Page 21 of Redemption

“Because he was spouting a lot of shit at me, and it all got muddled together, and I was on a grocery run for our moms’, and it just slipped my mind,” Trick explains.

“That’s fair,” Atlas adds and then looks back at the gates. “So, how do we get in? I don’t see a buzzer, and we’ve been standing here talking for a while, so I’m assuming that they can’t see us somehow and know that we’re here and to let us in?”

“See if there’s a buzzer or button or something that we can press to let them know that we’re here?” Luc suggests. “One that’s not obvious. If I designed the gates, then I would have definitely hidden one somewhere so it didn’t ruin the gates.”

“Me too,” I reply. “Let’s see if we can find one.”

We all start to look at the giant trunks that make up the gates, and I even look at the gates themselves to see if I can find something that could let Zemi and the others know that we’re here.

“We’re idiots,” I say as I pull my phone out.

“Whoa, hang on, that’s a bit harsh,” Jensen retorts, his eyebrow raising as he looks offended.

I hold up my phone. “I can just text Zemi to let her know that we’re here.”

Realization crosses all of their faces.

“Yeah, we’re idiots,” Rage agrees, making me laugh as I send a quick text to Zemi.

“Wow, that was quick,” Rafe says, as it only takes a few moments for the gates to start to swing open.

I shrug. “Come on. Let's go. I can't wait to see Zemi and do something normal.”

“I still want to see if their house is a cabin with a lake next to it,” Jensen adds, as we head back to the cars.

“You know what?” Cash asks. “I’m actually really curious about that now too.”

“Ha!” Jensen grins as he points at Cash. “I knew it.”

Cash rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Come on.”

Everyone piles back into the cars, and then we head through the now-open gates. You don’t see craftsmanship like that anymore. I wonder if I could get Zemi to tell me the artist so that I can have some installed at home.

We’ve got big security gates at the bottom of the drive, but that’s a few miles away from the cabin, and if I have something that beautiful, then I want it where I can see it regularly. I think I would probably prefer to have them as something you drive through as you pull up to the house.

They would look absolutely awesome there.

“Oh, it is definitely not a cabin,” Trick mutters in shock as he pulls to a stop in front of what I can only describe as a mansion.

“Whoa,” Rage mutters, his face practically pressed against the car window so he can get a better look.

“This place is ginormous,” I mutter, as I fumble for the door handle, not wanting to take my eyes off the house.

It’s absolutely gargantuan.

It’s symmetrical and doesn’t have a single roof but rather has them at different heights, with huge chimney stacks interspersed between them. The two roofs on either end are the tallest, and each section has big arched windows with panes of glass in a pattern like a tic-tac-toe board. I am certain there are better ways I could describe it, but they aren’t coming to me, and they do kind of look like tic-tac-toe boards, so that’s what I’m going with.

Moving inwards on either side is a slimmer section of the house with a separate roof, each with a small arched window with only two split panes of glass in each one.

These four sections are set back, with the main part of the house sitting further forward.

That part of the house has huge doors that look like they have some kind of pattern carved into them, right in the middle, with a giant arched window above the doors, and columns on either side. Wide, dark stone steps lead up to the gigantic doors. On the roof above are statues of large, powerful looking gargoyles staring ominously down at us. The middle roof is pitched steeply, and then either side of the main piece are two beautiful buildings connecting it all together. Each one has two arched windows on the ground floor, and two windows each for the second floor, and then a smaller arched window in each roof.

The grounds surrounding the home are almost a direct contrast to the house itself.

The driveway isn’t paved as you would expect but is instead just gravel and dirt, and there isn’t any sign of manicured lawns or the fancy-shaped trees or anything.

However, I think that what they have is actually better, in my opinion anyway.