Chapter 3 #3
“Get in, Raya.” Hecate reaches across the car and opens the door.
As I slide in, I hear another loud pop.
“Don’t look back,” Hecate commands. My legs tremble, and I press my hands on my thighs, trying to control it.
“Let’s get out of here.” Hecate smiles brightly and says, “To new adventures.”
Her joy was contagious. “To new adventures,” I reply. I don’t know what the adventure is going to be, but I hope it’s a good one. It would be sad if living with Elias would be better with whoever I would be employed by. Oh, you might be kidnapped and sold in parts.
That was a grim thought. Nonetheless…it was going to be a grand adventure.
ARIC
I spent the morning cooped up in my bedroom, and my stomach is currently grumbling.
Mrs. Grady may be out, but she would have left me meals in the fridge.
Hecate always told me I should get a private chef.
But why would I when I have Grady at my side?
I open the door of my office and hear music. It sounds like pop music.
“At least I can sayyyy,” the little voice echoes through the hallway. I forgot I had a preteen in my house.
I sigh, wanting to curse Hecate out. If I am hungry, I wonder if she is too.
I knock on the door with the name “Nisa” in pink and glitter foam.
The door opens, and Nisa’s deep brown doe-like eyes look up at me. She hides behind the door slightly. Of course she does. Men have never treated her with respect.
The TV catches my attention, and I see six girls dancing.
“Who are they?” I ask.
Nisa smiles. “That’s Katseye. They’re my favorite group.”
“Where are their clothes? Why are they so scantily dressed?” I want to push forward and take off the TV or maybe turn it to National Geographic or something.
“They have clothes on,” Nisa replies with a frown.
“Um, Hecate is coming back for you. I wanted to know if you were hungry,” I spoke softly, trying not to be intimidating.
She bites her lip and shakes her head. “No.”
“Okay.” I step back and nod. She needs to eat sometime.
As I walk further down the hall to the kitchen, I hear, “Mr. Monster? What kind of food is it?”
I stop in my tracks and turn. “My housekeeper made steak and lamb.”
“I don’t like eating from people,” she says.
What does that even mean?
I think it’s because she was drugged, Aric. Now she is being cautious. Smart girl.
Ares is right. I stuff my hands in my pockets and turn. “I can order pizza.”
She pokes her head out of the door. “I like pizza.”
“Okay, pepperoni?”
She shakes her head.
“Tell me what you want on it.”
The door closes, and for a second, I think she changes her mind. Then the door opens. “Can I have pineapple and mushroom on it?”
What the hell? “Is that what you want? Nothing else? That’s it?”
She nods enthusiastically.
If she wants the pineapple and fungi, get it for her, Aric.
“That combination is diabolical,” I mutter, strolling into the kitchen. I take out my phone and find the food app Deimos uses on my phone.
It doesn’t take me long to order two large pizzas, one with Nisa’s combination and a regular meat specialty.
“What do you think we should do about the woman and the chalice?” I ask out loud.
I am thinking kill her in her old age. It wouldn’t kill us to wait until she is old. As Ares talks, my shadow moves like it has a mind of its own.
“She has to fall in love with us.” I open the fridge, looking for anything that I can munch on. It doesn’t take me long to find an apple.
I lean on the counter and bite.
“Suppose we fall in love with her, Ares?” I ask, chomping on the apple.
“We won’t. We are focused on Talia.”
Somewhere outside, a car engine cuts through the stillness, low and steady.
“Who is that?”
I sigh, walking to the bin at the side of the door and dumping my apple into it.
“Most likely Hecate and the new nanny.” I wash my hands under the kitchen faucet.
SORAYA
We have been driving for what feels like an hour. Hecate said very little; the only sound around us is a mixtape of ‘90s rock. I figured out that Fiona Apple and the Cranberries were her favorites.
We drive through what looks like the countryside with acres upon acres of deep green, well-manicured lawns sitting behind black wrought iron bars. Whoever lives here believes in protection.
“Why does he need all these bloody bars? By the Fates!” Hecate taps her fingers on the steering wheel.
I haven’t really relaxed since I entered this car. But I haven’t been on super high alert until now.
“Finally!” Hecate exclaims. She flicks her wrist, and the gate opens. Maybe she has an app on her Apple Watch that makes the gate open.
The tall cypress trees line the driveway, and it takes us two minutes to reach the front of the house.
The first thing that catches my attention is a large gold bowl sitting on a white fountain.
The bowl is lit, and fire dances in it. Why a bowl of fire is lit at 1:00 in the afternoon is beyond my understanding.
When I turn my attention to the house, I swallow. I feel intimidated by it. It’s not like I had never seen a mansion before. Elias has a lot. It’s just that I’ve never seen one so imposing.
Hecate turns the car off. “Follow me.” She opens the car door and walks to the front of the car.
I exit the car and lift my head higher. The air around the house feels different.
I don’t know; it feels…heavy, quiet...expectant.
The mansion looks massive, unyielding. It could be the modern columns holding up the second floor.
Or the large mahogany door with its wrought iron black hinges and delicate forming scrollwork.
The windows are floor-to-ceiling; the walls are all cement and stone smoothed out to perfection.
Every inch of this house feels like it was designed with a purpose in mind.
And that purpose was and is to imbue fear.
The person who owns this house has to be a king or has a power that rivals one.
This house reminds me of a beautiful fortress.
It’s a deliberate declaration of power. The owner is saying subtly that this is their property.
There are small red shrubs that line both sides of the walkway. I can see solar lights stuck in the ground.
Hecate skips up the stairs, screaming, “Ares!”
Ares? What kind of name is that? What is he? The God of War or something?
Hecate pushes her hand against the door, and it opens diagonally without a fuss. The apps on her watch are amazing.
“Ares, stop hiding!” Hecate shouts. Inside, the walls are a blend of dark wood and white walls, clean.
A grand double-curved staircase made out of dark wood is the first thing I see when I step on the marble-covered floor.
The chandelier is a delicate mix of modern and antique.
There is a beautiful blend of scrollwork, cast detailing, wrought iron, and wooden finishes with crystals.
“By the first flame! Ares!”
Maybe Ares is not as great as his name. Maybe he is a little man with lots of money. The name must make him feel big. I chuckle to myself.
“Something funny?” the deep voice behind me asks, and everything stops inside me. I was wrong. I step forward and turn. There is nothing small about this man.
He stands at 6’7, and his body is carved with muscles as if he were chiseled from stone.
I can’t put my finger on it, but there is a raw, magnetic beauty about him.
Dark hair frames a face that I can only describe as strong and rugged.
A firm jaw, strong chin. His eye tells a tale of dangerous confidence.
But his perfection is fractured. One side of his face is handsome; the other side shows signs of an injury from long ago.
A jagged, gnarly, pink scar runs from the top of his forehead all the way to his chin.
“Why are you staring? Do I frighten you?” he asks as he leans forward for me to get a closer look.
His eyes…one is blue and the other…white. But with all the scarring, I find him to be…beautiful.
“No. Should I be?” I ask. My eyes never leave his.
He straightens up and exhales. “Yes, you should be.”
I put my hand out. “I am Soraya, Raya for short.”
He looks down at my hand in disgust. Well, that is a first. I drop my hand back to my side.
“Gods above, no, you shouldn’t be afraid,” Hecate says, and she stands by my shoulder. “He is a teddy bear with an ugly face.”
Ares frowns. “I am not ugly.”
Hecate turns to me. “He is ugly.”
I shake my head. “No, I think the scar adds character.”
The room quiets. Oh shit. I fucked up.
“Um, so sorry if I…”
Ares shakes his head. “No offense taken. You can’t stay here. I don’t need a nanny.” With that, he turns and walks away.
“Get them out, Hecate!”
ARIC
I wish she thought I was ugly. It would have made it easier for me to let her go.
“She looks at us like we are rare, like art.”
“She can’t stay, Ares. I already told Hecate to get her out.”
I stop walking and move behind a column. I can see her standing behind Hecate as Nisa comes out of the room. I hear her say her name.
“Soraya,” I whisper. I like the way her name rolls off my tongue. As if she hears my whisper, her head turns in my direction. Instead of hiding, I throw my shoulders back, fold my arms, and walk away.
I move into my office, closing the door behind me.
“She is beautiful,” I mutter.
“That, Aric, we can agree on.”
I walk to the cabinet, and opening it, I take out a decanter of plum wine and a crystal glass. I pour the wine into the crystal, take a sip, and sigh.
“What are we to do?” I ask, pressing the glass to my forehead.
“We’re sending her away.” I look around, watching my shadow sit on the shadow of a stool.
My gaze meets the chalice that is still sitting on my desk.
I have to find a way to free Talia. I close my eyes.