Keditha's Destiny

Chapter Five

"Letter for Your Highness." The maid says, handing me a folding piece of paper with an unrecognizable wax seal. For me? I never get any mail.

"Who's it from?" Brynjar asks.

"I'm not sure." There was only a handful of people who would send me letters, maybe less than that. I break the wax seal, opening the letter.

Dear Julian

I know you're still mad at me but please before you throw this letter away. Philip has taken me captive, he says he's planning a wedding for us. He's even threatened to kill me.

Please I really need your help. I apologize for everything I did, just hurry. 

I still love you

Athena

I stiffen, gripping the note tightly. He took her? That little- I'll kill him.

"Well? Who is it." Brynjar asks impatiently.

I hand him the letter, turning the maid who still remained in my room. "Tell the stable boy to get my horse ready." I tell her.

She nods, turning to leave. "My horse also, thank you." Brynjar says, handing the letter back to me.

"Bryn no, you don't have to come with." I say.

"Athena is my friend Julian. If she needs help, I'll be there."

I narrow my eyes at him. "You just don't trust me."

"Mostly definitely."

I sigh. "Fine, let's just hurry." I squeeze my eyes shut. This is all my fault. I abandoned her. Maybe if I wasn't an idiot and hurt her, maybe I could've been with her and saved her from Philip.

"This isn't your fault Julian." Brynjar places a hand on my shoulder, seemingly reading my mind. "You could've have prevented this, even if you didn't hurt her."

I shrug, glancing away. "I don't know...let's just go."

"NO! JULIAN!" A female voice screams.

The voice jerks me awake. "Woah, bad dream?" Louis asks, still behind the wheel.

I run a hand through my hair. "something like that... Are we almost there?" I ask him. He nods.

"Last place." Louis says, parking the car in front of the last warehouse we needed to check. So far the last four we've been to were empty.

Hopefully this one wasn't.

Donnie yawns. "Finally, I hope we find something here."he climbs out of the car.

"You just don't want your math to be wrong." Kenny tells him. Donnie charges and  punches Kenny in the face.

I hold Donnie back. "Donnie, chill! He didn't mean anything by it." I say.

"My math is never wrong, you jerk." Donnie snaps. It looked like he could almost spit.

Louis snaps in front of Donnie's face, causing him to stop fighting me. It was weird. Louis always had that affect on Donnie. "Listen, we're here to help Athena not get into stupid fights about intelligence." He snaps at both of them.

"Alright let's go." I tell the group. We enter the warehouse. Boxes covered every inch of the place. Hollister was definitely here at some point.

"I think this is it." Kenny mutters, seeming a little on edge. He reached for his sidearm. "Hollister could be here right now."

"Freaking Hollister." Donnie snaps, as he moves further into the room.

The three of us shush him. "Let's just find Athena and get out of here." I say to them.

"Well I found her." Donnie says.

I glance around unable to find him. "What? Where the heck did you go?" I say.

"Over here!" I follow Donnie's voice and sure enough, there was Athena. Just like Richard described her. Dark hair and eyes.

She was chained to wall. Other than her tearstained face and disheveled hair, she didn't look like she was hurt.

I crouch down, meeting her eyes. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m a friend.” I whisper. “May I?” I ask, gesturing to the duct tape covering her mouth. She flinches back. Her dark brown hair fell into her brown eyes which were filled with fear. I glance back at my friends, they all shrug. I gently touch her shoulder, reaching to rip the tape off her mouth.

“Get away from me!” she yells instantly. “I know who you are!”

“Oh really?” I grin, allowing my accent to really come through. “I’m not going to hurt you...Athena right?”

“Just get away from me!” she yells louder, trying to crawl farther into the corner.

Louis places a hand on my shoulder. “Julian, you’re terrible at this. Let me.” I stand up, allowing Louis room to crouch next to Athena.

Louis cautiously grabs her wrist, pick locking the cuffs on her wrists. “There, that better?” he asks once he got them off.

She nods. "Thank you..." She mutters. Come on, he gets a thank you?

"We need to go now." I tell the others.

Athena visibly stiffens. "I'm not going anywhere with you! You're nothing but a heartless snake!" She snaps as Louis helps her to her feet.

I only sigh, walking towards the exit. "Julian Kleinhaus. I should've known you would've broken the peace at some point." Johnny Hollister stood at the entrance of the warehouse, surrounded by his men.

I grit my teeth. Great, this was just great. "I'm only looking for answer, and your hostage can help provide them." My friends come up behind me. Athena hid behind Louis, obviously she already trusted him.

Hollister laughs. "For what? What mystery do you possibly need to solve?" I remain silent. Hollister gives me a knowing grin. "Oh, you want to figure out what happened to your mummy and daddy huh?" He taunts. "There's a very simple answer to that kid."

I narrow my eyes. "Simple answer? What do you mean?"

Hollister only smiles, taking a few steps forward. "You left them, didn't you? Left them to die in that house."

"Watch your mouth Hollister!" Kenny snaps.

Hollister steps closer, prompting me to pull my gun on him. He laughs “What? Are you going to shoot me?” Hollister asks, approaching me slowly. I lower my gun when he gets closer. “I didn’t think so.” He smirks. He punches me in the face. I stumble back, touching my cheek. It comes away wet with blood. Cut open by the ring on his finger.

“You-“ I start. He grabs my neck, forcing me to my knees.

“Hey!” Louis snaps but Hollister’s men come forward to hold him and the rest of my friends back.

“Your parents were cowards and they deserved to die. And soon you will die just like them.” Hollister threatens, tightening his grip. “No one will even mourn your death, you worthless German scum.” He snaps. "They will celebrate the day when Julian Kleinhaus meets his brutal end."