Eyes: The Story Of A Blind Heroine

Chapter 16

"This is the right address?" miss Leilo asked Chelsea as the four of us stood before the gates of Majors Manor.

"Yep," Chelsea replied, "I live here. I think I'd recognise this palace anywhere."

"If only you could see this, Brigid!" Leilo breathed in awe, "this place is indeed like a palace!"

Chelsea made our way past us, then pressed a button. A deep, musical bell echoed somewhere far off. A cool male voice came from a speaker. "Majors residence?"

"Good afternoon, Koios," Chelsea said brightly, "This is your sister-in-law. I have three with me." Although she did not say this, I heard her thinking, Well played by forgetting your house key, dumb blonde!

I snorted internally.

The gates clicked, buzzed, then slid open. We all entered and the gates slid shut behind us.

"Goodness gracious me!" Leilo remarked, "you should see this driveway! It is endless! There are flower beds on each side of it, Brigid. Can you smell them?"

I sniffed. Indeed, the air was loaded with the sweet scents of flowers, along with the earthy tang of freshly watered soil. A child of Demeter must live here. Birds chirped all around us in the trees. Every so often, I heard a splash along with it. There must have been a bird bath somewhere, I thought. It was so peaceful here, I thought, feeling my previous stress ebb slightly. It was such a contrast to the chaos I had been put through. I could only imagine this peace did wonders to Elise and the gorgon, both of whom never spoke a word since they were rescued.

We made our way up the long, sloping driveway, up to the front steps.

"Watch this," Chelsea said, "this door scans your palm. Hermes and Hephaestus both be praised for their engenuity! I should have this done to the front gate too." After a moment, the door hummed, then unlocked with a series of clicks and beeps.

"Ta-da!" Chelsea said, "welcome to my humble abode!"

The scents of food and coffee floated towards us from within the open doorway. The chatting and laughter of many voices came from there too.

Majors Manor was huge! I was only in the front porch, but holy Hera! By the acoustics, I could only gather its size.

Just then, I felt a warm sensation to my left. From the heat, came an equally warm voice. "Good afternoon, ladies," he said, "Brigid, very much welcome. I am Hyperion, formerly known as Titan of the East, or the dawn. I am your father's predecessor."

"That explains the heat," I said quietly, "pleased to meet you, Hyperion."

"Likewise, bright one," Hyperion said, "Please head right through to the living room." Then, he must have seen the two apparently traumatised women. "Oh ... Are you two all right?" The warm sensation moved, until it was behind me.

"Lord Hyperion," the gorgon spoke for the first time. Her voice was raspy, whether this was her natural voice, or whether it was from the ordeal she had gone through, I didn't know. "Your warmth is welcome to us both."

"Euryale, dearest! What have they done to you?" he exclaimed.

"Let's go sit down, Hyperion," Chelsea said, "we need to talk. Oh, I just need to get some medicine for Elise and Euryale both."

Hyperion led the way to the living room, a spacious place with deep velvet couches and cozy armchairs. I plopped down onto a couch, miss Leilo sitting beside me. Elise also took a seat on the couch. I assumed Euryale sat elswhere, probably on one of the armchairs.

"So," miss Leilo began, "I will begin by asking all of you, are you all right?"

"Sure," I said, "just ... Euryale, I am so sorry. I really did not want to do it. I hope you're not ..."