Persistence
Heaven
“There are two kinds of girls in this world: the annoying kind and the extremely annoying pain-in-the-ass kind. You, Blondie, just got upgraded to the pain-in-the-ass category.”
“I don’t need you to like me; I need you to do as I ask,” I reply haughtily.
“Oh, sorry, I bloody forgot we must all worship you. Oh, wait, we don’t. The answer was – and still is no,” he replies, as if he’s bored. He’s about to walk away when I turn the key in the lock with a flick of my finger. His eyes narrow before he turns and looks at me.
“Well, it’s time you say yes, before your entire family knows your truth.”
His smirk slips ever so slightly as he looks back at me. “You’re under oath,” he whispers. “Remember?” He plants a hand on my head as he bends down to look me in the eye. I’m five feet eight, and yet he still towers over me, which is so annoying. I stare back unfazed into his milky white eyes.
“I am, but Alessandra is not. Why do you want it to remain hidden?” I ask, swatting his hand away.
“Not that it’s your business, but we all know this whole Westwood-Rossi affair means everyone’s in everyone’s business, and I don’t like anyone being in mine.”
“Hmm,” I reply emotionlessly. “Then help me, and no one will know. I will stop nagging you after that.”
“I highly doubt one favour will be enough for you. You know, you’re kinda weird. You act more dead and emotionless than the skeletons in the Blood Moon Pack graveyard.”
I won’t ever admit it, but being called emotionless makes me happy. It means I am in control of my emotions. Good going.
“Well then, you might need to dig them up to make sure they aren’t dead, because I am very much alive and very much fed up with your nonsense. Don’t you want to help our families?”
He drops onto his bed, his feet reaching the end of it despite it being so massive. He takes a puff on his cigarette, and I take the moment to look around.
The room is… dark. Well, we are in the dark, but it’s not very bright. He has a pile of balls to one side, as well as daggers, weights, clothes, shoes and books. All scattered everywhere.
I wrinkle my nose at the old socks that lie around the room; he has a few paintings on the walls, mainly dark images of shadows, and he has a huge TV that really doesn’t fit the size of his room, opposite the bed, with a PlayStation set up beneath it.
The aesthetic of this room is dreadful. Not to mention, there are a few old food cartons on it beneath the huge TV that don’t help matters.
“Don’t be nosy,” he says, making my eyes snap back to him.
“I wasn’t. Just trying not to throw up at the sight,” I reply disdainfully. “Considering you live at the Academy and are barely here, the state of this room is… appalling.”
“Listen, Granny, sorry my room isn’t up to your standards. Keep snooping, and you might find a bottle of piss, too.”
I stiffen, horror filling me. I’m not sure if he’s joking or not.
“Eww… Just help me.” It’s taking a lot to act nonchalant right now.
“I’m not helping because you won’t succeed. And I’m a nice guy, but even I’ll get really mad if you keep on annoying me,” he says, blowing out a string of smoke that takes on the form of another skull into the air.
“The thing is, I can bring her back,” I say quietly.
I haven’t told him that before because I had doubts.
He sighs, now sitting up and swinging his long legs onto the floor.
“Look, Helios has her, and as much as I wouldn’t mind doing this shit, Hades will want something from you.
She’s already paying the price for her father’s return.
I don’t think you’ll be able to pay yours.
And hate me for it, I don’t really care, but your mom’s gone through a lot of shit.
I don’t think she could lose you without going off the rails. ”
Mama…
“Nothing will happen to me,” I say, walking over to him and stopping a few feet away. “I promise I know what I’m doing. I know you might not see me as smart, but I assure you, I have thought this out ever so carefully.”
“And when you fuck up, I’ll tell you, I really won’t care.”
“I didn’t expect you to care. If you want, I have already prepared a contract, with the agreement that the consequences are on me,” I reply, reaching into my pocket and taking out a square. “This is only the draft, but do take a look at it.”
I’m well-versed in contracts, which reminds me… I need Leo to sign the design NDA.
He raises an eyebrow, swiping the paper from my hand as he looks over it.
“I, Aldona, of House di Bianco Galdur, hereby, bla bla bla, that I am giving Theo Westwood no other option but to agree to what I have asked. Bla bla bla… the consequences will be borne solely by me and no one else. He is in no position to deny, bla bla bla… and doesn’t work for me.
” He scoffs, taking out his lighter and setting the paper ablaze.
My eyes widen as I watch the paper get swallowed by flames, my jaw clenching. Never have I felt so angry at someone of no importance.
“Then, Alessandra will continue this conversation by any means necessary.” I turn, tossing my hair over my shoulder.
“Sure thing. You know where the door is. Sorry, I’m too lazy to open it for ya!” he mocks.
I pause my fingers inches from the doorknob.
He is mistaking my silence for weakness…
I will get my revenge on you, Westwood.
I remember what happened when I first found out his truth…
AFTER THE MISSION TO THE DEIMOS TEMPLE
I frown as I look around. I’m high up in the Academy.
I climb through a window and step onto the flat roof.
This is where the Westwood Quints often come, and I’m here for answers.
The other day, out there in the blinding sunlight in the hot desert sands, I thought I saw something around Theo. It wasn’t clear, but it was something…
I look at the marks chalked on the floor. I’ll find the answer to whatever that is. Did the enemy do something to him before Ahren and Jayce went back for him?
I begin chanting a spell. It has to be prepared before he steps into the pentagram. I chant louder, feeling the power pull deeper inside of me, and I focus on drawing more from my surroundings. A light blazes through the room before the candles are snuffed out, and I am plunged into darkness.
I smile at the glowing embers of the crystal shards that sit in the centre of the pentagram.
Barely noticeable as the glow fades away.
If there is anything on him, he’ll be chained here until I free him, and if it was just a trick of the light, which I know it wasn’t, then it’s still better to be safe than sorry.
Moments become minutes, and before I know it, an hour has passed, but just when I begin to wonder if he’ll even come, I hear the sound of light steps and move into the shadows, a spell masking my presence.
And here he is. The familiar chunky boot appears first, followed by a long denim-clad leg and then the other leg before he slides out and drops both feet to the ground.
Come on… one more step.
He steps forward without a care in the world, and I smile the moment he steps into the pentagram, and a violent tremor throws me back as chains cage the man before me, bringing him to his knees.
“What the…” he trails off as I stare at what I’m seeing.
There’s a huge form surrounding him. I can make out a man in a tunic, an oozing blue aura and darkness, his eyes glowing like blue fire as they turn towards me. My heart fills with fear as I realise what this is.
He’s favoured by a god! I’ve seen something similar around Skyla.
How? How did I never see it?
And this god doesn’t look pleased.
Favoured by a god.
When the rulers come into power, I can see it, too, but it’s different. I don’t see a god but a crown upon their head, and a brilliant aura. The glow is within them. For those who are favoured, it’s like a being surrounding them in comparison to it being within them, if that even makes sense.
I stare at the god as I step out of the shadows.
“Hades…” I whisper, making Theo’s eyes snap towards me.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asks, pulling at the glowing chain.
“You’re favoured by Hades…”
“That’s some mental bullshit, are you trippin?”
“I’m not. Are you- why have you hidden it?” I accuse. “I can see!”
He stills at my expression, his face almost serious. “Because it’s no one’s business, including yours.”
“It is, if I don’t know what side Hades is on. But if you don’t want to answer to me, I can just go call some of the professors, and perhaps call Uncle Leo, or Grandpa Ale-”
“Listen, Snitcherella, it’s none of your business.” He pauses for a moment, and I see the shadow behind him grow a bit stronger before it dissipates. He then smirks and drops to the floor as if he isn’t chained up. “Alright, swear an oath to keep my secret, and I’ll tell you why.”
Oh, I don’t trust him for a second, but he might just give me some information if I agree…
Returning to the present, I pause.
“Oh yes, one more thing. That oath you keep dangling over my head as a reminder, do you really think I was foolish enough to agree to it without a loophole? I always keep a way out.”
He scoffs. “Yeah, sure, you’re talking shit now.”
“Do not goad me because I will go downstairs and tell everyone that I don’t know what side you’re on. Tell me, were you the one who almost killed Ares? Are you the traitor? The kin part does match.”
You should never accuse someone without proof, but I am running out of options. His eyes become milky white, and it’s the first time I’ve seen such anger on his face. The darkness looms around him as he walks towards me.
“Not finding it so funny now, are you?” I taunt, flicking my finger and making him stop in his tracks.
“I did not hurt my brother,” he says quietly.
“There’s no proof.” I shrug with a toss of my hair. “You clearly don’t want to help Jayce either. I mean, he’s a ruler, and if he continues to become a shell of who he was… Well, then that would not be ideal for the final battle.”
He chuckles. “You almost had me there, Blondie. Never realised you were a little scorpion wrapped up to look like an innocent little lobster.”
“That’s the weirdest analogy I have ever heard; you are so strange. I am serious.”
“And so am I. You might want to do things for the greater good; Sienna did too. But me? I honestly really don’t give a flying fuck as long as the people I care about survive. Who cares about the rest of the world?”
I stiffen at the words he’s spoken so… casually. “You don’t mean that…”
“I do. And Hades agrees,” he whispers, now leaning closer. “So, get the hell out of my room. From now on, blondes are banned from entering. So, leave before I throw you in the bin, and trust me, I will.”
“You’re a blond, too, idiot,” I snap, just as there’s a knock on the door.
“Theo?”
We both glance at the door, and I recognise Aunty Raven’s voice. I smile up at him. “Agree, or I scream and tell them your truth,” I threaten.
“You-”
“Would,” I whisper, finishing his sentence.
His jaw clenches, and he nods at me. “Fine.” He then glances at the door. “Yeah, Ma?”
“We have guests, come down and spend time with them. Don’t be rude by staying in your room.”
“Sure, there’s just a giant slug in my room that I need to squish first,” Theo says, looking right at me.
Slug… I’ll show you slugs.
I roll my eyes, waiting for his mom to leave.
“Alright,” she sighs, “Just hurry up.” I hear her moving away and look at Theo.
“So, when will you ask for a meeting?”
“Don’t push it,” he replies, casting me a withering look.
“I’m not, I’m enquiring.”
“It’ll take a couple of days, make it a week. Now, leave before I throw you into the trash can outside.”
“Not that you would succeed, but that works, and if you back out… Well then, I won’t be giving you another warning.
I’ll be going straight to the elders.” With that, I sit on his windowsill and flip my legs out before I whisper a spell and jump, slowing seconds before I reach the ground, landing softly on my feet.
I hear his window snap shut and shake my head.
I think Allie still needs to talk to him, just in case.
“So, how’d that go?”
I turn and spot Allie in the shadows of the trees lining the garden. “I’m not sure; he lies a lot.”
“Yeah, I have a plan. We’ll put it into action, but we need to find a way to actually stay longer,” she says. “By the way, did you realise I was here, because otherwise you did pretty well not reacting.”
“Thank you. Although I should have noticed you.” I walk over to her, slipping my heels back on and cross my arms. “So, what is your plan?”