Secret Ways

We will return to Helen and Silvia in a moment, but before that, let's look at the scene from a different perspective.

Liam woke suddenly, his heart thudding in his chest. He was sure he’d heard something — soft footsteps, perhaps, or the faint creak of a door. For a moment, he lay still in the dark, straining his ears. The house was silent now, but the eerie weight of its atmosphere made his skin crawl. Just as he sat up, the door to his room creaked open, startling him. To his utter relief, it wasn't a ghost, but Lisa who slipped inside like a shadow.

“You heard it too?” she whispered, her eyes wide with mischief and curiosity.

Liam rubbed the sleep from his eyes, blinking at her. “Heard what?”

“It’s Silvia,” Lisa hissed bitingly, edging closer. “She’s sneaking back into her room. Our beloved sister, who is always held up as a shining example to us. Where’s she been at this hour? Let’s find out!”

“Lisa, no,” Liam whispered back, shaking his head. “That’s ... that’s her business. She’ll kill us if she catches us.”

But Lisa rolled her eyes, her grin widening. “Come on, don’t be such a baby. Don’t you want to know what our perfect, brainy sister is up to? Besides, it’s not like I’m asking you to go alone.”

Liam hesitated, his better judgment warring with his natural inclination to follow his twin’s lead. Lisa had a knack for getting him into trouble, but her excitement was infectious. Before he could say no again, she grabbed his hand and tugged him out of bed. He was only wearing his boxer shorts because he didn't believe in special nightwear. His slender, almost naked figure earned him a disparaging but equally interested sidelong glance from his sister, that made him quite self-conscious. He opened his mouth to justify himself.

“Quiet,” she ordered him under her breath, leading him toward the far corner of the room. “I found something earlier when we were unpacking.”

“What do you mean, you found something?” Liam asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Instead of answering, Lisa knelt and pressed against an ornate wooden panel. It clicked softly and swung open, revealing a narrow, dark passageway. Liam’s jaw dropped.

“You didn’t think this house was just normal rooms, did you?” Lisa teased, crawling into the cobwebbed passage. “An edifice that old simply had to have secret tunnels hidden away in it. It’s practically begging to be explored.”

Liam hesitated, peering into the mysterious dark corridor. “Lisa, this is insane. What if we get lost? Or stuck? Or—”

“Or find out what Silvia’s hiding?” Lisa interrupted, her tone smug. “Suit yourself, but I’m going.”

With a resigned sigh, Liam followed her, crouching as they made their way through the cramped passage. Dust tickled his nose, and he fought back a sneeze. The walls felt impossibly close, and the faint light filtering through cracks in the wood was barely enough to see by.

“This place is disgusting,” Liam muttered, brushing a sticky spiderweb from his face.

Lisa grinned back at him. “Adventure always is, little brother.”

“I’m older by six minutes,” Liam grumbled, though it was half-hearted.

"Then do me a favor and don't act like a little baby," she snapped back.

After what felt like an eternity of shuffling through the claustrophobic space, they reached a section where the walls widened slightly. Lisa stopped and pointed to a pair of small, perfectly round peepholes carved into the wood.

“Here,” she whispered, motioning for Liam to look.

He hesitated again, but curiosity finally got the better of him. He pressed his eye to the peephole, his heart pounding in his chest. The holes were spaced just far enough apart for a single person to see through them with both eyes. To see something at the same time, Lisa and Liam had to stand close together, cheek to cheek. That way, he was acutely aware of his sister's closeness.

On the other side was Silvia’s room, dimly lit by the faint glow of moonlight. Their mother Helen and their older sister Silvia were lying in bed together, tightly entwined. What he saw didn't really make sense to him. But he instinctively understood what it was about. For a young man like him, it was quite arousing, but also somehow frightening. Liam pulled back from the peephole, his face pale. “What... what are they doing?”

Lisa was completely absorbed by the spectacle that was unfolding before her. She had a rough idea of what the two were doing in bed, even if she lacked the practical expertise to really figure it out. She drew back and her mischievous grin grew wider. “Okay... that's weird. Even for Silvia. And for mom, even more so."

Liam nodded, his voice a shaky whisper. “We should go. Now.”

"Yeah, why not. But this ..." she pointed towards his boxer shorts. “Isn't it rather unpleasant to crawl around with that?”

He followed her finger and looked down. What he discovered there brought a blush of embarrassment to his face. To his utter dismay he had pitched a clearly visible tent.