Extract: Lonasei and the Mystery of Origin Grove, by Kenneth Chapman

Eleven-year-old Lonasei is lonely—she wishes her teenage sister Eva Grace wasn’t so mean, and that her mum didn’t have to work round the clock to make ends meet. But when her widowed mother inherits Origin Grove, a mansion as remote as it is old, Lonasei discovers she can enter her estranged Aunt Malia’s paintings and experience them as memories. Through them, she finds out her mother had another sister, Agnes, who after getting locked in the basement as a child, was never seen again.

Lonasei’s grief for the lost aunt she never met leads her to explore the basement, where she discovers a whole new world of possibility, one where her dad and aunties are still alive…

The following extract from Lonasei and the Mystery of Origin Grove by Kenneth Chapman (Bateman Books, $27.99) is published here with kind permission.

Chapter 2

‘But it’s so far away! How are we supposed to live there?’ Eva Grace was furious.

Everything was happening so fast. It had been less than a week since Malia’s funeral and now they were moving. They’d moved to Porirua shortly after their father had died when Lonasei was only a baby. It was the only home she’d ever really known. 

It was an appropriately gloomy day outside. A fog had settled over the entire city and Lonasei could barely see the balcony rails from the living room windows. 

‘Would you give it a rest? I’m sick of arguing with you about this. We’re moving and that’s final!’ Aria was not in the mood for Eva Grace’s antics.

Eva Grace was in the bedroom sulking while Aria was busy packing the last of the boxes in the kitchen. Lonasei had finished packing her things long ago. With only a handful of soft toys, her night light and a small stack of books, she managed to squeeze everything, including her clothes, into one big bag. 

Like Eva Grace, she wasn’t exactly excited about leaving their home and all her friends behind, but at the same time she felt a strange pull. A curiosity about this new house and any adventures it might bring. 

Aria’s childhood home was far enough from Porirua that it was likely Lonasei wouldn’t see her friends for the rest of the summer. Still, she figured she’d be okay. She loved to draw and read, and could easily keep herself entertained, but she shuddered to think what it’d do to Eva Grace, who loved nothing more than to be with her friends (except maybe her phone). 

Aria had arrived home that morning with a small moving truck. Since Origin Grove came fully furnished, she had spent the previous week selling all their furniture online. That meant Eva Grace and Lonasei had spent the last three nights sleeping on the floor of their room in sleeping bags. While Eva Grace was in a damp mood about it all, Lonasei found it fun. It was like camping, but at home.

It was clear that Eva Grace wasn’t ready to give it a rest because she stormed into the kitchen, her words directed straight at her mother. ‘It doesn’t make any sense. You’re just gonna sell that old house so we can move back for school next year anyway.’ 

Aria sighed and put the stack of plates she was holding onto the kitchen bench. She walked over to Eva Grace and lowered her voice. Lonasei edged a little closer so she could still hear.

‘Look, Eva Grace, we’re moving because it’s going to save us a lot of money, okay? Selling a house isn’t as easy as selling bunk beds. God knows who would want to live all the way out there these days. It could take the whole summer to sell. I’m not going to keep paying rent here when we have a perfectly good house to live in for free.’ 

Eva Grace scrunched up her face. She knew Aria had a point, but that didn’t stop her from feeling annoyed. 

‘Arggghhhh!’ Eva Grace stormed back into the bedroom and slammed the door. 

Lonasei carried on boxing up the rest of the kitchen with her mum, while Eva Grace made a dramatic show of packing her things as loudly as possible in the bedroom. 

After loading the last of the boxes, Lonasei and Eva Grace jumped into the front of the truck with their mother and off they went. With the fog growing thicker as the day dragged on, their old flat disappeared from sight before they had even left the driveway. 

Despite her frustrations about their tiny flat, Lonasei couldn’t help but feel a little sad as they pulled away from the only place she’d ever called home.

On the drive to Origin Grove, Lonasei had a million questions for her mother about what was going to happen. Aria had offered the following information and nothing more: she had inherited the family home at 1 Origin Grove along with all of its contents. The only items that were to remain at Origin Grove after they sold the house were the paintings on the walls. Malia had stated in her will that they were always to remain at Origin Grove, regardless of who occupied it.

The small fortune that Malia had accumulated over her successful art career had been donated in its entirety to a charitable foundation that provided art classes to underprivileged children across Aotearoa. The house itself came with its own stipulations as it was considered a historical building by the local council, but Aria refrained from going into detail, claiming the terms were of no interest to Lonasei, but she did provide a short history for her. 

Apparently, 1 Origin Grove was the very first home to be built when the town was founded over a century ago. It was intended to be the home of whoever became the town’s mayor. It was a grand building, fit to host formal evenings of dancing and entertainment, and by day to host a family as large as ten. The design was ambitious to say the least, and resources at the time were scarce. However, by the time the house was finally complete, the area had been abandoned. The trade routes to Pōneke had been established and there was no longer interest in this part of the countryside. At that point, 1 Origin Grove was left on its own to become more of an artefact than a home. 

Five kilometres from the nearest dwelling, the illustrious building has remained, to this day, the only home as far as the eye can see.

Decades after the area had been deserted, Lonasei’s grandparents saw an opportunity to build an idyllic country life for the family they were planning to have at a fraction of the cost.

Eva Grace was right, it was far away, Lonasei thought as she stared out the window into the thick fog. She was just able to make out the signs as they drove north. They passed Pāuatahanui, Paekākāriki and Paraparaumu. When they neared Waikanae, Aria turned off the motorway and took them through a small town before continuing east into the countryside where the roads grew thinner and the asphalt turned to gravel and eventually just dirt. 

After what seemed like a lifetime of driving through an endless fog, 1 Origin Grove finally appeared. The house looked far too grand and old to just be called a house. Mansion or estate might have been a better name.

Aria pulled in very slowly and gently, as if to say to the house, ‘We come in peace’, before coming to a stop and turning the engine off. 

Now that they were up close, Lonasei had to tilt her head back to see the whole house. Its three storeys towered over her with a presence so real it seemed almost human. She felt a chill run down her spine and the hairs on her arms stood up. The three of them sat there in silence, taking in the haunting look of the old building surrounded by the eerie fog. 

Lonasei wondered about the strange pattern the house was decorated with. Some kind of swirling wood that had been carved. On closer inspection, she realised it wasn’t wood at all, but vines as thick as her arms, crawling over the walls and across the windows. They slipped and weaved themselves over every inch of the house, into every hole, through every railing. It was as if they had swallowed the house whole.

Lonasei had to stop herself from gasping. She’d never seen anything like it. Not even in all the picture books she’d read growing up where houses of all shapes and sizes lived. 

She was just beginning to calculate how long it must’ve taken for the house to become overrun by nature when Aria finally broke the silence, giving her a fright.

‘Here it is, girls. 1 Origin Grove, the house I grew up in.’

‘It’s so big,’ Lonasei said. 

Aria clicked her seat belt loose. ‘Well, it was definitely originally intended for a family much larger than ours, but that means you two can finally have your own rooms.’ 

Eva Grace, who, for the entire drive, had sat in silence with her earbuds in and a deadpan look on her face, let out a rare smile. ‘I get first choice,’ she said, undoing her seat belt and hopping out of the truck. 

Lonasei immediately forgot about the chill in her spine and followed as fast as she could. ‘Hey, that’s not fair!’ she shouted, chasing Eva Grace to the front door. 

Aria calmly stepped out of the truck and dangled a big set of old keys above her head. ‘Don’t be in too much of a rush. You’re gonna need these to get inside.’ 

Lonasei was puffing on the front porch as Aria stepped up towards them. 

‘There are more rooms in there than the two of you will even know what to do with, so I don’t want to hear you fighting, understand?’

‘I still get first choice,’ Eva Grace said. 

‘That’s not fair though.’ Lonasei looked up at Aria with pleading eyes as she placed the largest of the keys into the front door.

Lonasei and the Mystery of Origin Grove by Kenneth Chapman is on sale in bookstores nationwide.