Chapter 3: Of Books and Melted Locks

Aiden nervously rubbed his arm. He was familiar with the book that Alex was referring to. Personally, he was a big fan of books, and that book had been particularly one that was something he would enjoy. Looking at the door, he sighed and finally walked over and opened it. "Um... we could go talk in my room if you want," he offered. He still eyed her warily, curious about the "melting" comment.

Alex grinned at him. "Are you sure you trust me in your room?" His shocked, wide-eyed expression almost made her laugh until she realized she'd probably scared and confused him. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Come on," she said, standing and offering out her hand to help him stand and step out of the closet.

He still looked wary, but he accepted her hand and led her down the hallway to his room. Pulling out the skeleton key, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, letting Alex step in before him. The room was similar to a bachelor pad. The living area included a rather large kitchenette complete with fridge, microwave, and stove. In the living room was a large, 42" TV with an R2D2 XBox 360. Beneath the TV, a collection of movies were neatly stacked in the TV stand. Both walls were covered with bookshelves, which appeared to be filled with plenty of books to last anyone a decent amount of time. There was a door in the left wall and a door in the right wall.

"Geeze, how'd you get lucky enough to earn a whole damn apartment to yourself?" Alex muttered, looking around and glancing at Aiden with only a small twinge of jealousy.

Aiden's cheeks flushed, and he ducked his head, nervously rubbing at his arm. "Th-the Author said I needed a kitchen because she knew I wouldn't come down to eat. I-I thought everyone else had rooms like this too."

"Nope, you must just be special," Alex said with a grin, sitting down on the couch. "So, tell me about the book. How was it?"

Aiden pulled the book off of one of the bookshelves. It looked like it had been read recently; the binding was bent, and pages appeared to have been doggy-eared. "It was... nice. I-I liked it," he admitted, holding it out to her.

"You're doing homework here?" she asked, shocked.

"Well, I just... 'cause I don't know if... or when... I might leave this... house. So, I decided to keep up on my studies."

“So, your parents must be hard asses as far as grades, huh?”

He flinched, nervously rubbing his arm. “My… my mom died when I was born,” he whispered, “and my dad doesn’t… Uh, he likes for me to have high grades.”

Alex’s interest was piqued. “You don’t like to talk about family.”

“Well, what about you?” Aiden snapped, taking a step back and nervously rubbing his arm. “We all have secrets here at the House. The writers say we’re safe here.”

“Okay, okay,” she sighed, holding up her hands. “You’re right. Well, at least you have a dad, right? I don’t have either one.”

Aiden flinched again. “Y-yeah, sure.”

----

Meanwhile, in another part of the House, the Author was scribbling away frantically, just like the Hermit. With Alex now keeping an eye on Aiden, the Author felt comfortable enough to release another of her wild characters on the House. Besides, it kept Tasha, Bill, and Ducky entertained enough to stay out of her hair when she introduced new characters. Her latest character? A young man named Kelsey with fire-red hair and blue eyes, a physical manifestation of the powers he hid inside, was going to be next on her list to bring out into the House.

Glancing at the notebook she shared with the Hermit, she quickly wrote, "I'm almost done with Kelsey. Should I bring him out now, or wait until Alex and Aiden have gotten a bit more cozy?"

The Hermit sighed, looking over the message. "I think we should wait just a little bit longer. I'm almost done with Mac too, but I still want to see how Alex and Aiden are going to get along before we bring in more."

The Author nodded, setting down her pen and leaning back in her chair. "All right then."

Turning her head, she looked over at a photograph on the wall, lowering her hood. Her long, auburn hair and soft, brown eyes matched the young woman in the photograph, though her face was creased with stress compared to the bright, happy image in the picture. Holding her was a young man with black hair and dark brown eyes. He had olive skin, and his smile seemed more nervous than the Author's. Reaching out to touch the young man's image, a small, sad smile crossed her face.

"I miss you, Edgar," she whispered.

Chapter 2: Closets are not for people

The Trio was alright, and Alex didn't mind talking to Marina, but she decided the Hermit had a good idea. Seeing that the three hooligans were busy, she decided to go looking for Aiden.

"Aiden... Oh, Aiden... Where are you?" She called in a singsong voice. There were only so many places the kid could hide after all. She wanted the fight to be fair, but her enhanced senses made that difficult.

She searched the kitchen, the dining room, the garage, the backyard, and all the bedrooms. So far, she hadn't found him. This is ridiculous. How hard can this be to find one little human?

Her "prey" was currently hiding in one of the many linen closets. He much preferred being here when the Author started yelling. Although she had brought him here, and was being more accomodating to him than the Trio, he still didn't like it when people started yelling. It reminded him too much of life at home with his father.

He had heard Alex calling his name and had crawled further into the closet. He knew her a little, since they'd been in some of the same classes, and she was pushy, loud, and so happy it sometimes scared him. He put his hands over his ears, buried his face against his knees, and pretended to be invisible. It was a strategy that had worked well against his father. At least for a little while anyway.

Alex finally found the scent she had come to associate with Aiden. Ah, fear, anxiety, and... clean linen? That stumped her for a minute. That wasn't the smell she had expected.

She sniffed again and realized she was standing in front of the linen closet. "Aiden, come out. Please? I'm bored and Hermy won't let me bug her." The Trio ran by screaming and Alex nearly hissed at them as she pressed against the door. "Aiden? If you won't come out, can I come in? It seems safer in there."

Alex heard no response and sighed. It seemed as if she was going to either have to take drastic measures or go away. And I'm not one to give up so easily. "So, I was thinking about our English class. I was having a hell of a time figuring out that book. I mean, who has time to read?" She chuckled softly as she sat outside the door. She stared at her nails, playing with them.

Aiden glanced up from his hiding spot. Was she really trying to get him into a conversation? Well, it's going to take more than that. He closed his eyes and buried them against his knees.

"Aiden. Come on. I don't want to melt the lock to come in there. Just talk to me... Please?" Her voice had taken on a bit of a whine and she hated herself for it.

Aiden looked up, frowning. How could she melt the lock? "What... What do you want to talk about?"

Alex gave a little cheer. "Well, how about that book. I mean, did you have time to read it?"

---

The Hermit was chuckling. She could see her creation trying to make friends. At least he'll be more understanding, Alex. Good luck. She pulled her notebook to her, the one that contacted The Author and wrote in it. "Well, at least they're starting to talk."

The reply was almost instaneous. "Good. Maybe he'll come out of that closet and we can actually use it like it's supposed to be used." The Hermit laughed. It wasn't the response she was expecting, but she had to focus on her new character. Mac was going to be a technopath, a girl pretending to a boy. She was going to have a lot of fun with this one.

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.