Briallen Bevin and the Clocktower Guard

Chapter 3: The Coming Storm

"This book is due in two weeks. And since you are new to our library, I feel I should give you a warning," said the young woman behind a large horse-shoe shaped desk located at the back of The Village Library. "If you fail to return it on time, it'll chase you around the house until you take it back." Briallen's eyes widened and she nodded to show that she understood. "Alrighty! Have a good day, then!" said the librarian cheerfully, officially excusing Briallen from her presence.

Briallen shook her head and wished that Hayden was with her. He was supposed to spend the day with her but a property owned by his parents in Roanoke had been vandalized and they had been recruited him to clean it. She walked slowly down the front steps of the library as she placed the book in her shoulder bag and then looked around. The faire was still going on that day and the library faced Prather Park, the most crowded part of town. The Bubbling Cauldron was just across the street to her right, however, and Briallen felt that a big, cool glass of iced tea was just what she needed.

The pub was packed inside with locals and visitors, looking for a cool place to relax and take a break from the chaos of the faire. Briallen was thankful that there were no screaming little kids inside. The only noise in the pub was that of the customers happily chatting to one another. She normally didn't mind small children but with the faire in town, The Village seemed to be overrun with little kids and all they did was scream and cry, very loudly, which grated Briallen's nerves severely. She squeezed her way to the bar in the back and ordered her iced tea before taking a seat on an empty barstool, vacated just seconds earlier.

"Briallen!" shouted a voice near her ear. Briallen jumped and held her hand to heart, surprised. She smiled at Cass Elwood who was suddenly standing serenely by her side. "Sorry to scare you! Where's Hayden?"

"Family emergency," said Briallen with a melancholy shrug. "What are you doing here? I thought your brother's birthday party was today?"

"It is. They just sent me here for a few jugs of pumpkin juice because we've actually run out. Apparently his friends are all fish! Do you want to come back with me?"

"No thanks, I don't want to be a bother."

"Oh, please, Briallen! You'd be doing me a favor if you came. All the party guests are older kids I hardly know... please come!"

Briallen caved easily because she was bored, and so she nodded, downed her iced tea in two large gulps, and followed Cass to the side of the large pub where there was an open door. Three short, rickety steps led to an narrow cobblestone alleyway overgrown with flowering weeds. Next to the stairs there was parked a shiny, silver wheelbarrow, and several large men were hauling jugs of pumpkin juice from inside the pub and placing the jugs inside of it. Briallen looked at the wheelbarrow and its cargo of a dozen one-gallon jugs of juice and wondered how Cass planned on getting something so heavy back to her home.

"Will you be able to haul that all the way back to your house?" asked Briallen as she tested the weight of the wheelbarrow by trying to lift the two handles. She was unable to lift it more than a half inch and could hardly even push it. "It's really heavy!"

Cass Elwood laughed at Briallen. "Are we witches or not? A Feather-Light Charm and we'll get it there without a problem."

A man came out and put one more jug in the wheelbarrow, told Cass it was the last, and went back inside, closing the door to the pub after him. Cass pointed her wand at the heavy wheelbarrow and cast the Feather-Light Charm. She then took hold of both of the handle bars, lifted them with ease and the two girls began their walk to the Elwoods' house.

Briallen had been friends with Cass for a year now, since they shared a dorm, but they had never hung out enough for Briallen to be asked over to Cass's house before. She knew that Cass lived in Hoadley's Hollow, which was an upscale, gated community full of large plantation-style manors, but the closest she had been to any of those homes was just outside the neighborhood gate. She was looking forward to seeing the actual neighborhood from the inside this time, and the opportunity to see one of the large houses on the inside.

"So how old is your brother now?" asked Briallen, trying as casually as possible to learn more about the youngest, enigmatic Elwood.

"He's twenty. He's training to be a Healer at St. Birger's Hospital in Dallas so most of the people at the party are people he went to school with and people he works with."

"Did he graduate just before we started?"

"Yes," said Cass, a little sadly, as they crossed the street. They walked past the first gate, which was the one that Briallen, Marisol and Toby had longingly gazed through last Halloween, and down the sidewalk to the next gate, which was directly across from Quentin's Quad where all the carnival rides were set up. "I love having the faire here every year but ever since they put up the rides, it's gotten a bit annoying at night. Wild kids running and screaming past the gates, throwing toilet paper all over them, and drunks trying to break in. It's such a hassle. My parents aren't very pleased."

Briallen nodded politely as they stopped in front of the second set of gates. Cass called to one of the security guards inside and he opened the gate only just enough to let them through. Briallen thought it was funny that out of all the times she had passed by the gates of Hoadley's Hollow, she didn't once remember seeing any security guards. She didn't say anything about it, though, as she followed Cass down the wide street, but after a couple of yards she just had to turn around to get one last look at the guard. She was surprised to find that he had seemingly disappeared. There wasn't even a guard's post, let alone any guards. Briallen gasped.

Cass Elwood paused and looked at Briallen and then back at the gate and smiled. "They're under the Disillusionment Spell, Briallen. So people don't know they're there."

"How many are there?"

"There's usually only two on duty at any time: one for each gate. But when big events like this are taking place, we have about ten. Three for each gate and four to walk along the wall and make sure nobody is trying to climb over it or something stupid like that."

"Wow... you all are big on privacy here aren't you?" That was something Briallen had noticed long ago when she saw there were only five houses in Hoadley's Hollow, when it could easily contain twenty average sized homes - thirty if there wasn't a large pond in the middle of the long curved road that led from one gate to the other.

"Not so much privacy as safety. A lot of the people here own valuable and rare items, and as much as we try to keep it a secret, gossip spreads like wildfire in this town. Everybody knows what we possess better than we do, it seems. Did you know there are over a dozen attempted burglaries here every year?"

"Has anyone ever succeeded in breaking into a home here?"

"Very rarely," said Cass, rather arrogantly. "My father says that our security here is second only to Gringotts, and superior to that of Waters Edge. That's why most of the families here don't keep their things in any bank."

Briallen wanted to ask Cass how everyone in Hoadley's Hollow kept their gold safe from burglars but just then they turned onto a thin road that led to the Elwoods' manor, and she instantly forgot everything she'd been thinking. The fact that the house had its own name, Eltham Estate, was enough to awe Briallen, although she remembered her grandfather telling her that his manor has a name as well (but what it was she couldn't remember). What really astonished Briallen though was her first good look at the house. At first, a towering willow tree and several large oak trees obstructed her view as they walked down the road towards Eltham Estate, but when they turned onto the main driveway and were past the trees, her jaw dropped.

A round driveway, much like the road that circled in front of Bergamot, wrapped around a large fountain with cherubs and angles and mermaids carved onto it. Its water trickled softly over the edges of its three tiers as two swans glided contently in its large, round basin. The road itself was not brick, like at Bergamot, but made of wide plates of gray slate. The large, three story, white wood house had four impossibly tall pillars supporting the roof, which extended over the entire front of the home. There were many fancy carriages parked in the driveway near the front door, along with a few old fashioned cars, but, to Briallen's dismay, they were not going in that direction. Instead, Cass lead Briallen down a stone path to the right side of the house that led to two large, French-doors that opened to the kitchen.

"Whoa, my mom would love this kitchen," murmured Briallen as she ran a hand along the pearly, marble countertops and smooth, white cabinets. The kitchen was four times the size of her mother's kitchen and so Briallen supposed that it was only appropriate for there to be four cooks bustling about. Cass began unloading the jugs of pumpkin juice onto a countertop with windows that opened into the backyard, so that it served as a bar to those outside. Then Briallen realized what had been bugging her about this scene. It did not look like the kitchen of witches and wizards, as she expected it to, because there were only human cooks and no house-elves. "Where are your house-elves?"

Cass grimaced at Briallen's last word. "We don't have any. My mother is an activist. Well, she's actively opinionated and actively protests in support of those opinions. In other words, she doesn't believe in slavery, however she couldn't find enough house-elves who would be willing to work in exchange for holidays, pay, and freedom, and so we are the only residents of in this neighborhood who have human servants."

Briallen could have sworn she heard one of the four cooks snort and then try to disguise her laugh with a sneeze.

"My grandpa has a couple house-elves. There's three for cleaning, one for cooking and one who... I think she's married to the cook but she just helps out wherever. Mostly she keeps my grandpa company. They seem happy, and the house-elves at Bergamot seem happy too."

"That's only because your grandfather is a good wizard," said Cass in all seriousness. "Not all wizards are as nice as he is." Cass placed the last of the jugs on the counter and wiped her hands on her shorts. "Want to meet my brother now?"

"Definitely!" said Briallen with a huge smile. Cass lead Briallen out the French-doors and around the corner of the house to the backyard where a large number of people, most of whom looked to be in their early twenties, relaxed around a buffet, several large white tables and the fanciest pool Briallen had ever seen.

Cass walked confidently over to a group of boys sitting shirtless beside the pool, their legs dangling over its golden-gilded edge in the clear water. She tapped one of them on the shoulder and the boy turned and smiled at her. Briallen was in awe once again. She was sort of attracted to Hayden, and Gavin, when he wasn't yet a friend, had made her heart flutter, but now she felt as if her heart had stopped beating completely. As Cass's older brother stood up, Briallen couldn't help but stare. She felt as if she had been paralyzed by the sight of him. He wasn't muscular but he was trim, with a strong boxy jaw, a wide nose and round, blue eyes, and he had the most perfect smile Briallen had ever seen. And he had apparently just got out of the pool, as his hair was wet and beads of water dripped off of him. To Briallen, he was glittering.

"Briallen, this is my brother: Kentigern Edward Idris Elwood, the fourth," announced Cass with affected pomp. She began to bow but was interrupted when her brother tickled her stomach and made her laugh.

"How many times have I told you to just introduce me to your friends as Kent?" he said, with faux exasperation and a toothy grin. "They must all think I'm ridiculously arrogant."

"With a name like yours, it just isn't possible for me to say it any other way. Anyway, like I was telling you earlier, this is a friend of mine from school: Briallen Bevin. Briallen meet Kent, Kent meet Briallen."

Kent held out his hand but Briallen was just staring at his eyes. He paused a moment, confused, and then he laughed and withdrew his hand to replace it with that hug that only men do: a quick semi-embrace with an even quicker pat on the back. She was slightly damp now from his hug, but she didn't notice. "Are you two going to swim with us? The water's amazing and we don't mind sharing."

Briallen suddenly felt mortified as his hug slammed her back into reality and she realized she had not only snubbed his hand but was staring, blatantly, right at him. "Uh, no... no, I didn't bring a swimsuit," mumbled Briallen as she moved her eyes to her feet. She would have loved to go swimming in the crystal water, to observe up-close the intricately detailed tiles at the bottom of the pool that created the image of a mermaid when looked at from above, but she suddenly found herself feeling incredibly self-conscious. And self-conscious was a feeling Briallen was wholly unfamiliar to experiencing around people she didn't even know - and around people she did know, for that matter.

"Aw, that's too bad. The water's warm and it's a gorgeous day out," said Kent as he glanced over at a beautiful girl with dark, curly hair and who was wearing nothing but a short skirt and a bikini top. She smiled sweetly and waved him over. "I'm being called by my lady now, but it was nice meeting you Briallen. Tell your grandfather hello for me."

Briallen nodded and Kent trotted obediently off to the gorgeous girl, lifted her off the ground, twirled her and then kissed her. Briallen felt the most intense jealousy she had ever felt in her life as she watched them. She began to seriously contemplate hexing Kent's girlfriend to another planet, but Cass interrupted that thought with an invitation to tour the house and then play a game of wizard chess. Briallen agreed and followed Cass inside the house, secretly thankful to get away from Kent before she did anything embarrassing or reckless.

The tour of the Eltham Estate's manor house ended up being fascinating enough to take Briallen's mind off of Kent Elwood. She 'oohed' and 'aahed' as Cass showed her fourteen rooms in the house, which didn't include all the bedrooms and bathrooms (most were taken by the guests), and when they finally got to Cass' room, which looked over the backyard, Briallen was green with envy. Cass Elwood's walk-in closet was nearly the size of Briallen's bedroom back home, though it pleased her to see that her bedroom at her grandfather's house was the same size as Cass' own bedroom.

Briallen was fairly surprised when Cass first introduced her bedroom, though, because it did not look like the room of a teenaged girl, or a teenaged witch. There were no photographs or posters on the walls, no clothes hanging over the bedpost, no soda cans or magazines on the floor. Briallen could only think of one word that properly described Cass Elwood's bedroom: crisp. It had pale, almost gray, wood flooring, and blue walls so light they were almost white, and very plain, very sharp, white furniture. The only thing that really stood out to Briallen were the small, faded red and yellow painted sailing boats that bordered the walls near the ceiling, except one wall, on which was painted a beach scene with sand dunes, a white wood and wire fence and a small red crab standing near a calm, ebbing ocean. Briallen had never felt more at peace.

"I painted that wall, you know. I love the ocean, especially in England. My family has a house in Cornwall, on the beach - I'm going to live there someday," stated Cass as she began to set up a game of wizard chess on a table in a corner where there was a window on each wall.

"Sounds wonderful... I really like your room. It's so... soothing."

"Well, I must confess there are spells on the doorway that make anyone who passes through it feel calm and relaxed. It's great for when my parents are angry with me," said Cass with a laugh. Briallen couldn't imagine Mr and Mrs Elwood ever having any reason to be angry with their daughter. "Come on, let's play."

Briallen nodded and sat in the corner, across from Cass. From the window on her left she could look down into the backyard, and out the window behind her there was a great view of Bergamot. Briallen was more concerned with the view of the backyard, however. She was not very good at wizard chess when she was concentrating but with most of her attention focused on watching the gorgeous Kent Elwood do dive after perfect dive into the pool, she was horrible.

After winning two whole games in less than a half hour (which even included a lemonade and cookie break in between), Cass sighed and sat back. "I should have waited to introduce you to my brother after we played. Or I could just... "

Briallen grinned, not taking her eyes off Kent, who was now drying himself with a fluffy towel. She wondered if there was a spell to turn oneself into something like a towel. "Or you could just what?" She did not receive an answer. "Cass?" asked Briallen as she tore her eyes away from Kent to see why her friend wasn't speaking. But Cass was not paying attention to Briallen anymore. She was frowning, looking past Briallen, and out the window behind her.

Suddenly Briallen heard a scream from the backyard and she looked down to see everybody rushing to pick up their things or running inside. She knew instantly that something strange and bad was happening. And then she heard the sound of thunder and the house shook.

"Briallen, can you please move?" asked Cass politely. Briallen readily got out of her chair and moved to the side and Cass took her place so she could get a better view of what was going on outside. "What in the name of Merlin is that?"

Briallen moved closer to Cass and looked out the window that faced Bergamot and gasped. Gray and yellow storm clouds swirled around the school and a flash of lightening struck the ground near its front doors, yet no rain fell. By the way the trees were swaying wildly, Briallen could tell the wind had picked up great speed.

"I have no idea... I've never seen a storm like that. Have you?" mumbled Briallen.

"No. But I think I might have heard of one before."

"Cassandra, Briallen, come on," announced Kent. He stood just outside Cass's room, dressed haphazardly and obviously worried. "Briallen, an owl just arrived with a message from your grandfather. He wants you to Floo back to his house right away, where he knows you'll be safe. Cass, I want you to come downstairs with me and the others so that I can keep an eye on you. This storm looks bad."

"It looks magical..." murmured Cass as she took one last look at the storm brewing over Bergamot, and then followed Briallen and Kent downstairs to the ballroom.

"What do I say to Floo to my grandpa's?" asked Briallen, holding a handful of Floo powder and standing in front of the fireplace.

"Just say 'Bevin house,' and he'll be waiting for you there. I'm sorry to cut short your visit - I'd have been more than willing to watch over you," Kent explained.

Briallen frowned, not liking that Kent insinuated he would have essentially baby-sat her if her grandfather hadn't sent for her. She stepped into the Elwoods' ballroom fireplace, saw Cass wave goodbye, and threw down the Floo powder and said, "Bevin house."

The trip was only a fraction of a second before she popped into the fireplace in Cal Bevin's living room, and she was angry when she saw that it was Mrs Whibbles waiting for her and not her grandfather. He had practically demanded she return to his house and he wasn't even there to explain to her what was going on.

"Miss, Mister Bevin says he had to go take of the school," said Mrs Whibbles, "and that we should go to cellar! Big storm coming, you know!"

"Cellar? Is it a tornado?" asked Briallen, now concerned. She had never seen or experienced a tornado before, but her Muggle school had practiced tornado drills twice a year, every year, just in case. Nervously, she tried to remember the rules of what to do during a tornado: seek shelter away from windows, hide under a table, put your head between your knees and your hands over your head... or was it hands over the neck? She couldn't remember, and hoped she wouldn't have to.

"Mister just says go to cellar. Come now," said Mrs Whibbles, taking Briallen's hand. The little house-elf led Briallen down a narrow hallway at the back of the house that ended at an old, oak door covered in scratches on the inside. Briallen stopped walking, causing Mrs Whibbles to trip backwards since she still held Briallen's hand.

"What are these from?" asked Briallen as she ran her fingers gently over just a few of the many faded scratch marks. They reminded Briallen of the door to her dad's barn, after a pack of coyotes had tried to break in to get to the chickens one winter. "Is there something living in the basement?"

"No, nothing, it's nothing," said Mrs Whibbles, strangely aloof, not even looking at the scratches. The house-elf tugged on Briallen's hand, urging her to go down the stairs and, reluctantly, Briallen followed.

She could tell Mrs Whibbles wasn't telling her something about the strange marks on the door, but the poor house-elf was so over-come with worry because of the storm that Briallen decided not to question her again just yet. At the bottom of the stairs her grandfather's other four house-elves all sat in a circle, discussing the strange weather. They moved aside to make room for Mrs Whibbles and Briallen.

Briallen looked around the cellar, which her grandfather had never allowed her in before. It had brick walls and a brick floor, and no windows anywhere. Boxes, crates, and barrels, all closed so that Briallen couldn't tell what was inside of them, were stacked neatly along one wall; the other wall held two very large sinks, one of which had several small items of clothing draped over the side, and underneath the stairs were hundreds of small cubby-holes, most of which held a bottle of wine each.

Other than the boxes, the sinks, and the wine, the cellar was surprisingly bare. Every other room in Cal Bevin's house was crammed so full of furniture that the basement, completely void of any sort of clutter, seemed out of place, like it didn't belong to Cal. Briallen was primarily intrigued with all the strange scratches everywhere. Every one of the wood beams supporting the floor above the basement was covered in scratches long and short, shallow and deep, and there were even what looked like teeth marks in many of them. Even the cement floor and brick walls had a few scratches. Briallen wondered what sort of animal her grandfather had kept in the cellar that could do such damage.

Unexpectedly a clap of thunder reverberated from somewhere above them. All of the house-elves squealed in both delight and terror, while Briallen covered her ears to protect them from the high-pitched noise of their voices. She hoped the storm didn't last long.