Hades' Huntress

Chapter 18 - "Red is your color."

MAKARIA

"Everyone back to their dorms!" Gloria yelled. "Not you, Makaria." She added when she saw me retrieving. 

"Come with me." 

The sudden urge in her voice almost convinced me that she wasn't the killer, but hey, I was a demon, I didn't have the power to see people's intentions. 

Gloria took me to her office. With determination, she closed the door and locked it. I was very close telling her that it was a bad choice, but she surprised me when she uttered the next words.

"Makaria, you need to find the killer." With a heavy sigh, she continued. "I have been trying to find evidence, but it was impossible. The killer is getting help from somewhere, but I don't know from who or where." 

My gut told me that Hades was in this, but I would never say it out loud. I had to make sure before I take a step. 

Gloria reminded me of my mother. Persephone was so good at hiding things, even from her loved ones. No one would even get a feeling that she was going through anything. Melinoe and I were oblivious to the fact that Hades was cheating on her or that she was sometimes beaten up by him. I remember telling her to run away, but she didn't listen. 

It was only now that I knew she only stayed for us. 

Well, that was until she met Theseus. 

"Who do you think it is?" I asked. It was a stupid question, but I remember one demon, who used to teach me when I was younger told me once that, "Always ask, no matter how stupid your question was."

"I am not certain, but it was definitely not one of the students."

"How come?" I looked at her in an accusing gaze.

She avoided looking at me and got nervous. "I am not supposed to say this, but Zeus wanted me to keep a tracker on all students. I injected all students in the past."

"Are you sure that all the students, have it?"

"I do."

"Then it must be one of the teachers." I replied, the weather getting hotter all of a sudden.

"We have more than 40 teachers, and none have a tracker on them."

I didn't have a choice but to trust Gloria. She looked genuine, though any killer could do that. Act nice and then kill you when you're not looking. 

"I'll see what I can do." I said and turned around to leave, but Gloria grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"Makara." She hesitated. "I heard that you're looking into the curse of the third land."

I'm going to kill you, Ares.

"So?" I replied coldly.

"Did your mother contact you?"

What the fuck?

"No, why?" The lie rolled off my tongue easily. 

She sighed. "I have seen her recently, but she disappeared. I tried to find her, but I looked everywhere. She is the key to the curse, Makaria."

"What do you mean?"

"When I saw her, she wanted a place to hide. Of course, I agreed, but since she was a witch, I asked something in return. When I told her about the curse and Rosalie, she told me that she came from the same bloodline."

All the signs were in front of me, but I was too blind to see them. The black rose reaching my room, the note, the disappearance of my mother. All of it.