For tis from the light that light will dawn;
and then shines forth
The Eagle's Cross.
-Sir Francis Haddock, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.


Monday, 7th January, 2104.


"Your arrival to Destination, Twenty-Seven Dirdum Lane, will be in ten minutes. Your skyroad is clear of any traffic."

"Mmmh… I hate to be that guy, Jasper, but it's been over ten minutes since the GPS said those exact words." I mumble, still half-asleep.

"It's an old one, Cora," he rolls his eyes in the car mirror, "That hunk of junk has the last few maps to take you to your ancestors' house. Your siblings used it when they had to renovate the place."

"Why couldn't you use their maps? Like, download 'em?"

"The information's top secret. Anybody sees it pass through the network, dark web or not, and they'll want to use the land for some damn project. Another pod suburbs or the next Asdfland. Your family home's too precious."

I rub my brown-and-blue mismatching eyes under my glasses, huffing. He has a point.

To my left, my sixteen-year-old little sister protests, waking up from her nap.

"Why couldn't have I modified Jasper's GPS? Or a copy of Jasper's routes to include the pathway to Dirdum Lane?"

"I know you mean well, Laurie," Jasper sighs, "But it would've corrupted my maps either way. I wouldn't be able to keep a private job for your dad any longer."

From my right, my best friend Emily chuckles a little.

"You make the Golds sound like they're stupid-rich-"

"When we're not," I finish, "We're just an independent family delivery company for drinks services."

"You're well off enough though," Jasper points out, "Just enough to keep a whole bunch of things going on."

Including his job, keeping the family house running and my work hours reduced to a fortnight shift while I live at the old house… Dragging my best friend and my little sister along is just a bonus.

"Fair."

"Recalculating… Your arrival to your destination, Twenty-Seven Dirdum Lane, will be in three hours. You are on the fastest route to your destination, despite traffic congestion."

The three of us groan in unison and sink in our seats even further, being squished into pancakes a tiny bit more from the little room we have in the back of the passenger area.

Em and I share an exhausted glance, Laurie whinging our exact complaint seconds after.

"It's been freaking foreveeeeeeeer! There's no traffic here, let alone an airroad!"

"Laurel," I warn, "Watch your tone. Jasper's doing his best for us. We're just one hovertruck, I know, but we need to be patient."

Honestly though, I feel the exact same way.

"It's been three hours since we left the suburbs…" She mumbles in a half-hearted protest. "For all we know it's just another lot of forest again…"

Sharing another look with Emily, she smiles sympathetically, her warm, umber-brown skin creasing into dimples.

It'll be alright. We'll be there before we know it.

Still, my chest can't help but sink at the prospect of having to wait another eternity till we reach the ancestral family house.

Even now, it's weird to believe my great-great-granddad's will allowed me to own it. Not my dad, not my granddad, not international cousins, a strange old home in the back of nowhere in England goes straight to me. Extra rights from another three ancestral lines make me the prime candidate, since my older brothers and sister couldn't take it. I don't blame them for being busy with university.

But I'm glad they set aside time to renovate the place to former glory in time for Christmas. Though it is weird that they got along with dad for it, considering they're all on different levels of angry at him. Why? Not that I know the whole story. Well, at least Laur and Em joining in is just an added bonus - both dad and I agreed that there was no way of living alone while there.

It's my first time living away from my parents. Same with Laur. Same with Em. Her parents had been more resistant to the idea of letting their only child go, but it all came through just in time. We've been craving independence for a long time after graduating high school (well, Laurie's still going through it), so of course everything kinda just fell into place. Knowing Em, she already had packed her bags to get out from her parents' place regardless if they said yes or no.

Still, one of the conditions she had from her parents for staying with me was that she'd message them as much as she could, if not everyday. Bit of a pain in the arse, but I don't blame them. We're both hoping it gets too redundant for them over time. Besides, we're the only ones in this neighbourhood - nothing but our own shenanigans are bound to happen here.

Besides, my other siblings did say something… Weird was going on when they were renovating it. I mean, might as well be something left behind so I don't get bored staying here, but I wonder…

"Your destination, Twenty-Seven Dirdum Lane, is two hundred and fifty metres below you. Please find a suitable nearby landing road."

Oh, thank God.


Jasper's landing techniques, especially in sudden, pouring rainfall, is always rough and this is no exception.

BANG.

Did I mention this strip is a century-old, cracking tar road and has no landing lights?

"DAMMIT-"

"Jasper! You haven't qualified for wet-water landings yet?!"

"DIDN'T HAVE THE TIME TO!"

"I think I'm gonna pass out-"

"Not just yet Laur-oof, hey, tie your hair back next time, Goldilocks!"

"I already did Cora! Not my fault it goes everywhere!"

"It's your hair, Lorrie!"

"Can you not call me that?! You know I hate that name!"

"It's a slip of the tongue this time, I swear!"

"Can't you stop this thing from spinning, Jasper?"

"I'M BLOODY TRYING, MISS BROCK!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

SCREEEEEEECH

SPLASSHHHHHHH….

Pant, puff, heave…

"So, how did you three enjoy the ride?"


"Worth the nap," Laur grins as she yanks open the door and splashes into a fresh puddle, not caring about the splattering buckets of rain, "But you seriously need to refine your landing."

"I agree," Em smiles gently, lowering herself out and covering her head with an arm, "And I do feel a little… Well, flattened."

"I suppose the spin at the end spiced up everything." Jasper shrugs as he pulls out his e-cigar, lankily dropping from the driver's seat and opening the back of the truck, rolling out the delivery hovervan, "Not something that happens every day when you're landing with Z gear."

Following Em to my right, I pull my hood down to avoid the water from hitting my glasses as much as I can, but nevertheless droplets make their way onto the lenses. Dammit.

"You sure you three'll be alright?" Jasper wonders as he shuts the back doors, "Don't you want an umbrella?"

"We'll manage, Mr de Venner!" Em calls back, pulling three large bags to the door, two of them not even belonging to her.

"There's three of us to take care of the place and ourselves, we should be fine," I grin, handing over Laurie's favourite blue tech bag to her.

"If you need a hand with any big plans, don't be afraid to call, bud." Jasper points out, "Also, here's your keys to the house and the delivery van. You three do know how to open a twenty-first-century door, right?"

"Twist the handle and push forwards," Laurie smirks, in that somewhat narcissistic way when she knows she's right. I can't help rolling my eyes, but Jasper ruffles her fringe.

"Smart kid. You lot stay safe."

"You too Jasper. Don't crash this time!" Em jokes, "I don't think my mum and dad would be happy to hear about an unplanned roommate!"

"Hey, my pop wrecked a plane once in his army days and this is what the rest of my family is known for? I'll be alright Emily, and I'm sure your parents will loosen up too."

A grin cracks my face open as Jasper takes off from the neighbourhood, flies the hovertruck through the rain-drenched air and into the clouds above.

Of course I'll be safe.

"Cora, come on, or we'll lock you out!"

"Dammit Laurie, I'm coming! I'm the one with the keys anyway!"


"Hey, does anybody know where the heaters are in this place?"

"Em, you're in a turtleneck."

"And drenched. I know it's old but ancient polyester isn't a total miracle!"

"I got this, I'll have a map up of the electricity network soon!"

"Laurie!" I groan, facepalming, "D'you always have to hack your way into everything we encounter?"

"Cora," Em shrugs, squeezing some water out of her thick braid into the kitchen sink, "It's Laurie we're talking about. She would and always will."

"I heard that!"

"I know you mean well, that's what I'm saying!"

"Thank you!"

Em's genuinely too nice.

"Okay, I found the entire electric system and a water system too. At least we'll be able to actually shower!"

That's good to know.

"Let's see what happens when I turn all the heat-related stuff on!"

Wait a minute-

"LAURIE-"

ZZZ. Crackle. Click.

Well, there goes everything electric.

"Sorry! Didn't know climate lightbulbs were part of the heating system!"

"Those existed in the early last century?" Em inquires, dragging me to the living room where Laur's perched on top of the red sofa.

"Mmm, don't think so," Laur shakes her head, "If that were the case, it'd be cool."

"Guess it's just an addition from the twins and Jaxx when they were renovating the place." I shrug, "Although, I still don't get why…"

"Them?" Em finishes my thoughts, "Why not some actual renovators?"

Y'know, it does give a bit of reasoning why her parents weren't as eager as mine to let her go…

"Jaxx said that Dad mentioned specifics about the house being renovated to 'former glory' or something," I reckon, frowning a little, "Although he also said dad was a little… Shifty about it from what the twins mentioned to him. Not that it's honestly anything new, but Ed was especially nervous after they'd done the entire thing. He said something about checking the basement."

"The basement?" Laur wonders aloud.

ZZZ. Crackle. Click.

Oh, thank god.

"Nice one, Laurie!"

"Did you beat your record?"

"Um, guys? I didn't do that."

Wait, what?

"The whole system's back up, but I didn't even make a start on fixing the issue."

"Wha-seriously?"

Laur shifts one of her holoscreens to face me and Em with a gloved hand, revealing a floorplan of the entire electrical system and water system. (Speaking of, how the hell did the twins manage to send electricity and water to this place without being noticed by the city council? Do we even have to pay taxes for this? God, I hope not.)

" Five layers of basement!" Em manages out, astonished, "There's five levels of basement? Who needs five layers of basement?"

Laur presses the left of that screen before pointing to a tiny clock.

"Here, that's when I blew out the whole system. The white line floorplan is the electrics, but check it out!"

She presses the centre of the screen and I notice three blips on the ground floor; green and purple in the kitchen that move to the living room where the blue one is, then the white lines come back on after about five to ten seconds.

"Did you see it?"

"Yeah, the green, blue and purple dots on the ground level."

Emily gives a look while Laurie facepalms.

"She was talking about the area in the basement. The ground floor dots are us. "

"Good thing you saw it, but don't spoil it for Cora."

"Hey!"

Laurie rewinds the clock again to when she first blew the electric system.

… Holy moly.

"What the hell are those white blips?"

"Language, Cor. Also, there's four of them! Moving like we are!"

When the electric system goes back on, they vanish.

"They look like a part of the system, but if there's nothing down there, it might be a glitch in my gadgetry and in the house. It'll just be a matter of recalibrating… Right?"

"Laurie…" Em folds her arms, hesitating before talking again, "It's only us three in this house, I'm pretty sure. We're totally alone. Ghosts don't exist, and even if they did, they don't emit electricity."

Surely you weren't going to say that, Em…

"Last I checked, lore says that they do, Emily…"

"They don't exist, Laurie, we're fine. We're completely alone."

"Are we, Em?"

Em has that look of 'don't-be-ridiculous-let's-brush-this-off', but Laur's blue eyes are saying the same things that are starting to churn in my chest.

Curiosity. Fear. Worry.

I wonder if I could ever go down there without either of them noticing…

"If my holo-sensors can pick it up…"

"Laur," Emily tries to reassure her, "Don't be silly. It could be the twins leaving behind a prank for us to fall into. Or it could just be a glitch in the system - surely there's no way it could be anything else."

Honestly, I don't know about Laur and Emmy, but my chest is pounding.


Author's Note:

My god, it's actually happening.

For those not in the know, Eagle's Cross is a fic I've been writing and rewriting since 2015. 2015! I was a minor! The fandom was so different back then compared to now and this story has also grown up alongside it. You might be able to see the age in it, even from the rewrites which began in 2017.

Even now as of writing this, it's still unfinished. There's a lot of editing to do for most of the story and a whole finale which most likely be rewritten, but I promised myself I would finish this.

I also want to give a shoutout to my longtime pal v3joker on tumblr who I commissioned to do the main trio for ACT ONE's cover page - which is still in progress, but should be done soon! Whilst I did the background (and a bunch of its assets) ages ago, I'd been struggling with doing art of the three since my style was ever-shifting with time and recently I just... got exhausted after a lot of university. Whilst they did the lines and flats, I finished up with the shading and lighting. I'll provide links in here once it's done.

I'll see you all tomorrow for chapter two, then not next Friday, but the one after!