A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 4 - The Meeting

Although that the first step of his evil plan was over, Patrick still had a lot to do that day. He was rather tired and wanted to go to bed, but he told himself that this was important and therefore his slumber could wait. Slowly but surely, he cleaned up the dining room for the meeting he was going to have with his followers, adjoining several tables from the back of the house and placing nothing but starkly white tablecloths on all of them. He had gotten these tables and this house a few years back from a wealthy family he did not know, which didn't matter. All that mattered was the fact that he'd erased every single trace of their decades-long presence in the residence and smeared his own all over it. 

It was a nice event to remember as he sat at the top on the table and waited for all his followers to come for half an hour. After they'd all come and drawn their chairs and sat on them, everything was ready, and so he began to speak:

"Good evening, everyone. Most of you can already assume why I've gathered all of you here at this time of day, but I can see why it wouldn't be certain, so I'm going to explain everything quickly. The capture of Miss Grey was quite a grand progression of our plan, but it's only the beginning. We'll keep her captive and convince us to join our side in however long it takes, for there's no one in the world who can resist the way of their enemies forever. Doesn't it sound good, Frederick?"

"It sounds very good indeed," responded Huxley, internally gleeful at seeing the respectful faces of all those who weren't aware of their boss's evil nature.

For as long as he'd known himself, Huxley was a pretty observant person. He loved looking at things and people and discerning all sorts of interesting information from what he saw. He took a couple of moments to subtly glance at the coworkers closest from him. Aside from reverence, true or feigned, the emotions present around him were deep focus, neutrality, exhaustion, enthusiasm and fear. 

Of course, fear stood out the most, and not only because it was such a a captivating emotion, but also because not many people were expressing it at the moment. He only saw it on the face of a tall, thin lady with long red hair that reached her waist, wide-open eyes that were dark as coal and thick cherry lips that trembled ever so slightly. As was clearly seen, she also had gentle facial features and unassuming mannerisms that indicated a painfully humble soul, moulded into such over the course of many years. Behind her was hidden her one-year-younger sister, whose features he wasn't able to see at all. 

She expressed this emotion for no more than a few seconds as she stared at the distance, foolishly believing that everyone else was too preoccupied by their own thoughts to notice. Deep inside, he believed that he surely wasn't the only one, but it didn't matter whether that was true or not. He was going to throw his cards onto the table soon anyway.

He coughed on purpose to draw everyone's attention. "Good evening, Amanda. How are you today? I just wanted to congratulate you on your last mission because you're such a great asset to our team. Nobody was eager to loot the house of the Parker family, even though they're our enemies, but because you're always so willing to assist us in our plans, you did it perfectly and got rid of the mess without a trace. If you keep on helping us like this, no one may be left to oppose us soon enough, so congratulations. It's the least you deserve for all your efforts."

"Thank you," said the older sister, forcing her bile down her throat. "You know that I'm such a dedicated team player, and that there's no other reason why I'm still doing this, not at all. I'm truly proud to be here."

"You're welcome," said Frederick with a sickly-sweet smile on his face, turning his head in the direction of her sister.

"Run, Cecilia, run," whispered Amanda into her sister's ear, earning her a slight nod from below the surface of the table.