Adam greeted Lily with a quick nod then strode on out of the building without looking back. He heard Lily catch up with him but didn't slow until he reached the carriage and opened the door. Only then did he turn and gracefully assist Lily up into the carriage, leaping lightly in after her. “What was that all about a nurse?” asked Adam once they were underway. He had only been half paying attention and caught a few words but not the conversation proper. His distaste of the doctor had only increased as he spent time with the man and he had stopped listening to the man by the time they had returned to the parlor area. “Nevermind” said Adam quickly “if it is important you can tell me later. Right now we need to get to Lucie. Fast will be better than slow. I fear I have miscalculated.” He rapped on the roof of the carriage and the carriage came to a stop. Adam opened the door and looked around, nodding. They hadn't gone far but it was enough to not be seen from the manor and that would do. “I hope you can ride” he said to Lily as he stepped out. He was distracted enough he forgot his manners and left her to fend for herself as he hopped up to talk in hurried whispers to the driver. The driver nodded and guided the carriage further off the road. Then he and Adam unhitched the horses and quickly rigged up riding bridles on both. A large pouch of coins changed hands and the driver took the coins and wandered off into the streets to find “trustworthy” urchins to help guard the carriage while he went home and fetched another team of horses. Adam's carriage would be waiting at the manor when he returned, cleaned and ready for the next time it would be needed. Adam tried to keep quality staff on his payroll and the driver was no exception. Adam dismissed the issue of the horseless carriage from his thoughts and turned to the next problem. They would need to ride bareback with only a bridle. It wasn't ideal but his Talent was flaring in his mind urging him to hurry. He couldn't even quite place why he felt it was so urgent but he trusted what he knew even if he didn't quite know why he knew. When he turned to go get Lily he found she was already there, correctly guessing what their new plan was, she had hitched her skirts up into skirt lifters so she could ride easier. Not for the first time was Adam glad he fully embraced the freedom of masculine attire, though quality dresses did, admittedly, enhance the beauty of the wearer. “Good” he said nodding “a carriage will slow us down. Just let me get” he blinked once and stopped talking as he realized that Lily was also holding his sword that he had left in the carriage. He nodded, she was indeed prepared, and quickly belted it on. Adam was uncertain if Lily would be comfortable riding alone and bareback but she assured him she was more than capable and he took her at her word. He quickly led one of the horses to her, helping her mount, before easily pulling himself onto the other. He didn't speak further, just nodded quickly at Lily and turned and headed down the road. He was looking for the eastern cutoff road he remembered from his study of the maps of the area. Once they were one the right road he pushed them into a canter, watching both sides of the road as the horse's easy stride ate up the ground. Adam spared a moment to check behind him to be sure that Lily was doing fine and he spared a minute to be grateful carriage horses were often picked for the smoothness of their stride. This was actually rather easy riding. ***** [url=https://ibb.co/C125SHY][img]https://i.ibb.co/yfSnxQZ/creepy-forest-mansion-by-lmorse-d7avgn3.jpg[/img][/url] Olivia wandered the corridors of the mansion with ease, despite the dark. She never even stopped to wonder about how she managed to get here so easy or wandered the house so perfectly. Edward was always with her and it was his house after all. He talked to her constantly, telling her stories and playing games with her. It was really her only escape, here she was safe. She knew it because he told her she was. Oh he was a bit older, he said he had gone to war. She couldn't remember hearing about a war at the asylum, any of the asylums her parents had left her in, but then the folk there rarely talked to little children. She had been at her current “caregivers” the longest; yet sometimes she wondered if they even knew her name. But despite Edward's age he played with her like she was his baby sister. He protected her too; even at the hospital. He wasn't able to do a lot from his house but he could help her bear the pain. If it weren't for the fact that he never had any food and the beds were uncomfortably filthy she might have just stayed there. She tried it once, even brought a blanket from her room to sleep on the couch, but got too hungry. When she woke up she was so weak from hunger she felt like she was almost nothing, frail as a cobweb. That day she hadn't made it back to the asylum in time but she had lucked into farmers barn; she ended up eating horse oats soaked in fresh milk from the cow. Utterly disgusting but she was certain with every fiber of her small being that if she hadn't eaten she would have died. Edward couldn't leave and she couldn't stay no matter how much he begged her. She loved her days at his house though, listening to stories, playing games. “People are coming looking for you Livvy” Edward suddenly said, interrupting her thoughts. She had just been about to shoot her marble, that was what they were playing to day, and she looked up uncomprehending for a moment. No one ever looked for her. It took a second for the panic to hit but when it did she stood up quickly scattering her marbles around the wood floor. Had the Doctor finally found her hiding place? Did she have to run...she wasn't sure how far she could get. She was so tired, she was always tired when she first go to the house, and running seemed like an overwhelming concept. “Hide” said Edward firmly. He knew she'd never be able to run right now, he would have to keep her safe in his home. Fortunately it was -his- home, he had power here. “Hide!” he all but shouted at her, the command clear in his voice. It was the first time she had heard him sound like a grown up. He talked to her like she was a distraction, it was almost scary. “I'll deal with this. They are...different.” Olivia didn't waste any more time. Dropping Edwards's hand she heard him clatter to the ground as she took off running up to the second floor. Edward's directions on how to get to a good hiding spot were clear in her mind...helping her avoid broken and squeaky floors, dangerous stairs, and crumbling furniture to quickly squirrel herself inside an old chest made of some really strong smelling wood. She pulled the lid shut behind her and tried to keep her shivers and sniffles contained as she curled in the darkness waiting. She was tired, not as much as usual, but still quite tired, and in the dankness with the exhaustion of tears and other things weighing on her, she fell into a fitful sleep. It was so hard, so tiring, to feel everything so intensely. She was a psychic sponge, and even those people with the tiniest bit of psychic ability rubbed off on her. It was like constantly having weights added into her pockets. It got so hard some days that she couldn't bear it. Until she met Edward. He was able to take the weight from her, actually seemed eager to do so, and every time she visited burdened with all the energy she absorbed at the asylum, he happily took that energy and each time he grew a little more able to help her, sometimes she could even feel him at the asylum. Usually when she was in great pain. He was there to help her bear it. Of course she didn't understand any of this, or even really know anything about it. No one was around to explain psychic Talents, or help her understand why any of this was happening to her. All she knew was that she rapidly grew tired, worn down, and heavy at the asylum and when she visited Edward her whole existence grew lighter. It was such a relief. Edward kept wanting her to stay but after she almost died of starvation he insisted she return to the asylum every morning. She never understood why but she always felt it was a good idea to follow his instructions. *** Adam took the lead on the horses, riding easily he didn't have to focus on anything but the problem at hand, that gave him a slight advantage. He fully opened his mind, letting his psychical senses view the problem from all angles. It was his Talent that told him where to go, his Talent that guided him. He didn't even try to understand why he knew what he knew. He trusted that what he knew was correct. Giving himself over to be solely guided by his psychic power was the only way he knew of getting to Lucie in time. It was clear as a glittering gem in mud...if she used her Talent to touch the wrong thing in that mansion she would probably die. Or go mad. Which was basically the same thing. He didn't actually have time to think; only trust and react. He kept an even pace, guiding them down a side track that was almost invisible until they passed it, he looked back occasionally to be sure Lily was keeping pace, but he did not speak. Out of the corner of his eye he registered a crumbling brick wall, almost completely overgrown and lost in the foliage. He slowed automatically before he even realized what he was doing. Looking back and forth he slid down and looped the horses reigns over a branch. He didn't see Lucie but he knew he was where he needed to be. He quickly tied up Lily's horse as she slid off it. “Come on” he said in a low voice “we go on foot from here”. Making sure his sword was comfortably settled he started jogging down Lucie's trail, a feeling of foreboding growing inside him. The psychic energy was getting strong enough that anyone sensitive to such things would know there was something wrong fairly close by. He spotted Lucie ahead in the shadows, a pattern that didn't fit, and quickened his pace. He didn't want to shout out to her, mostly because he didn't want to attract attention, but he quickened his pace. “Wait” he said softly as he and Lily joined her in the shadows. “I don't think it would be wise to use your talent on anything we find in there. It wants to be touched....” He handed Lucie the stuffed toy he had pocketed instead. “If you find the girl maybe this will convince her you mean her no harm, and if not, well we need to examine it later at the House Ianus anyway. Whatever we do I think it would be best if we made it clear we do not intend to harm the girl. Something is protecting her, and I'm not entirely sure the three of us are a match for it.” He looked over the mansion ahead of them. He'd never seen it before in his life. And it looked like it had been abandoned for longer than he had been alive. It was the quintessential “ghost house” half rotting, dark, old, and forgotten. But he knew with perfect certainty that the girl was in there. He also knew that there was something in there that was not the girl; it was that “something” that was giving him pause. “Well, I'm pretty sure this is some sort of trap.” He looked to the two ladies beside him. “Shall we go in?” He kept his tone light but every nerve, natural and psychical, tingled within him. There was so much wrong here he couldn't process it all consciously but his Talent told him more than his non-psychical thoughts did...the girl was inside, so too was her friend, her friend was not a “friend,” it was not human, it was old, and it was strong enough on the psychic realm to protect and aid the girl, and it would likely kill them if they tried to hurt her. The part he was really struggling with was that he also sensed that if they tried to harm the friend it would be history. “History doesn't make any sense” he muttered very quietly to himself as he steeled himself to move forward and face whatever they found inside.