Ignatius-Valdis: Book 0# [Heaven's Curse]

Chapter 12

After talking to Danteus, Gothalia strode the Cetatea. She knew that no matter where Anton and Maximus were, she could always find them. Not that she was entirely certain how. She simply knew. She could see, when others couldn't. Gothalia strode along the breezeway then up the stairs and towards the open balcony with transparent railings. Vines climbed along the railing, almost as if they were floating.

Gothalia paused. A familiar sensation she hadn't expected, graced her. She knew that feeling. It was the presence of another Deamone. She didn't know how she knew she just did. It was like that person's energy harmonised with her own and it was unfamiliar unlike Anton and Maximus's. She scanned her surroundings, unaware of Altair walking beneath the balcony on the ground level towards his next errand.

When the energy faded, Gothalia relaxed and strode along the corridor before pausing once again. Familiar presences caught her senses before her eyes made out the swirls in the air like distant heat rays and she crossed her arms and shifted her weight. Then raised her brow, "You're going to come on out now, right?" she queried. Immediately, black smoke appeared from the swirl of transparent waves with specks of their natural energetic colours sparking here and there until they reappeared before her.

"How did you know?" Maximus asked, more annoyed than sceptical. "How is it you always know?"

Gothalia shrugged and strode past them.

"Did you guys notice another Deamone in the area just a few moments ago?" Gothalia wondered. Anton and Maximus shared a look.

"No." They both answered.

Gothalia brushed off the concern folding their features and strode down another set of stairs and towards the carpark. She moved to the shared car, not without light banter, parked in the allocated parking spot the day they joined. Maximus and Anton climbed into the car and Gothalia briefly glanced over her shoulder at the Cetatea and the lot. Turning her heel, she followed Anton and Maximus, who sat in the car waiting for her.

When she piled into the back seat, Anton pulled out of the lot and onto a minor road that led to the security checkpoint before exiting onto the main road. "Why am I in the back?" Gothalia inquired, pulling at the safety straps over her chest. Double checking, she buckled in.

"Because I called shotgun," Maximus declared, chewing on the red fire sticks. He held out the black and red bag to her. "Want some?" Gothalia regarded the fire sticks then crossed her arms.

"Not right now," she said. "Maybe later."

Maximus shrugged and leaned away. His hand dug into the bag as he faced the front. "Later is when they'll be all gone."

"That's okay. I don't mind. I still have to get you back for earlier anyway." Gothalia said and winked at Anton who glanced at her in the rear-view mirror before shaking his head while Maximus muttered "sure" and how he'd like to see that. Gothalia glanced out the window, from the seat behind Anton. In a strange way, she was happy to head home and a part of her couldn't wait. Then the car stopped, confused she glanced out the front windscreen. Her eyes tapered on the people on the road and in front of the car. She regarded the digital signs in their hands before taking in the other vehicles of assorted designs around them. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure . . . a protest." Maximus said, scanning the people in front of the bonnet of the car. He glanced at Anton. "We're not going to get past, are we?"

"No, we're not." Anton said, then reversed the car before another could break behind them and turned down a different road. The noise from the protest faded from their ears, Gothalia turned from the back window where she viewed the fading crowd and to the front once more, wondering why they were even protesting. Without a word, Anton tapped the screen in the dashboard and a hologram leapt from it, portraying an anchor-woman talking about the current protest, Princess Evangelina, and the Fire Reserve Royal Family and the Grand Elders. "So, it is a protest."