Chapter 23
twenty-three
-Brynn-
Ares left about an hour or so ago, and I’m already feeling like a panther trapped in a cage. Still, I give it another half-hour before I start searching the place.
First stop: the basement. I saw a lot of doors there, and there has to be something worth my attention behind one of them.
The basement door is unlocked this time. I check the house again, just in case Ares came back or, worse, his sister showed up—which I deeply hope doesn’t happen. Then, I get downstairs and start searching the rooms one by one.
The first few are filled with all kinds of objects—probably things Ares collected throughout his endless life. Not as valuable as the ones he showed me in the artifact room, but still as old, and probably meaningful to him in other ways.
Most of the rooms are used for storage, like some gym equipment, even things that once belonged to celebrities.
They’re labeled, some even signed and stored in protective cases.
I’m actually starting to think this place is some kind of personal museum.
Maybe he collects things that’ll probably be worth a fortune someday.
Smart move, especially since you’re staring down eternity.
The one room I’d like to linger in is a small library.
But not an ordinary one. Ancient books sit quietly on the walls, lost mysteries, untold tales, and maybe even some secrets never meant for the mortal eye.
I have a feeling historians would kill for any of these books.
And I’d love to peek through just at a few.
Normally, I would. But I’m running out of time, and I need to find something that can help me.
I still don’t understand how he can keep all these treasures lying around here without worrying someone could break in. I search for cameras, or any kind of security system, but I find nothing.
Strange.
It takes me almost an hour to get through all of the rooms, and that’s because I can’t help but pause in wonder every time I open a new door. The things he must’ve seen. The lives he lived. Pure fantasy for any kind of man.
But still no clue about where the game is being held, or how to get myself a spot in it. I need answers. I need to be sure that Ares was the one who killed Elias. Because now I’m not facing just a man, I’m facing a god.
I will still try to avenge Elias, even if that comes with the price of my own life. Besides, if Ares is responsible, he gave me the means to kill him.
Even gods can die.
I finish going through every room, and it seems pointless.
There’s nothing here—no clue, no secret office, nothing that could give me a lead.
The corridor ends in an old wine cellar, and just as I’m about to drown my sorrow in one of his most expensive bottles of wine, I notice a thin ray of light sneaking in through a corner of the wine rack.
We’re a few feet below ground, so it can’t be a built wall leading outside. There has to be a secret passage.
I try to push the rack, but it won't budge. It’s holding a few hundred bottles, so either the secret door hasn’t been used in ages or there’s a secret release I don’t see.
I carefully search the rack’s edges and crevices for almost five minutes without any kind of result.
But just as I’m starting to lose my patience, I start to study the wine bottles, and though they look improbably clean for their age, a slight thin dust has begun to gather on all of them.
Except for one—an old Greek bottle, judging by the label. Go figure.
I grab the bottle and pull it out, waiting for some Indiana Jones-style trick. Still nothing happens.
My patience is wearing thin, and I’m starting to think there’s nothing there, and that I’m still on the wrong track.
But just as I’m about to give up, I try my luck and reach into the spot where I just pulled the bottle from. I don’t have high hopes of finding anything, but as my hand searches the edges, I find a handle.… I pull it, and instantly there’s a loud crack echoing through the walls.
Wow, this really is some kind of Indiana Jones shit after all.
I push the rack, and this time, it moves with no difficulty. A whole new corridor opens in front of me, and my heart starts racing like it’s on an F1 track.
My legs tremble as I advance down the corridor, which is an extension of the first. Same dark brick walls, same dim lighting deepening the mystery.
The difference is that this stretch is a lot shorter, ending with a high-end metal door that looks more like something you’d use for a vault, or even a panic room.
There’s no secret mechanism on this one. It just looks plain unbreakable, unless you’re a cat burglar or some kind of security genius. Neither of which I am.
That only leaves me with four doors, just like the ones I’ve walked through before. Only there has to be something special about these since there’s a secret wall, hiding them even from the few people who ever come down here.
My hands shake as I unlock the first door, expecting to finally make a breakthrough.
Which makes the disappointment sting even more.
It’s just a small kitchen, packed with different cabinets stuffed with snacks and groceries—like the kind you see in office break rooms. Basic appliances to reheat things, or maybe even cook something light.
Strange for Ares to have a kitchen here, but still no breakthrough.
I move on to investigate the second room, and to my surprise, the whole chamber is filled with different machines linked together.
All functioning. I’m no tech expert, but I think they’re servers of some kind, though I have no clue what they could be used for.
Maybe they tie into the game somehow. Or at least that’s what I hope because I need a lead.
Still, even if this is a lead, I have no idea what to do with it.
Maybe the next room will give me some more clues, but to my disappointment, it turns out to be a regular bathroom with a small shower.
It’s been recently used, judging by the water drops on the shower curtain.
Strange. Who comes down here to shower?
I’m down to my last room, I’m trying to stay positive and convince myself that I still have a chance to find something, even if the odds aren’t in my favor.
My last hope is behind this door. Truth is, I’m not even sure there’s anything useful behind it. I just pray life gives me a break because I’ve been self-sabotaging lately.
The squeak of the door leaves me breathless, like I’m counting the seconds, and at the same time, stalling because I’m afraid it’ll be a letdown.
But there’s no postponing the inevitable, and as soon as the door opens, I notice a bed.
I push the door wider to see inside the room, and a wave of relief and excitement floods over me.
A man stands at a modern desk. Neon signs, decorating the wall, and a bank of five monitors in front of him.
I know exactly who that man is—404.
At the squeak of the door opening, he turns to face me.
“You?” The surprise on his face is unmistakable, especially since he managed to trick me last time we met.
“Did Ares send you?” he asks, probably suspecting from the look on my face that I’m as equally surprised as he is because I had no idea what I was about to stumble into.
And I feel I don’t have time to come up with a lie and charm my way out of this one.
Besides, my gut tells me he had a special connection with Elias.
So that’s the card I’m playing this time around.
“No, Ares didn’t send me,” I let the silence settle for a few seconds.
“I don’t have time to play around. I’m here because of the game.
I want in.” His eyes widen, like what I’m asking of him is not just surprising but also impossible.
Well, I’ll bend the impossible and shape it to succumb to me.
“Ares’s men will be here any moment with my takeout. Besides, I can’t help you get in,” he says, turning back to his computer, just to avoid my gaze.
Well, I’m not buying it.
“Yes, you can. You’re the only one who can.
Ares wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble finding you otherwise.
” I call him on his bluff, knowing he's only trying to sell me shit to make me walk away. “Besides, I know you’re the one who got Elias in. And we wouldn’t want Ares to find that out, would we? ”
He looks at me, surprised I figured that out. “I did, but—”
“No buts. I don’t have time, just help me get in. Please, for Elias. I know he meant something to you. I’ve seen it in your eyes.”
He doesn’t say anything, but the same sadness is back again. I don’t know whether they had a fling or a relationship, or whether Elias just pretended to be with him to get him in. I don’t have time to investigate that, especially if what he said about Ares’s men bringing his takeout is true.
“This is a suicide mission; don’t you get it? There’s no surviving Kharon unless you win it.”
“I’ll take my chances,” my tone firm, leaving no room for negotiation.
“Well, there’s no way I can get you in on such short notice. The game is in two days.”
“There has to be a way.”
“There isn’t. The contestants have already been selected.” He tries to convince me to give up.
But what he doesn’t know is that giving up isn’t an option for me. “Then I’ll pretend to be one of the contestants. Give me a name and an address, and I’ll replace whoever I must.”
It’s the only idea I have. But before 404 gives me an answer, his phone starts ringing.
He picks it up and listens for a few seconds, then takes a few more, like he’s deep in thought. “No mustard, extra ketchup, and five islands.” That’s either a code name or his food order.
My gut says it’s the second.
“They’ll be here in just a few moments. The diner’s across the street. You have to go before you get both of us in trouble,” 404 says as soon as he hangs up, waving me to the door.