Hey, it's me, well you knew that I mean who else would it be. To be fair it might have been Matt and he could have kidnapped me and you'd never know, but luckily that's not the case. Well, I've been away for a while, everything's been so hectic and so unbelievably stressful. You might be wondering why I've been so stressed, and if you don't well I don't care I'm going to tell you anyway. Anyway it's one of my friends birthdays and we're trying to sort out an amazing party, and some people are being ridiculously unhelpful, don't know what that might be, *cough Matt cough* honestly, the cats are more helpful than him and they've managed to tear down half of the decorations in the space of an hour. I mean he could at least help with the food, come on it doesn't take a genius to cut some carrot sticks and put them in bowls. That's Matt for you, don't you worry though, I'm used to him doing this. He's not that bad, he's just a bit last from time to time, how he's managed to stay in shape is beyond me. To be fair to him he doesn't particularly like the person we're preparing the party for, sorry I can't tell you who that is, that would be spoilers. You guys don't have to worry it's got nothing to do with the plot of the story, so you're not missing out, plus in this chapter you get to meet some of the best people in my life as well as a cat, you can't forget the cat.
I frowned, looking straight through into a narrow hallway that had oil lamps hanging from the walls, making it seem that I was about to step through time into this Victorian building. The walls were a plain pale cream colour and a large mirror hung on the right side of the wall, taking up most of the space. Golden, what I assumed to be metal, leaves seemed to envelop the edges of the mirror. I glanced around, trying to work out who had opened the door. I would never have worked it out if it wasn't for the faint meowing I could hear from below me. I turned my gaze to focus on the small animal below. It looked straight back at me with bright, sparkling blue eyes that seemed to bask in all of the attention I was giving the small feline. I slowly crouched down, in an attempt to not spook the animal away. The look it gave couldn't have been further away from fear, it looked at me as if I was the dirt beneath its feet like I wasn't worth its full attention, opting to clean it's self instead, completely ignoring my presence.
"Don't feel too bad, she does that to everyone" a voice said above me. I jump slightly, startled, and looked to see an old woman, with greying hair standing before, a kind smile playing on her face. She was rather thin, with her hair pulled back into a tight bun and thin glasses placed upon her nose. She had warm green eyes that were looking down at me, laughter dancing in the pale green orbs.
I rose to my feet so that I was eye level with her and able to have a proper conversation. She was slightly taller than me, managing to look slightly menacing, even with her warm features. I noticed the cat wrap it's tail around her right leg, purring contently.
"Welcome to Oikoyeveia Manor, you do not need to be afraid here for we are all family here" I couldn't tell if she meant literally or was just trying to make me feel better.
"What is this place?" I asked. This question had been playing on my mind from the moment we arrived. The woman laughed lightly as if she got asked this all of the time.
"This is a place of sanctuary and learning for all people like you" like me, did she mean descended from Gods, were there more people like me?
"We are all related to the gods one way or another here, it's what keeps us together," the woman told me as if she had read my mind. So everyone here was related to the Gods, did that mean they had the same kind of powers that I did?
"We are here to protect those related to the gods from the world outside" the woman continued "We are here to teach youngsters about their abilities and the dangers that may come with them" ok great so I'm not the only one with these strange powers, but do all of them have a strange voice in their head telling them what they are meant to be doing or did that just come with being the chosen one? I had someone many questions that I didn't know where to start and I just listened as the lady droned on and on about monsters and Gods. I knew I should have been listening, and it would probably come back to bite me in the ass later, but I had never been good at that. I finally zoned back in when the woman had turned her attention onto Matt.
"How have you been Matt dear?" She asked sweetly. So she knew Matt, great. I turned to my mum for some kind of explanation, but her attention wasn't on me, rather the conversation before us. I sighed in frustration, it seemed I would never get the answers I wanted.
"Hello Madam Toothane, I am well" Toothane, what kind of name was that? It sounded ridiculous, like some kind of disease for your teeth.
"Well I'm glad, we've missed you here Matt and it's good to have you back" she smiled, patting Matt on the head as if he was a dog. Wait, hold up missed you, back, so Matt had been here before. Great, has he got any more secrets he's keeping from me, like a long lost twin or something. Wait, please don't let that last one be true, the world wouldn't be able to handle two Matts. Matt nodded in response and Madam Toothane's attention moved onto my mother.
"Maddison darling what a surprise, we thought we would never see you again, after what happened last time of course" I frowned, what happened last time? I noticed the look on my mothers face, it was one of discomfort as if the questions was causing her physical pain. Instead of answering the question she turned to me.
"I'm going to have to leave you now Cosimia, okay, be good and stay safe. Don't worry, they will look after you here, you just have to trust them. I love you never forget that" with that, she turned around and headed back to her car, climbed in and started up the engine. I called out, telling her to wait and explain things to me, but that point she had already pulled out onto the road. Don't I just have the best mum.
After that, I was told to enter the room at the end of the hallway, while Matt ran off in some other direction to do god knows what, leaving me alone to my brand new surroundings. I pushed on the black oak door, it swung open revealing a large lavishly furnished room beyond. Two black leather sofas seemed to take up much of the room. They stood in front of a large fireplace the looked like it was made from expensive marble that seemed to shine under the dim candlelight that, from what I could tell, was the only source of light in the room, apart from the roaring fire. But the fire didn't have the calming orange flames that I was so used to, oh no, green flames enveloped the fireplace hissing and spitting, like a snake, at the inhabitants of the room, who at this time happened to be just me. Great so I've been here for about five minutes and the fire already has a grudge against me, fantastic. As I edged closer the cracklings grew louder as if warning me to stay away. I felt a hand on my shoulder, I swung round sharply to see who it was, relaxing when I realised that it was Madan Toothane. She smiled kindly at me as if she understood my paranoia and that fact my mother hand just abandoned me and Matt at this strange place.
"How are you liking it so far my dear?" She asked sweetly, giving me a toothy grin, making her look more scary than comforting. I was pretty sure if I was a bit younger I would have been terrified. I smiled back anyway, knowing that she meant well, or at least I hoped so.
"It's a very nice house" I replied sincerely, I was telling the truth it was a beautiful building with its oak flooring with strange carvings engraved in every surface, the spiralled staircase I had seen in the entrance hall and the stain glass windows with intricate drawings depicting different Greek stories. Before I could stop her, Madam Toothane shot off in another tale behind the history of the house. I meant ally groaned in frustration, honestly, I didn't care about the history, I just wanted to have a look round.
I thought she'd never stop but the sound of the door creaking over seemed to put a halt to her tale, I mentally thanked whoever it was as they had saved me from a long and painful death. I turned my attention towards the door away from the woman in front of me. I looked over at the figure who had just entered the room. The first feature of his that I noticed was his stark white hair that looked like freshly fallen snow. It hung limply around his face obstructing his eyes from my view. Part of me wondered how he was able to see and the other wondered whether or not he bleached his hair, I mean surely it couldn't be natural. The next distinct feature was how small he was, no he wasn't a dwarf but he wasn't reaching the top of any shelves, as he barely came up to my shoulder. He was wearing tight black skinny jeans that seemed to hug his hips along with a black button-up shirt. He had dark grey converses on and a dark blue scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, seeming to be the only colour in his outfit.
He seemed to do a double-take when he saw me standing in the room and was rather unnerved when I saw him scrutinising me as if trying to work out whether I was a threat or not. Great, I was surrounded by a bunch of paranoid people, I could see this going well, take note of the sarcasm in that statement. Slowly he made his way over, his eyes never leaving my face. Before long he stood in front of me, I guess it would have looked threatening if he wasn't so small.
"Ah Dante, I was just about to come looking for you" Dante, so that was his name, it seemed oddly fitting, I couldn't quite figure out why. It reminded me of Dante's inferno, it seemed a bit harsh of his parents to name him after hell its self, he didn't look that evil, but looks can be deceiving. Dante's attention snapped away from me at the mention of his name, now fully focused on Madam Toothane.
"Ok, is there something you wanted?" He asked, a frown forming on his angel-like features. No, I don't have a crush on him, it's just with the white hair and sharp features it makes him look a bit like an angel, stop looking at me like that Matt.
"Oh, I was wondering if you would be able to escort young Miss Cosimia around our home" Dante gaze was now fixed back on me, an eyebrow now raised.
"Of course I can Madam" Dante replied politely, a sickly sweet smile stretched across his face. Madam Toothane didn't seem to notice the sarcasm dripping from his voice. With one last toothy grin towards me, that sent shivers down my spine, Madam Toothane left, leaving me alone with this shorty. Well, this was going to be fun.
I cleared my throat nervously, trying to not let this Dante guy see that I was crapping myself, well not literally, but you know the feeling. I was trapped alone in this room with a guy who looked like he was going to kill me at any second, part of me wished Madam Toothane would return and change her mind about this stupid tour. Dante seems to be distracted by something through, lost in his own world.
I stood there silently waiting for him to say or do something, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention. Part of me wished it would stay this way so that he wouldn't show me around and I could sneak off, but I knew that would never work as I didn't know my way around this jungle of s house and would become lost instantly the moment I stepped out the room. Slowly I reached out and tapped his shoulder lightly. This seemed to do the trick a bit to well as he snapped into a defensive position as if expecting an attack from someone. As soon as he realised that it was me he relaxed slightly, although I could still see that his shoulders were tense, clearly showing that he didn't trust me. I wondered what had happened to him that had made him this way, was it all the monster attacks like I had received or was it something else. I knew I shouldn't pry, doing that might have gotten my head chopped off by him, he certainly looked capable of doing so. Dante glared at me, making it obvious that I had interrupted whatever thought he had been thinking. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to reveal the reason I had demanded his attention.
"Umm..." I said unintelligibly, making me sound like a complete moron in front of him and thoroughly embarrassing myself. I cursed myself for not being able to think of anything to say. He didn't seem to notice my moment of complete brain failure, as he was already heading towards the door. For a moment I thought he was going to leave me here, lost in this brand new world that I didn't understand, but he didn't. Instead, he turned back to me.
"Well, are you coming?" He asked impatiently, his hand already on the door handle. Stumbling over my feet, I had never been a graceful person, I followed him deeper into the house.
We walked down the twisting corridors that seemed to spiral off in all sorts of directions, going to God knows where. The walls were lined with old green wallpaper that seemed to be peeling off the wall. I couldn't help but think this place seriously needed a makeover. There was so much to the house that I began to get dizzy. Between the kitchen hidden behind a tapestry, apparently, the kids of Hermes were constantly stealing food from there, to the different dormitories scattered throughout the house. Each dormitory was located in a different part of the house depending on what God they belonged to, for example, the kids of Apollo and Artemis got the top floor so they could be close to the sun and moon, which is where they got all their energy from. Me, being related to Hades, got the dormitory in the basement of the house, it's entrance being guarded by a pair of skeletons who looking at me menacingly. I decided to name them Bob and Fred to try and make them seem less terrifying, it didn't work. Seriously though, just because I'm the daughter of Hades doesn't me I like death and skeletons.
Before long I was completely confused and began to question what was up or down. I didn't know where I was in this godforsaken house and the only thing that stopped me from losing my mind was the fact that I knew Matt was here somewhere. Part of me felt trike this was Dante's goal, he had barely said a word, only speaking when he had to, as he guided me around what would be my new home. I wondered if he didn't like strangers or if it was just me, although I couldn't think of anything I could have done, I had only just arrived.
The tour of the house ended in front of a door that I assumed led to the attic. It was made out of heard mahogany, and there was a golden keyhole.
"Under no circumstances are you to go through this door" great he finally says something to me and it's about telling me where not to go, what a buzzkill.
"Ok, what if you're being chased by some kind of monster and this is the only way you can escape?" I asked I couldn't help but mess with him. He shot me a withering glare before replying.
"No monster can enter this building the wards kept them away" ok he got me there, but I wasn't finished.
"But what if one of them breaks down the wards and finds a way in?" I smirked, his glare only deepened.
"That's impossible these wards were made by the gods themselves, no monster would have the power to break it" right so no monster could breakthrough, that was interesting.
"Ok what if it was a god, then could I go through the door?" Dante paused for a second before answering.
"If a god attacked us, going through that door wouldn't help you at all" with that he went to turn around, ignoring what I was about to say, and leave me stranded wherever I was in this house. Ok, I could deal with him ignoring me the entire time and not explaining anything to me, but he was not going to abandon me in this jungle of a mansion.
"Hey" I called out grabbing his arm. The reaction was instantaneous, before I could even comprehend anything I was knocked face-first on the floor, a dull ache now in my arm. I groaned and rolled over, extremely pissed of if he didn't want to be touched he could have said something. I got up, ready to yell at Dante when I realised that he had disappeared. How perfect, I was lost in this stupid house and the one person who was meant to stop me from becoming lost had left me on the ground, ironically lost. The only triumph I was able to gain from this embarrassment was that I finally was able to catch a sneak peek at his eyes, but all I could think was how could someone like that have such beautiful blue eyes?
No, I'm not in love there is no such thing as love, at first sight, no matter what those Disney movies tell you. Sorry, it's just Matt being mean saying that I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him. I'll have you know that Cosimia doesn't fall in love straight away, you have to buy me chocolate first then we'll see. Just to let you know Dante has never bought me chocolate. You know Matt still laughs at me for getting lost in the house, I mean seriously it's like a jungle in there, one wrong turn and you're screwed. Enough about that I need to bid you farewell for I have important places to see and people to meet. So until next my fellow warriors, don't ask why you're called warriors leave me to my imaginations.