Chapter 48

I got ready for bed, wearing my own pajamas for a change, and quickly fell asleep. My dreams though were the weirdest I had ever experienced.

I dreamt that I was standing in the middle of a room in a black ballgown-type dress. It looked like something that I would have worn in the 1800s or so. It had lace-capped sleeves and a lace chocker while the overlay was black lace that looked like a spider's web, or tree branches. Under the overlay, but still easily visible, was a light grey skirt with more black lace over top.

I had never seen such a dress before, but it felt comfortable, not too heavy, and it fit perfectly. It felt like it was made just for me.

I looked down at my hands and I was surprised to see that in my right hand, I held a pair of silver tailor shears. I opened and closed them a few times, expecting them to stick or be rusty, but they opened and closed smoothly, as if, despite their age, they have been impeccably taken care of.

I maintained my grip on the shears and then looked around the room. It was dark, not a light, candle, or lantern could be seen. Instead, the room was full of spider webs and each web glowed in a different color.

There were silver webs and gold webs. There were green, red, black, and pink webs and even more webs with variations of those colors.

I walked towards the web that was right in front of me, a golden one, and looked at all the bright threads that made up such an intricate work of art. And it was a work of art. I held out my left hand, wanting to touch the bright threads, but something held me back. Instead, an unseen force brought my right hand towards a dull golden thread that looked like it was starting to rot. It had started out bright gold like the rest, but then as it became more intertwined with the others, it took on a brownish-black color. I wrinkled my nose, almost smelling the decay.

What worried me the most was that that one thread was starting to rot the treads around it, like it was a disease. I wanted to protect the other threads from being contaminated and all I could think of doing was cutting the rotten one out and removing it from the others.

Taking the shears in one hand and holding the diseased thread in the other, I snipped it.

As soon as the thread broke, it vanished, leaving a small gap in the web where it once was. Looking closer, I saw the other threads that had been infected by the first start to turn back into a beautiful golden color.

There were other dull and diseased threads in other webs, but nothing called to me the way the first one did.

A feeling of relief swept over me and I felt the world around me go dark.

When I woke up, I found myself back in my own bed, the covers still tucked up under my chin. That had to be the weirdest dream that I ever had. Shrugging my shoulders, I rolled out of bed and started to get ready for the day.

I realized that I would have to give Viktor a heads-up that I was coming to visit him at work, and that I would also need to talk to Mike.

If I was going to step into this world, then I was going to do it properly. That meant I would have to deal with the second House of Gypsy, because let's face it, that should have been my house, and I would have to quit my day job.

I picked up my phone and let out a happy laugh when I saw his and Sasha's number programmed into the new phone. I supposed that I should have expected it, I just don't remember when that happened. I quickly sent Viktor a text and without waiting for his reply, I left my apartment.

Popping my head into the manager's office on the first floor, I let him know that by the end of the month, I was going to be leaving. He seemed surprised but just nodded his head. In a place like this, it was rare for a tenant to give a heads-up if they were leaving. I waved to him and went to catch a cab.

I arrived at Knights Security and this time I was let up to the top floor with no problems at all. I guess that you don't need an appointment when the CEO knows you.

"Good morning, good morning!" I sang as I entered Viktor's office. I guess that it was a good thing that it was empty instead of him in the middle of a meeting. Having the demur of the Head of a House might take me a bit more time to develop than I originally thought.

Where I thought my grand entrance would have gone uncontested, the chuckle behind me made me realize that at least one person saw my slip-up. At least it was just Sasha.

"And what brought you to the office in such a good mood," he asked as he pushed me further into Viktor's office, following closely behind me.

"I decided to take back my position as Head of the House, but since that will piss off a lot of people, I figured I would ask Viktor for some Knights."

"What do you mean? I thought that you are the last of the Tesalors. That makes you the Head."

"Yes, I am the Head of the House Tesalor, but that House was just created last week. Before that, my family was the Head of the House Gypsy. And that is the title that I will be taking back."

"Well, crap," said Sasha with a chuckle. "I want to be a fly on the wall when you tell Jenny that."

"Instead of a fly on the wall, why don't you volunteer to be a Knight in the room?" I said, an answering chuckle of my own. I sat down on the couch, prepared to wait as long as necessary for the Van Helsing.