Believe (1) - The beginning....

You turn nervously, eyes rolling towards the double doors as they slowly creak open....
“Rune?” Calls a voice, one you are very glad to hear

“Raven!” You give a sigh of relief, you were half-expecting a vampire or Delran or some other creature who wants you dead....

The fallen angel gives you a smile as he gracefully steps into the hall, “Thank the heavens!” He says looking up to you as you move down the stairs towards him, as soon as you reach the bottom he moves forward and lifts you spinning you around and around in a mad kind of dance, you find yourself giggling with his obvious joy.

“I was so worried!” He says, slowing the spin and allowing you to stand, as best you can you're quite dizzy now, “When Delran attacked out of the blue like that and we had no idea where you had gone, I sent Pent to find you while James and Ren took care of Delran, but then, of course, things got out of hand so I had to trust that Pent would bring you somewhere safe.”

“What happened? Are James and Ren alright?” You ask and his smile fades

“I do not really know....” He replies softly, “Our only aim was to be sure that you were safe and so Pent headed straight to find you when we heard Ren's warning howl. I went with the others, but my aim was to help cover for Pent's absence and then get out as soon as I could to find you and Pent.” Speaking of Pent seems to bring the vampire into his mind and Raven looks around the hall, “Where is Pent?” He asks curiously, eyes moving back to you.

“I don't know.” You reply honestly, “We ran into some trouble....”

Raven looks at you with concern in his eyes, “Come, we can talk in the dining room, you never did finish your dinner, you must be hungry. I'll fix you some food and we can talk as you eat.”

Ten minutes later and you sit opposite Raven at the table, you have no idea how he did it but a full meal sits before you, well a full meal did sit before you, right now it's only half a meal.... you hadn't realised you were so hungry.

Raven doesn't rush you, he sits patiently, not watching you either, which is just as well, you hate people watching as you eat. He simply sips at a cup of herbal tea he made for himself, it smells like blueberries, but you are far too interested in the tomato pasta you're devouring to pay any attention. Raven finally gives a sigh and sets his cup to the side, you look up at him and he gives a laugh, “Rune.... you may wish to wipe your mouth.” He says with a smirk, you roll your eyes and return to your dinner.

Once you've eaten, and wiped your mouth thoroughly, you begin to tell all that happened from when you left Ren.

Raven is a good audience, he doesn't interrupt or try to ask any questions, he simply sits and listens, occasionally nodding, his expression revealing some of his thoughts but mostly he gives no hint of his emotions.

You finish speaking and he gives a nod, “Ren is going to kill you.” he says simply

You blink, after everything you just said, THAT is his reaction? Nothing about the vampires or Pent or anything like that? Just Ren? You give no reply, fixing him with a confused stare.

“I guess that you were not expecting me to reply to that first...” Raven says with a sigh, “I suppose it is the easier aspect of the story to start on....” he shook his head, “But never mind that right now. It is long past time you were in bed; you have a big day waiting tomorrow.”

His comment throws you, “What do you mean? What's happening tomorrow?” You ask curiously

“You have to go to school of course!” Raven says with a smile, “We can't have you failing year 12 just because of an ancient war now, can we?”

“I have to go where?” You ask in confusion, not quite sure you heard him correctly.

“School.” He replies, “Now off to bed with you, you are up far too late, well early actually, considering it is a school night.”

You turn and walk from the room in a state of confusion, was he serious? School? How long had it been since you were there last? A year? No, less than a week... How could it have only been a week? With all that has happened it seems like a year or more has flown by... You step into the room you were given on your first night, and only night, in the mansion, and walk over to the bed. You are asleep before you even take your shoes off, lying stretched out across the bed.

A fist banging on the door wakes you what seems like just minutes later. You give a groan and roll over but find yourself unable to drop back to sleep, you sit up and rub at your bleary eyes. You manage to stumble into the ensuite and run yourself a hot shower, it feels so good to have the hot water running over your skin and you suddenly realise that you haven’t actually showered in quite a few days..... This thought sends you into a fit of scrubbing as you try to wash off the last week’s worth of sweat and dirt. You step out of the shower half an hour later, hair washed twice and body scrubbed almost to redness, a towel wrapped tightly around you as you step form the ensuite into your room and almost drop the towel in shock. Your school uniform is lying on your bed. Closer inspection proves that yes, it is in fact your uniform, not another uniform from Rigel High, it is the very uniform that was hanging up in your wardrobe the night you left. How on Earth Raven got it is beyond you and you are more than a little curious. But another bang on your door lets you know that now is not the time to question…. You dress, finding each draw in the room equipped with exactly what you require, someone has been shopping and you blush to think exactly who it was and how they got just the right size for... certain items. Even your school socks and shoes are accounted for, and more surprising still is finding your school bag sitting in the hall outside your door, already packed for the day. A grin flickers across your face, well, it seems that Raven was serious.... You pick up your bag and head down the stairs, the 'house' is quiet, the only sign of life coming from the dining room; the sound of humming and the smell of breakfast. You enter the dining room and drop your bag in shock.

It seems you're not the only one off to school today....

Raven grins at you from the table, his wings are gone, where to you have no idea, and he is dressed in the male version of your school uniform, grey pants and a white shirt with the school emblem on the right breast pocket. His blazer hangs over the back of the chair next to him, as does yours, and a school bag sits near the door. What surprises you is how young Raven looks, he doesn't really look much older than you, maybe 18 at the most, normally he seems much older, perhaps due to his wings or his manner...

“Wh...what?” You stutter and he gives a small laugh.
“Well, we can't have you running off to school all alone, now can we?” Raven says, clearly amused at your expression and reaction.

“But.... what about James?” You ask in confusion

Raven's smile fades, “James, Ren and Pent are still out, but that is not unexpected.” He shakes his head, “Ah well, that does not matter right now. You need to eat up, a good meal is essential for good concentration during the day.”

You blink, “What happened to your wings?” You ask, his lack of wings was the first thing to come into your mind.

Raven grins, “Sit down, Rune. I’ll answer your questions once I see you eat something.”

The food is great, Raven seems to be an awesome cook and he likes it more importantly, then again anything tastes great after your mum’s cooking… As you eat he answers your question.

“My wings haven’t actually gone anywhere.” Raven begins and you cock an eyebrow at him, “I’m serious!” He says indignantly, “It’s simply really; the human brain does most of the work for me. Humans are very odd creatures, if they believe something does not exist they simply block out the possibility of it existing. So, it does not take much effort on my part to just convince the eyes that the brain and sense of reason are correct.” He gives you a smile, “Of course, this little trick is much harder to work on someone like you, who has seen what I truly am. I have to focus and honestly it makes my back itch something shocking… Do not ask me why, I have no idea why. It just does.”

You grin and he shrugs, “I’m just letting you know in case you can see them at some point during the day. Just so you know why.”

One other question comes to your mind, “What is with this house?”
“What do you mean?” Raven asks, looking at you curiously

“Normal houses do not grow back.” You reply simply

Raven gives a light laugh, he has a really really nice laugh…. “Ah, I see. Well, this is not exactly a ‘normal’ house. It has been here since long before you were born and it shall remain for an eternity to come. This house was built as a watch post over Believe by the angels, as time passed it absorbed part of Orion’s power and now, well you saw the damage and how soon it was gone.”

“Great.... So the house is enchanted too....”

“Well, not exactly, but if that is how you wish to look at it, then fine.” Raven gives a sigh, “Anyway, you had best hurry and finish getting ready, it is almost time we were gone.”

You look over at him, “We’re really going to do this?” You ask, half hoping he will say no

“We are, now hurry up.” Raven says standing and disappearing into the kitchen.

You do as he says, hurrying off to your room, you brush you teeth, a brush and toothpaste have been left out for you as has a hairbrush, and fix your hair tying it back into a neat ponytail. You head back down the stairs to find Raven waiting for you at the bottom, he hands you your bag and then walks past the staircase and through a door. You suddenly realise that you really have not seen much of the house, the only places you have been are the main hall, the dining room and your bedroom. You haven’t had a chance to explore yet and you can’t help but wonder where Raven is leading you as you follow him through into another room. You stare in shock at the room; it’s a ballroom, the kind you see in medieval paintings or in a gothic-style movie. The ballroom must be easily twice the size of the entrance hall if not three or four times, the floor is wooden and polished to a shine, long dark cutins hang to the floor, covering the windows and blocking out the sun, a chandelier casting all the light the room needs, sending shadows dancing around the room as the candles burn, for it is not an electric chandelier but a real one and you can hardly keep yourself from trying out a few spins…

But Raven gives you little time to look around, leading you through another door which opens onto a hallway, down the hall you follow him and through another door. This time into a hall much like the entrance hall, it has huge double doors, but these have a glass pattern cut into the wood, and a grand staircase, but it is carpeted with red and gold, this room differs in another way as well; the sun streams in, no thick curtains blocking it, you guess that Pent does not frequent this area of the house.

“Coming?” Raven asks as he walks over and opens, what you are guessing, must be the front door.

“Of course.” You reply, following him outside.

The front garden is just as amazing as the back one. It looks as though it just stepped out of a Jane Austin novel or something like that. A driveway of white pebbles is the first thing to catch your eye, it leads beyond your line of sight and ends in a turning-circle before you, a rose garden sitting in the middle. Past that you can see fields running to a lake with a small island in the middle, a weeping willow cries in the centre, two rowboats sit tied to a wooden dock on your side of the lake. A field runs around the lake and past it, you spot what appear to be horses grazing and past them a line of trees blocks your vision.

You are too busy studying the garden to notice Raven slip away, a car horn startles you back into reality and you spin, Raven is waving at you from an emerald coloured Jaguar.

“Come on!” He calls opening the passenger door for you as you hurry over and climb in, you’ve never even been within touching distance of a real Jag, let alone actually ridden in one!

Raven smiles at your obvious excitement, “So, having fun are we?” He asks, putting the car into gear, it’s a manual, and gently taking off. The pebbles crunch under the luxury car’s tires as Raven guides the Jag along the driveway.

You give a small nod, “I’ve never been in a car like this before….”

Raven gives an embarrassed laugh, “Well, just don’t tell, Pent… this is his car… I don’t really have a car and James’ car is… well I’m sure you’ve seen it…” You have it’s an ancient slab of metal made by some company now long out of business… “As for Ren…. well, I’m not so good with motorbikes, even if it is a BMW….” Raven continues, he’s a good driver, calm and smooth handed, he follows the drive easily, ahead you can still only see the ever-nearing line of trees.

“Hey Raven,” You begin.

“Hmm?” He asks, glancing over to you before looking back to the drive.

“Have you ever been to school before?”

He gives a laugh, “In a sense, I have. But it was not like school as you think of it. I am a… little nervous actually.” He admits with a small flush, “I did read over the textbooks and I understand most of it…. But maths and science I am a little, umm…. shaky with.” He shoots you a smile, “Perhaps you will have to tutor me.”

“If you let me drive….” You reply and he bursts out laughing.

“Pent will kill me for driving!” He says as he catches his breath, “Let alone if I let you drive, you’re still a learner!”

“So? I have my hours! I just need to go for the stupid test….” You bite back, you knew you were lucky to even have those hours, they weren’t exactly legal, you had been with James driving his car and you really needed a fully licensed adult with you not a P-plater, but with your parents it would never have happened.

“Right, that’s it, after school we’re going for your test.” Raven says with a laugh

“No, we’re not.” You’re about to say something else but you’ve just passed the line of trees and what you see stops your mouth from working.

It’s the highway into Rigel.

The highway.

What the hell?

How on earth did you end up at the highway? That makes no sense, surely people would notice a mansion, even if it is only the pebble drive that shows. But no, as Raven pulls out onto the highway and you glance back you can’t even make out the pebbled drive.

The drive into Rigel takes about half an hour and from there it takes another fifteen to get to Rigel High, the sight of a Jaguar pulling into the school carpark creates a stir but you are too busy to notice, you eyes running over the familiar buildings.

You’re back.