Phillipe drove in the last nail and stepped back to look everything over. He was very satisfied with the addition. It came out much better than he had planned.
He had done away with the whole idea of keeping the ladder to the roof, installing a narrow,spiral staircase in the corner of the front room instead. It rose into a small portico above that held two doorways. From there, you could exit onto the existing roof, or you could take the other doorway into the new bedroom. The new bedroom had turned out much bigger than he had originally planned it, nearly as large as the one that he and Aj shared, But he had needed the extra space to allow for a closet and other things, which he hadn't thought of before. The room had two new windows. One faced the main street and had a wonderful view from so high above the street, while the other faced across the back alleyway towards Newt's family home.
He was glad he had found a real carpenter to do the framing and rough-in work. He could do most of the finish work, but he would have botched the whole thing if he had tried to do it all on his own, especially with the changes he had made to his original idea. Besides, it would have taken him weeks to do this by hand, and the carpenter had used his magic skill to speed up the process so it took only a few days.
But the one thing that he had done completely on his own was special. He had completed it after the carpenter had left, so no one else knew about it. He walked over to the far wall and inspected the built-in bookcase there, running his hands over the dark cherry wood. It was smooth with no splinters, and the frame hung perfectly in the wall. When his hand reached a small knot in the wood on the left, he pressed gently and heard a soft click. He then pulled and swung the bookcase outward, revealing a dark space behind it. He stepped inside and looked around the small empty space, nodding with satisfaction. Perhaps he was being paranoid, but he felt better knowing that the family had a place to go to and hide if the situation called for it. He thought of DarkMass, and felt that the room had been a wise decision. And besides, he smiled to himself...Alex may find the idea of a secret room in her bedroom kind of fun. He was sure she would claim it right away and fill it with....well, who knew what. He'd have to think of a fun way to show it to her before he revealed it to her. In the mean time, he'd just keep it a secret.
He stepped out and closed the bookcase gently, listening for the soft click to make sure it was secure. Then he made his way downstairs and into his own bedroom. He walked over and opened the lid on the newly purchased hopechest. The smell of cedar wafted out from inside the chest. The inside of the chest was lined with the aromatic planks of wood, while the outside was built from walnut. The lid was hand carved and he ran his fingers over the intricate woodwork. He smiled. Aj didnt know about this yet. He had asked her and Alex to stay at the Inn for a few days while the new room was finished, so he had been able to bring the chest up without worry of discovery.
He closed the chest and walked over to the dresser. On the dresser was the photo of Aj and Antonio, and next to it were the broken pieces of his picture frame. The metal sides were broken at the ends where they had once formed corners, and he sighed sadly when he picked up one of the pieces.
That was when he saw the paper curled up tightly inside the silver frame piece.
He pulled the paper from the hollow metal and unrolled it. It was old and yellow and tore a little, but he finally got it open and began to read what he found there.
"To Ben and Rose, from Xavior and Maria"
He sat down on the bed in shock. He hadnt known his parents. Were these their names? Rose and Ben? He didnt know. His fingers relaxed on the paper and it fell to the floor, snapping back into the curled up tube that had been it's shape for so long. He bent and picked it up. Then, not knowing what else to do with it, he set it on the dresser by the frame parts and the photo. He stared at it in shock. Xavior and Maria were Aj's parent's names. Could they have known Phillipe's parents? But that couldn't be.... Aj said her parents ignored non-magical people, especially Maria. She craved power. Why would she have been friends with Phillipe's parent's. And how? They lived on Earth, and as far as Phillipe knew, his parents had lived here, on Rhy'Din. He sighed.
"What difference does it make?" He said aloud. "Mom....Dad....I've always known you two, even if I didn't know your names or what you looked like. And I refuse to believe that you had anything to do with Aj's Mom and her husband!" He stood and grabbed the scrolled up paper, crushing it in his fist and throwing it into the corner. "Let the dead stay dead, and let the past remain in the past!" he muttered. Then he turned and left the apartment, heading for the Inn to find Aj and Alex.