Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 82: Dodo

Like a cloud soaring in the sky and pushed by the wind, I felt greatly relieved to flee from Oyster. Eros was my wind that Tuesday afternoon.

After that incident with Mirela in the toilets, my life was on the line due to her thirst for power. She was crazier than anybody else I had ever met before. To me, she felt like a madder version of Momo.

"You don't look okay, Daphne," Eros insisted when we already were seated in his red sports car, in Oyster's underground parking. "The skin on your neck looks... red and bruised."

I noticed his fingers were mildly shivering on the steering wheel while he stared at me with uneasiness and worry.

"Okay, fine." I sighed, giving in. Being alone with him and that splendid car of his made me feel safe. He should know what was going on if he ended up becoming my boss. "It's Mirela. She's tried to choke me in the toilets a few minutes ago." My voice sounded like rusty gears.

"WHAT?!" One of his eyelids started twitching.

"Can you ride with the windows down, please?" I begged him. "I need some fresh air – badly."

He didn't lose a single second to do as I had asked him. He started the car, rode out of Oyster's underground parking, and the second we hit the streets, he pushed a button that made the windows automatically roll down.

When the sweet summer air hit my face and combed my hair, I inhaled deeply. I watched the people strolling down the streets, shopping, chatting, giggling. I felt alive. I decided to come clean then:

"Mirela dislikes the fact that I ended up becoming the model for the ad. I'm a traditional human, Eros. I've taken the place of a clone. Of course, she's angry at me. But I bet that she's also angry about the design you picked, the red bikini because it's not hers – it's your mother's. She's power-hungry. Did you know she was one of your father's mistresses?"

"Yes, I did. She got her job as a designer right after going to bed with him. Despicable."

His harsh reply was matched by a sudden clenching of his fists on the steering wheel. I could see his tense, white knuckles pressing firmly on the dark leather on the wheel. Then, I took a glimpse at his face. He was pissed, frowning hard. I hated to see him like that.

"I'm glad to hear that," I replied softly. "That you find her despicable, I mean. She intends to get in bed with you, by the way."

"WHAT?!" He almost skipped a red light. Maybe I should've told him about that particular detail later, not while driving.

"As I've said, she's power-hungry," I went on right after he had pressed the brake pedal harshly and the car had stopped right before a pedestrian crossing.

People started to walk by in front of us. I sighed.

"With your father dead, and Mrs Nevermore about to leave Oyster to run an NGO, she's worried that you might not take her into account and favour her the way your father had. Mrs Nevermore seems to have gotten distant with her. She wants to be the boss next. To do that, she thinks she needs to seduce you."

He snorted.

"She's... delusional. I'm not like other clones." The light turned green, and he set the car in motion again.

"Glad to hear that. But be careful. She's dangerous. She's threatened to expose who I am once the ad goes public to harm your mother and Oyster, and then have me killed."