The Scarlet Thread - a dark fantasy YA romance based on Greek mythology

Chapter 7

"I'm sorry I have to do this," Sitri said, just before he turned on a blast of icy cold water and sprayed me down. "But you stink. Plus you don't want to meet the others looking like that."

"What others?" I asked, my teeth chattering. He dried me off with a towel, rubbing my shoulders and limbs to warm me up.

"Put this on," he said, handing me a sweat suit and. He turned his back and gave me some space to strip off my soiled clothes. The sweat suit was warm and dry. Then we went into the house.

We'd driven into an underground garage filled with dozens of vehicles, and we took an elevator up to the main floor, entering into a large greeting area by the main door. The ceiling was high, and a variety of antiques were displayed on top of ornately carved furniture. The polished surfaces shone in the light of a single chandelier. A set of twin staircases ran up both sides of the rooms, leading upstairs, and a hallway ran beneath them, lined with life size marble statues.

So this is how the other half lives.

"Is this all yours?" I asked.

"The master of the house is Able. He might still be awake, I know he was anxious to greet you himself. He'll be able to answer all your questions. But first, you must be hungry." He pushed through a swinging door and we came into a large kitchen, which was a mix of traditional architecture that had been updated with modern appliances. There was an island in the center, shelves on either side and a round wooden table against the wall, full of cold-cuts, meats, nuts and fruit.

"Tea?" Sitri asked. I nodded and he put on a kettle. "Help yourself," he said, nodding towards the table.

It was nothing fancy—meat, bread, butter, honey—but everything was so fresh and full of flavor. Maybe it was the shock of the night's adventure, but it was the most delicious food I remember eating. Sitri joined me at the table and we ate in silence. I knew it was wrong, to be eating so casually with a guy I'd just seen commit murder. But every time I tried to think clearly about what I'd experienced, my brain shut down.

After we finished eating, Sitri led me down another long hallway. Most of the house was dark but I could see a light under a grand door at the end. Sitri knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice said.

It looked like a library, the kind bookworms dreamed about, with hundreds of books on shelves that went up to the ceiling and could only be reached by sliding ladders. In the middle of the room was a wide mahogany desk lit up by two glowing desk lamps, but the chair behind it was empty. It took me a second to find the man, sitting in a corner next to a small fireplace, which had burned down to red embers.

"Kaidance," he said, standing up. "Welcome. I'm so glad you both made it back safely. I heard there was some trouble on the road."

All at once, the floodgates of my memory opened, churning up images that seemed more and more impossible. Dennis with a knife in his neck. Puriel with a flaming sword. Questions started pouring out of me.

"Where am I? Who are you and what do you want from me? Who was that guy chasing us? Why—"

The man held up one hand with an authority that shut me up. I looked him over in the dim light. He had dark hair, streaked with gray, and a well-trimmed beard. The gold cufflinks of his black suit sparkled when he moved. But under the clothes I could see his body was built like a wrestler. When he stood up he towered over me. Something about this man told me he was powerful.

"My name is Able," he said, "and this is my house. The man chasing you, I imagine, was trying to kill you."

"But why? I'm nobody."