The House of Shadows, Jenaifer [best novels to read for beginners txt] 📗

“So you have come from America?” asked the taxi driver. “Yes, yes I have come from America. I am going to a boarding school for the first time, that to not in my home country, instead here in England! It feels like I am Harry Potter. I hope I make friends fast,” said Nina. Nina was a teenage girl with long brown hair and oval black eyes. She had lived in America with her grandmother. Peep peep, peep peep hummed her phone. “Your parents checking on you?” asked the taxi driver. “Um…yea..just checking to see if I am alright. “Here, we’ve arrived” said the taxi driver. Nina came out of the taxi and saw a big, old brick house. In the dusk it looked very spooky, which frightened Nina quite a bit. “I am putting your bag here. I will leave you now, bye” and off went the taxi driver.

Nina took her bag and walked towards the entrance of the house. Thuck thuck thuck. She knocked on the big wooden door. Above the door it was written: House of Shadows. This gave Nina goose flesh from head to toes. The door opened with a Quueeeek. “Hello? He…Hello? Is anybody there?” called Nina. Thump and the door closed behind her. “Nina Martin? So you are Nina Martin” said Victor in a loud angry voice. Victor was the house owner of The House of Shadows. He was wearing a dark brown suit with shiny black shoes. He was very tall and had a short beard. “Ye..Ye…Yes, I am Nina Martin.” “You are late Miss Martin. Very, very late, you are one whole week late” scolded Victor. “Well you know there were those plane tickets and they got mixed up and…” Nina tried to explain when Victor interrupted: “No need for long unneeded explanations Miss Martin.” “Ohh, hello dear! Are you Nina Martin? I am Trudy, the housekeeper. We all have been expecting you for so long! Welcome to the house of secrets. I know it is a weird and spooky name and all but it is very friendly here. Ohh, and don’t worry about Victor, he’s always like that. He is very strict about time you know” said a friendly voice coming down the stairs. Trudy came down and came to welcome Nina. “Hello and yes I am Nina from America” said Nina a little less frightened than before. “Come let me show you around, leave your bag here in the corner” and with that Trudy led Nina to the common room. “Here is the common room where you and the other boarders can sit and read or talk or do anything really.” Nina came into a room where there were three light green couches, a fireplace and a small table. Trudy led Nina into a connected room with a big table and chairs. “This is where I serve my luscious food to you’ll, I hope you will enjoy it. There is the kitchen. We take turns washing the dishes just like a normal family. You can go to your room now and sort your things out on the bed and so on. Victor will show you your room. I have some work to do in the kitchen.” “Come” said Victor said in a rude voice. Nina and Victor went up the stairs. “This is the girls section. Downstairs the boy’s section. You will have to be in bed at exactly eight p.m. You will have lights out at eight-thirty” Victor said to her in once again his loud and strict voice.
He opened a door, which led to a room with two beds. The empty bed was right under a window. The sun shone through the window and gave the room a good amount of light.
“This is your room. This is your bed. I will now leave you to unpack” said Victor and left the room. “I wonder whose bed that is, looks quite pink for a girl my age” Nina thought and started to unpack.

“Hello, so you are the new girl who Trudy was talking about,” said a girl in a high voice. “My name is Amber and you are?” “I am Nina from America. Is that your bed?” asked Nina in a friendly voice. “Yea, silly! What do you think? Well, I like you. You know, the last person who was a roommate with me was really mean and didn’t like me at all. Nobody liked her. Her name was Lillian. She was very mean. I am very happy to have a new roommate. Nina…I like that name.” said Amber in a joyful voice. “DINNER IS READY KIDS!” called Trudy from the kitchen. “Let’s go Nina!” and with that Amber grabbed Nina by her arm and pulled her out of her room.

At dinner Amber introduced everyone to Nina. “Hey everybody. This is Nina” Amber introduced. “Hi, I am Nina from America” Nina said as she looked around the table. There were 7 chairs. Five children were around the table. “This is Patricia. She is from India.” Nina saw a light tanned girl with very big eyes. She had black hair. “Hello Nina. I am Patricia” said Patricia in a friendly voice. “Hi, I am Fabian. Nice to meet you Nina” said a boy sitting next to Patricia. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Nina found him very handsome. “This is Mara. Mara has come from China. Isn't that cool. I just love how her eyes look,” said Amber in admiration. “Ha ha, very funny Amber. Well, Nina, why don’t you sit next to me today” and with that Mara pointed to a chair next to her. “This is Freddy” and Mara pointed to a gothic boy at the end of the Table. “Hi Freddy” said Nina trying to be kind. Freddy didn’t answer her; he just kept staring at the floor. “Hi, I am Tori. I am from New Zealand. Welcome” said Tori. She had very long dark brown hair, which she had platted together. “Ok guys, now stop chit-chatting and eat,” said Trudy in a surprisingly strict but at the same time kind voice. They all ate and talked at the same time. Nina talked more about herself and got to know the others better. Most of the time she was talking to Amber, Patricia and Fabian.

“Hey, thanks Amber. You introduced me really well today” said Nina happily. “You are welcome. Good night now” answered Amber in a sleepy voice and went to sleep.

Next day, Nina was walking from the house to the school. On the bench there was a very old lady. “Hello, umm… are you lost? Can I bring you something?” asked Nina. “That, that is my house and I am Sarah” said the lady. “Oh, no that can’t be. That is a house for boarders” answered Nina curiously, “Well, I will be right back. Just sit right here” “You will come back will you?” asked Sarah scared. “Yea, yes of course I will” and off ran Nina back to the house. “Trudy, Trudy, there is a old lady sitting there on the bench. I think she is lost” said Nina while breathing deeply. “Yes, yes honey, there is a Retirement Home in the Pine Lane nearby. You could take her there but remember, don’t be late for school” and Trudy continued washing the dishes. “Thanks for everything” and Nina ran again out of the house.

“Well Emily, it is very bad of you just walking somewhere and then not coming back. I was starting to get worried about you. Next time you won’t go off like that ok?” lectured the Retirement Home Keeper to Sarah in a loud voice. “Yes, yes I am not deaf. No need to shout” replied Sarah rather calmly. The keeper led her to her room. “Come in Nina, come in” said Sarah. “How do you know my name Emily?” asked Nina. “My name is Sarah. I told you. It is Sarah. You are the chosen one Nina. Come here Nina, come to my bed,” said Sarah. Nina went over to her bed. Sarah took Nina’s hand and gave her a bracelet. The bracelet was made out of light blue beads and in the middle there was a dark blue star. “Now it is up to you to keep the secret. I have held it too long. Now it is your turn. Please keep it safe. It is very important to me,” said Sarah in a worried voice, “You must not show this to anyone. Did you hear? People are after it. Bad people. That house,” she pointed to a picture in the bedroom with the House of Shadows, “that house is a evil house”. “Spooky, yes but evil, I don’t think so. Anyways, I can’t accept this bracelet. It is yours” said Nina but by then Sarah was fast asleep.

Nina went with Patricia, Mara, Fabian and Tori right to the house after school. Amber had gone into town for a bit of shopping. They had to tell her something. When they arrived into Mara and Patricia’s room they locked the door. “What’s going on guys?” asked Nina in a rather worried voice. “You will have to go through the secret ceremony before you can be officially one of us. The boarders of The House of Shadows” said Patricia. “Ok, what do I have to do?” asked Nina. “Well, the main part is to get down to the cellar, but you will need to get the keys first from Victor’s office” said Patricia in a spooky voice, which gave Nina goose flesh. “Well, I don't think that Nina should do it because Mara and you are just making it up to scare Nina. I didn’t have to do it. Tori didn’t have to do it so then why should Nina do it?” asked Fabian in an angry and confused voice. “I agree with Fabian,” said Tori. “No, no, I’ll do it. No worries. Today at midnight we all meet here in Mara and Patricia’s room. Then someone will need to distract Victor so he can get out of the room. While he is occupied with something else I will get the keys and go down to the cellar. I will inform Amber when she gets back ok?” asked Nina. “Yea” said everyone in chorus.

At midnight everyone came to Patricia and Mara’s room. “So, are we all ready?” asked Nina. “No, how will we distract Victor?” asked Tori trying to change the others mind so that Nina doesn’t go to the cellar. “Leave that to me and Mara. We’ll take care of it” said Amber although she didn’t want to do this either. “Will we? You didn’t even tell me about it” replied Mara in a very scared voice. “Oh, don't worry so much. Come on, Mara and me will be going to the bathroom. You guys will try to watch in what we do. When Victor is distracted Nina will race into his room and get that key. In the meantime you guys will go down to the cellar. Mara and me will be waiting here. Come on Mara, what are you waiting for,” and Amber pulled her out of the room. They were standing in front of the bathroom as Amber suddenly fell. “Behave I fainted and call Victor” said Amber under her breath. “Victor, Victor hurry Amber has fainted,” called Mara as she went running to Victors office, “Come on Victor, she just fainted as we were going to the bathroom”. They both rushed to Amber. “Oh, stars I see stars. Oh my God!!! There are two Victors. Ouch my ankles are swelling. It hurts. Mara