Chapter 171: Entry Hall
Balthazar and the rest of the group abandoned the cover of the bushes and ran to the manor at full speed. The time for stealth was over, now that the mayor’s niece had decided to make her big entrance.
“Is she always this…” the crab said to Leander as they hurriedly crossed the driveway.
“Feisty?” the captain responded. “Ever since she was younger than your friend Suze over there. I always tried to teach her how to turn that fire into something productive, but sometimes you just have to accept that something will get burned.”
The running crab rolled his eyestalks. “Hopefully it’s not us. I already have enough with one drake.”
Reaching the front door, they barged in to find Olivia alone in a large entry hall, looking around with a mix of surprise and confusion.
“There’s… no one here,” the young woman said.
The manor’s foyer was long, with several doors on both sides and a staircase leading up to the next floor at the very end of it. The place was illuminated by two chandeliers above and multiple candelabras spread all around on the dark mahogany furniture, giving the hallway a heavy and slightly creepy mood.
What a fire hazard. And the time it must take to light all of these up every night! Not to mention how much wax they must go through. Ooh, maybe I should start selling candles…
Blue sniffed the air around, looking with suspicion at the many orange flames of the candles surrounding them, while Suze’s interests seemed to be centered on the drawers of the dressers and other pieces of furniture everywhere.