Chapter 1: Welcome to the House

In a little town, where the closest neighbor is five miles away, there rests a white Victorian-style home. For a long time, it was empty. Then a young writer and her friend moved in, and the house seemed to change overnight. A new paint job made the house seem bright and happy, the stairs and porches were replaced, and a new fence surrounded the entire property line. A pool seemed to appear overnight followed by an unattached garage built for five cars and a shed holding all sorts of tools.

The little tower on the left side of the home had a single story added to it, making it stand proudly above the house. Brown, broken roofing was replaced by a lovely silver, and the inside was transformed as well. Rooms were added or redesigned, and before too long, a home that once had only eight bedrooms could easily house fourteen comfortably. Soon after the rebuild, more people began to move in.

“Would you cut that racket out?” the Author shouted, chucking a book at the door to her tower. She could hear people giggling just outside her door, and she knew immediately who it was without bothering to check. Three pairs of feet could be heard stomping down the stairs, and she rubbed at her temples with a low groan. “Why the hell did I even bring those three?” she muttered.

Those three she referred to were Tasha, Ducky, and Bill. Tasha and Ducky were twins, and they were humans, though Ducky’s name might suggest she were an animal of some sort. Bill was their half-brother who claimed to have a different mom than Tasha and a different dad than Ducky. No one understood this considering the two girls were twins and therefore shared a mother and a father. But Bill stuck to his story, and no one really wanted to argue with a guy who also insisted he was part duck.

On the other side of the house, the Hermit was having her own problems. Having a lot of people in one house was entertaining, but it was a lot of work too. The Author and she had been friends for a long time, only just recently meeting in person to discover they had the gift of life—bringing their characters to life. While the two had discussed who to bring out, the Hermit was busy designing the character sketch of a new character.

Alex, one of the Hermit’s characters, pushed open the unlocked door and grinned at the young woman working diligently at her desk. Walking on silent feet, she reached the other woman’s chair and tugged on the hood of the red cape.

“Hey!” The Hermit grabbed at the cape, whirling around to glare at her creation. “You know the rules. No one’s ever seen the Author or the Hermit, and you are not going to be the first.” She shoved the younger woman toward the door. “Out! I’m busy!”

“Aw, but Hermy, there’s nothing to do here, and the rules specifically state we can’t leave without one writer or the other in attendance.” Alex crossed her arms over her chest, her lower lip jutting out.

“Then go bug Aiden.”

Aiden was one of the Author’s characters, but where Alex was chatty, bubbly, and quite a bit crazy, Aiden was silent, shy, and altogether a loner. He could often be found hiding in a closet when the Author was yelling at Tasha, Ducky, and Bill. Alex, on the other hand, would laugh at the Trio’s antics and occasionally join them.

“If I try to bug Aiden, he’ll freak out or hide in a closet or something!” Alex objected, but she left the room anyway, and the Hermit slammed the door behind her.

“Maybe we should’ve started with just one or two,” she muttered, scribbling in a special kind of notebook designed to send messages just like a cell phone.

The Author received the message on her end and sent back her reply: “I agree. Let’s start by killing off the Trio.”

Chuckling, the Hermit shook her head and returned to her new character sketch.