The Age of Aquarius

Chapter two

One skeletal limb hung from the flowered wallpaper, its clawed fingers still splayed in a move to attack. But holding it there, shining with a glow that seemed rather unearthly, was a golden arrow.

Was that still a weapon that anyone in this century used?

Her finger twitched with the urge to investigate. Surrounded by ladles and pots of sugar, it seemed even more absurd than it should have. But behind her, the guttural, agonising wail shrunk away so quickly that she had to take a moment to check that she hadn't gone deaf.

Shuffling from the other side confirmed she hadn't, as well as instilling a new fear into her bones.

What was powerful enough to get rid of that thing? Or had it overpowered them, too?

She listened with bated breath, waiting for a sign that they had left, but she only heard them make their way across the room, chairs scraping as they went in the complete opposite direction.

Trying to figure out a solution to her ever-growing problem, Bonnie didn't hear the plug in the television being re-inserted and only noticed the echo of it playing when a whining voice carried over to her.

"Why would you attack anyone while they're watching this film? It's a classic?"

Out of all the things Bonnie thought she was going to hear—a growl of a beast, an alien language that she didn't know, even the chants of a forgotten civilisation lost to time—the last thing she predicted would have been the slightly annoyed tones of a man.

"You say that about every Keira Knightley film."

Two of them.

"Name me a bad Keira Knightley film and then tell me I'm wrong."

Bonnie stared at the floor in front of her in confusion, her brain ticking over the possibilities of who these men were. Or what they were.

All she knew was that they had to be dangerous—nothing good could have more strength than that thing she saw. But where was she meant to go? She doubted she could outrun them, and how much of a phone call could she make in silence?

The voice that sounded further off brought her from her cloud of thoughts.

"Could you just stop talking and do something useful, like get my arrow?"

Panicked eyes darted up to the glimmering bolt sticking out from the tile and, in an instant, every idea flew from Bonnie's brain.

Without taking a second to double guess what she was doing, she let her body go slack and fell to the ground, purposely splaying her arms out in a way that looked unnatural.

It may be viewed as the coward's way, but covered in blood and stuck with nowhere to go, she'd hope that no one looked too closely. All she had to do was hold her breath long enough and keep any expression from her face. If she was lucky, they'd leave, and she'd live to work another boring day.

With grumbles of resistance, the footsteps made their way over to her side of the counter, the unenthusiastic shuffle of them stopping suddenly as she came into view.

"Oh shit, looks like it didn't have time to eat its meal."

It took everything Bonnie had to stay still and not let a cry of horror leave her lips at his words. Instead, she gritted her jaw the tiniest amount and ignored the burning sensation taking over her lungs.

"Must not have been tasty enough," a voice joked flatly, and the other person snorted. "Can we keep to schedule, please?"

There was nothing more that Bonnie wanted to do than look at the person who had crouched beside her feet, but she kept it together.