Chapter 1

Adam's POV:

I stared at the mansion that towered above us in all its Victorian beauty. I smiled appreciatively while next to me Jeremy cringed.

"Can you never pick up normal projects?" he asked testily.

"C'mon! Its not that bad, and it's for your girlfriend after all." I answered, holding back my grin.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "My girlfriend would have been happy to sell it. Instead you got her to agree to a renovation. Really, what were you thinking? This place had better be worth a lot when you're done, or Lisa will kill you."

I shrugged, and saw Jeremy roll his eyes.

I just walked forward and opened the main gate to the mansion. It was Victorian but it seemed that it had been gothic first and then renovated to Victorian. Thank god that they had not completely succeeded.

It was in a small town on the outskirts of London and Lisa recently inherited it from some distant relative. I had taken one look at the pictures and knew that I wanted to work on it. I wanted to see it completely restored by my hand. The plan to convert it to a museum was Lisa's idea though we would wait to decide exactly what to do once the restoration was complete.

Jeremy and I spent the entire day going over the place, charting it, taking measurements and getting the basic information to draw a floor plan. At the end of the day we had covered only the ground floor and half the first floor. Since there was no electricity, working after dark was out of the question. We headed back to the hotel.

We sat together after supper, drawing out the floor plan according to what we had measured today.

"Fine. I agree that the place has potential."Jeremy admitted grudgingly when we were done with the ground floor plans.

I chuckled. "Told you!"

He grinned back.

It took us two weeks but then we were finally done constructing the floor plans of the entire place, including the grounds.

The mansion had three floors, not including the basement and the attic. Most of it was empty, but the attic had many trunks full of things. The basement too had stuff in it but we hadn't gotten around to examining it. The grounds were huge, and even though they had not been cared for in a long while, there were a lot of large trees. That would make landscaping a lot easier. Grounds without huge trees can never look old.

"Damn, I am an architect, not an archaeologist!" Jeremy grouched as they sorted through the boxes in the attic.

"Actually archaeologists do not deal with this. This is for an anthropologist to do, or a historian." Lisa said from where she was flipping through the contents of another trunk. She had come just so she could be there with us when we sorted these.

"Children! Now is not the time." I snapped as I uncovered a life sized portrait.

"The frame looks cool, but I cannot make out the image." Lisa said peering over my shoulder.

"I'll send it in for restoration." I said with a nod.

"You sure bro? I mean it might turn out to be some fat, ugly and old guy!" Lisa said wrinkling her nose.

"Probably some ancestor of either or both of you." Jeremy snickered.

Lisa and I gave him identical glares. Did I mention that she is my cousin? Our families go way back. So Jeremy could be right, not that either of us would ever admit it.

"Wanna bet that its a good portrait?" Lisa snapped.

Jeremy agreed, and I sighed to myself. He was an idiot. A good portrait just meant that the painting was good, regardless of the subject. And if by chance the image was of someone good looking, then it was still a good portrait. There was no way he could win this bet.

Not my problem, and from the small smile on Jeremy's face he knew he would lose and did not mind.

Just then I caught movement outside the window. I scowled. These were private grounds and no one else should be here. It was also unsafe, especially with the lack of care that the place had seen. I did not want some fool to get hurt.

"I'll be right back!" I said as I rushed downstairs. We could not let someone roam the premises.

I searched but could find no one anywhere in the grounds. I did not even find any footprints or some trace that I had really seen a person from the window. When I finally trudged back in, Jeremy and Lisa had already sorted through everything.

"That picture was not the only picture, there was another one and so both of them are going for restoration. There were some antique trinkets, some clothes and some furniture and books. Nothing of any real value." Lisa summarized for me. I nodded.

"That's okay. We were not expecting treasure anyways. Lets sort through the things in the basement tomorrow, and then start drawing plans on what we want to make of this place." I said.

Lisa nodded and Jeremy cheered. Finally he would be doing the stuff he enjoyed most.

2 Months Later:

Adam's POV:

Yesterday work started at the mansion. There was so much to do. First everything in the structure that was either ruined or aged had to go. Then everything needed to be replaced. The flooring, the ceiling finish, the stairs were all redone but we were keeping the banisters.

Also two days ago Lisa had finally sent the paintings away to be restored. I was really curious.

There was another thing I was curious about. I kept seeing someone in the grounds from the windows, but whenever I went to check I could never find any trace of anyone. It was so vexing.

I sighed and headed home. I was now renting a house in the city. Jeremy and Lisa stayed with me when they were in the city. As the architect, Jeremy did not need to oversee everything so he visited twice a week, while Lisa came whenever the thought struck her. No matter. I liked the place since the backyard was facing the riverbank and my office/den had a large picture window facing in that direction.

If that was not enough, the terrace adjoined to the living room, which looked out over the water would have made me take the place any day.

As I sat gazing out of the window rather than working, I saw someone walking on the riverside. From here it seemed like a girl, and then suddenly she disappeared.

SHIT!

I ran out to the terrace and then jumped down to head straight for where I had seen the girl. When I got there, she was lying down on the sand, playing with a flower.

I started laughing and she looked up at me as if I was a lunatic. When I finally got a hold of myself, I explained.

"I was looking out of my window and saw you. Then you suddenly disappeared. I was afraid that something bad had happened." yeah that was lame. I know. Totally.

But then she started laughing. "Sorry!" she said when she finally stopped. "Its just.." she giggled, "You won't get it. It's a lame joke anyways."

Then she gave me a devilish grin. "Thanks for rushing to my rescue."

I sighed. "You're very welcome. But can you please be in some trouble next time? Like, have a pebble in your shoe or something? So I am not completely useless."

She chuckled. "Be careful what you wish for." she said in a sing song voice.

I shook my head, but then she smiled and handed me the flower she had been playing with.

"Thanks anyways!" she said as she skipped away. I watched her go with a strange sense of déjà vu.

That night after our usual discussion about the house, I told Jeremy about her.

"So a random girl gave you a rose? What's the big deal. " Jeremy asked amused.

I scowled. It sounded stupid to me too when he phrased it like that.

"It was different. She was.." I fumbled for the right word.

"different?" Jeremy offered and I wished I was talking face to face with him, just so could punch that smirk right off his face.

"Look the rose was blue. And she was definitely something else." I snapped.

"Blue?" he asked finally intrigued.

"Yes." I said.

Jeremy whistled. "Okay maybe she was different."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed and he chuckled. We talked for a while more before hanging up. His last piece of advice was to ask her name the next time. As if I would not have planned to.

That night I dreamed of her. She was playing the piano in a beautiful large hall. I knew it was a dream, because that room was my vision of the hall in the mansion. But I had never put a piano there, yet now it seemed like a part of the room. She was dressed in the same misty white dress that she had been wearing when I met her, and her eyes were closed so I could not see their beautiful chocolate brown color.

Then the image dissolved and I was at the riverside again, and she was playing in the water. Se turned to me, and held out her hand, and just as I moved forward to take it, my alarm clock went off.

For heaven's sake!

I shrugged away the girl and the dream. It was so unlike me and instead concentrated on work. But there was going to be a grand piano in the main hall now.