Time, curious time / Gave me no compasses, gave me no signs. / Were there clues I didn't see? / And isn't it just so pretty to think / All along there was some / Invisible string / Tying you to me?
Ryker was sitting behind the wheel, he hit the ignition button, then groaned in pain. I was in the middle of putting on my seatbelt and immediately turned to him. "What's wrong?" I asked him, raking my eyes through his body wondering if he was injured.
"That bloody witch," muttered Ryker, shaking his head as he threw a scowl at the cabin a few feet away from us. He turned to me and showed me his reddened wrists.
I gasped. His skin was scalded almost as if he was in contact with fire. "What happened? Did the witch do that?" Even though I'd heard Ryker groaning in pain a few minutes ago inside the cabin, I'd assumed that the witch had kicked him or something. I certainly had not seen any fire.
"She used silver," said Ryker with an annoyed sigh. "Apparently they have a few tricks up their sleeves. Interesting. I should tell Dmitry about this just in case one day we have to go to war with their kind."
I blinked. That was a big spin from being wounded by a witch using silver to waging a war. "War?"
Ryker gave me a rueful smile. "I hope it doesn't go to that extent but sometimes we have war with our neighbors. It was usually started over a small, unimportant matter but then it went big and bigger and it eventually blew up." He touched his wrist with his other hand and grimaced. "I don't like it but we have to be prepared for everything. Sometimes our friends could be our enemies too. I heard that once upon a time, The Erebos was our friend." His gaze met mine and his lips tugged into a small smile. "Can you believe it? Considering how hostile we are towards each other. Well, how unfriendly your friend was towards me."
I took the first aid kit from the trunk and helped him tend his wound. Even though I had offered to drive us back, Ryker didn't let me, saying that he was perfectly able to drive with his current condition. He probably didn't want me to touch his expensive car.
Although he'd been reluctant in going to the East region, there was no question that he would help me find out more answers. At that moment, I realized that Ryker was truly a man of his words. During our trip, I told him about the key that Eros and I had found last time. I explained to him that the key would lead me to something that might help me know more about my mother.
"Adelina probably knows your mother," said Ryker quietly. "She specifically called you 'Gaia's daughter', I thought she was just making it up but now that you said your mother has this key with 'G. A.' which is highly likely an initial for Gaia Ashcroft then I think it's sort of matched." He glanced sideways at me then turned his attention back on the road. "Gaia is a Greek name, a Greek goddess name if I'm not mistaken. That suits The Erebos's weird naming rule. Although it may not be your mother's birth name since you mentioned her being a human, it was certainly a name she had been using for a while — enough that people are referring to her using that name."
"You're probably right." I let out a frustrated sigh. "I wish Adeline is more welcoming because there are many things that I want to ask her." I was looking out at the window but when I felt my hand being touched, I looked down on my lap to find his hand holding mine. He still looked straight ahead when he said, "I know. Trust me, I know. And I'm gonna help you find out more about what happened to your mother. Adelina might not be our only help."
I wondered if he had any other sorceresses or witches alike that might be willing to help us but I decided that I was too tired to ask. Instead, I let him hold my hand throughout the rest of our journey and rested my eyes. Once I fell asleep, I was being pulled into a dream.
In that dream, I was only ten years old and Eros was slightly older. We both were running around the neighborhood, I was holding a kite as Eros chased me. I kept looking over my shoulder, afraid that Eros would catch up with me, that I didn't pay attention to where I was heading. Sure enough, I bumped into someone and since I was smaller and weaker, my behind ended up hitting the concrete quite hard that I cried. A woman came into my view as she kneeled down beside me. "Hello, my child, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you. Please don't cry. It won't be painful after a while." She helped me get up and put her hand on my behind. I felt that warm, tingling sensation and when she moved her hand away, I no longer felt sore. "See, just like brand new."
I tried to look up to meet the woman's face but her face was shielded from the sun and I couldn't look up for so long. Thus I ended up thanking her, then running back to find Eros. But there was something vaguely familiar about that woman which made me wonder why my mind decided to bring this specific memory to light.
The car came to a stop and my eyes fluttered open. I realized that I was still inside Ryker's car. I was about to stretch my body when I realized that both of my hands were holding on to something so tightly. Looking down, I realized that I'd been hugging Ryker's arm. I quickly dropped it and he groaned. "I'm sorry," I muttered, glancing at him. "How long did I sleep?"
"About two hours." He massaged his hand, the one I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "My arm is numb now."
I blushed, sparing a look at the scenery outside the window. "Why didn't you take your hand then?" I told him in a chastised tone.
"And risk waking you up?" He asked incredulously as if that was not even a question. "Don't think so. You've been through a lot today, Xyrra. You need your rest."
By the time we had reached the Center and arrived at my house, it was already six in the afternoon. I quickly got out of the car as soon as it was parked. I was grateful that my dad always kept a key underneath one of the wooden planks in case of emergency because I hadn't brought my spare keys with me and went to unlock the door for us.
Ryker walked beside me, his eyes scanning the room as if he was trying to identify any threat. I shook my head and nudged his arm. "Come on. It's just my house."
We walked to the second floor and headed straight to my parent's bedroom. I always had that odd feeling coming in, it was almost intrusive. Remembering that the key had been in the second drawer, I opened it and started to dig through my mother's stuff.
To my dismay, I couldn't find the damned key even though the last time Eros and I had been here, the key was there. We had left it there. "It's not here," I said with a sigh as I rose to my feet. "I don't know how but it's gone."
"Are you sure?" He peered into the drawer from his lofty height.
"Yes." I let out a frustrated sigh and raked my hands through my hair. After our meeting with Adelina, I couldn't help but become more discouraged than ever. Then an idea came to mind. "Let's go." I turned towards the door and he followed me closely.
"Where?" he asked.
"The basement. As cliché as this must sound, I think my parents have a bad habit of hiding skeletons in the basement." After going through two flights of stairs, we finally arrived at the basement. Everything looked exactly the same as it had been a few days ago when Eros and I had come here.
We started rummaging around. Ryker was going to enter my dad's chamber but I assured him that there was nothing inside — mainly because I didn't want him to see all the horrible things my dad had done to his wolf. I still refused to show him the dark taint in my family. I only knew the guy for three weeks after all.
Unfortunately, there was truly nothing remotely interesting around here. Out of frustration and exhaustion, I sat on the ground, ignoring my inner protest that it was dirty and full of dust. Ryker eyed me curiously but he didn't say anything and continued with the task at hand. I pulled out my phone and began checking my messages. There were a few messages from Davina, informing me how sucks morning sickness was and how she hoped her baby's father could feel it too and not just her. I replied to her and told her to be strong for her baby.
At last, I came across a text from Eros.
'Please tell me you didn't go to the East.'
Well, too late for that, buddy. Then below that text, there were a few more texts.
'You went there, didn't you? I could tell.'
'Please be careful, Xy. If anything happens, call me.'
'Fuck the treaty. If they did something to you or indicate that they are going to, in any way, harm you, CALL ME.'
Feeling bad that Eros had been worried sick about me, I replied to his numerous text.
'I did but I'm fine.'
I was about to hit send when I remembered about the missing key and quickly added, 'Er, do you remember that key with G.A. engraved on its stem?'
He replied almost as soon as the text was sent. He was either using his phone at the moment or had an insanely fast speed in typing. Or perhaps both.
'You nearly drove me crazy. And yeah, I remember. What's up?'
I glanced up and saw Ryker was still opening some boxes in one corner. He stared at what looked like a very old violin and frowned. Deciding that he should be left to his own devices, I typed my reply to Eros.
'I am sorry. The key is not in the drawer. It's missing. Do you know where it is?'
I waited and waited but Eros's reply didn't come. That was weird. If I was texting him and giving him a fast response, he usually did the same. Five minutes passed and there was still no reply from Eros. I began wiping the dirt on my shoes and wishing I had not dumbly sat on the ground. As I wiped my shoe with my bare hand, my knuckles brushed the ground and I noticed something. There was the exact same engraving that I'd seen on the key. That same letter: G and A.
Placing my phone aside, I began wiping the ground like a madman, trying to find if this engraving was only one or if there were more. Ryker seemed to notice this as he kneeled next to me. He looked over my shoulder at the engraving, then followed me in brushing away the dust. We found six engravings and one of them was huge and placed in the middle.
"This means something," I muttered to Ryker and he nodded his agreement. Yet none of us knew exactly what it meant.
I traced each of the letters with my forefinger starting with the small engravings before I did the huge one. Now, without the dust covering it, the letter was bold and clear. Then the weirdest thing happened. The ground beneath us started to shake. Ryker's hand immediately shot up to reach for me, he held me tightly beside him, his arms were around me while his body was trying its best to shield me from whatever was coming.
The ground cracked and the crack oddly made a line from the first small G to the next G and to the next one before ending up in the big one and then it continued with the A, following the same pattern. The whole circle dipped and everything went silent once more. Only for a few seconds though because we heard a few loud stomps from behind us. As we turned around, the ground in front of the door of my dad's chamber had gone down forming another flight of stairs leading to another basement. A basement underneath a basement to be precise.
Ryker and I glanced at each other for a moment before slowly walking toward the stairs. He held my hand as we went into the second basement through the stairs. Unlike the basement stairs that were made out of wood, this one was made out of, well, the ground itself. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. Ryker did the same. Together we walked further into the basement. Unlike upstairs, this basement had many things which I couldn't name. Odd things that reminded me of a voodoo parlor.
I didn't touch any of those. No, what drew me in was a book at the far end. It was almost as if the book itself was calling my name, leading me towards it. I was a moth to a flame. By the time I stood right in front of it, I realized that the book was encased in glass. Curiously, I touched the glass, hoping I would find a way to open it but the second my skin made a contact, the glass shattered.
Ryker who had been standing beside me quickly pulled me back. "What the bloody hell is that?"
I moved away from Ryker, my eyes were solely fixated on the book. Wiping away the shattered glasses, I did not care if it would hurt me. Once it was clean, I read the book to Ryker. "It's called the Book of The Damned."
All I wanted was to get a hold of that book and satisfy my curiosity but when I did, I could feel the power surging from the book, my hands were painfully attached to it. Then the book opened, forcing my palm to hold it up the pages started to flip rapidly. So many images flashed through my mind but none of which I recalled. The book slammed shut and I blinked. I turned to Ryker and swallowed before finding my voice to speak, "Did you see that?"
Instead of nodding or telling me how scary it was for him to have witnessed that, Ryker frowned. He looked confused. "See what? All I see was you staring intently at that book, probably reading the title over and over, for ten minutes too long."
So he had not seen it. Somehow, I had been the only person who experienced that. Interesting.
Intrigued by the book, I insisted on bringing it along with us. I picked up my phone off the ground and we were walking up the two flights of stairs before eventually walking out of the front door. We were walking down the broken cobblestones towards Ryker's car when I heard my phone chime. I carried the book with one hand as my other hand pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the message.
It was from Eros and his reply was shocking.
'I have it with me.'
* * *
Wondering what's up with Eros, are you? More surprises coming your way ;);)