Forgotten Truths (The Forgotten Truths Series) by Justine E. Domke Page A

move any further.
    We were about to enter a very large but empty room. The walls seemed to go on forever until they finally hit the ceiling where it still went up at an angle and met in the middle. Hanging down from it was a massive chandelier that sparkled as if it was made with diamonds. To the right of where we stood was a doorway with glass doors that were open. There was a big desk and floor to ceiling shelves with books on them. There was a fireplace next to the desk and a few more pieces of furniture. Looking back into the foyer, to the left there was a long wall that went back past the staircase and ended with an open window. That wall had three more open doorways, but I couldn’t tell exactly what was beyond them. Straight ahead was the enormous staircase that wrapped around so that when you went upstairs, you started out by facing the back wall and ended up facing the right side of the house. At the top of the staircase were doors on both sides and a hallway in each direction. Beneath the right side of the staircase was another room, but the double doors were closed. It was beautiful but very overwhelming.
    “Just take one step at a time. It only looks really big,” James whispered in my ear.
    “No, it is really big.” I gaped back up at the chandelier. “That chandelier alone would have taken up half of my room.”
    “Well, you still shouldn’t be able to get lost. Upstairs are just bedrooms, and the staircase is right in the middle so you only have two directions to go. And down here there are just these five rooms and this big foyer. There’s no reason for you to worry. Like I said, it’s not as big as it seems.”
    I took a small step forward and finally entered the room. He applied a little more pressure on my back, and we took a couple more steps. It echoed.
    “ Where’s Captain Brown?” I asked. My voice sounded loud to me, and I winced.
    “My guess would be in his study.” He pointed to our right where the room with the floor to ceiling shelving was. When I didn’t move, he again applied a little pressure to my back and led me into the room.
    The room was very bright since there seemed to be several windows along the walls. The shelves went around the entire room except where the windows were. The window in the front of the room was big and had a bench with a sky-blue cushion under it. In the middle of the room there was a couch with the same blue fabric, two navy-blue chairs, and a dark-wooden table between them. In another corner was a large, brown leather chair that looked so comfortable I could have lay down in it right then, dress and all, and fallen asleep. The floor was a dark wood with a deep-blue rug in the middle. The desk was in front of the back wall with a tall, wooden chair behind it. The desk itself was the same dark wood as the floor, and it had some gold accents on it. But there was no man in the room.
    “Hmm.” James stepped around me and went over to the desk. He picked up a piece of paper on it, read it, and then put it back down. “Well, I guess we could try the sitting room.”
    “The sitting room?” I asked as he came by me and went out into the foyer. They had a room only for sitting? I followed him, and he led me straight across the foyer. I noticed again how our footsteps echoed. It didn’t seem like there was anyone in this house. I thought most people had servants, but maybe I was wrong.
    He held up his hand for me to stop as he leaned into the room. I was far enough back to not be able to see much of anything except a white wall with a lot of design on it. It also had a white fireplace with a mantel in the middle of it that took up most of the wall. But other than that, I couldn’t see anything around him.
    “Captain?” James said. His voice bounced off the walls.
    I heard some papers rustling and a man clear ed his throat. “Hello, James! I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”
    “It didn’t take as long as we thought it would. Captain, I’d like