Mansions to Maths Class

Part One - In the beginning

Chapter one

Edgar:
“The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.
Edmund:
Th' hast spoken right, 'tis true.
The wheel is come full circle, I am here.”

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3

***

"Hey Ella?" Lucifer called to me from across the room, indicating for me to join him with one of his long, thin finger.

I groaned, slowly rising from my position on the leather couch and dragged my tired feet over to my focused brother perched at one of the many desks in our wing of the house.

"What's up?" I questioned, looking over his shoulder at the parchment in his hands.

"The ozone layer,"

"Ha ha, very funny. Your humour astounds me Luc, why oh why aren't you a stand up comedian, oh yeah! 'Cause you're not funny." Luc rolled his eyes at me.

"Anyway," I said, acting as if our previous encounter had never happened, "What was it that you so desperately wanted to show me?"

Luc refocused, looking back down at the parchment before he began talking, "Oh, I just wanted your opinion on this matter. If you were trying to blackmail a certain someone into-"
"Bellatrix! Lucifer! Darlings, come done stairs! Daemon has big news for us all! Oh, my precious little darling, all grown up! He's accomplished so very much. Really he's just so perfect..." Etcetera, etcetera. I stopped listening at that point. I mean, who really wants to hear my mother drone on and on about how perfect her eldest son was. BORING!

"I suppose we should head down." Lucifer said, packing away his papers and standing upright, stretching his arms, making me feel even shorter than normal. And I'm not even short! I'm 5'9, but Lucifers just some epic tall freak, he's 6'4, and really lanky. He's still kind of muscular (trust me, I would know) but in a skinny, gangly kind of way, if you catch my drift.
Lucifer and I are said to look more like our mother than our father. I think that's supposed to be a compliment. I mean, I guess it would be better than looking like our father.

Luc and I are both tall and skinny and really pale like Esmeree, Lucifer even had her light green eyes, whereas I had both inherited the creepy hazel irises and dark black brown hair from Mortis. Luc, Daemon and I all had hair that colour. Mum called it the colour of ebony, where as hers was ivory. Such a pale blonde hers was.

Daemon was tall, but not as tall as Luc, and bulkier, muscular, and more solid than my beloved partner in crime.

"Ella!" Luc whined, tugging on the long sleeve of my dress, "We've got to hurry to dinner or Daemon will have a fit!"

"And that's a bad thing, why?"

"It's not, but I'm trying to get Dad to give us an allowance rise, and he's not going to if we piss off Daemon." He replied, rolling his eyes, all the while dragging me through the tall mahogany double doors and down the spiral staircase, completely oblivious to my protests.
"Bellatrix, Lucifer. How splendid of you to join us," the stupid jerk said in a obviously fake warm voice. The sad thing was, our parents bought it, they always did.

"It's our pleasure, dear brother, our pleasure." Lucifer said, sucking up. I rolled my eyes at him as we both took our seats around the long dining table.

"Darlings, Daemon has big news for us all. It's very exciting for our family, so you should pay special attention to your big, big brother." Our mother said, speaking slowly as if we were five years old. Seriously, it was quite insulting. I mean, it's kind of depressing if your own mother doesn't realise her kids are not toddlers anymore, Lucifer and I are freaking sixteen, we're almost adults even!

"Of course, mother." Lucifer smiled at her. I think my eyes are going to pop out of their sockets if I keep rolling them like that. But seriously, I can not really help it with a dweeb for a twin.

Daemon coughed, regaining everyone’s attention.

"As you would all well know, I am Mr Hawthorne’s personal assistant, in tune with the most sacred of information."

"Really?" I said sarcastically, "I had no idea." Lucifer sent a warning glance at me before worriedly looking at his elder brother, but there was no need for Daemon continued as if there had been no interruption. Pity, really. It's always fun to annoy him.

"Anyway, Crawford received the sack this morning, so there is an empty space in his position. I believe my chances of gaining the promotion are fairly high, so as to prove to Mr. Hawthorne and his family that I am an excellent candidate for the role, I have invited them all over for dinner." Daemon smiled proudly at his own 'ingeniousness'. Or at least, that's what he thinks.

"Uh, Daemon, how does that help you get the job? What's inviting them over got anything with proving how 'excellent a candidate' you are?" Lucifer questioned, tilting his head to one side, pondering Daemon's previous statement. Oh yeah. That's my twin. That's my genius twin. Put the devil under pressure! He'll surely crack, then die! That would be awesome.
But alas, my dreams were far from true. Somehow, Daemon managed to have a, I admit, fairly justifying answer. Damn.

"Oh, but dear brother, when you grow older and wiser, you will realise that in the government, it is rarely your skill, although I will make an exception in my case, that progresses you through the ranks. It is all about who you know, your connections, rather, that will really push you forwards," Daemon explained, ruffling the hair of a wincing Lucifer, "Like I said, you'll understand when you’re older." Again with the older thing! When would these deluded people I call a family realise Lucifer and I are not children any more? We were teenagers, old ones at that! Daemon was only three years our senior, not a hundred and fifty.

"So anyway," I cut in, receiving a thankful smile from Lucifer, as Daemon stopped patting his dark hair to listen to me, "That's very lovely and all, but what in the holy mother of chocolates name has this got to do with us? If you wanted us to tell you how proud we are of you or whatever, you only had to ask. But since I'm the lovely little sister I am, I'll just say it for us, without even being asked!" I grinned broadly at everyone before continuing, "Daemon, Me and Lucifer-"

"Lucifer and I" I sighed. My mother could be truly annoying some times.

"Lucifer and I are very, very proud of your amazing accomplishments Daemon. Really, it just brings a tear to my eye." I said, wiping an imaginary tear from my eye, sniffling for added effect.

"It's alright Ella, stay strong, stay strong. We're just so proud, Daemon. Our big brother so popular in the work force. It's just, we want to grow up to be just like you." I was glad to see my twins cheek back, even though he is generally the more solemn and serious of the two of us.

Unfortunately, Daemon, being the little dumb ass he was, didn't pick up on our sarcasm. He looked like he was glowing with pride from our praise.

"Thank you Bellatrix, Lucifer. I am glad you appreciate me as the perfect role model for you. You should be striving to follow in my footsteps." Daemon said smiling obliviously at the rather forced matching grins Lucifer and I were wearing.

Before I could respond with some really sharp come back, some of the dining servants entered the room, bringing with them the entrees for our evening meal.

The rest of the dinner passed in silence, Lucifer and I entertaining ourselves by kicking each other under the table. Immature, I know. But still, so, so, entertaining.

Later that night, Lucifer and I met in the study of our wing in the mansion.

"So," I started. Lucifer looked at me as if I was crazy.

"So what?"

"So? So? Daemon is having a very important dinner party." I continued. Lucifer still looked as if he had no clue as to where this was going with this. For such a snart boy, he could be pretty slow sometimes. "So he would be very annoyed if, oh, I don't know, someone came and made him look like a complete and utter dill brain in front of his boss." I looked at Lucifer, my face making it clear that I thought he was being thick.

"Ooh," Luc replied, dragging out the syllables in understanding, "You're saying we make him look like a cheap moron so he doesn't get the promotion. Then he'll be so peeved."

"My thoughts exactly." I grinned at my twin, "Now we just need some epic awesome plan."

Luc matched my grin with one that would rival that of the Cheshire cats, "That's where I come in. I suppose blackmailing Percival will have to wait. This is a much more pressing issue."

"Guess so. We can leave the rotten tutor alone for a while, I guess. Annoying Daemon is much more entertaining than watching the old bat pull his hair out all day," Percival was Luc and I's tutor. We didn't go to school, heck, we'd never been past the dark forest! The dark forest was pretty self explanatory, what's not to get? A big dark band of treacherous forest circling our house. It was impossible to get through. You would die before reaching the other side. It was the castles best defence mechanism, but a bloody pain if you were stuck inside the ring, prisoners, if you like, being cruelly tortured with an imbecile big brother and a batty old professor.

To leave the castle, there was an underground tunnel that went beneath the forest. Why do Lucifer and I not run away through the tunnel? Trust me, we've tried. But it's heavily guarded, and there's locks everywhere. It's like they purposely don't want Lucifer and I to have proper lives.

Whenever we have brought it up with the family, their answer is always the same: "You two are very lucky children to have the chance to grow up in the Everwood Manor. We have anything and everything a child could possibly want" Lie. We wanted real lives.

But one day, we'd get out of here. I'd make sure of it.