Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2 (20 page)

I sat under the gazebo, looking up at the manor. How had I not noticed this before? I had probably
been so distracted by the beautiful flowers and animals that I hadn't been paying attention.
“One, two, three.” I said out loud to myself counting the windows up from the ground floor.
There were only three levels above the ground level. The swimming pool, kitchens and ballroom
were on the ground level. Dining room, library and Cam's rooms were on the first floor. Then there
was my bedroom and the sewing room on the second, which lead up to the third floor which was
where all the
'fallen'
lived. I looked up again at the third level, above that was the roof. There was
no fourth level. Alex was telling the truth. So what did the elevator lead up to? The roof? The only
way I would find out for sure would be to take the elevator and that wasn't an option just yet. I had
been keeping tabs on who guarded the elevator near my bedroom and for how long. The guards had
change overs during the day and night. During one of these change overs in the afternoon the guard
would be gone and a new guard would appear with a sandwich. This lasted approximately twenty
minutes and during this time the elevator was left completely unattended. I had been parked out on
a long bench near my bedroom, pretending to be reading and studying. I had however caught up on
all of my homework. Each level had an elevator entrance which was guarded. I had spent some time
on each level taking notes of the different guards and change over times. Lucky for me the guard on
my level seemed to be a little lax. If Cam knew the elevator was being left unattended for twenty
minutes someone would probably lose their job. Or worse. It had been a long three days sitting on a
hard wooden bench. I had bought half of my bedding out to make it more comfortable for me.
During the three days I'd only spoken to Senka once and told him I was going to be busy studying
and he said he had work so it worked out well for both of us. It still felt like torture, I would have
much preferred to be upstairs. Kenzie had dropped by a few times and we'd seen each other at
dinner. I had the feeling he knew I was up to something.
Cam was back but I'd only seen him at dinner each evening. He was quiet and didn't have much to
say. Grayson usually kept the conversation going with some random topic. Last night it was all
about honey bees.
There must be a way to get onto the roof?
I had to make sure I wasn't going crazy. After lunch I
went up to the third level and tried my best not to run into Senka or Alex. I was looking for
anything that looked like a door that would lead up to the roof. I had been up here so many times,
but paying attention to the doors was not what I had on my mind each time.
I peeked round the games room door and saw Senka. He was drinking a beer standing at the
window. He had his hand in his pocket and looked thoughtful staring out over the gardens. I wanted
to go over to him so badly but then I wouldn't ever find the door which was the reason I came up
here in the first place. I slowly walked passed the bedroom doors inspecting them all carefully, but
they all looked like bedrooms. This was no good I would never find it. I was still walking along the
corridor when a door covered in band posters opened and a friendly face stepped out.
“Hey Ruby,” Jack said, turning back to lock his door.
“Hi Jack,”
“Senka's in the games room.”
“I know.”
“Okay, well I gotta go. Have a good day.”
“You too....oh Jack,”
“Yep.” he said spinning back around to face me.
“Don't suppose you know where the door to the roof is?”
“Why do you wanna know?”
“I wanted to do some painting. I thought being up high, I would be able to see more of the
landscape.”
“Cool. Yeah it's the one with the yellow tape. Fifth door from the end on that side,” he said pointing.
“But you need the master key.”
“Thanks.” I said as he walked away.
He walked to the end of the corridor and turned left. I looked around to make sure no one was
watching me, then I crept to the edge of the wall and carefully peeked around the corner. Jack was
already at the other end of the corridor, chatting to the guard at the elevator.
I watched as he pushed the up button. The elevator door slid open after a few seconds wait. He
walked in and pressed a button on the inside and the doors closed and the elevator went up.
Downstairs I hovered around near the kitchens, there were the usual servants. One of the girls was
on her hands and knees washing the floor, one was adding ingredients to a mixing bowl and the
other girl, Katie was cleaning the surfaces down. Shelley was nowhere to be seen. I had seen lots of
different keys hanging on hooks near the back door, I only hoped the master key would be there as
well. I casually walked into the kitchen and picked up a couple of grapes from the bowl. Each girl
looked up briefly to acknowledge me but soon went back to their chores. I walked through the arch
way and into the back entrance way. The cobblestone floor was uneven and a line of Wellington
boots and girls slip on sandals were lined up along the wall. Anoraks and waterproofs were hung up
covering most of the wall. I rattled the stable door and opened and closed it, pretending I was going
outside. I left it slightly ajar and crept quietly back to the other side of the archway. The keys were
hung up on hooks, most of which were labelled.
Garage door 1, Garage door 2.
There were many garage door keys
. Swimming Pool Room, Cottage
1, Cottage 2, Cottage 3.
I skipped over the rest of the cottage keys and continued along the hooks.
Wine Cellar, Master Key. Bingo!
I quickly grabbed the key wrapping my hand around it so it
wouldn't knock against the wall. There were three other master keys, hopefully no one would notice
I had taken this one. I slipped the key inside the cup of my bra just as something black pushed its
way through the bottom half of the stable door.
One of Cam's dogs had noticed the open door. It had a blue collar on so I knew it wasn't one of the
girl dogs. Storm and Jetta usually wore pink and yellow. The dog came straight over to me sniffing
my hand for food. I quietly shooed him away and sent him in the direction of the kitchen. No sooner
had he disappeared around the corner I heard a terrible smashing sound.
“Cyan no. Get out!” one of the girls shouted.
I used it as my distraction to slip out the back door. I ran back passed the kitchens ducking down
along the windows.
I cautiously stepped off the last step onto the third floor. Two of the boys were playing with a ping
pong ball along the corridor trying to make the shot into the cup at the end. I hurried passed them
trying to stay to the edge and out of their way. I walked passed Senka's door which now had loud
music playing on the other side. I ran to the end and kept going until I reached the door with the
yellow tape. It looked like police tape and had the words
'CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS'
written
across the front. I looked both ways to make sure no one was watching before I reached down my
dress and pulled out the key. I slid it into the lock and turned. It clicked and the door creaked as I
pushed it open. I cringed at how loud it was creaking. Inside was dark and I could see the outline of
steps. I quickly closed it again and stood in complete darkness. There had to be a light switch
somewhere. I felt around the walls but couldn't find anything. Then something tickled my head. I
freaked out a little and started swatting the air above my head, thinking it was a spider. My hand hit
what felt like a piece of string.
Hmm I wonder.....
I pulled the sting and a small light bulb lit up and dangled above my head. The
staircase led up to another wooden door. I held onto the small wooden railing along one side,
carefully placing my feet on each step.
The stairs were narrow and creaked loudly under my weight. The top door was locked when I tried
the handle. I really hoped this master key worked on this door as well otherwise I'd have to go back
downstairs looking for a
'roof door key'
. Thankfully I heard the lock click as I turned the key. I
carefully opened the door not knowing what to expect on the other side. The warm sun poured over
my face and arms as I stepped outside. My foot nudged something. I looked down and saw a piece
of triangular wood. I wedged it under the door and walked around the roof. There was nothing up
here. All I could see was a pair of deck chairs and a few empty bottles littering the floor and fag
ends scattered everywhere.
Definitely no fourth level up here.
So where did the elevator go to when it went up? This was beyond confusing. I walked to the edge
of the building. The roof had a crenelated tooth shape wall running along the whole length of it,
which was nearly the same height as me. I stood up on my tip toes holding onto the wall and looked
through one of the gaps. All I saw was the gardens and the cottages. Nothing out of the ordinary. I
looked around puzzled by the empty roof. I had to find out where the elevator went to. Which meant
I had to actually take the elevator to the next level. I walked around zigzagging all over the roof
trying to come up with some reasonable explanation for all of this. But I kept coming up with
nothing. I looked up at the sky. Today was turning out to be too hot, the atmosphere felt as though
all the air had been sucked out. Yesterday had been slightly duller with a few brief showers which
was bearable. This was not. I felt like I was starting to bake just standing out here.
“What are you doing up here?” a familiar deep voice said behind me.
I lowered my eyes and focused on an empty beer bottle trying to come up with something clever to
say. But nothing sprang to mind. I spun around and smiled.
“It was a bit hot inside. I needed some fresh air.”
“Really? It feels hotter out here.” Senka said. He didn't look mad but he didn't look too pleased
either.
“Hmm, maybe...” I replied. He was watching me closely. He knew I was lying.
“How did you get up here?”
I shrugged. “Door was open.”
“No it wasn't.” he walked over to me and looked at my hand that was balled up holding the key.
He held his hand out for the key and I hesitantly placed it on his palm. He looked at me but didn't
say anything. I quickly started walking back to the door.
“Hey! You finished with all that homework now?” he asked. I looked back at him and nodded. “Do
you wanna hang out for a bit. I have to leave in an hour.”
“Sure.”
We sat on the games room floor playing cards for the next hour. Rummy, which was the only game I
could actually beat Senka at. He normally let me win everything else. Poole, darts, air hockey even
'guitar hero'
he would win hands down. It made me wonder how long he'd actually spent up here
playing games. Senka never asked me what I was doing on the roof and he didn't ask me where I'd
got the key from. He put it in his back pocket and never said another word about it.
Senka left for work and I resumed my position on the bench near my bedroom. Pretending to read a
geometry book. I had no idea what it was actually about I only knew the title had the word
'geometry'
in it. Grayson had given it to me today, slowly introducing me to another mind boring
subject I would never use.
The clocks chimed 5 o'clock. Dinner would be served in one hour. I had my notebook opened up
inside the geometry book. I'd made a chart of the different hours and names of the guards standing
outside the elevator for each hour. I scribbled
Oliver
into the space next to 5pm. The same as
yesterday. Oliver was an older teen that liked to use too much hair gel for that slicked back look. He
wore a smart red waist coat and black trousers and reminded me of a hotel doorman. He took over
from Teddy. Teddy was short with curly black hair that had been cut short to maintain the curls. He
had brown eyes and a face full of freckles and looked about twelve if I was being really honest but
he was probably around sixteen. The change over took place at 1.30pm. Well it had for the last two
days and today. I had missed the first day as I'd been checking out the different guards on the other
levels. So the plan for tomorrow was to sit here minding my own business until Teddy left. Then I
would take the elevator during the twenty minute time period and see what was up there and
quickly get back down here before anyone noticed. So realistically I had between ten to fifteen
minutes to get up there and back down again, which seemed like long enough. But I still needed to
get a watch to keep track of time.
“What ya doing?” Kenzie asked plopping himself down next to me.
“Homework. Just the usual boring stuff.” I said carefully flipping the notebook shut.
“Is this your bed?” he asked leaning back against my pillow.
“Yes it is. I like it out here, the lighting is nice and there's a lovely cool breeze along here. It feels so
much cooler.”
“What's wrong with your bedroom? You could open your balcony doors?”
“There was a bee. I think it was stalking me.”
“Stalking you,” he laughed. “For what? Some of that famous Ruby blood nectar to take back to his
realm of blood bees. Cups, bees are harmless.”
“Well you didn't see him, he had it in for me. I left the door open so he should leave soon.”
Kenzie bent over and re-tied his laces. Today he was wearing his
Joker Converse
hi-tops that he'd
matched with a cute little
Lego Joker
watch, that was probably meant for children but Kenzie had
small wrists so he could fit anything on them.
“Hey, do you think I could borrow a watch?”
He leaned back up. “What for?”
“To keep track of time. Obviously.” I said laughing.
Kenzie looked over at the large grandfather clock that was closest to us.
“Isn't that what the gazillion clocks are for?” he asked smiling.
“Well yeah but....um....never mind.” I hadn't thought that through entirely.
“Ruby I'm joking. Here take this one.” he said undoing his watch.
“I can't take that one. It's one of your favourites.”
“It's cool. I have other watches.”
“But I don't want to break it.”
“You won't. Not unless you stand on it.” he joked already strapping it on my wrist.
I looked at the watch then at the large clock nearest me.