Eddie removed his shoes from the shoe rack and quickly put them on before following Grandma out of the guestroom. The interior of the manor was spacious. It looked like the hall inside of the Bishop Museum he had visited last year. There were two separate staircases on opposite ends merged together in the center of the second floor. From where he stood, the formation of the joint staircases looked like a gigantic arrow tip.

The manor’s inner walls were painted white and the great hall’s wooden glossy tiles had the patterns of checkers. The manor had one golden immense lantern, suspended on an anchor chain from the ceiling. There were two portraits of a man and women, mounted on both sides of the second floor corridor entrance where the staircases merged. The first floor had four doors. The first door was the front door to enter and exit the manor.

“The door to your right as you can see leads to the kitchen.” She pointed at the left door, “Beyond that door is the lounge. Not a place for children.”

Strolling up the stairs, he had a better view of all the mounted tapestries and portraits. As he got to the second floor, he got a closer view of the two big portraits. A beautiful woman with a long mane of red hair, wearing a white wedding dress, might be Grandma, Eddie thought. To the left, a handsome man with spiky dark, blond hair wore an old-fashioned black tuxedo. The man looked like his father and he came to one conclusion.

“Is that Grandpa?”

She smiled, “He is. Quite the handsome fellow he was back in the day.” Grandma smiled radiantly.

“Where is Grandpa?”

“That, my grandson, is another conversation for another time.”

A long red embroidered throw rug was spread across the corridor. There were four doors leading to four bedrooms. There were twelve portraits of exotic people and two of them looked oddly familiar to him. And there were eight middle-age armor suits lined up between each portrait. At the far end of the corridor was a stairway to the third floor. The entrance to the stairway was flanked by two more enormous Nordic suits of armor, each with a massive battle axe and a longsword from the ninth century. The “armors” were facing each other in a battle stance.

Eddie paused as if unsure how to walk passed the armors with their weapons hoisted offensively. Grandma cackled, patting him on the shoulder, “They’re the guardians Eric and Alexander. They protect the manor from intruders and unwanted guests. Come along. They won’t be a nuisance in our presence.”

He hurried to the stairway without so much as a glimpse at the armors. He knew that Grandma was just jesting. It was not possible for empty suits to operate on their own. The corkscrewed staircase had unlighted, exotic torches mounted on the walls, as the lanterns above illuminated the entire way. It was very rustic and ancient, Eddie thought. Ahead, there was an old glossy door.

“Here is where you will be staying. This is a sanctuary for children to protect them from the outside world.”

Entering, Grandma flipped the light switched on. The attic was a wreck. Almost everything was flipped upside down, covered in cobwebs and dust, or stacked in piles. The entire attic looked like the aftermath of an earthquake that had been left undone for a decade.

“You got to be kidding me!”

“Consider this the start of your training. Welcome to Ferguson boot camp. I want everything stacked neatly and cleaned spotlessly,” she snickered.

“But that’s a lot of work. And it may take me the entire summer,” he grumbled.

“Well then, I suggest you get started, young man,” Grandma sighed. “Just for precaution and for your safety. You are not to leave the attic without permission from me, your mother,Walter and and my housekeeping maid. Lunch will be after your chore has been accomplished.”

Eddie’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “What if I have to go to the restroom?”

“Ring the bell by pressing the button next to the light switch. My mad will assist you. Let this be a warning, the bell is not to be abused in any manner.” Grandma handed him a three-inch silver key in the shape of an eagle’s head. “There’s a lair hidden somewhere within the pile. Inside is an automaton. It will be a very valuable asset beyond your wildest dream. ”

“What’s an automaton?”

Grandma squinted and smiled warmly, “Some secrets are meant to be discovered. Now I leave you to your discovery of this mystical attic.”

The attic was a mess, filled with cobwebs and accumulated dirt. It smelled of dust. There were stacks of old pictures and torn-up furniture. A ruined piano was positioned to the far left corner. Ancient music scores were scattered across the old floor coated in dust. On the left wall—in the center—was a rustic wardrobe. An old-fashioned ruined rustic bed frame was on his right.

Straight ahead was a dormer window that allowed the sun’s rays to illuminate the room. You got to be kidding me! He face-palmed. Observing more, Eddie noticed something was not right. A strange presence lingered here. His jaded eyes followed the exposed rafters up to the roof. The room was narrower than he imagined it to be, given the size of the manor.

The light grew ever brighter as the two panels of the dormer window flew open and a gust of air poured into the attic, stirring the dust particles. Eddie coughed as he put up his dukes to shield his face, racing towards the window. Just as he was about to close the window, a cluster swarm of yellow moved swiftly like an inverted twister across the courtyard, heading toward the attic.

“Shut the window or we’ll be finished!” someone yelled behind him has he pulled the window closed and crossed and locked it. The rustling noise from the swarm outside buzzed in Eddie’s ear. Turning to meet the person, Eddie gawked zealously at the maid who was five years ahead of his age. Judging by the way she dressed, she was a housekeeping maid. She was a beautiful lass with platinum-blonde hair. Her face showed that she was very concerned.

Eddie studied her with a little suspicion because he had never heard her knock or enter and she had passed through the threshold without so much as a single sound. It reminded him of playing those Assassin’s Creed games where you played as an assassin protagonist, using the ability of stealth to approach your targets—mainly from behind—to eliminate them. Just the thought of being one of those targets gave him goosebumps.

He checked to see if she was holding any weapon or any objects that might be a potential hazard. She held one mop in her right hand and a pail of water in her left. Behind her were brooms and dustpans that she brought in without him noticing it. His thoughts wandered back to the window that was being attacked by the deadly swarm.

“Do not fret. It will pass over us,” she said.

“What about the other folks who are still outside? The bees will get them!”

“They have special wasp repellent and should be all right. Although, those are a very rare cluster of Yggdrasil yellow jackets. What you are seeing outside are not your average wasps you see every day. They are a very sacred species that are only seen as assailants to those who encroach upon their territory or projected path. They will attack without provocation anyone and everything that comes within eyesight.

“Just last year, the swarm attacked a mailman on the preserve, shortly after delivery. He was hospitalized in critical condition. Your grandparent’s claimed to the authorities that it was very rare to encounter a cluster of wasps or bees on the property.”

“Wicked!” he exclaimed.

“I am Rosa and I’m here to help you clean out the attic before nightfall,” she bowed.

“Are we cousins?” he asked out of curiosity.

“We are not. I am a maid and my job is to clean the manor and do the laundry. Do you have any more questions?”

“Hmm,” he cupped his chin, “Grandma said I must find this automaton. What is that?”

Rosa frowned, unsure what to make out of Eddie’s question, “According to history, it’s a mechanical device built to look like us humans.” The look on Eddie’s face told her that he was baffled. “That’s a topic for another time. I suggest we get straight to work, we’re burning daylight.”