Chapter 20

"Hello"

That was the first thing she ever said to me when she saw me looking at her from the other side. She stood there in front of me, gasping for air, the blouse sticking to her skin as sweat shined down her face.

I watched her lips move as they formed her name, "Summer Nicholas" was the way they introduced herself.

All I could think was the poetry that Shakespeare wrote.

Shall I compare thee to summers day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the daring buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often in his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or natures changing course,

Untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade;

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

"I am Christian Waters."

"Do you want to join us Christian?"

"I would like that very much."

I walked across to her little garden and closer to her, taking in each feature. Listening to my heart beat louder with each step as excitement built. I was going to see the angel up close. The angel that laughed so freely.

I walked clo…

"Athena! A Daniel, Freda and Marco are at the door for you…" Grace called out from downstairs.

Athena looked up to the clock that sat on the fireplace marveling at the time. How fast it passed when she was reading that she scarcely registered it. Almost as if time passed differently when she was reading; what seemed like only a minute was a lot longer. 

She was captivated by the writer and his Beatrice.

A knock on her door alerted her to her friends having arrived.

"Come on in!"

Daniel eyed the little diary that perched on Athena's lap, his lips pursed together with an expression that could have been described as displeasure but for Christian's sake he did not say a word. 

"What book is that?" Marco asked pointing at Christian's diary.

"I don't know just something Christian left for me to read. This reminds me…"

Athena got up from her bed and walked to the study across her suite to retrieve a piece of paper.

Re- entering the room she said, "Daniel please give this to your brother."

"Is this a continuation of the silly letter game he was telling me about? One where you two are having a conversation through famous quotes?"

"Yes."

"Ohhhh…. That's so romantic!" Freda chimed in the background.

Daniel opened the note and read it out loud, "You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness 

~ A

Ugh you two are so weird."

"Anyways! What are we doing today?" Athena asked.

"Well we plan on driving to Lake Richen. They say there is a chateau near the lake that is haunted…"

"Yes I have heard that when the clock strikes ten past four you hear screams of a woman begging for someone to stop. A restless spirit that died in that chateau… No one knows who it is. Some say it is of a woman named Samantha, who killed herself over some boy who left her. Some say it is the restless spirit of Summer Nicholas. She was a Tuscany Alumni. Part of the first batch actually. The golden legacies they call them. "

"Yeah I hear she was the first of the mysterious disappearance of the golden Alumni."

"What is everyone talking about?"

"Well, back when Tuscany first opened well students started going missing. A total chamber of secrets like thing… you know… obviously that sort put Tuscany as a black listed school for like a very long time and it was like shut down until it reopened again. But, well… it's never been the same. Every six years the school is kept closed for a year because well… they say Lake Richen comes to life and takes three students. Not a student more not a student less. But, all this is on like the hush hush only the Dartan families know about this. Which is obviously why we all know about it but you won't hear anyone else mention it. But, quite frankly even I don't know why it is. Uncle Frank never tells us the reason. Anyways, we are planning to camp at it tonight and see if it is actually haunted and shit…"

"I don't know…"

"Arsenio is already there setting up camp with Carol is it? Yeah and she is so beautiful and super into Arsenio. I mean…"

"I am in!" 

Daniel, Marco and Freda laughed in unison at Athena's expense.