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Rose spent the rest of the day securing the premisis. She took out her spellbook, as she hadn't bothered memorizing many security spells before. She cast spells on the entire grounds, including the gardens and the air up to ten feet above her house.
And it was her house now. She shared it only with her pets.
She corely wished for company, but was afraid to go back to the WTGR and see the damage she'd done. And she wasn't sure if Dragon would forgive her. Ever.

So, she went about the house, protecting it from threats and tampering, and making sure that Luman would not be able to come near it again.



Finally satisifed that the house was secure, Rose plopped down on the couch with a glass of water. Her pets were already settling down in their favorite spots. Kipper on the stone hearth next the the fireplace, Olay! on the endtable, Niko on the back of the couch, and Tuft in a plush armchair.
Rose rubbed her forehead casually. Her jewel was itchy. She got up quietly, and left the room without disturbing her pets.
She walked over to the hall mirror, and looked at her forehead jewel.

"I was almost thinking it might have turned red again." she mumbled to her reflection, blue jewel shining brightly. But it was still bothering her. She wandered a bit, as she quite often did when bothered. And found herself in the kitchen, next to the cellar door.
Rose recalled how she met Luman in there, and he had said something peculiar about her finally looking for answers. She had seen nothing in the cellar, but she knew there had to be more there.
She flicked on the light switch, happy to see the light bulb flicker on below. She walked downstairs quickly after pulling the door shut behind her. She searched the room again, and although she could see much better, found nothing new. She grew bored, and started reading the labels on the bottles of wine. She pulled them forward one at a time to read them. There were old bottles, and newer bottles. No two alike. She went through the two racks slowly. Halfway through the second rack, she stopped. She had noticed that the rows and columns had been labelled on the racks. Rack one had thirteen rows across and six columns, as did rack two. The first rack was labelled on the side with A-M and on top with 1-6, and the second rack with N-Z and 7-12.
Rose laughed. Her father was so particular. In fact, she thought, he was sometimes overly particular. Curious, she pulled a bottle completely out of the rack, and checked the bottom. As she had thought, the bottle she pulled out was labelled R-8, just as it was placed. She shook her head. He was so particular, her father.
She continued looking at the rest of the bottles in the second rack. But as she neared the end, at X9, she noticed it carried no dust. She checked the bottom of the bottle, and it was clearly labelled H4. "That's odd." Rose thought out loud. She took the bottle carefully over to G4, and pulled out H4's bottle. It said, on its bottom, another label for a different spot. Rose stopped.
"This isn't an accident." she mused. Quickly, she ran upstairs and grabbed a paper and pencil. Walking downstairs, she scribbled "X9 - H4 -", then checked the bottle in the spot of H4, and scribbled "B6". She put the actual H4 bottle into the correct spot, and took the wrong one, carried it to B6, and pulled out that bottle. Also mislabeled, she wrote it down before putting the correct bottle in place. This kept on for some time, leaving rose with a long list of... something.

The last bottle that she pulled belonged in the spot of the first she pulled out. It was a perfect circle. Confident, now, that this had to be some kind of code, Rose hurried back upstairs with her paper, sneezing because of the dust. She turned out the light in the cellar and locked the cellar door once upstairs. She went to her room, pulled out more paper, and began poring over her list and brainstorming for meaning.