A car parked in front of a house.
"What do you think everyone?" a woman's cheery voice asked "Beautiful town, wonderful house and a fresh start!"
"We wouldn't be here if Violet was normal!!" A teenager yelled
Violet looked over at her brother with a smile, "There's no guarantee that's true though? You're not so normal yourself."
"No jokes, Calix is right this time, Violet. You went too far." Another man frowned
Violet frowned, "I didn't do anything that horrible. My calculations might have been slightly off."
"NO! Listen to Aster at least after all this, that's all you have to say?" a teenage girl screamed "Ruining all our lives with you!!"
Violet bit her lips in frustration because she just couldn't handle all the blame. At the age of thirteen she understood that maybe her thought process was different from other thirteen year old…but was that so wrong?
"QUIET!!" Her mother yelled loudly "None of you say a word!"
Violet jumped off the car and marched into the house. She never walked away from her parents but it was too much! She shut herself in the attic of the three storey building and took a deep breathe.
"It's okay, Violet. This is just a learning curve…if only they could outline where I went astray!" She sulked
She looked in a mirror at the reflection. Lusciously long black hair that matched her father, Theodore and elder brother, Aster with dark purple irises similar to her mother, Bella. Oddly the twins had heterochromia so they had one green and another purple eyes.
"This town seems so boring…." She mumbled as she drifted into sleep restless sleep
---
Violet's eyed opened at sunrise and stretched slowly with a thoughts of last nights tantrum.
"I...might have overreacted yesterday." She thought in embarrassment "Thank goodness, I wake up the earliest in this household."
She found her bags in a room on the further part of the house and sighed. Violet dipped into a warm bath and quickly got ready to go out. They were on their way to the new school that the twins and she would attend.
"I hope something interesting will happen." She thought while humming
Afterwards the young teen busied herself preparing breakfast and tidying up the first floor. She went into the yard and admired the blossoming trees with a smile.
Rattle
A man wrapped in a thick jacket was looking at her with a weary smile and she looked back with a blank expression.
"I'm not anyone strange!" he blurted out
Violet smiled, "That's something a strange person would say."
"I'm sorry…I was just getting fresh air and maybe trying to open my shed door." He told
Violet noticed his gaze sliding behind her into the house and she moved into his line of sight.
"Is that so? " she smiled happily "I absolutelylove it here! Wonderful, don't you think?"
He answered "Of course. I'm Andrew Miller, your neighbor. Welcome to Goldenville Town."
Violet beamed, "Violet D. Willows. It's a pleasure, Mr. Miller. What's in your shed"
"It seems I'll need to run...left the water running." Mr. Miller said with a click of his tongue
He retreated back into his house and her eyes followed him with a hint of interest. Mister Miller…he didn't seem like he was out for air especially with those thick black circles under his red eyes, you'd except such a sleep-deprived man to be asleep. Weird that he was feeling so cold in Summer though?
"Hopefully, it's just insomnia." She thought
She heard her name….her mother was calling her. She looked at a window the second floor of Mr. Miller's house and the curtain quickly closed.
"Hmm…" she hummed "Probably nothing."
She went inside and tightly closed their curtains as well. Is Mr. Miller's shed shorter than the fence, a thought erupted in her mind.
Violet was silent during breakfast thinking about the anomaly that was Mister Miller, remembering what she could from the short conversation and any movements that were odd.
"I'll need to talk to him again to understand." She thought
Violet was on autopilot. Eating, helping clear the table and entering the car were performed without much thought.
Her eyes trailed off outside and she noticed that everyone similar to Mister Miller and tightly closed curtains even though it was eight thirty in the morning with the sun high up in the sky.
"Strange…the brochure said it was the safest town close to the city?" she thought "So why? Why?"
Her mind was plagued with questions without answers and the urge to find them was consuming any rational thoughts-
"We're here." Her father interrupted
Violet was shocked, they arrived so fast and got out with her twin older siblings, Calix and Jasmine.
"WHO'S THERE!!" A woman shouted with a steel pipe
Theodore raised his hands, "We're here to see the principal about admission."
"Oh, sorry. I'm Kira and I'm in charge of the gates." She smiled "That old man didn't tell me we're expecting visitors."
Kira let them in and closed three padlocks on the gate.
"Sorry to pry but is there are reason for that?" Violet asked
Kira smiled, "No worries. There's been some issues lately so I advise you to keep your home locked up tight."
"Oh…what's happening?" Theodore asked in worry
Kira answered defensibly with a sharp gaze, "Don't worry the law enforcement will handle it."
Kira practically pushed them inside to meet the elderly principal, Mister Fredrick Umber. Theodore told her to look around as he spoke to the principal.
"Okay" she smiled
---
"Is there a reason your daughter can't be present?" Fredrick asked in worry
Theodore sighed, "Mr. Umber, my youngest has a few problems and I wish for you to keep an eye out."
"And what may be the cause of this?" the asked in worry
Theodore sighed again, "She's just a bit too curious."
---
As Theodore shared his worries, Violet wandered away from her siblings and entered in the library. The librarian was scolding two children on entering the forbidden area... which stroked Violet's interest. Slipping past the elder woman as she continued her lecture on following the rules, she entered the forbidden area.
"I wonder why this place is off-limits? Maybe embarrassing stories like when the teachers were students?" she laughed to herself
There was one golden book while the rest were black and every booked was locked. No matter what Violet did, she was unable to get a glimpse of the words on the inside and her interest only rose higher.
"It won't open." A voice interrupted
She looked at a boy climbing in through the window.
"What's in them?" she asked "Mister….who?"
He answered, "Alexander Rouge, I'm also student. You're who? In sixth grade?"
"Violet D. Willows, turned thirteen last winter and will be enrolled in ninth grade."
Alexander interrupted, "We should leave before the librarian comes. Also I don't know what's in the books, this area has been off-limits since forever."
Violet looked at the locked golden book in her hands, reasonable thinking would be to return the book and yet she gripped it like a lifeline. After a clash of thoughts, the girl slipped the book into her bag and smiled toward Alexander.
"Theft?" he scoffed
Violet smiled, "I need to know, I promise to return it if you show how you slipped in."
"I'm in tenth grade, tell me what's inside and we have a deal." He smiled stretching out his hand after her firm nod "Let's get out of here."
She followed Alexander out the window, down a make-shift ladder of vines and dropped into an overgrown forest?
"This is the Blackwood forest, one of the forests surrounding Goldenville located behind Griffon Academy. Follow that path and you find yourselves at the entrance." Alexander explained
Violet smiled, "Thank you."
She left Alexander and ran toward the entrance. Violet felt light, mind was buzzing with all sorts of theories as well as possibilities and a smile extended on her face without knowing.
"Where have you been?" Calix frowned
The twins, her father and the principal were already at the entrance when she arrived. Her father seemed to be questioning Kira on her whereabouts.
Violet answered, "Just looking around…the Academy looks wonderful surrounded by all the nature."
Principal Umber smiled, "I thought so too when I was you age. The founder thought it would be best to keep distracting noises from town far away to maximize concentration."
Violet nodded, "A wise choice indeed. I'm sorry I got too caught up exploring to chat more."
Principal Umber answered, "It's fine my dear. You'll be joining the ninth grade and your sibling the eleventh grade. We'll get plenty of time to chat and get to know each other."
Something in his eyes made Violet shut her mouth wondering what exactly the principal wished to talk about.
Violet was quiet during the journey back home in thought about the book in her bag. Mentally scolding herself for being too impulsive yet didn't have the guts to admit verbally due to the delicate situation.
"Just return it, no one needs to know." She thought
She entered autopilot mode- smile, answer when asked, silent if not and move forward. After dinner Violet locked her door, rampaged through her belongings and took out plenty of paper clips.
"Well...let's do this." She smiled
After several hours of trial and error a satisfying click echoed. Violet felt over the moon and tired beyond comparison as she opened the book ...to a blank page? Words began to appear by themselves glowing brightly in her dimly lit room and they read:
'There is an unknown world of wonder....is in danger'