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"Reverse Falls. You'll see everything here." The boy gave a snort as he paused to read the sign signalling that they were about to arrive at their destination. "Sister dear, remind me why we're doing this again." He asked the girl sitting next to him, who was idly throwing her favourite pair of butterfly knives in the air and catching them.
"Don't be silly, Mason. It doesn't suit you." She said, rolling her eyes. "But, for your information, it's because our lovely parents are dead," Belle winked, "and we now need to stay with our pathetic Uncle Stanley. Or would you prefer living in an orphanage?" She wrinkled her nose.
"Don't blame me. We'd only have to spend a year there anyways." Mason stretched his legs further, poking Belle's left thigh with his sock-clad toes. "At least they left us everything."
"True." She began to hum a tune in sync with the whistling sounds of metal.
Slowly, after the car had jerked to a halt, the partition began to slide down.
"Master Mason and Miss Mabelline? We're here." The dark haired driver gave them a thumbs up.
In a flash, Belle was up from her seat. "What did we talk about, Robert?" She asked in a honey-sweet voice.
"S-sorry, Mi-Miss Belle." He whispered, thoroughly conscious of the knife near his throat.
"Belle, stop tormenting poor Robert." Mason gently placed a hand on her arm. "Let's go."
Huffing under her breath to the tones of what sounded like 'no fun', 'wasn't going to scar him anyway', she followed her brother to an extremely large tent. On it was a large sign that read "Welcome to the Tent of Telepathy!" in a flowy handwriting.
Mason snapped his fingers, "Robert, if you could be so kind as to retrieve our luggage..."
"O-of course, Master Mason." The brunette watched emotionless as he scurried off.
"Spineless worm." Belle sneered at his back. "If we cut him open, would he even have vertebrae?"
"KIDS!" An old man wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt with a flowery pattern stepped out of the tent. "Welcome to Reverse Falls!"
"Great-Uncle Stanley." Mason dipped his head in acknowledgement.
"Hi Grunkle Lee!" Belle said, waving her hand, all previous traces of macabre intention gone.
"Oh look at you two! All grown up." Lee wiped a tear from his eye and stepped forward to grab the twins in a hug. "The last time I saw you, you were in diapers!"
Belle could feel her brother tense under the touch as her fingers twitched. She firmly hugged Lee back, content in the knowledge that he now had a bruised rib thanks to her.
"Sorry about that, Grunkle Lee. Mason's not the hugging type." She faux whispered.
Mason just gave a shrug when Lee concernedly looked at him.
"Ahem, Master Mason?" Robert coughed, drawing attention to the boxes and suitcases he had stacked near the entrance of the tent.
"Ah, thank you, Robert." Mason's lips quirked. Why Robert tensed under his gaze was a mystery.
Belle quickly grabbed a few boxes, stacking them in her arms. Mason followed with their suitcases.
"Oh, and Great-Uncle Lee? I hope you don't mind that Robert will be coming with us for the day."
"Not staying? Why, I'd be delighted to have him with us!"
"He has family here, Grunkle Lee!" Belle chirped. "His parents live in the town."
"My-my father's a gynecologist and my mother is an obstetrician." Robert hesitantly added.
"You mean that the Doctors Corduroy are your parents?" Lee chuckled. "Greg and I meet up every weekend with friends for a drink! He speaks highly of you, young man."
"T-Thanks Mr. Gleeful." Robert bashfully rubbed his head.
"Robbie, a little help would be appreciated!" Belle called out from inside the tent.
"Y-yes Miss Belle."
"So," Lee asked in way of conversation, "you're their butler or something?"
"Um, no, Mr. Gleeful, I was the Gleefuls driver, sir." Robbie chuckled.
"Sheesh, kid, don't make me feel old! It's Lee, not Mr. Gleeful." Lee dramatically put a hand to his chest.
"S-sorry Lee."
"Hah! It's fine kiddo." Lee patted his back. "We can just store all of this junk here in my office, and then take the limo to the Mansion. It'll be fun, showing the kids around!"
Robbie's eyes widened. "You have a mansion here too?"
"My brother and I bought it a couple decades ago." Something was off about his laugh. Robbie chose not to dwell on it.
"Awesome!"
Once all the boxes were stacked in a corner of Lee's office, he clapped his hands. "Okay kids, who wants to see the town?!"
"Yay!" Belle pumped her fist in the air.
Mason shrugged. "Sure."
"Leave, leave the bags here, Mason. We'll be back after I show you around town."
"Erm, Robbie? You can come with if you'd like!" Belle shyly asked. "I mean, only if you want to of course! You can stay here and rest if you want."
"Um, no Miss Belle. I-I'm good to tag along." He replied, a bit bewildered. Why was Mabelline acting so nice towards him? Her personality did a complete 180 the moment she stepped into Reverse Falls.
"Oh, nonsense. From now on, it's just Belle and Mason!" She threw an arm around her brother.
Mason looked mildly inconvenienced at the limb, but tolerated it none the same. "Fine. Let's go then."
"I'll drive." Lee grinned.
Half an hour later, Robbie's stomach cursed him for ever allowing Stanley to drive.
"Woohoo! That was fun! You should drive more, Grunkle Lee." Belle giggled.
"Y-yeah, totally, Lee."
Mason rolled his eyes and whispered, "You truly are a maniac, sister."
Belle just winked.
"This is your room, kiddos!" Stan opened the large doors with a flourish.
The room was spacious, with French windows and a balcony beyond. Mason could already see the stars peeking through the fading daylight. The walls were painted with a creamish-blue shade, and a crystal chandelier hung from the high ceilings. There was a large bookshelf to one side of the room, while the other end had a king-sized four poster bed. Tastefully done paintings were hung and pots of plants were placed at strategic points, giving the room a vaguely lived-in look.
"Great-Uncle Lee? Do Belle and I still have to share a room? The manor is huge, isn't it?" A perfectly arched eyebrow was raised.
"Well, Mason my boy, I didn't have much time to clean another room. I'll get someone to start on it right away, but I'm afraid it will take a few days." Lee fidgeted with his hands. Those eyes, they reminded him of St- of someone he'd rather forget.
"Aw, want to get rid of me already?" Belle pouted, laying a palm on Mason's chest.
"Hardly, Belle. But I think that it's time we have our own space, hm?" Mason challenged.
"This room's large enough to share."
"Oh, you'd know everything about sharing, wouldn't you, sister dear?"
"Um, I'll leave you two to unpack." Lee nervously said and slinked away. "Come down for dinner once you're done." He did not want to be in the middle of a twin fight.
"Ugh, finally!" Belle groaned, flopping into the sofa near the door, dragging Mason down with her. "I thought he'd never leave!"
"There, there, Belle."
"CPS would have been better. Do you know how hard it is to keep smiling throughout the day?!"
"Why did you choose to go with the cheerful route then?" He spat out the word like it had personally offended him.
"It felt like the right act to play. You're already the silent one."
"Robbie though? Seriously?! I wanted to throw him from the car and run him over before we came here."
"He's the only one in this town who knows us from Piedmont." Belle seriously said, looking her brother dead in the eye. "I don't want him spreading rumors."
Mason hummed in agreement and abruptly stood up. Ignoring Belle's threats of him to come back and keep being her cushion, he headed for his suitcase.
Opening the flaps, he carefully took out a small pouch from a hidden zipper.
Belle breathed in relief. "Is that-?"
"The Amulets." Mason nodded. He took out a metal box from within the cloth and tapped it four times. It glowed with a teal light and opened with a soft snick.
"Gimme mine!" A hand darted out quicker than a snake striking, holding it's prize in it's open palm. Belle placed her amulet on her headband and began to chant, "Annecto, Adnecto, Adiungo!" A bright glow surrounded her and lifted her a few meters into the air before abruptly dropping her onto the black marble tiled floor. "Ow." She rubbed her head.
"My turn." Mason smirked. Taking out his amulet, he simply tied it around his neck with a piece of string, not bothering to fuse it to a piece of clothing like Belle had done.
"The string is enchanted to never break or be untied by any one other than me." He patiently explained at Belle's skeptical look. "Do you want to use the washroom first, or should I go?"
"I'll go first. Don't do anything stupid." Belle brushed past him and unzipped her suitcase to grab a change of night clothes and a towel.
"I'm 17, not an idiot." Mason sighed, not wanting to have this conversation again.
"Whatever. You owe me a foot massage."
Finally, some peace and quiet, he thought as he heard his sister's footsteps receding, and the click as the bathroom door shut. Mason took in a deep breath and let it out.
The reality of their situation finally settled in. Their parents were gone. Mason wasn't sure how to feel about that. On one hand, he was relieved. They couldn't touch him or Belle now. On the other hand... he- he was scared. Scared of what would happen if anyone connected the dots. Would him and Belle be thrown in jail? They were still, technically minors when it happened.
He flopped onto the rather comfortable bed, looking up the ceiling. The chandelier was indeed beautiful, light bouncing off of it's crystals in a rather mesmerizing manner.
His eyes began to flutter shut as he drifted off.
Mason blearily opened his eyes, squinting against the sudden light that fell on his face.
"You're up, I see."
"Belle." He sleepily muttered and borrowed deeper into her lap.
"I told Lee you're too tired to come down for dinner, so I brought a plate up for you, brother mine." Belle's voice was impossibly soft as she carded her fingers through Mason's hair.
"Shoulda 'oken me up."
"I didn't want to disturb you, Mace." Belle's hand gently traced her brother's unique birthmark. The Big Dipper. "Go to sleep." She received no response. Realizing that Mason had fallen asleep, she pressed a light kiss to his forehead. "Sweet dreams, brother."
Silently picking up her phone from the table next to the bed, she plugged in her pair of earphones. She'd missed an episode of Ducktective. Time to catch up.