32Chapter Seven: The Discovery
Tham stopped short a few feet inside the doorway, staring in awe at the high domed ceilings, the shiny marble floor, the graceful banister of the curvy stairs and the various pieces of art in the front hall. Fin poked him in the back, saying, "It's not THAT great, Thammy. Move already! I wanna see my room and a nice hot shower."
Tham glared at her. "Okay, okay, I'm moving." He hurried after Millie's and Taijaura's retreating backsides, taking a particularly long moment to observe Taijaura's. His steps echoed in the room, as he followed Taijaura through a wood-paneled hallway that led out of the front hall, into an equally large room with a gigantic, glossy grand piano.
"Wow… that must sound great in here," he almost whispered.
Millie turned and regarded him over her square glasses. "Yes, it verily does. This house once belonged to someone who loved music, and he made all the rooms to have wonderful acoustics."
Tham continued to walk slowly through all the rooms, rotating and staring at everything with his mouth open. All the surfaces were spotless, and polished to their highest shine, and everything had that expensive-but-tries-not-to-look-it air. He was followed by a loudly giggling Fin and Zannon, who were still hyper enough that Fin was attempting to give Zannon a piggyback ride.
Needless to say, it wasn't working.
Tham rolled his eyes at them, and then ran to catch up with Millie's echoing footsteps, as she walked down a hallway, turned left, went up some rather plain stairs, turned right and went down another hallway, and then finally stopped in front of a plain mahogany door. "Taijaura, you know this is your room. Fin, is … ahem…" Fin looked up from kissing Zannon. "Is it all right with you if you share Taijaura's room like you did last time you visited?"
"Sure, definitely! It's not like it's a change from normal school time." She quickly kissed Zannon again, and then she and Taijaura opened the door, entered the room, and closed the door again.
"Whom should I take to their room next, Zannon?" asked Millie.
"Would you mind if I hung out with Tham a little bit, and then took him to his room?" asked Zannon.
"Of cour" RAPRAPRAP "Humph. Apparently the doctor has come to check on your father, Zannon. Please excuse me," finished Millie. Then she swept off around a corner.
Zannon looked after her fondly. "Yeah… after my mom- er, left- Millie raised Taij and me. She's not as strict as she looks."
"Mmm-hmm." Tham rolled his eyes, and then rocked back and forth on the heels of his borrowed sneakers (you will remember he … soiled … his from the manure). "Um… do you mind my asking why you wanted to hang out with me? I mean, you barely know me."
Zannon stared at him, his gaze boring into Tham.
Suddenly, Tham's eyes lit up like eyes tend to do when the person looking through them suddenly understands something. "Oooooh… since you don't know me, you want to hang out with me so you can get to know me. Boy, am I sure slow today."
"Heehee, it's ok," teased Zannon. "Come on, lemme show you my room." He lightly socked Tham on the arm, and then jogged off down a hallway.
"Hey! Wait for me!" called Tham, running to catch up with Zannon. And he kept running, down that hallway, around the right corner, up some stairs, around a left turn, and then through a door and up some more stairs. Zannon finally stopped in front of a door that looked just like Taijaura's, plain but highly polished dark wood. He bent over and leaned on his knees, panting."God, how *pant*big is this house, *pant* anyway? I can't *pant* imagine having to go all that *pant* way just to get to *pant* bed."
Zannon laughed. "You get used to it. Come on in." With that, he opened the door and ushered Tham inside. It was a fairly large room, and furnished very modernly compared to the parts of the house that Tham had seen. All the furniture was smooth aluminum with funky colored cushioning, and all the latest technology in computers, sound systems, video games, and everything else was there too.
"Wow… very sweet room," said an awed Tham, as he sat on the lime green sofa.
"Heh… Taijaura was actually the one that designed it. That was when I'd gone to camp for the whole summer, and she decided to get rid of all my old stuff. Still, she never managed to get rid of some things…"
"Like what?"
"Well, see those drawings over there on the wall underneath the desk?"
"Yeah…"
"I drew those in this super permanent ink one day. I had this horrible tutor, Matticus, and he'd given me these evil math problems that I just wasn't getting. Instead of letting me go do something else, or just plain not do them, Millie locked me in here until I finished them. I was so pissed that I drew her and Matticus on the wall, along with some very … mean … things written underneath. But Millie got Dad to get the words off, but I think she left the drawings as a lesson to me," finished Zannon.
"Heheheh," chortled Tham. He yawned. "Would you mind taking me to my room now? I'm a bit tired, since Fin's dad had me working the early shift today- 6-11."
"Wow… Okay then. Let me just ask you one thing, if you don't mind," said Zannon, leaning forward in his rolling desk chair.
"Not at all… What is it?"
"Are you interested in my sister?"
Tham blanched. "Uh- well, yes, er, I guess so… But what does that have to do with anything?"
Zannon shrugged. "I just wanted to tell you that, if you do, please wait a little while before acting on it. At least until we get back to school, because this thing with our dad isn't gonna leave her in top condition for starting to date someone. And while I'm at it, I'll just let you know that she's my twin sister, I love her, if you hurt her I will hurt you, yada yada yada."
"Er… thanks for letting me know?"
"Sorry if that was kinda random, I just thought I'd get it out of the way. Kinda comes in the job description," said Zannon, patting Tham on the back. "Let's go get you to your room now." He stodd up and stretched, and then exited the room. Poking his head back in, he said, "Would you like me to go a little bit slower this time, Thammy 'ole boy?"
Tham shot his best Evil Eye face towards Zannon, saying, "Thanks." He got up and followed Zannon out of the room. They went down the stairs, turned left at the bottom, and stopped at the third door on the right of that hall. It was painted a bright, vibrant green, and had some carvings of flowing vines along the edges.
"This my room?" asked Tham.
"Yup," replied Zannon, leaning against the wall opposite the door. "There's an intercom on the table by the bed, I think you'll be able to work it. There's an attached bathroom, blah blah. Also a computer and a stereo, you should be able to access any games or music from there."
"Cool, thanks."
"Also, a heads up: I wouldn't advise trying to explore the house, these hallways and stairs tend to move around when they sense you don't know your way around. Once this dude got in disguised as one of Dad's friends, and he got lost trying to find our "secret treasure that is the source of all our wealth." Zannon laughed. "We found him a couple of years later, all dead and gross under some stairs."
Tham looked shocked, but Zannon just smiled. "Yeah, it's not a normal house. Now, if you'll excuse me…" he motioned to the door. "I have to go check on some things. He walked down the hall and opened a shiny bloodred door.
"All right. Thanks for letting me stay and all." With that, Tham opened his door and went inside.
He blinked a few times, then rubbed his eyes and opened them again. Wow… apparently this is the green room. And it was, for everything in that room was a bright shade of green. The walls were painted a pale and misty shade of green, all the fabric was nearly a neon green, the wood was a brownish green. The only things that weren't green were the computer, intercom, and cube, because those were black. Again, wow. Tham peeked into the bathroom, and everything was green in there except for the white toilet, sink, shower, and Jacuzzi. Well, at least the room is free, cause this would cost a fortune at a hotel.
Tham sat down and looked out the window for a few minutes, to rest his eyes from the overwhelming green-ness. Then, he stripped and went into the bathroom to sooth his cramped muscles in the Jacuzzi.
What Tham's sharp eyes had not noticed about his green room was that, out from the top of the dresser peeked a sickly green lorla. It had a fat potato nose, and its beady eyes gleamed as it stuck out its tongue in the direction of the closed washroom door. Then, it smiled evilly, and disappeared with a small pop.
A/N: Well, here's the first of the double update for today. Sorry that I didn't make the update last week, I started school then and it just didn't happen. Don't forget to read and review, and, of course, don't hesitate to e-mail me (flamester99 ), or IM me (satanflame99). Toodles!