I sat in the car, reading through one of the comics I had been curious to check out recently. I had wanted to read it with Hazel, but she was sleeping soundly next to me. It was a little difficult to read through a comic on my phone with only one hand, but I was managing to make it work because there was no way I was going to stop holding Hazel's hand. I was a little sad she'd chosen to sleep on our mom instead of me, but also glad that it meant I was able to move around relatively freely without as much worry about waking her up.
Our parents chattered excitedly along the way, and I mostly tuned them out.
Mama Aira was going on about the last time she'd been at the lake house. Daddy seemed excited to see it, apparently he hadn't been there before. Eliza was sitting quietly, perhaps to avoid disturbing Hazel. I had always been closer with Eliza than Hazel was, so it was good to see they were getting along. Hazel was very fiery and Eliza sometimes didn't know how to manage her attitude and sass, it seemed like. She got frustrated easily, but she still clearly loved Hazel and I a lot, no matter how we acted.
"How much longer until we're there?" Mama Aira asked Daddy.
"The directions say we're a little over halfway, Dear," he said, and she nodded.
"Okayyy," she said, squirming around. I wasn't sure how she always seemed to have so much energy, but she almost never sat still.
I glanced over at Hazel again and saw that her head had fallen a bit and was now resting on Eliza's sizable rack.
I glanced up at her and she smiled when she caught my gaze and she offered a slight shrug with her one shoulder that was free. She didn't seem to mind; rather, she looked like she was rather enjoying herself if the content smile on her face was anything to go by.
I went back to focusing on my comic and tuned out for the rest of the blessedly short car ride. I didn't generally mind riding in the car, but I felt like I had to keep quiet and fairly still to avoid waking Hazel. It probably wasn't really necessary (as evidenced by the fact that Mama Aira and Daddy were chatting away in the front seat without disturbing her in the least), but I felt so protective of her that it felt wrong to do anything that might disturb her when I knew she needed the rest. Even if she had eventually gotten to sleep last night, I knew she tended to have nightmares whenever it was storming so I wasn't at all surprised that she was still tired.
We finally pulled to a stop and I looked up to see that we were in a heavily wooded area. Mama Aira and Daddy climbed out of the car and walked back to the trunk, which they open to start unloading our baggage.
"Wake up, Darling," Eliza said, gently nudging Hazel awake. Her eyes opened, slowly, like it was difficult for her to wake up.
Hazel looked around, her drowsy eyes drinking in her surroundings. Eventually she sat up and seemed to notice that her head had been pillowed atop her mother's breasts and her face flushed bright pink.
"Oh- I- Uh- Oops," she stammered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" she said, but was cut off by a boisterous laugh.
"Oh sweetie," Eliza cooed, reaching out to lightly stroke Hazel's slightly-tangled hair. "I don't mind at all. Do you really think that's the first time you've slept on my chest?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Hazel, whose blush only deepened. "It was nice," Eliza continued. "It reminded me of long ago, when you were just a baby and you'd fall asleep cuddled up to me."
Hazel looked even more embarrassed by Eliza's reminiscing, and she was spared from having to reply when Mama Aira opened the door on my side of the car.
"What are y'all doing in here? Come on," she said, beckoning us to get out of the car.
I undid my seatbelt and climbed out, and the others followed suit.
"Here we are," Daddy said with a bright smile. "Everyone come grab your bags, let's all get settled in."
Hazel and I moved in unison to do as he had asked. We each grabbed the handle of our suitcases and started rolling them behind us, following after Mama Aira who already had her suitcase in tow and was walking confidently away from the car.
"I assume she knows where she's going?" I heard Daddy ask Mama Eliza as he helped her lift and carry her large bag.
She nodded and chuckled. "I'm certain at this point she does, yes," she said wryly.
I wasn't sure what her tone was about, but I was already following after Aira, hand-in-hand with Hazel, so I didn't have time to stop and find out.
We walked down a relatively long stone path surrounded by tall trees. After at least two minutes of walking from the car we made it into view of the lake house, tall and imposing. It was wooden building and it was absolutely massive. With the treeline all around us, I couldn't see the building from one side to the other; just the entry area took up most of my field of view. It was paved with the same stone as the walkway, and it was surrounded by a small bed of flowers. I noticed a neat, well-maintained dirt path leading off to the side of the house and felt my curiosity piqued about where it might lead to. It obviously wasn't our current destination, though, as Mama Aira ignored it entirely and made her way onto the stone porch, confidently striding toward the large wooden doors.
"Do we need to wait for them?" I asked, noticing that Daddy and Mama Eliza had fallen behind.
Aira turned and looked at me. "Oh, no, sweetie, that's okay. Eliza knows her way around, so I'm sure she and Daddy will follow after us soon. For now, we'll get settled in and meet up with them afterward."
"Is anyone else here?" Hazel asked, and Aira shrugged.
"I don't really know," she said, rubbing her chin with her thumb. "Livia might be here. If so, Layla might be with her. Otherwise, no, probably not. It doesn't really matter either way, there's plenty of space for everyone here," she added, gesturing to the mansion before us. "I don't remember how many bedrooms it has, but I know it's a lot. More than enough for us to each have our own."
Hazel didn't say anything, but I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was; to us, having individual rooms really didn't matter because we'd surely spend most of our time together anyway. I was glad to hear that we wouldn't have to share a room with anyone else, though.
Aira pulled a key from her pocket and turned it in the lock, swinging the double doors wide open. "Come on in, girls," she said, gesturing for us to enter after her as she strode in, so we did.
"Don't bother locking the door, just push it closed," she said, and Hazel let go of my hand to comply with Mama's request.
"Alright, girls, as I said, there are many rooms to choose from. I can help you choose one if you'd like, but otherwise you can just look around and find one that isn't claimed. You'll know if a room is claimed because it will either be locked or full of someone else's stuff. If you come across anything like that, just leave it alone. I can give you a tour if you'd like one," she offered.
Hazel and I looked at each other for a moment before we shook our heads at our mom.
"We'll find one," we said in unison, and she grinned at us.
"That's kind of what I figured. Go ahead and go look around. I know there's some nice big rooms upstairs if you want lots of space. Let me know if you need help finding anything. You can leave your bags here if you don't want to drag them around with you while you look" she added.
"Is there anywhere we shouldn't go?" I asked, and she shook her head.
"No. Pretty much anywhere is fine. If Livia wants you to stay out of somewhere, she'll have it closed off or locked, so just don't go anywhere that's not open, I guess."
We left our suitcases there in the entryway and then went through the large arch and into the hallway, looking around to try to figure out which direction to even go.
I was sure that once you were used to it, the layout of the house made sense, but to me it looked like a bit of a maze. The side of the hallway across from the foyer opened up into what looked like a living room. I couldn't tell what laid in either direction of the hallway we stood in, though. It extended away from us on both sides, and it appeared that both sides of the hallway had doors before the hallway turned a corner.
