It’d been a few months since the masquerade party, and a lot has gone on since then. Everyone had their bedrooms and side rooms all set up for the most part. I’ve stopped spending so much time in my library, after Sophie’s complaint that I spent too much time in my side room. Duncan and I are still investigating what was going on with the Journal owner (who Duncan affectionately refers to as ‘JOwner’), and based on some of the things he described, and some of the things that have already happened, we figured out that something bad went down on the property at some point. We still had yet to find out what. A lot of what was written in the journal had us running around in circles like chickens with their heads cut off, we would go all around with theories that would seem to line up until we find something else in the journal later that shatters the whole thing. Duncan is also seeing that girl, Lacey now. Paisley tells me that she’s so much happier now that she has him, and I tell her the same of Duncan.

Paisley, Sophie and I were sitting together in Paisley’s loft on a plush sofa she had brought up. Paisley was texting someone, smiling to herself, and Sophie was playing with her new tablet. Our parents left yesterday to go on vacation for a couple weeks, they somehow managed to find the time to be able to go on vacations frequently. My phone buzzed, it was Liam. We’ve been talking a lot these past few months, we even hang out in town sometimes, and I’ve met a few of his friends. I find myself growing attached to him just about everyday, which is concerning. I’m pretty sure he likes Paisley, he texts her a lot too. It doesn’t surprise me though, I’m used to it by now. Paisley is just nicer and prettier, and she’s a girl. Those are three things she’s got to make him like her more than me, so I try to stay content with just being friends. It was hard sometimes though, sometimes he’d say something really sweet and I almost want to tell him how I feel in the heat of the moment, but I can’t ruin my first friendship with someone in this area over a boy-crush. I don’t even bother acting like that’s not what it is anymore, luckily the only one who ever asks me about those kinds of things these days is Duncan. I finally checked my phone.

Text Conversation: 12:04 a.m.

LI AM I AM: Hey

Owen: Hi Liam

LI AM I AM: Whats up man?

Owen: Not much, hanging out with sisters. We are all on our phones, lol.

LI AM I AM: Oh, Pais is there?

Owen: Yea, she is. Why?

LI AM I AM: Nothin, I am talkin to her too, she didnt say she was right next to you.

Owen: Ah…

Owen: Wait, why does that matter? Lmao

LI AM I AM: It doesnt, I just thought she was hangin out in her loft

Owen: She is, so am I

LI AM I AM: Oh shoot I just realized this probably sounds weird doesnt it?

Owen: yyyyep.

LI AM I AM: Shoot im sorry. I actually gotta go real quick. Ill text you later

I sighed, and put my phone down on the couch. Paisley started giggling. I looked over at her, and she was staring at her phone.

“Who are you talking to?” I asked her, afraid of the answer.

“Liam.” Yep, there it is.

“What’s he saying?”

“He’s been ranting about something for a while now. It’s funny.” She was quiet for a moment, she glanced at me, then back at her phone and laughed again as she got another text. Incredibly frustrated, I grabbed my phone and stood up.

“I’m going outside with Alice for a bit.” I started walking to the door.

“Really? But it’s raining?” Alice sounded concerned suddenly.

“It’ll be fine.” I said as I descended the stairs. Hearing Sophie shout a farewell at me from the bottom.

The water outside was cool, it felt nice against my skin. The dog ended up refusing to go outside, so I went out alone. I went back to the flat stone spot and danced in the center until I was tired. Our parents had each of us learn the waltz at a young age, I was the only one who enjoyed it. I closed my eyes and moved my feet in the basic pattern, then sped up and allowed my footwork to become more complicated. At one point I finished the song in my head with a twirl, and a bow. I stood again, breathing heavily. Dancing requires focus for me, so it was something I did every now and then when something was bothering me and I needed to think of something else. Like Paisley and Liam, I wanna be supportive so much but I can’t help but get angry at her. I don’t want to be angry at her, she doesn’t deserve anyone’s anger. I sighed, and looked up at the top of the house, then at the tower. It was faint, but I could’ve sworn I saw something in the top window. I rubbed away the water that had collected on my glasses and looked again. I still saw it, it had a whitish blue hue. My eyes grew wide as I realized what it was. I pulled out my phone to take a picture, but the lense was all foggy, it wouldn’t show up in the rainy weather. I decided to go inside. I approached the old door hesitantly, then looked up at one of the windows once again. Making up my mind, I pried it open and stepped inside.

The only light in the tower was whatever came in through the windows. I was nervous, but determined. I started climbing. Most stairs were stable and made of stone, but others, wooden, and just wedged into the stone on either wall. I took extra care on those stairs, but none broke. Eventually I made it to the top, just a few more steps to go. I slowly climbed, and I could see the blue hue around the corner. I was on the last wooden stair, it must’ve been rot from the water that was leaking in but it was much less sturdy. The second I felt it creak I was leaping off and onto the next stair, a second too late and I would have fallen down, I saw the wooden stair just barely holding onto itself. Heart pounding, I turned back around and went up the last two stairs. I expected it to disappear the moment I got there, but the white-blue foggy dust ball thing stayed in place. Watching me, near the largest window. I took a few more steps into the room, and looked around. There were drawings on the walls. One was of the tower I was in; one of an old man in ragged clothes, hunched over a book; one of two people, a man and a woman, they were holding the earth in their arms and embracing it; there was a bright shining sun painted on the ceiling, just above the tower; there were plenty of others around, too. I walked over to the man and woman, if the sun was in the sky, then why was the earth on the earth? I gently touched the faded blue and green planet. Then noticed the wall getting brighter around my shadow. I turned around again, face to face to the orb, or, face to dust? It just hovered there, like it was looking past my face and into my mind. Suddenly it backed away, and I followed a few steps until I was standing in the center of the tower, then stopped. It moved around the room in a slow circle, just around me. Then it stopped after a couple laps- just in front of the earth. Then it blasted out the window. I chased after it, but as soon as I got to the windowsill it was gone. Completely disappeared in the rain. I leaned back, and looked at the sky a moment before turning back and and taking as many pictures of the walls as I could. On my way down I kicked the broken stair off as much as I could so no one would make the mistake of stepping on it. I went inside, completely soaked.

I quickly sent the pictures to Duncan as soon as I was into new clothes as I dried my hair. I heard footsteps rapidly stomping down the hall. I assumed it was Sophie, until Paisley slammed open the door, face red and wet with tears. She was breathing heavy, and she kept trying to tell me something but her words were too fast and slurred together. I had to calm her down.

“Hey hey hey Paisley, calm down.” I began, I held her arms, so she would look me in the face. “Just breathe, it’s okay, take a few deep breaths and calm down.” I had never seen her have a panic attack before. Something bad must’ve happened. After a few minutes of shushing and reminding her to breathe, she finally calmed down enough to speak.

“It’s Sophie.” She said, and I paled. “She disappeared. I can’t find her, it’s- we-” She kept cutting herself off.

“Okay, it’s okay. We’ll figure this out together.” I tried to reassure her, my voice wavered.

“Come with me.” She said after taking a breath. We ran through the halls, eventually coming to a stop at the end of the hall on the second floor, only, there was a fake panel in the wall. It was pushed away to reveal a staircase going down. I looked at Paisley.

“I, we were exploring. And we found this. And Sophie wanted to go in and I was curious too and I wasn’t thinking and we went in together and-” she had to take a breath, she was still crying. “There were two hallways, I told her to stay put at the bottom of the stairs while I checked it out. But she must’ve…” She trailed off.

“What did you see down there? Were there any clues where she might’ve gone?” Paisley looked at the ground. “Nothing, except she said she saw a light blue ball of mist. I thought she was playing around but now she’s gone and I can’t find her and I don’t know what to do.” She sobbed. My mind halted when she said ‘light blue ball of mist’ like the dust that I’ve been seeing. It didn’t take her somehow… Did it? I heard Paisley saying something.

“We need to call our parents.” She was saying.

“No, don’t!” I nearly shouted. “We can’t. Not yet. Let’s look for her first, there’s still a chance she wandered off and got lost.” That seemed to make Paisley think.

“What else would have happened then, if it wasn’t that?” She asked quietly. I was quiet too, for a moment.

“I don’t know.”

We spent what must’ve been hours looking for her. We used up several spools of string by the end of the day, just trying to find out how to navigate the small passageway. At one point we found a door that led into the basement, which made it even worse. Now there were two large mazes in this house that apparently had more than one secret passages and rooms to look through. We kept looking well into the morning too. Eventually I had to force Paisley to sit on the couch and eat something. She yawned.