Jade Rose Mansion

Darrel's eyes almost bugged out of his head. The driver had to drive about a quarter of a mile down a road surrounded by trees. He almost thought that Barron was a phony and was taking him into the middle of nowhere to murder him. Then he saw the towers that popped up over the trees in a clearing. 

The doors to the house were extraordinary by themselves. Barron must have saw that Darrel was gawking. He cracked a smile and pointed out the window at the old fashioned knockers. "Brass, the good, traditional stuff." He said. The car whipped around and was turned off. 

"I can't wait to see all of it." Darrel said opening the door. He looked around the yard first. Rose bushes were in bloom on either side of the front steps. The yard could use some work with all of the sticks and a few oddities here and there. Darrel thought that he saw the blade of a chain saw beside the house.

"I didn't mention that work needs to be done." Barron said looking around. Darrel shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. I actually like organizing things." He said walking closer to the steps. He looked up at the three story mansion. "I really, really love the stained glass window." He said. The glass depicted a light green rose in full bloom with red, pink, orange, and purple segmented off in triangles behind it.

"Its almost like the sun is rising behind the flower, isn't it? The colors of dusk?" Barron asked as he admired the craftsmanship. Darrel smiled and nodded. "Its the only window ever to have that pattern. Ferral loved original work." He looked at it a bit longer. "Lets head inside. It'll take you forever to try and learn the layout of the building." The two boys climbed to the top step. Darrel had just now saw that doors had engravings in them. There were little designs carved into them. He ran a finger over what looked like a pentagram. 

"This was hand-carven, wasn't it?" Barron smiled. 

"You're learning fast. Yes, this is another original." Barron pulled out a rustic looking key. "If you want spares for this key, you will have to talk to me. Normal key smiths can't recreate this design." Darrel nodded and waited for the doors to open. 

The house kind of had a musty smell to it, but that wasn't what caught Darrel's attention. The elaborate staircase in front of him, on the other hand, had all of his attention. There were two different sets of stairs that led up to the same second story balcony. Then there were two more sets of stairs that led up to the third story balcony. This set twisted into a complete circle.

"This is incredible..." Darrel breathed. He had never saw anything so amazing in his life. 

"Don't freak out yet. This is just the mud room." Barron laughed. "Lets start from left to right." The two walked in a bit more and pulled the doors shut. Near the left staircase, there was a door on the ground floor. Darrel was informed that that was just a storage room. Thats where the maids used to store their cleaning supplies as well as where the visitors would put their shoes and coats. 

"This is big enough to be a bed room!" Darrel couldn't believe that that much space could be used just for storage. Barron shrugged. 

"You need a lot of cleaning supplies for this house." Barron said looking around. "Its pretty big. Anyway, lets stay on the ground floor for now. That door leads to a hallway." Barron led the way and opened the door that went between the sets of stairs. 

There was a long hallway with several doors on each side of the six foot wide path. In this hallway, there were bathrooms, a study, and even an antique room. Darrel couldn't believe this house.

Soon they made it to the end of the hall. There was a door directly in front of them. Barron smiled and opened the door. Darrel felt the warmth of the outside air. 

"You're kidding me..." There was an outdoor patio in the middle of the house. A lot of work needed to be done here. The plants in pots were wilting and weeds had grown over the walkway, but there was great potential here.

"The old man used to have business meetings here." Barron said pointing to a small table in the middle of the clearing. A stone path led to the black marble circle in the middle. There, again, was another pentagram. On the far wall another star rested in the middle of a circle.

"What's with all these? Was he a devil worshipper?" He asked free-handedly. Barron glared at the boy. His blue eyes narrowed as he spoke.

"Pagan, actually. There is a big difference, Darrel." He sighed and closed the doors. "Lets go left here." Darrel nodded and followed the sharply dressed man. This hallway was shorter and only had a right turn at the end. The wall on the right was completely glass and allowed you to look out at the open patio. The other wall had different doors. Another study was in one, more collectables in another, and even an old fashioned weapon's room. 

"This door leads out into the back." Barron said as they made it to the end of the hallway. The door opened and aches of land lay before them. There was another building out back and a few acres of land. Darrel blinked several times as he looked around the place that he would be living from now on.

"This is all mine?" He asked. Barron nodded. 

"This is all yours." He answered. Darrel, a kid who didn't know how he was going to make a payment on next months rent that very morning, was now the owner and resident of the Jade Rose Mansion.