Fall Into Me

.IX.

Ada was very upset that they were leaving, and whilst Mona found it adorable, Minerva found it sickening. Crying children were not her thing, and unless they stopped crying relatively quickly, it became annoying.

Once the child had calmed down enough to let Mona go, they left for the airport. The plane journey was different to the last ones they'd taken. Mona was not having a good time, and so Minerva distracted her, talking about what she'd need for the game room and the jewellery room. It seemed to do the trick, and Mona had relaxed slightly.

She was still gripping the chair, but she wasn't shaking and her focus was on Minerva, not the probability of the plane combusting. During the flight, Mona had also asked Minerva if she knew of a hair stylist, because she needed to get her hair dyed again, and whilst she had done it herself in the past, she preferred to get it done professionally. Less messy and less stressful, apparently.

A quick call to her hair stylist when they landed revealed that he could dye hair, and was well known for dying vibrantly coloured hair. So she arranged for him to come to the castle, to cut and dye Mona's hair.

Whilst Minerva would have enjoyed fucking Mona into a coma as soon as they got back, she could see the flight had taken it out of Mona, and the poor woman was exhausted. Instead, she suggested Mona have a nap, whilst she spoke to Charlotte about arranging her schedule so they could go on a trip.

The relief she felt at watching the huge gates close, hearing the front door lock, and shutting herself away in her wing was palpable. The weight came off her shoulders and she found it easier to breathe.

The dogs were ecstatic to see her, as they usually were, and the moment Cleo saw Mona, she knocked her to the ground, whole body wagging in pure excitement, whilst Maya grabbed the nearest thing - a shoe - and took it to Mona, showing her and whining until she got head-pats.

Once they'd calmed down, both women separated. Mona went to her own room for a nap, and Minerva called Charlotte.

Miraculously, Charlotte was able to shuffle things around so she had just over a week to spare in late November. Making arrangements to have the Earth Roamer serviced and checked, Minerva also set aside some time to learn how the thing worked.

Thoughts of how fun that was going to be left Minerva tingling. Her day was free, so she settled down on her sofa to catch up with some shows. Except it didn't work the way she'd planned.

Oddly, all she could think about was when Mona had appeared on her doorstep, wet to the bone from the thunderstorm outside...

Minerva wasn't in the castle. That wasn't unusual; sometimes she took her dogs and went to her favourite remote log cabin near the Loch. It was tucked away into the mountainside, barely visible from the ground.

Being here was her respite, her time to relax and ignore the world. The work phone was in the castle office drawer, locked away. Her personal phone was on Do Not Disturb, with only a select few people able to contact her. Even so, she didn't use it for social media, not that she had any. Minerva believed it a waste of her time, as she wasn't interested in sharing details about her life. Privacy was something she valued above all else.

Only her head of security and head house maid knew she was here, which meant she would be left alone for as long as she decided to be here for. It was also notoriously difficult to get to. Which was why the pounding on the door confused her.

The dogs were alert, hyper-fixated on the door and the sound, and Minerva didn't move at first, staring at the door in disbelief. Whoever had the gall to disturb her quiet time was going to get one hell of an earful, and would be very lucky she didn't throw them down the mountainside. Thunder boomed above and lightening crackled across the sky, the rain pounding the shingle roof.