirt with a matching jacket. The bright sunlight blocked her face from his vision, forcing him to cover his eyes with his hand in order to make out her features. As his eyes adjusted and her face became clearer, he quickly recognized her as his childhood nanny: Doreen Dupont.

"I did, actually," Luc answered, folding his hands behind his head and stretching his legs out across the marble floor.

Doreen took a step forward and Luc's eyes were immediately drawn to the pointy-toed kitten heels she was wearing on her feet. His hand instinctively rubbed his side once he realized that they were the culprit for his sudden awakening.

"Well, I'm glad you're getting some nice rest and relaxation while I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off," Doreen retorted.

Doreen extended her hand out towards Luc to help him up and he hesitantly took it. Part of him almost expected his hand to pass right through hers, like a ghost. Although he wasn't sure who the ghost was in this situation. Something felt off...although he couldn't quite pinpoint what. His forehead began to throb when he thought too hard about it and he winced at the sudden and intense pain. 

"What have you done to yourself?" Doreen frowned after noticing the pained expression on Luc's face. She immediately began to prod his face with her fingers, stretching herself onto her toes to see better. But even doing so, the top of her head still barely reached his chin.

"I'm going to get you some Star Grass Salve," she suddenly announced after her analysis, turning on her heel and heading towards the kitchen pantry.

"I'm fine, Doreen," Luc called after her, picking up his pace to meet her surprisingly fast strides. She either didn't hear him or elected to ignore him, as she continued on her path out of the grand foyer and into a small hallway that led to the kitchen. Luc just barely caught up in time to watch her disappear through a door at the end of the hallway, re-emerging quite suddenly with a silver star-shaped tin in her hands.

Ignoring Luc's continued protests, Doreen opened the tin to reveal a slimy green substance and began to vigorously lather it across his forehead. Despite the interesting appearance, the concoction did feel nice on his skin, offering a cool feeling and a surprisingly pleasant scent that consisted of forest, rain, lavender, coffee, and cinnamon.

To test the salve, Luc summoned thoughts of the strangeness that had settled on him moments before, but the same pain re-emerged. However, this time he was able to cover the pain with a poker face out of fear that Doreen would use the whole pantry on him.

"Better?" Doreen asked.

"Better," Luc lied.

With a triumphant smile and a curt nod, Doreen once more turned on her heel and headed down the hallway back towards the grand foyer with a speed that was incredibly surprising for her size and age. Luc followed her, veering left and right as she navigated the magnificent Darcey mansion to the living room at the heart of the house.

Doreen waved her wand across the room and chanted, "Tergeo!" The spell caused all the dust in the room to spiral from the surfaces up to the ceiling where it gradually disappeared.

"Do you know when my parents will be home?" Luc asked, settling onto the mint green couch after Doreen finished readjusting the tasseled pillows. 

"Oh, dear, you know how they are," Doreen sighed. She flashed him a comforting smile before turning to use the scouring charm on the floor-to-ceiling windows to make the glass shine. "I'm sure they'll come home soon. I wouldn't worry about it."

Luc nodded his head solemnly. He appreciated Doreen's kindness but he knew the real answer: his parents were off somewhere across the world and he'd be lucky if he even caught a glimpse of them in the next couple weeks.

As Luc sat on the couch trying to recall the last time he had seen his parents, the strange feeling crept up his spine and sent goosebumps down his arms. He felt his eyes begin to water and he blinked to clear the tears away but he was startled when his entire surroundings shifted in the split second he shut his eyes. 

Luc's hands gripped tightly onto the couch cushions as he settled back into his reality in the living room of his home, but for a brief moment, he swore he had been somewhere else: a dark basement filled with seven bodies strewn across the cracked cement floor. But what was even scarier than the image was the feeling it elicited; it felt familiar. 

"Are you okay?" Doreen's voice snapped Luc out of his stupor and his eyes raced around the room until they found her standing directly in front of him.

"Y-yeah," Luc stammered, still trying to calm his racing heart. "Fine."

A.S.

Just as Luc was beginning to calm down, this thought struck him from out of nowhere and rattled his bones. He dropped his head into his lap and pressed his hands against the sides of his head. A fierce pain blazed across his temples and rapidly worsened. But somehow, despite the agonizing ache ripping his brain to shreds, Luc's attention was drawn to something else.

Everything had become eerily cold, quiet, and dark. 

When Luc looked up, the living room no longer looked how he remembered it. A darkness had settled upon the space, pressing up against the windows and blocking out the sunshine. Everything felt too big and too small at the same time, like the room was growing and shrinking around him. Doreen was nowhere in sight.

"Luc," a raspy voice whispered from near his feet.

Luc jumped from the couch and fell to the floor, scrambling along the cold marble floor until he had distanced himself from the voice. His chest heaved in and out as his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. When his eyes finally cut through the gloom, the first thing he noticed was blood.

Dark red handprints were smeared across the floor, creating a trail that started near a lump lying in the darkness and leading to him. Luc strained his eyes to see what it was but it was too dark to make out. 

"Luc," the voice called out again, but this time it was familiar. 

"Doreen!" Luc shouted, pushing himself to his knees and crawling towards her voice. It didn't take long for him to figure out what the lump in the darkness was.

"Doreen!" Luc cried, kneeling over Doreen's body. There was blood all over her but he couldn't tell where it was coming from, only that it was hers. Her light blue eyes peered through her partially-closed lids, begging for life. 

Luc moved to place a hand on Doreen's pale cheek but before he could touch her, his hands recoiled when he noticed a darkness painted across them. It was blood. Doreen's blood. 

Had he done this?

"A lesson, boy," a new voice rasped from the opposite side of the room, causing Luc's heart to skip a beat. "Of what's to come."

Luc's head snapped towards the source and he found a man standing in the corner, a pale glow just barely lighting his ghastly features. He had straggly red hair, sunken skin beneath his eyes, and a gray striped uniform with a number stitched onto a patch across the right breast. But the most intriguing part of all was the black ink sketched into the skin on the man's inner left forearm. It depicted a snake looping in and out of a skull, rippling and waving across the man's pale skin: the Dark Mark.

"W-who are you?" Luc stammered. "W-what are you talking about?" 

"Leave it alone," the man growled, his features shifting into a contorted grimace. 

"Leave what alone?" Luc snapped angrily. 

"A.S.!" the man shouted, taking a menacing step towards Luc and Doreen. 

Luc opened and closed his mouth in shock before furrowing his brows and pushing a new question out from between his gritted teeth: "Did you do this?" 

The man just smiled, showcasing an array of black and gold teeth, before the darkness thickened and blocked the man and everything else in the room from Luc's sight.

A last message from the strange man was the only thing to penetrate the inky blackness: "Miss Peacock sends her regards."

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A/N: I wrote this while watching the new Conjuring movie with my roommate so apologies if it's a little spookier haha. On a slightly unrelated note, I'm super proud of myself because I got through an entire horror movie without getting scared! I used to be such a chicken when it came to scary stuff (which is quite ironic given that my birthday is Halloween), but I've gotten so much better over the years! Do you guys like horror movies/stories?

The next chapter will be about Miss Peacock!