Dinner, Dessert, and Fine Company

Collins Hall was a very old estate with a church built into the side of it. It was beautiful before neglect and misfortune had taken it’s toll. It’s appearance was worsened still by the very well known story about the awful death of Victoria Collins.In fact this was one of the main reasons the Merode’s were so willing to attend. Nothing like a perfect atmosphere for their party tricks. Marcus Lloyd answered the mournful doorbell only identified by his blue tie, his brother always wore green. The decorations were wonderfully morbid. The Merodes muttered in agreement that they couldn’t have done better themselves. Dark purple draped the entire room and gothic wall sconces lit up the room with a drained glow. Marcus went to join his brother by the fire above which a faded portrait of Victoria still hung. The girls weren’t surprised to find that they were the only guests but they still had their manners.
“Where is everyone?”asked Moiva as she took her place in a wide dark green arm chair, Taris joined her on one of the arms.
“Well we invited everyone but I don’t think the towns people appreciate us very much” said Martin Lloyd in a very bored tone. They seemed use to not having their invitations accepted. “We knew you two would come though” Taris and Moiva stiffened they weren’t used to being predictable.
“Well I really do believe this is it, Martin lets go see if dinner’s ready”When they were out of the room the Merodes burst in exasperated whispers.
“They didn’t know we were coming”
“They bothered to decorate” Taris motioned to the drapes
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this”
“What do we have to be afraid of”
“Nothing so far but they’ve been just as good at avoiding company as we are so what do they have to hide?”
“We’re ready for you” The Lloyds came back to escort them to the dining room. They shared one last grim look and put on their most innocent smiles.
Dinner went by normally enough; no random frog parts made it to the table. However during dessert Marcus told Moiva her hair was much more flattering when it was down and the meal came to an abrupt end when his pudding started to swell in his throat. They adjourned to the room they had entered and the Lloyd’s invited them to play cards. This is what Taris and Moiva had been planning on.
“Perfect,” Taris pulled out a deck of cards “we brought a game we think is delightful”
“It’s called Ghosts.”Moiva took a seat at the card table they had set up. “It’s simple we let in a bunch of ghosts and we try to guess how they died.”
“But they can’t talk,” Taris took a seat next to her sister, “They have to show us” The Lloyd’s went a little bug eyed.
“It’s just a game right?” Asked Marcus
“Why don’t you find out?” challenged Moiva. The brothers whispered to each other for a moment Taris thought she heard them say how something wasn’t part of the deal. They soon convinced themselves and took the remaining two seats. Moiva drew a circle of chalk on the table and instructed everyone to place their hands inside of it. She then layed down the suicide king and the one eyed jack in the center and lit a candle. Taris faintly whispered something and all the sconces went out. “We’ll go first so you can see how it’s done, Taris would you like to start?” Taris drew a card off the top of the deck; it was the three of clubs. All of a sudden three morose looking people were standing around the people.
“Welcome to our game”, said Taris “We want to know how you died, will you let me guess?” The spirits nodded. “I drew clubs so you were killed in battle,” The spirits nodded again but were smiling, “Colonel were you shot?” The one in the uniform shook his head, but came around and picked up the dagger that had appeared on the table. He put it up to her chest. The Lloyd’s watched in horror as the ghost pressed hard enough to draw blood. Taris laughed, “Ah colonel you lasted until there were no bullets left and so in hand to hand combat you were stabbed through the heart” He smiled, nodded and dissolved like smoke. The blood disappeared, it was a harmless game ghosts really can’t do anything to the living but they did love sharing their deaths. However it had done the trick the Lloyds were undone. They broke the circle and the ghosts disappeared and the sconces relit. The Merodes were laughing until they realized the Lloyd’s were throwing a serious fit. They were jerking and screaming “Don’t kill us”, “let us go please.”
“Let you go we haven’t done anything to you”
“We don’t like it we don’t want to do it anymore” pleaded Martin. “Do what?” asked Moiva but they didn’t need an explanation, the sisters smelled it. The fragrance of a spell and mud filled the room.
“Undo it” screamed Marcus “ We don’t want to die”
“We’re not going to kill you” said Taris but as was her manner it didn’t sound very comforting. The Lloyd’s were now cowering in the corner and sobbing.
“Oh good grief let’s just undo it” Moiva pulled a couple of smooth rocks out of her pocket in her boot and handed one to her sister. They were always armed. Taris took it. They held the rocks in their right hands and rubbed it in rhythm with their thumbs. Then they started a rhyme.
Hush hush the storm will come
Rain will fall and land undone
Bury deep the things to hide
Truth and lies will then collide
Disguise and mask will melt away
In light and fire it cannot stay
The Lloyd’s were now unconscious. Taris and Moiva threw the stones in the air snapped their fingers twice and caught the stones again. The Lloyd’s started to twist and pop. They were soon a mesh of color and sound. The popping slowed and soon all there was left was a few frothy bubbles and a two headed salamander. One head had blue eyes and the other green.
“ A salamander,” Moiva put the stones away and started to clean up.
“That explains the frog eyes.” Taris folded up the card table and chairs, Moiva put the salamander in her purse and started taking down drapes. They were always very careful when it came to evidence. “But who sent it and what did they want?”
“I don’t know,” Moiva’s brow was creased with thought. They were worried but not enough to be sloppy. When the house was finally in perfect order they left home by way of the creek to drop off their pet. They remained silent until they were back in the safety of their library. Then they discussed the night’s events.
“ Do you think it was just a spy or had dirtier work to do?”Taris finally said aloud
“ I don’t think they were sent to do anything too tragic, whoever made that excellent spell would’ve known they wouldn’t be able to.” Moiva looked up from her book of swamp magic. Taris played with her hair restlessly.
“ But they did underestimate us, or did they just not care about getting caught.”
“ I don’t know but I think we’ll know more soon” Moiva was looking out the window at something in the distance. Taris joined her to find a column of chimney smoke rising from the direction of the most recently evicted Collin’s hall.
“ I bet we could extract a name from the real estate agent”
“Lets” said Taris who was now yawning “Tomorrow though”
“Definitely” Moiva drew the curtain and whispered a spell against trespassers and spies. The girls slept very well, they are the kind of people who enjoy dangerous life threatening situations, and they were hoping these events would turn into something very thrilling.

A Witch Story-Introduction

The Merode sisters were born under strange circumstances. Both came on separate moonless Wednesday nights, This is either strangely coincidental or coincidentally strange. Either way they were wicked from the beginning. They didn’t cry, were given awful names, (as wealthy children are prone to have) and at the age of zero were able to worry their nurses to illness. By the time they could walk and talk they realized that the things they could do to get what they wanted were things other children could not do.
They spent most of their childhood without much tending because the family could not pay a nurse enough to stay. So they knew hardly any company besides each other until Taris went to school. However she didn’t manage a single friend and then a year later when her sister Moiva joined her they were again inseparable. They got perfect grades and the only blemish on their records was a note that the other children seemed to be scared of them. This was from the year they discovered that their unique abilities could be purposely directed to reach their goals. They learned most of their tricks from books -for rivals burn a lock of hair and a picture and spread ashes on doorstep- for coveted items describe on willow parchment with toads blood and swallow.
Now while the girls were wicked they weren’t cruel. They would only use hurtful spells when they were crossed and as the girls grew less petty with age these were used less and less. However they maintained the horrid gossip and mischievous demeanor with a vengeance. It was much more useful and entertaining to be mysterious and feared. They allowed all mishaps in the town to be blamed on them which was quite easy as they had to do nothing; people from small country towns always have a very good imagination. They were blamed for everything except for when the piano teacher’s house blew up. Weirdly people seemed to forget about it as soon as the fire was out. In fact nothing was said or heard about it at all but a small black bird that while the merode sisters were passing under his perch with singed skirts heard Taris say “too much black powder” and the response from Moiva “too much rat tail, but I do suppose we came up with something useful after all.”
Sadly not even murder stories will keep suitors away when there are rich pretty daughters to be married. Their father and their money were only half to blame, because they were quite beautiful. They managed to vanquish all annoyances until one day a dark and handsome set of identical twins arrived. This is when things got interesting for Taris and Moiva. As intriguing as their childhood was, as life usually goes it only turns into an adventure when there’s a force to work against, and that usually comes in the form of people. So the day the Merode sisters found their match in questionable behavior is when the fun really began.
“Good morning Taris”
“Good morning Moiva did you sleep well?”
“Always, you are covered in feathers and blood so I assume you were out delivering our gift to the Lloyd twins?”
“Yes and I’m afraid I was caught.”
Moiva grinned “ Were they more shocked or disgusted?”
“They thanked me”, said Taris defeatedly “And they said the boiled frog eyes we gave them were quite good on toast, they also wanted to know if I would stay for breakfast. I only got away when I told them I had more chickens to kill”
“Sister I think they’re loony, frog eyes really are only good for scaring people, I haven’t read a single spell that has any use for them, we only started keeping them when we found out Old Lady Harris has a spectacular gag reflex. So even if they are like us there is something else wrong with them besides that.” Taris thoughtfully pushed her dark bangs back from her deep steel colored eyes. “We’d better figure something out quickly or were going to end up married to them I heard father asking to speak with their parents when they came to visit last.”
“We could burn down all the churches from here to Canada, that will buy us some time.”
“ None too subtle Moiva”
“Oh like how subtle you were when you tied Michael Jones to a cross with braided duck intestine?”
“ I was ten and I didn’t get caught”
“I’m sorry” sighed Moiva “ we shouldn’t argue we need to come up with a real working plan.”
The girls pulled out a few of their favorite books to look for ideas but were interrupted by the doorbell and their father calling them to greet guests. They were horrified to find the Lloyd twins and their father about to bite into a shiny piece of toast.
“Daddy your cholesterol!” said Taris as she nimbly snatched it from him mid bite.
“Ah yes of course” Merle Merode hugged his eldest daughter tightly “what a good nurse you are, Any man will find himself well off with you as a wife” He guffawed at his smooth match making skills, then cleared his throat, “However down to business these fine strapping boys come with an invitation” He handed Moiva a dark purple and gold embossed card.
“ A dinner party” read Taris over her sister’s shoulder “ At Collins Hall Friday the 13th”
“ Of course” muttered Moiva.
“What say you?” their father almost shouted.The sisters shared poisoned winks. “ We accept” they said in unison, as they walked off only a spider and Taris heard Moiva say “ This we can work with.”

Life and new conundrums

Hey y'all. There's really nothing terribly exciting happening in my life, but that's actually good because usually there's too much. I'm applying for scholarsips and it's both exciting and and stressful. I'm kind of in the " I don't want to grow up phase" and scholarships are definitely something old people do. It is very exciting to consider all of the possibilities there are for my life. We'll see what happens. I think that's a good healthy attitude to have about it all.

Conundrums
Megatokyo or Avatar?
Food or boys?
Shoes or pedicures?

Carousel

OK here is the beginning... finally



As the music moved faster so did the bright twirling dancers. A young woman named Aiden sat in awe with her friends in the circus stands. It was the weekend after finals and she and her friends were celebrating at the local carnival. The main attraction this year was the Ripton's circus. Never before had any of them seen such beautiful graceful women. It was like they were porcelain dolls, shaped and painted by a master artist. Then the music stopped on a climactic note and a new song began. This song was a slower Indian tune opposed to the previous faster gypsy rondo, and came with a cloud of green smoke out from which stepped a man with a distinctive beard and silk attire.
" Aiden" Aiden looked around.
" Did you say my name?" She asked one of her friends.
" No, shhhhh" replied the girl next to her.
" Aiden" She heard it again but this time she recognized it as a man's voice, but the closest man was two rows away and the only person even looking at her was the man on stage.

New Conundrums!

Lot's of homework, or a sarcastic teacher?
Shopping, or chocolate?
Professional massage, or walking barefoot on the beach?
Joe Jonas or Kyle Patrick ( The Click Five)
Kisses, or secrets?
Remember the point is to come up with things you can't decide between. Are any of these a conunfrum for you?

Hey Everyone!!

Hey Guys! There's not really anything new going on in my life, just that I'm taking a leave of absence from Target until Christmas and I bought a new guitar. Sorry it's taken me so long to post. My favorite class this school year is Government because I get to deal with politics all the time, and you know how much I love that:) You would like this class Ginny, my teacher seems to be on the conservative side. He's a little boring though. Well that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have more music soon.

My First Finished Song

I don't have a title for it but here are the words...
little one close your eyes
and know I'm always right there
know I'll always love you

And as you sleep I'll watch you
And when you wake I'll hold you

Dearest child of mine
This life is yours to make
Love is yours to take

And as you grow I'll love you
And as you live you'll always be mine
you'll always be mine

It's a lullaby for my cousin who is having a baby in October. What do you guys think. Ginny and Kendle you should get your cousins to look at out blogs again because I'm actually posting stuff again. Sorry I can't record sound anymore.

Target

Well today is my first day at Target. I'm not very excited because of how bad my last job. Hopefully this will be a better experience. Theyr'e pretty nice so far , but I guess I'll find out today. Wish me luck. I'll need it. I'm already stressed out enough for a cold sore. Other than my job my summer has been a lot of fun. We need to plan a weekend or something with the Romneys soon. I've started my story but I don't have enough to post yet, but I will soon.