by Kristen Day
Funny - how a rat could elicit more fear in me than a murderer or Nadia. I didn’t have much more time to contemplate who was sharing the closet with me before three figures plunged out from the darkness and smothered me in a hazardous four-person hug in the middle of the closet.
“What are you guys doing here?!” I screeched at my three roommates. “I thought you were a murderer! Or a…rat. Or…whatever! You shouldn’t be hiding in my closet!”
“It was the only hiding place we could all fit!” Carmen jumped on the bed and tested out its springiness.
“The perfectly good living room wasn’t big enough for you?” I put my hands on my hips.
“Sticking stars to the ceiling and hiding out in your bedroom closet were much more fun.”
Willow laughed. “Plus, the guards outside let us in because we had food.”
“I voted for cutting off the electricity and blasting the door down, but Carmen said that would be too obvious.” Phoebe shrugged as she inspected the pictures on the wall.
“Or…” I emphasized slowly with sarcasm. “And this might sound crazy, but you could have just knocked on the door and woke me up.”
“Once again, that doesn’t involve stars or closets,” Phoebe informed me. “Not to mention, we wouldn’t have had an excuse to get all dressed up like army guys!”
She twirled around to show off her outfit. All three of them looked more like duck hunters than army men, as they were covered in camouflage from head to toe with black war paint smeared on their faces. Willow’s gorgeous hair was tucked up under a bright, neon-orange knit hat.
“Good thing you wore camouflage - If it weren’t for your hair, I wouldn’t be able to see you right now.” I rolled my eyes and laughed.
Carmen put her hands on her hips, “I sacrificed at least three dollars for these diamonds in the rough at a yard sale last week. I knew they’d come in handy some day. Besides, yours are in this bag.
We can’t bust you out of here in that.” I looked down at my jeans and sweater and then back at Carmen with skepticism. She tossed the bag at me with a wicked grin. “You’ve got two choices. Put them on or we put them on for you. You pick.”
“And just what are you busting me out of here for?” I retaliated. “And just how do you propose we get back out without the Sons seeing us?”
“I can be very persuasive,” Carmen answered darkly.
Phoebe snickered and rolled her eyes, “Your money can be very persuasive. Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb didn’t take a lot of convincing to agree to be our escorts for the night.”
“And what exactly do we need camouflage outfits and armed guards for?” I wasn’t convinced.
I eyed my own camo outfit awaiting me in the bag sitting on the bed.
“Operation ‘Zara Dark Thirty’,” Carmen announced, clearly proud of the name they’d come up with; a play on the move title “Zero Dark Thirty.”
“We are not going on a mission to kill Osama Bin Laden,” I disagreed vehemently, “And most importantly, we are NOT navy seals.”
“You’re right.” Willow flung the bag of clothes at me, “We are Tydes and we are going on a mission to find out who Zara is. So get dressed soldier, it’s time to move out.”
“I’m getting the three of you checked out for Bat-Shit Crazy Disorder at some point. I have a feeling you are prime candidates for the disease.”
“Well, you’re gonna be our leader…” Phoebe laughed, “so what does that say about you?”
“Good point.” I sneered at her and began to pull on the biggest camouflage pants I’d ever seen. I twisted around to inspect the tag. “What size are these…? Men’s large!?”
“Army pants don’t come in size 2 Petite,” Carmen enlightened me sarcastically. I pulled them on without having to unbutton them, and then rolled down the waistband to my liking. A black tank top completed the outfit, along with the black paint that Phoebe smeared all over my face. Once my hair was in a pony tail, they clapped their hands and I smiled in spite of myself.
“So what’s the plan, Staff Sergeant?” I regarded Willow formally, with a less-than-accurate salute.
“We found an address in Zara’s house earlier that we think is worth checking out.” Her voice had dropped, but I didn’t miss the undercurrent of excitement. “Zara is definitely up there in her bed as we speak, so I know we won’t run into her.”
“What kind of address is it?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but she received a phone call after dinner and was extremely secretive about it. She left the room, so Carmen pretended to go to the bathroom, but followed her to her study where she wrote something down. Once Zara left to go back to the dining room, Carmen found the paper she had written on and copied the address.”
“You guys are amazing,” I shook my head in wonder. “Did you hear any of her conversation?”
“Not really,” Carmen frowned. “But my superpower of intuition tells me that we’ll find something at this address. I just feel it.”
“Let’s just hope the ‘something’ we find isn’t a serial killer who collects the tongues of seventeen year old girls,” Phoebe inserted off-handedly.
“Yes, because finding a serial killer who collects comic books would be infinitely better…”
Carmen snorted.
“I’m hoping he takes your tongue first,” Phoebe sneered at her.
“Alright!” Willow put up her hands, “If you keep it up, I’ll cut out both of your tongues so neither one of you can talk anymore. I don’t think anyone else will object.” She looked to me for back up and I shook my head.
“If we’re going, we need to hurry!” a deep male voice called from the living room. We filed out of the bedroom to see the two guards waiting impatiently for us. Both were over 6’5 and could more than likely bench press a train. I had to admit, I felt much safer knowing they would be with us.
After consulting Mapquest.com, we found out that the address was a mere half mile north from Zara’s house, so we decided to make the trek on foot. We all agreed that a golf cart would be too noisy, anyway. If it had been any other night, I would have been able to enjoy the cloudless night with the bright silver moon smiling down at us. It lit up the tops of the sea oats and sand dunes to our right, and glinted off every metal part of houses and garages to our left. The roar of the ocean accompanied us as we silently skulked in the shadows just off the road. Every house was dark, their occupants using common sense to stay in bed instead of embarking on a recon mission in the middle of the night.
Luckily, common sense was especially lacking in our little group. One of the Sons walked in front of the group, while the other followed behind to scour our surroundings for potential threats. I did my own scouring in search of Nadia’s evil essence, but so far the coast was clear. As we ticked off the house numbers, we reached the end of the road and were confronted with sand dunes blocking our path. Willow checked her phone one more time to make sure we were right.
“It says it should be right here,” she murmured with agitation.
“Maybe it’s invisible?” Phoebe proposed, completely serious. The two Sons laughed, but tried to cover it up once she shot them a severe look. It was more than possible - the entire Fortunate Isle is invisible to those who aren’t worthy to view it.
“Wait, what’s that?” One of the Sons pointed to the left and just over the sand dunes. “It looks like the roof of a house.”
“Looks like?” Carmen scrunched up her nose, “Or is? Because there’s a big difference.”
“See for yourself…” he rebutted and gestured toward the sand dunes.
“Okay, I will,” she countered. We looked on, as she more stomped than maneuvered around one of the larger dunes and disappeared. Only seconds later she returned, gesturing wildly for us to follow. Willow and I duplicated Carmen’s path around the sand dune. Once on the other side, we could see a sandy path that extended down the rest of the dunes; twisting and turning until it hit flat sand. Just beyond it stood a magnificent
house that glowed white in the moonlight. A wraparound porch invited us to explore further, but the fact that it wasn’t on stilts made me reconsider. For a house that was directly across from the ocean, that was definitely odd. It appeared to be in good condition, although no personal items were strewn about the porch or yard and the many windows were completely dark.
“I’m going to go see if it’s open,” Carmen declared. She leapt up the wooden steps and tried the door knob, which gave way easily as the front door swung open. She stepped inside. The beach around us was deserted, but wondrous. As if the moon had been replaced by a big round black light, it highlighted anything remotely pale. The foam of the waves, the sand beneath our feet, and the sprawling house before us were brilliant against the dark night. At the same time, I felt extremely vulnerable. The rest of our group climbed over the same dunes and made their way down the path to meet us.
“Anything in there?” Willow whispered loudly enough so that Carmen poked her head back out.
“Completely abandoned!” she called back. We scampered up the steps in relief. Something about the open air felt threatening. The boards of the porch creaked under our steps and a spacious, luxurious house opened up to us as we entered. Crown molding, wainscoting, and wide banisters were offset by the wide plank wood floors; making the space appear even larger. It was immaculate. I could picture a big family spending summer vacations here, with colorful towels drying on the outside railing and the smell of suntan lotion. Despite my vivid imagination, the house was absolutely void of any sign that people had ever lived there.
Surprisingly, nothing felt ‘off’ or wrong about the house. It just seemed…lonely. We walked through each of the rooms, admiring the high ceilings and ornate light fixtures until Carmen found a secret door in one of the floors.
“I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea,” I warned. “No secret door leading into the bottom of a house leads to anything good.”
“There could be something else down there, though,” Willow advised. “The rest of the house is pretty empty.”
One of the Sons unhooked the latch and pulled it open with no fear whatsoever. A draft swirled up that smelled of stagnant water and concrete. Carmen kneeled down and stuck her head down in the hole as I held my breath.
“There’s a little ladder!” she cried with excitement. We helped her spin around backwards, before easing down into the hole and onto the rungs of the ladder. She climbed down and the sound of her feet hitting solid ground made me jump.
“Come on down, guys! There’s plenty of room!” she called up to us. One by one, we crawled down the surprisingly sturdy ladder into the underground room. The walls were made of stone and the floor was one long slab of concrete. Dim lights hung from the ceiling at ten foot intervals, allowing just enough light for us not to trip over each other. We followed a wide hallway until we saw openings that led to other doors and hallways.
“It’s like a labyrinth!” Phoebe bellowed from one of the hallways. “Oh! I think I found something! Stasia come look at this!”
“Coming!” I answered. Leaving the others to keep exploring, I followed the sound of Phoebe’s voice. The hallway became skinnier with each step and was unequivocally darker. It twisted to the right, but then abruptly ended at a smooth concrete wall. There were no doors or other rooms off of it, just a random, pointless hallway. With no Phoebe in it.
Deciding that I needed to get my hearing checked, I could only assume it had been the wrong hallway. I made my way back out to the main hall in hopes of finding her.
“Phoebe?” My voice came back to me three times louder as it echoed off of the stone walls and raced through the empty hallways. I listened closely for a reply, and my heart hurdled into my throat when I heard no one else’s footsteps. No talking. Not even any breathing. I had an awful feeling something was wrong. I was completely alone.
Chapter 37
“Where’d ya’ll go?” I shouted in response to the deafening silence. The only answer I heard was my own echo once again. “Hello?”
My heart kicked into overdrive and a cold sweat broke out on my brow as I continued down the long hallway, peeking into different rooms for any sign of them. They couldn’t have just vanished - they had to be here somewhere! I noticed that the light at the end of the main hallway was steadily growing brighter as I forged ahead. I forced myself to stop walking and took a deep breath.
There was no reason to panic. I was more powerful than almost all of the people that could possibly be lurking down here. ‘ Almost’ my mind reminded me. If there was anyone else down here, I had no doubt that they’d be able to hear my heart pounding against my chest. I shook out my hands, which were beginning to tingle and swell from the increase of blood flow. I spun in a circle, once again listening for any sound whatsoever. Silence. I decided that the best idea would be to go back to where we came in and get the hell out of there. There was a good possibility that everyone else had gone back upstairs, and I just didn’t hear them calling me. I listened for any footsteps above my head. Silence.
I pivoted on my heel to begin walking back when something lying on the ground up ahead made me pause. It was about two feet long, but skinny. I waited for it to bark, meow or slither away, but it did none of those things. I slowly crept towards it, ready to run away screaming at the slightest twitch. No need to be the hero here. The closer I got, the more the shadow cast by the dim lights above thinned next to the object. I could tell it was a black….flower? A rose?
My thoughts reverted to the twelve black roses Finn had given me at the Cimmerian Ball, what seemed like a lifetime ago. Was somebody trying to trick me? Lure me in by presenting me with flowers? I stood over it for at least three minutes in an effort to figure out what a black rose was doing lying on the concrete floor in the basement of an abandoned house. I knelt down and stretched my arm out to pick it up, but stopped. The risk was too great - enchanted petals, poisonous thorns, morphing into an evil ghost…the deadly options were endless, and Nadia would surely try them all. I looked farther down the hall and spotted another dark something lying on the floor up ahead.
Leaving the rose where it was I scanned the area for any evil, or even darkness, but found neither. As I walked up to the next one I realized it wasn’t just one black rose, but two. I watched the ceiling in anticipation of a net falling on me and trapping me down there. I checked the stone walls for anything suspect. And then I spotted the next couple of roses about ten paces ahead. What was going on?
I cautiously stepped over the first rose and continued along the hall. I passed pile after pile of four roses, five roses, six. I noticed the air beginning to cool, as the roar of waves swirled in my ears and tickled my heart. After a collection of eight roses, the hallway took a sharp right turn and I squinted to make sure that I was really seeing what my eyes thought I was seeing. Up ahead, the stone hallway opened up to the beach! Nine roses, ten roses, eleven, twelve. I reached the end of the passageway where the concrete met the sand, and inspected the inch gap between my feet and the beach. A cool breeze lifted my hair and I fought to run screaming to the arms of the ocean. If nothing else, I could hide out on the sea floor and wait until Nadia and Keto forgot about me. It would only be a couple of years. Five or six at the most.
Very carefully, I leaned around the stone wall and peered down the beach. All I could see were the sand dunes topped by sea grass, blowing in the wind as it came off of the ocean. The tide was low; creating a wide expanse of beach before the waves rolled into the picture. The view up the beach was much the same.
Frustration rattled my brain when I realized that I was cowering in the shadows like an injured puppy. Goddesses didn’t hide in the shadows! They commanded their presence and took control of the situation, no matter who or what was waiting for the opportunity to slaughter them.
Mom had seen a vision of her own death, but had certainly remained steady and courageous until she took her last breath. I had to get myself together and start acting like I deserved th
e title of Nereid. I had instinct, not one but four essences, and numerous abilities on my side. What did I have to be afraid of? Deciding that I was, in fact, strong enough and brave enough to carry the titles I was prophesized to, I stepped onto the beach with renewed confidence and determination. I centered my energy, lifted my chin, and shed the self-doubt that took pleasure in breaking me down at every chance.
The beach that sloped down to the ocean had been flattened by the tide’s gradual escape, and I zeroed in on something as it poked out of the sand. In the light of the moon and stars, I kicked off my shoes and dug my toes into the sand. The cool temperature counteracted the warmth of its energy as they both spread up my legs. Focusing my eyes on the object up ahead, I strode forward and dropped to my knees in a cloud of bewilderment lined with curiosity. The stem of a single black rose had been secured in the sand next to a weathered glass bottle about the size of a wine bottle, but with no label or writing to reveal its origin.
I wrapped my fingers around the neck of the bottle and extracted it from the soft sand. The glass beneath my skin was reminiscent of the sea glass that’s collected on beaches across the globe for its aged appearance and smooth texture. Sea glass was typically found as remnants of beer or soda bottles that the ocean had pulverized. The pieces of glass are smoothed to perfection by the powerful combination of sand and surf. This bottle was a small miracle, being that it was completely whole with no cracks or breaks.
A dingy cork ensured that nothing would get in or out of the bottle. I rolled it around in my hands, but the foggy glass wouldn’t give up its contents. With a part of the cork peeking out, I tried to free it from the bottle. Not having any luck, I tried the next most rational option; my teeth. Working like a charm, I spit the cork from my mouth, closed an eye and looked inside. Unfortunately, my eye and the moonlight weren’t able to both peer down inside the neck at the same time. I upended it and proceeded to hit the palm of my hand against the side like a Heinz Ketchup bottle that wouldn’t cooperate. After several minutes of hitting and shaking, a tightly rolled piece of paper slipped out and landed in the sand. Satisfied that nothing else was in the bottle; I set it down and focused on the paper.